I rarely write reviews. As a matter of fact, almost never. But this case is special.

If you're checking reviews because you're considering buying the game, this isn't where you should be. You will love Slay the Princess, so you're better off playing and not reading this. Also, this review won't be spoiler-free. BUT if you need some persuasion, so be it:

   
• No narrative-driven game was able to move me nearly as much. I am not unaffected by art. I can appreciate a good book, song or movie for what it's really worth. But I play games for their gameplay, atmosphere, challenge—anything but story, so that's something that I could easily overlook. If it weren't that awesome.
     
• I was biased towards visual novels too. Which is natural, right? Since they don't usually contain what I can appreciate in games. Well, I got over that bias.
     
• The game is an intricately crafted art piece. Visuals, music, voice acting and all the little details. You just can't not appreciate the quality of all of that.
     
• If this isn't enough, just throw a rock at me if you don't like the game, ok? I bet there won't be too many of those.

Alright, this is where the spoiler-free part is over. I warned you. If you're spoiling the game for yourself, you're committing a terrible crime. 

I never thought I could enjoy piecing a story together as much as Slay the Princess made me. I did guess a good portion of stuff right off the bat because my brain is just that enormous, yes. But seriously speaking, a lot of different details, connections and the way things align with each other open up as you go, as you replay, as you sit down and think about your experience. So many different questions you can ask yourself. 

How does this reflect our lives? Why did 'my' 'actions' lead to this? What do vessels/princesses/cabins represent in the grand scheme of things? What do they represent if we consider them to be a couple and all of this is an allegory to relationships? What is real in this story? Is anything? What is reality?

But what really blew me away are the different perspectives and theories that you come up with as you go. This is what gave me brain callouses, as I've been thinking way too much about the story.

Are Princess and the protagonist Yin and Yang? Does the construct make Princess appear as whatever 'you' want her to be on each loop? Does this story even have a single character since everyone lacks any sort of personality or name?

I'm not here to discuss my theories or argue about anything, of course. I love the open-endedness of most questions that this game raises. And honestly, I feel like too much discussion would've ruined the process of this independent discovery. I might not be right about a single theory or conclusion, but I had a lot of fun. I am happy I walked this path alone. No youtubers, no reddit threads, no backseating discord buddies.

As for the content, you know it already if you've played. Heart. Lungs. Liver. Nerves, am I right, ladies? And the Thorn. Oh, the Thorn. It's like a perfect gilded frame, capturing the essence of the whole story and summarizing it.
Honestly, I didn't expect the Pristine Cut to keep the bar as high. And I am still stunned by how good it is. This isn't just 'more of the same good stuff.' This is new good stuff. New perspectives, new things to contemplate, new amazing visuals and sound. And I cried again, yes. The part where Narrator loses faith in his own idea of the ideal world made my heart sink. The way you witness the protagonist in action from Princess' perspective gave me chills too.

I could probably speak about Slay the Princess for as much as physically possible, but this should be enough. In conclusion, I feel like anyone could enjoy this game and find it truly fascinating. But if you like to dig deep, think abstractly and really rack your brain, this will be one of the games you will absolutely cherish. Because that's what happened to me.