On a whim I purchased a cutesy looking game called “Long Live the Queen” on a steam sale in effort to stream + Share with my twitch community and was pleasantly surprised when I played it. I didn’t stream it yet because I needed to know what I was getting myself into.
At a glance, Long Live the Queen does indeed look cutesy, but you play as the 14-year-old Elodie who needs to survive until her 15th birthday in order to become queen. Of course, there are many obstacles in the game that are meant to make you really think about your safety as you progress through the game. Long Live the Queen was developed by Hanako Games and Spiky Caterpillar and published by Hanako Games.
Hanako Games is a small independent video game developer that develops mostly PC games involving female protagonists centered on fantasy and anime-styled games. Naming a few of their games, Hanako Games developed Fatal Hearts, Cute Knight and most recently the game called Magical Diary: Wolf Hall.
While there isn’t much information about Spiky Caterpillar, but Spiky Caterpillar is also a small independent game designer and co-creator of Long Live the Queen. They are known to frequently collaborate with Hanako games.
The gameplay is straight forward, you’re introduced to the main character, Elodie, whose mother recently passed away and now she is to become Queen at the age of 15. Your main task is to keep Elodie alive and make her the best she can be by keeping up with her studies, keeping her happy, and handling monarch like decisions.
The day is split into morning studies and evening studies with a break in the afternoon, her studies range from animal handling, décor, singing, communication, faith, medicines, etc. You choose what she studies in the morning and evening and what she does during her break.
Her studies are integral for how the Princess will react & handle certain situations in her soon to be kingdom in addition to her studies you will find out that she may be resistant to some studies and will refuse to learn that specific category and thus affect her stats.
Also within the game, there are several events that will occur throughout the game that will call on the studies of the princess, and depending on what you have studied you will either have a positive or a negative response with your actions. This also means that there is a possibility that the Princess may die before she reaches the throne WHICH ALSO MEANS there are various endings.
Have Fun~
On to the review!
Rating Guide:
☆: Could be better
☆☆: Ok
☆☆☆: Decent
☆☆☆☆: Great!
Story: ☆☆☆
The story reminds me of the many otome games I’ve played on my cellphone but with a twist. Something traumatic happens, the girl rises to combat her trauma but without the help of a male romance option. The girl rising to combat her trauma/loss/etc. is the main plot of the LLtQ. Paired with the random events that test you i.e. your cousin being poisoned in front of you, choosing who to marry, war, etc the story is still interesting and keeps you a bit anxious as to what happens next.
Gameplay: ☆☆☆
Very simple and straight forward. Most of the gameplay happens on the same screen with some changes in scenes depending on the location/event/situation. Generally what happens in the story next depended on your actions with Elodie’s studies, reactions, and choices.
Art/Graphics:☆☆☆
The art is cutesy, simple, and well done. The backgrounds are well done and simple but where the real changes come into play are the Princess’ outfits. Now, these outfits are obtained by unlocking specific levels in her studies. I personally unlocked three outfits and two of them were normal but the last one was a bit over the top but still cute. Of course, there are more, and I won't spoil those for you :)
I highly recommend taking a look into this game, I know appearance-wise it could be too cutesy or ‘cringe’ but the game, story, and art of this game is good!
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