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Long Live the Queen
PC (Steam)
Death by a Thousand Choices
4/5 stars
Hanako Games has a few games under their belts according to Steam, but Long Live the Queen still looks to be their most popular game. A visual novel with strategy elements - it's like a choose-your-own-adventure game that looks sweet and innocent but under that pretty facade is a game of cut-throat politics, magic run amok and seemingly everyone who wants to kill a 14-year-old would-be queen before she can be crowned. As long as you don't mind reading a bit (and re-loading a lot), it's a great concept that works incredibly well.
Presentation: The overall cute visuals hide a very macabre story underneath. It's like My Little Pony meets House of Cards - twisted politics and candy-coated sweetness on top. Hell, you can unlock outfits for your character! How much sweeter could you get?! In any case, the game follows a typical graphic novel format - static characters that change expression, plenty of text and pleasant if forgettable soundtrack. It's all very nice - which is totally hilarious with the somewhat dark subject matter (and oh so many deaths).
Story: Elodie is a young queen - at least she will be when she comes of age. Her mother has just died and her father is a bit absent. What is a young girl to do? Study: everything from standard subjects to intrigue, maybe even a little magic. But watch out - because if you make the wrong choices you may wind up dead - and believe me, you will wind up dead, over and over again. Assassination, poison, magic, war - each choice you make will lead you down a certain path and this path will often wind up with you at the end of a sword, hammer, spear, deadly magic, monsters or some other calamity. Who knew being next in line for the throne could be so traumatic? But make the right choices and maybe, just maybe, you can be crowned queen - and maybe even married to someone you like!
Gameplay: While a visual novel is the closest moniker to describe Long Live the Queen, it's not simply a game of making a few decisions and waiting out the end. The game has elements - the first element is what you study - Social (Royal Demeanor, Conversation, Expression), Physical (Agility, Weapons, Athletics, Animal Handlng), Intellectual (History, Intrigue, Medicine, Economics, Military) and Mystical (Fath, Lumen aka Magic). You can get bonuses or be penalized during these studies based on the second element: mood. Mood is a set of four sets each with two extremes: Anger and Afraid, Cheerful and Depressed, Willful and Yielding and Pressured and Lonely. Mood, in turn, is determined by the third element - what you do during the day. This choice with increase or decrease you mood in certain categories go up or down - you can also use this time to talk to various people that will also affect the outcome.
Each day in the game you choose what to study, which is influenced by what your current mood is at, which is influenced by the activities you do each day. The final element is the visual novel portion - as Elodie you must decide what to do, but often these decisions are influenced by what you have studies. If you're attending a fancy ball, your Royal Demeanor and Conversation become important, but if a foreign military invades, your knowledge of Intrigue and Military will be more helpful. Perhaps you want to explore the latent magical ability you have hidden - Lumen, but be careful, magic is also one of the more dangerous elements as people view it with suspicion while losing control can have fatal consequences.
In the end, the game involves a lot of trial and error if you want to get anywhere. I myself found that walkthrough are an invaluable source when actually trying to get any outcome - unless you like making a massive list of study/mood/activities and how each affects the next choice. Then the game becomes a grind and having to play through it time and time again could be a source of irritation rather than adventure. I don't usually recommend them, but in this case, it's probably for the best after you begin to get irritated by the lack of progress.
Replayability: Every choice you make will determine what path you go down - therefore the game has seemingly endless replayability. However, it may also get a bit repetitive (especially in the beginning) so if one is inclined, this is a game that a walkthrough is highly recommended, unless you enjoy meticulously keeping track of each stat and decision until you get things just right.
Overall: Fans of visual novels and choose-your-own-adventure types will get a kick out of this. If you don't believe in walk-throughs, be prepared for a lot of trial and error, but to some people that might be half the fun - seeing how many ways you can die before making just the right choices.
Presentation: 4/5
Story: 4/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Replayability: 5/5
Overall (not an average): 4/5
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