There is a hit video-game visual-novel called Slay the Princess. It’s independent, made mostly by a husband-and-wife team. What is meant by “visual novel” is that it’s a story told mostly in the form of illustrations, text, and voice-acting, but there are many areas in the story where you choose which path the characters will take, not knowing exactly where it will lead. In Japan, this genre is also called “dating simulators,” as these visual novels are mostly about romance. And Slay the Princess is very decidedly not an exception to that.
As are many others, I’m intrigued by how explicitly and unabashedly philosophical Slay the Princess is. There is even one point in the game where you can have the player character say, “Contradictions don’t exist.” Something about that line sounds familiar . . .
In the game, the titular princess can take on many forms. She has many facets, many alters. Some of them are benign. Others are very frightening. You might wonder which of these is her “real personality.” My answer is “All of them.” All of them show different-but-incomplete aspect of her. As in real-life mental health, it is important for all of these personalities ultimately to be integrated into a single whole — that is actually the root of the word integrity.
I’m going to embed some of my favorite YouTube videos that touch upon the philosophic ramifications.
So far, these have been my favorite YouTube “play-throughs” of it (the most famous one, not shown here, is by Markiplier).
