Slay the Princess — The Pristine Cut

[h2] 26/7/11白金 [/h2] [h3] 总评9/10 [/h3] 一款文字量和内容都很庞大的游戏 对于游戏来说它真的不算好玩 但还是100%推荐屏幕前的你来亲自构建出英雄与公主的故事 [b] 以下文本全部包含微量剧透 为了保持好观感就不全部隐藏了，有些剧透性强的我会隐藏掉 [/b] [hr][/hr] 这是一个[u] 爱情故事 [/u] 也是一个基于[u] 二元论与自由意志 [/u]展开的游戏 但其实并没有过度深讨哲学层面，更多的是来自爱情、亲密关系与自我理解中的个人沉思 关于我的个人理解，更觉得这是一款关于心理测试向的题目、是无数次与心理咨询师搭建的桥梁、是让做出选择的人认识到自己反思到自己行为后果的镜子。 在这段关系中 英雄与公主、答题人与题目、咨询人与被咨询人，做出选择的自己与内心的纠结，本质都是一面能投射出下意识情感需求的镜子，而镜子也是这款游戏贯彻全文的重要伏笔道具。 在与公主相见的路上必然会遇到镜子，但一靠近 镜子就会消失，取而代之的是永远与公主相连的道路。 在与公主相处的每一段故事后，镜子都会照映出“我们” 直至碎裂。镜子碎裂后，我们见到的人也依然是公主。 在我看来，英雄与公主是同一个镜子的两面，是两个相互干预的肉体与灵魂，相互依存又相互对立。 这也证明了为什么在我们做出不同选择后的公主会有各种变化 情绪上的、语气上的、身体形态上的。 换句话说，公主就是“我们”的情感投射，而我们因为投射程度的深入 会慢慢导致自己的情绪、心态发生改变。 游戏始终围绕着一个主题：[b] 死亡与新生 [/b] 正如英雄与公主的名字 长终之寂与千变之丘。 [spoiler] 长终之寂代表着恒定不变的死寂，代表着抹杀一切的变数，在这个故事中 那个唯一的变数是公主，就像旁白一开始为我们灌输的，不容置疑的命令：杀死公主 [/spoiler] [spoiler] 千变之丘则是承载着无限选择与混乱变化而变化出的新生，如同杀死公主杀死新生后的结局 失去了新生与对比便只留有死寂 [/spoiler] 这便是开头为什么说这是一个基于二元论来展开的游戏。世界向来无法只留存其中一方，永恒的稳定与不变的死寂只会让精神走向消亡。而无约束的变化也会摧毁原有的一切。 静态秩序与无限自由是否只能二选一？两种对立的实体要如何达成平衡？我认为这便是这款游戏的基调。 关于自由意识，从游戏刚开始就会听到旁白说：杀死公主才能拯救世界。本质其实就是剥夺我们的自由意识，而玩家的存在 是对旁白灌输的想法最有力的反驳 英雄的记忆会被抹除，所有人的记忆会被抹除，但屏幕面前的我们不会。我们完整的保留着与公主的每一次杀戮、针锋相对、和解、逃离和互相毁灭的记忆，这种记忆差就是让我们陷入个人沉思中的最有力的工具。 但这也是我玩下来非常折磨与难受的一点，在共同与公主经历过那么多之后，见过她的眼泪、愤怒、后悔、癫狂、分崩离析与少女心事后，我真的好累，我不忍心看下去了。 对于我来说公主早就已经是一个活生生的人，在我打完思考了一会之后发现这就是作者想要的，这款游戏本质就是一个带着哲学探讨的心理测试题。它从来不会像旁白那样强硬的灌输任何标准答案，而是借由每一段对话、每一次抉择、每一个答案都是在强迫玩家进行自我理解。 [h3] 你如何对待她，本质是你如何面对真实的自己。 [/h3] 如同开局所说： [u] 无论在黑暗的空间中发现何种恐怖，您都要勇敢面对，坚持到底。 没有敷衍的结局。也不存在错误的决定。 只有全新的视角和崭新的开始。 这是一段爱情故事。 [/u]

