Long Live the Queen (PC) review "A Cutely brutal game in disguise… "

There happens to be a time in my gaming life whenever I got tired from playing massive amounts of first person shooters and strategy games by the likes of Counter Strike and StarCraft for instances.
I stumbled upon this game by sheer chance since I wanted a change of scenery from playing mainstream games and wanted to try something unique in flavor, I was instantly captivated by the art style of the game since I am a Manga/Anime aficionado myself and was very fascinated for the first time I seen a video game in anime graphics style for I am often accustomed to 3D games and such. Didn’t took long enough for me to try it out.

Long Live The Queen was my very first entry to the visual novel genre, initially I was surprise for the lack or emphasis on gameplay for the game itself is akin to reading a digital book with pretty artwork and music attached to it, however as time passes by and as I play the game oftentimes, I seemed to love every second of it and there began my admiration to the Visual Novel genre in general.

Long Live the Queen starts up as a cutely anime theme sim simulation with a splash of visual novel for gameplay representation, however looks can be deceiving as I soon find out from my first playthrough as almost everyone and everything is trying to murder your cute little princess base on the choices she and choices here plays a larger role in the game. The objective of the game is for princess Elodie to survive the political intrigue and dramas of royalty long enough for her coronation ceremony as a queen. This is a game where patience is important for you’ll die dozens of times in so many different ways imaginable such as being stabbed by a sword from angry a nobleman or being blown to smithereens by magic.

There’s a particular scenario wherein a foreign ambassador visits your domain and demands reparation for damages committed by one of your subjects, with enough foreign intelligence stats and meeting other criteria. You are given the option to punish the person responsible or settle a sort of compromise to the party offended. Plus, you could choose the kind of punishment the culprit will receive such as executing him/her or offer him/her to marry off one of the countrymen from the opposing party. Pretty fascinating!

Gameplay aspects consist of stats raising scenario wherein our little princess participates classes to increase her skills in a certain subject like medicine, economics, military and plenty more. Giving you the opportunity of shaping Elodie in whichever conceivable way you desire, whether she’s a skilled orator or an accomplished economist. The game rewards the player’s costumes or attires that greatly adds several stats on specific skillsets aside for cosmetic purposes. In addition, Elodie’s mood also plays a significant role in studying certain skillsets by either granting a bonus or a penalty for acquiring them during classes.

There’s a subtle moral lesson to be learned in this brutal game, to succeed in life, one must acquire certain skills which he or she deems necessary in achieving their hopes and dreams or simply have an edge in a competitive environment.

There is absolutely plenty of ways to accomplish Elodie’s quest in becoming queen, the only question would be what methods are you willing to employ be it good or evil and how far are you willing to go? The journey in getting there varies from multiple Playthroughs for you’ll eventually die in your first moments in the game, but don’t lose hope. Learn from your mistakes and give it a retry. The game is frustrating at times as it doesn’t allow any room for failure and it’s quite brutal with it however there’s certainly a sense of fulfillment once bypass every scenario checks, avoiding certain death and eventually reaching the coronation scene! At the very least the game shows a collection of cutely drawn anime artistry of the numerous times Elodie died in all kinds! In addition, this game is much darker in spite of its cute anime surface, there is just plenty of scandalous secrets attached to the nobility families, ranging from incest, sexual abuse, murder, occultism involvement then adding them all into the mix, creating a poisonous cocktail of dark intrigue reminiscent to real life examples comparable to the infamous Emperor Nero and his debaucheries throughout antiquity ahem….

While the game itself possess appealing anime artworks and mechanics are pretty well designed. My only few complaints regarding it is the lack of CG event scenes excluding the coronation ceremony, the lack of soundtrack variation as the same song was repeating in duration of the game with tiny subtle difference, the music itself is like the ones that you hear from a funeral service or from someone’s eulogy. Of course it’s only appropriate to the occasion for Elodie will oftentimes die on the first series of playthroughs.

Although with the recent updates made by the developers to the game. Including new characters, numerous possible scenarios, and additional epilogues with eye catching anime stained glass style for the extra flavor! It somehow makes out for it to provide a satisfying experience in each playthrough that you succeed triumphantly!

Overall I had a fun moment playing Long Live The Queen from start to finish and would gladly recommend it to people who appreciates anime and the Visual Novel genre, although it could be infuriating at times during my first hours of gameplay as I die frequently, however reaching the coronation scene grants a sense of fulfillment for the valiant efforts and hours of toiling I played the game just to obtain my very first victory! Certainly not a cup of tea for impatient individuals and people who easily give up in the face of adversity.

Community review by templarseeker (April 07, 2022) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.