I’ve gone into this game with zero expectations and zero idea of what this game actually was; let’s call this a ‘blind’ review… But was going in knowing nothing an advantage? Read on to find out more…

This game was developed by Nippon Ichi Software, and has actually been out in Japan since last May – I did have a quick look on the day I received the game to see what it scored, and could see it averaged fair to high scores on OpenCritic… This had me hopeful to try it despite side scrolling games not being my favourite; they just never seem to catch my attention. The game is described as an action adventure game and not a puzzle game, but I really must say it’s a puzzle game with a little action in it. This is because it’s a one button attack, and you’re just trying to keep them away from the Prince, which feels more puzzley as opposed to action adventure! It’s also got a really unique hand drawn art style and solid production behind it which are it’s main draws.

You play the game as a princess who can freely transform into a wolf monster to help the blind prince get past evil monsters and puzzles in the forest – You can attack the monsters in the forest, but everything you do is focused around helping the Prince. You blinded him to stop him from seeing that you’re a wolf, and because of this guilt, you want to get him to the witch in the forest to get his sight back; the witch also gives you the power to transform into a princess (Catch up on the story in my stream here) – I actually found the story charming and is definitely something I could see in a genuine storybook, it reminded me of a Grimm fairy tale with a Japanese twist, and had an original story, or at least one I hadn’t heard before. To help the charming story the game has a pretty unique hand drawn art style which reminded me of a cuter version of Tim Burton; the monster designs were all really original and made me think of Hellboy, oddly enough.

A combination of the blind prince and the transformation are what all of the puzzles revolve around in varying forms; holding Square in princess form, you guide the little prince through mini levels, avoiding the monsters, using switches and moving platforms to help him through. As you move on more elements are added in to complicate things and make you think a bit more, things such as telling the prince to move forward, or plants that shoot rocks… The thing is that, quite honestly, the gameplay had me pretty bored; as I mentioned before I’m not the biggest fan of these types of game and this is why – I find them to not quite catch my attention as I simply want to be doing more in a game than pressing a couple of buttons, or if it is a simple couple buttons, I need more of a challenge (Such as Rogue Knight). I found the puzzles quite simple and if anything the gameplay was infuriating at times as it felt too clunky – All you’re really doing is jumping around and pressing attack occasionally, it definitely needed more to keep it interesting, for me at least.

It for sure shines in the story and art department, but the gameplay lacks a real punch. I think if you’re a big fan of these cute platformer puzzlers you’ll have an absolute blast, but if you’re new to the genre or look for something with a bit more bang, this won’t catch your attention enough. The story would work really well on it’s own as an animation or an actual book, but doesn’t have enough going for it to be a fully fledged video game. I don’t have much more to say about the game as that’s all there is to it. The story may be enough to keep you going to see what happens, but I’d rather watch it on Youtube!

I give The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince:

6.5/10