电波氛围中短篇 非常奇妙的文字游戏，形式本身即是内容。通过类跑团类肉鸽的展现形式，用浩瀚的选项与自由度堆砌而成的元游戏。将大量分散的、概念性的哲思遍布在每一条支线中，很多时候像是一种抽象的、概念性的、实验性质的精神分析测试。和许多故弄玄虚的作品一致，本作其实并没有太多思想深度，大多时候只是抛出了问题然后甩出了一些似懂非懂的高深词汇，却从未有过之上的思辨。故事本身简单到不可置信：公主是一面镜子，而与之对峙便是爱情关系的重构。所以无论如何，这诚然是一个爱情故事。 但意外的是本作并没有高高在上的说教，反而用极具感染力的全程配音、与看似潦草实则丰富的音画表现，带来了一出别具一格且极富张力的短篇戏剧。实际上对于我这种并不想深究思想深度的肤浅之人而言，本作带来的氛围感与电波感反而恰到好处，给我带来了一段相当独特的体验。 ++ 高自由度的大量选项与场景差分 + 非常用心且富有感染力的全程英配 = 关于两性关系的独特表现形式 - 一些浮于表面的晦涩哲学术语堆砌，有故弄玄虚之嫌 - 收集几乎需要遍历差别不大的全文本 哲学作x 氛围作√ 8.1/10

"I bought a game about slaying a princess. I got a mandatory philosophy seminar instead." While Slay the Princess boasts exceptional art and voice acting, its premise is incredibly misleading. You are led to believe you are buying a dark, subverted fairy tale driven by compelling player choices. Instead, it pulls a massive bait-and-switch, delivering an edgy, pretentious lecture disguised as a visual novel. Rather than letting you shape an engaging narrative, the game is entirely obsessed with proving its own abstract worldview. Your agency is just an illusion. Every time you try to carve out a meaningful path or find a logical resolution, the writing smugly deconstructs your decisions. It constantly talks down to the player, treating you as naive for expecting the actual story you thought you purchased. By prioritizing a cyclical, pseudo-intellectual trap over immersive storytelling, it strips away your impact entirely. If you want to be beaten over the head by a developer's rigid philosophy, you'll love this. If you wanted the amazing, choice-driven narrative you were sold, look elsewhere.

[h3] As long you have the patience, this is a 100% recommended game [/h3] For the first few loops of the game, I was quite frustrated that I entered into a loop, where I slayed the princess and the princess killed me back, and I was brought back alive but my surroundings changes, but the task is still the same, going inside the cabin, take the blade, enter the basement and slay the princess, and this keeps going on and on, until she becames an "entity". When you reached that part, you will be sent to the beginning again, and exploring different choices, and diferent choices unlocks different "entity", endings, and CGs. [h3] I like the princess a lot [/h3] Honestly, after playing loop after loop, I personally do not think that the princess is the bad person, she is just a girl and alone, locked down the basement; and only killing the reader back because the reader attemepted to kill or killed her first, she is just protecting herself and taking out her revenge on us. If the reader pick the option to save her, she would be so cute and greatful to the reader. The princess is a 10/10 girl as she can fight, protect herself, knows how to be greatful, and she is strong ! >////< She is pretty too, though I am a straight woman, I do find her very attractive :3 I could never have the heart to kill her, but for the sake of achievements, I will But then, I would replay the story where I save the princess again. [h3] Voices [/h3] When you first started the game, there will be two voices accompanying you, the voice of hero and the voice of contradictory; and along with the narrator. Along your chocies and the progression of the story, you will gained new voices and lost some; but then the voices you got also depends on your choice. For example, if you chose to slay the princess from the start, you will get the voice of cold, showing that your are a cold blooded person, or if you chose to lie to the princess and then killed her, you get the voice of the opportunist, showing the character of the reader. [h3] Voices that I love the most [/h3] 1. Voice of smittens 2. Voice of opportunist 3. Voice of contradictory 4. Voice of hero [h3] Voice that I hate the most [/h3] Voice of cold; honestly, I find the way he speaks very annoying, I wanted to go through my computer screen and punch him [h3] The Narrator [/h3] As much as I like the princess, and that as much as he keeps on tell the reader to kill the princess, I do not hate him that much as I do think sometimes the way he speaks is funny, and it is not like he totally forced the reader to kill the princess entirely, there are a few options where we can still help the princess Like some commentors/reviwers said, there are no true villians in this story, but only different perspectives But imo, I still think that the narrator is the villian, as the princess is not really or to say directly destorying the world, but as if the narrator, himself could not accept death. [spoiler] As I played again and again, the thing that I noticed is that, if I chose the option to kill the princess, in the end, I would restart from the beginning, but if I chose to save the princess, I would be taken to a different path, and we left the world together, which came to the end of the game (So, in my point of view, I think that as long as we keep on slaying the princess, we get to live forever and the world (game) would never "end", but if we did not slay the princess, but chose to save her and leaving her together "the world (game) ends". (?) [/spoiler] [spoiler] But another thing is that, even if we chose to kill the princess near the end of the game, the "world" (game" still ends. So, I honestly do not think that the princess really can bring the world to an end. However, I can understand the Narrator's perspective of things, as when it's near to the end, the Narrator dies, and he does not see that the world still came to an end even if we kill her.[/spoiler] [h3] Game design [/h3] Visual: 10/10 UI: 10/10 BGM: 9/10 (some BGMs are loud, some are soft, so sometimes I could not hear the BGM since I turned it down lower when some of the BGM is very loud, so I have to keep down switching) Endings: Interesting Plot: 10/10 [h3] What about the negative part of the game? [/h3] I would say after countless time of replaying, our eyes would tend to get tired, and we would daydream or get frustrated; and the text is too small, at the same time white along with the white and black background, forcing us to strain our eyes further, and when comes to the long blabbering of the voices or the narrator, the sentences are too close together, so it becomes hard to read. (Or maybe it is just me) [h3] Conclusion [/h3] Take your time and have patience, as I said, you would go into a loop; exploring different possibilities, and endings. The time and effort is worth it..

