Theres a new Slay the Princess update. The indie horror game receives a sizable expansion in its End of Everything content patch.
The critically-acclaimed horror-romance visual novel is a fantastic narrative experience. In particular, its voice acting, writing, music and art coalesce to form a memorable story with multiple endings and great replayability.
With its End of Everything update, Slay the Princess delivers an extra pack of free content for players. This comes before its Pristine Cut expansion that will come later this year. In fact, some might see this as a teaser of that later expansion.
We will have to talk about some minor spoilers in addressing the new content.
Slay the Princess update: is it worth it to buy Slay the Princess?
Even before the End of Everything content update, Slay the Princess was an absolute gem. It was worth every dollar, and that value has only gone up now that there is all the more content on the way.
Games like Baldurs Gate 3 definitively proved that voice actors are an essential part of memorable video games. Slay the Princess excels in this area.
Both Jonathon Simms and Nichole Goodnight show off impressively vast range in both emotions and characterization. In particular, Simms fans familiar with his work on The Magnus Archives podcast series will delight in his prolific presence in this game.
Unfortunately, the End of Everything update wont feature much of Simms or Goodnight. This is because the update mostly tweaks the final encounter.
For fear of spoilers, lets just say that theyve improved animations in the games climax. Theyve also added new dialogue options to expand how the player can interact with the Princess in the endgame.
Additionally, theyve reworked three tracks to now feature live orchestral performances. In fact, the entire soundtrack is now in the FLAC format, improving the audio experience.
Finally, there are some miscellaneous tweaks and improvements. The quick menu has been adjusted for better controller support on consoles. Also, there are some bug fixes and restoration of some lost lines.
What is the Pristine Cut?
The Pristine Cut is different from the End of Everything. EoE is a free minor update that tweaks existing routes. Meanwhile, The Pristine Cut will be a free huge expansion for Slay the Princess that will extend the existing games length by about 25%.
The games climax will still be similar, with most (not all) of the new content included in the End of Everything. Meanwhile, the meat of The Pristine Cut will be adding completely new routes and significantly lengthening some existing paths.
Slay the Princess is reminiscent of The Stanley Parable as deconstructive video game narratives that feature a looping mechanic allowing players to explore multiple story paths. They also feature Narrators, although Slay the Princess has many more characters on top of that.
In that sense, The Pristine Cut can be seen as comparable to the Ultra Deluxe expansion for The Stanley Parable. Its main draw isnt new mechanics or gameplay changes, but instead just giving more story for its voracious players.
There isnt yet a definitive release date for The Pristine Cut. We only know its planned for a 2024 release date.
However, since it will be a free update to the base game, players can grab Slay the Princess now during a sale and play through the game after its release.
