The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is a new addition to the puzzle platform genre from Nippon Ichi Software, the Japanese developers most famous for the Disgaea series.
The story is like that of a fairy tale, and it’s presented in that way. A wolf (the name of a monster rather than a traditional wolf) sings at the top of a mountain and finds a fan in the form of a young prince. When the prince climbs the mountain to see who is singing, the wolf accidentally blinds him whilst trying to prevent him seeing. Feeling sorry for her number one fan, the wolf finds a witch who will help the prince see again. The witch aids the wolf by transforming it into a princess, presumably so the prince won’t find it weird holding a big hairy paw instead of a hand.
The story is the most interesting part of the game – the bond that develops between the wolf and the prince, and the differences between them such as the wolf’s fear of fire and the prince’s dislike for cannibalism, lead to some entertaining moments.
The game involves you switching between wolf and princess at the touch of a button. When in wolf form you can attack enemies and jump higher, but weigh twice as much as usual, causing some platforms to buckle. As the princess, your movement is more limited but you’re able to guide the blind prince by holding his hand or giving instruction.
On paper it sounds like a good idea, but it just seems like they didn’t really take these ideas much further. The game’s biggest problem though is that it’s just painfully dull. Like most puzzle platformers, it’s linear, but none of the puzzles are particularly fun or challenging. Usually when a game like this introduces a puzzle, it then expands on it more and more until you’ve got something both charming and clever that’s fun and challenging. This game doesn’t do that though – it uses more or less the same puzzle over and over. It’ll introduces new mechanics, but it doesn’t use any of them in a creative way.
It’s a beautiful game and story, but let down by a lack of ideas, clunky controls, and a ridiculously high price tag.
THE LIAR PRINCESS AND THE BLIND PRINCE / DEVELOPER: NIPPON ICHI SOFTWARE / PUBLISHER: NIS AMERICA / PLATFORM: PS4, SWITCH / RELEASE DATE: 12TH FEBRUARY