[h1]它不断更换公主，却始终没有改变提问的方式[/h1] [i]🌟轻微剧透🌟[/i] 《Slay the Princess》的开局很漂亮：林间小路、地下室、被囚禁的公主，以及一个命令你杀死她的旁白。谜语式的叙事、轻微掉 SAN 的恐怖感、极具辨识度的美术，确实让人期待它将如何展开。 可玩到三个小时后，我决定停下。或许后面还会出现更多设定和解释，但一部作品若需要我反复经历已经失去思想增量的循环，才能等到它真正开始讨论问题，那么这种等待本身也构成了我的评价。 [h2]一、好吧，点子不错——然后呢？[/h2] 它的主题很多，却缺少一个真正被追问到底的核心。 你可以说它讨论存在主义和虚无主义、人格同一性、自由意志、永恒与无常、亲密关系、意识对现实的影响、投射、轮回、神话，blablabla……但这些问题大多只是被提出、被象征化、被角色说出来，却很少真正发生思想上的推进。它更像把一组哲学关键词制作成了不同风格的公主，再让玩家轮流参观。 [b]主题多，不等于思想深；哲学概念多，也不等于哲学性强。[/b] 我之前看过很多测评，称赞它“很有哲学性”，所以多少有种被骗进来的感觉。《Slay the Princess》拥有的是哲学概念的密度，而不是思想推进的纵深。 真正有深度的作品，不是故弄玄虚，而是让你不断觉察自己原本理解问题的方式。相较而言，《Who’s Lila?》之所以令我印象深刻，不是因为它也谈认知、身份和存在，而是因为它始终围绕一个中心问题向内钻取：表情、模仿、人格、观看者与被观看者之间究竟是什么关系？越深入，最初的问题越会发生变形。 [h2]二、它把问题摆在门前，却始终没有走进去[/h2] 我觉得下面几个命题，其实哪一个做好了，潜力都很大。可惜了。 [h3]1. 爱与亲密关系、认知创造现实[/h3] 游戏最核心的机制，是“你认为她是什么，她便成为什么”。 你恐惧她，她就变得可怕；你爱慕她，她就成为恋人；你认定她强大，她就真的不可战胜。玩家的判断不仅改变关系，也直接参与塑造现实。所谓公主，既是心境的投射，也是关系结构的具象化。 这个设定第一次出现时确实很惊艳。但游戏对它的运用，基本停留在直观对应：恐惧制造怪物，爱制造爱人，支配引发反抗。它没有沿着任何一条线真正深挖。明明只要再向前一步，就能触及更有意思的问题：进行判断的“我”是如何形成的？我为什么偏偏以这种方式理解她？我的恐惧、欲望与选择，又是被什么塑造的？ [b]如果公主是我的投射，那么那个自以为站在投影之外的“我”，真的比她更固定、更真实吗？[/b] 游戏已经来到这个问题门前，却一次次转身，去展示下一位公主。 [h3]2. 变化、永恒与死亡[/h3] 游戏确实涉及变化与永恒的关系：它们相爱、拥抱，也彼此厮杀、背叛。但这种处理并未惊艳到我，也没有让我更深地看见：我们究竟如何在每一段关系中制造一个固定的“她”、一个固定的“我”，然后又被这些想象反过来囚禁。 它离这个问题只有一步，却始终没有真正迈进去。 [h3]3. 自由意志与人格同一性[/h3] 关于自由意志与人格同一性，游戏也只是“呈现”，没有任何推进。 一开始，游戏里的不同声音让我觉得有趣——英雄、怀疑者、偏执者、恋人、逆反者等人格倾向，会随着选择进入叙事，仿佛每一次经历都在“你”内部留下一个新的观察位置。 可这些声音最终更像性格标签。它们会争论、吐槽、干扰旁白，却很少让我重新理解意识的连续性。 [h3]4. 轮回[/h3] 反复进入林间、走进地下室、听见相似的对白，确实符合轮回和关系重构的主题。 但重复只有在产生差异时才有意义。当新的循环不再带来新的理解，它就不再是结构，而只是消耗。游戏让我花费越来越多时间，去确认一个早已明白的命题。 [h2]三、那它到底适合谁？[/h2] 它不太适合真正期待哲学深度的人，理由如上文所述。 它也不太适合想轻松放松的人，因为大量循环、阅读和抽象对白很容易令人疲惫。 它甚至未必适合单纯想看爱情故事的人，因为这里的“爱情”更多是一种象征和关系隐喻，而不是细腻、具体、逐渐建立起来的人际经验。 我能想到最适合它的玩家，可能是那些刚开始接触元叙事、互动小说或哲学游戏，喜欢强烈氛围、分支探索与象征解读的人。 它或许是一扇不错的门，却不是门后的房间。 最后，我大概会这样概括《Slay the Princess》： [quote]它像一场布置精美的哲学展览。展签上写满了爱、死亡、自由、无常、身份和存在；每一件展品都足够醒目，也确实引人联想。可当我走完整个展厅，却发现它并没有使我重新理解其中任何一个问题，只是为许多熟悉的概念换上了云山雾罩的造型。[/quote] [hr][/hr] [h3]附：关于创作主题[/h3] 我查了一下制作团队的采访，发现他们在创作之初并没有预设明确的主题，而是先展开感兴趣的想法，再从中逐渐辨认出主题。这或许也解释了，为什么我会觉得这个游戏的主题既散，又浅。 [quote=Abby Howard]“Themes are often not something I start with when writing.”[/quote] 她进一步解释说，自己通常会先探索感兴趣的想法，等这些想法逐渐成形后，主题才会显现；随后再回过头辨认作品潜藏的核心命题，以便更有效地表达它。 [url=https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/03/a-sweeping-journey-down-the-path-in-the-woods-slay-the-princess-pristine-cut-interview/]采访原文[/url]

