Once upon a time, I bought Long Live The Queen in the Steam Sale. It seemed like a cute enough game to play. However I hadn’t gotten around to play it properly. Last weekend, I launched the game and decided to become the Queen. I had read some reviews about this game, so I was warned about the different ways the character could meet her end. After a few walkthroughs, I finally beat the game! I still have to unlock many achievements, but I felt like writing a review anyways.
Menu Art, source: http://longlivethequeen.wikia.com/wiki/Long_Live_the_Queen_Wiki
The basics are simple: get queen or die trying. Elodie was the reason I bought the game. The art looked so adorable that I could spare those few euros in the Steam Sale. Because of her mother recent death, she is brought out of school to start her preparation to become the Queen. You have to guide Elodie through forty weeks and then she will become the Queen of Nova. Basically you have to level different skills, such as “court manners” or “naval strategy”. These skill level manipulate the course of the game, because you have to pass certain tests in order to survive different attacks. If you have good court manners, Elodie will realise that a gift from a Duke could mean a courting present, and levelling “Intrigue” will allow her to have knowledge of the Earls and Dukes of her Kingdom. I guess that people familiar with these types of games already know this,but I am/was new to Visual Novels.
And the concept of different skill sets and walkthroughs frustrated me really badly at first. I wanted to get the best walkthrough, but that felt impossible. I believe I maxed out Conversation and Lumen and I tried to avoid as many parties and wars as I could. After three days of casual gaming, I became the queen. I saw that I had unlocked an option called “the checklist” and then I realised how many routes there were still left to explore and how many things were still left to be done. I hadn’t realised the story could go in so many different ways; for example, I still have to unlock a terrible family secret…
Elodie also has 8 moods. Her moods affect how well she can learn skills. You can manipulate her mood with the weekend activities and how she reacts to events! It’s a clever mechanic to make the game more addictive to play.
Long Live The Queen is an incredibly addictive game. It made me realise how much fun visual novels can be! I’m looking forward to seeing more visual novels on steam!
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