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And may her reign never end (for too long)

This is the game review. Here you can find the music review of
Long Live the Queen.

Here comes a game that I probably never thought I would play myself: Long Live the QueenHere comes a game that I probably never thought I would play myself: Long Live the Queen. A manga-style visual novel about the young princess Elodie, who is preparing for her regency after the death of her mother. So far so trivial. Then why did I suddenly have this crap on my Steam account? The culprit was a good friend who challenged me to "play it and see how far I could get." A challenge? "A role-playing game for babys", I thought to myself, thinking I could finish it in a few minutes.

Day 1: How it began

So I started the game. The process is quite simple: every day we have to decide which disciplines Elodie will practise during the week to prepare for the upcoming events. As soon as I entered the menu, I was practically overwhelmed by the categories I could train. Like a pen-and-paper skill tree, I could learn all kinds of useful and, I thought, useless crap. What good would 'serenity' do me? Or 'bookkeeping'? Sure, as a regent everything would be useful at some point, but do you really have to be able to do everything?

As usual in role-playing games, I opted for a mix of physical and intellectual talents and clicked my way through the adventure, half amused, half bored. Again and again, I was faced with decisions where I could only guess what Long Live the Queen wanted me to do. And I was delighted every time I was able to use my boosted abilities. Only as a plot option in text windows, of course, as there was no actual gameplay.

At some point, the coach in which Elodie was on her way to a prince in a neighboring kingdom to forge a promising alliance was ambushed. An arrow hit my protégée in the shoulder. What now? If she had any medical knowledge or archery skills, the budding queen would have known what not to do with the arrow. But she hadn't. So, as one does, Elodie pushed the projectile further into her body so that it would come out the other side. This questionable maneuver was then promptly acknowledged with the game-over screen. Seriously? I had actually lost? In this crappy game?

Day 2: How it ended

Next try, this time a little more broadly leveled. Now I lacked the specialization to convince the court of my royal authority. Result: An angry mob, revolution, execution. Dude! Next attempt. Awesome, magic makes pretty cool things possible ... another lesson learned. And the level system is also more complex than I thought... Elodie's mood influences what she can train particularly effectively. Another lesson learned. Failed again. Restart.

In the end, I think it took me two sessions of wrestling with the game before I finally got to see the well-deserved “Long Live the Queen” celebrations. And that was only because I found out that you could save the game. Silly of me, but who expected it to be so difficult? Sure, it's only a short gimmick and if you know the course of the story, you can prepare for the turning points in a relatively systematic way. But the many possible combinations give it great replay value, and for the little money you have a few really enjoyable hours.