[i]At first, a thanks to my old Steam friend Bruno, who made me aware of the game with his unique artworks. I wouldn't have found it without him.[/i] So, starting with the story: You're a warrior, supposed to slay a princess locked in the basement of an old cabin. Seems pretty simple, right? The question is, why do you have to slay her? What has she done—what will she do? Will you lend her an ear, or follow your orders without questioning? It's all up to you. On the surface, Slay the Princess is a visual horror novel about time loops and cosmic entities. Under the surface, it is one of the most fascinating metaphors for human psychology, trauma, and toxic connections I have seen in a video game. Beautifully and gently told with an immersive depth many text narratives miss. The whole gameplay focuses on you, the princess, your decisions, and what you both make out of them. It constantly asks: Who is good, who is bad? -And who judges about that? Personally, I don't believe in black & white morality where a behavior is categorized into good or evil; I believe evil is simply the refusal of accountable self-reflection or improvement, and in doing so, accepting harming others for the sake of one's own needs, while "goodness" is taking action to transform and heal from trauma, so you don't bleed onto the people around you. Slay the Princess captures this exact dynamic. The entire gameplay is built around a brilliant mechanic: Whatever you expect, will happen. While projection, judgment, fear, and paranoia can poison a connection—creating a fight between dissociation and reality—communication, mutual understanding, and trust can form a lifelong bond of love and respect. While you're playing through different story paths, you encounter extremely diverse dynamics. From a completely self-erasing "Damsel" to an abusive, controlling "Princess", where the connection only seem to (trauma)bond through violence, manipulation, and mutual destruction. It’s precisely this overlap between gameplay mechanics and human behavior that gives the game its incredible meta-narrative depth. It’s definitely not light reading, but the more you relate the basic concepts of clinical psychology and humanistic sociology to the game’s themes and gameplay decisions, the more fascinating the plot becomes in its accuracy. It is, quite literally, the story of life. How your life shapes you, the decisions you make, and what you ultimately believe in. And how that, in turn, forms your view of the world around. [b]I think it's the most profound psychological game I've ever played, and I absolutely adore that. I can recommend Slay the Princess to anyone who's into the psychology of the human mind, loves "choices matter" narratives, and isn't afraid of a bit of horror and sensitive topics. It's a masterpiece of psychological storytelling.[/b]

Great narration and art, but I did not connect with the story. It feels somewhat "I'm 14 and this is deep".

The objective is to kill the princess, so I killed the princess. It took all of 8 minutes, without skipping any dialogue. Now I'm wondering if there's any more to this game. If not, that's okay. I'll kill her again, just for laughs.