Slay the Princess

The scariest part of Black Tabby Games’ Slay the Princess isn’t all the monsters you’ll face or the fear of a world-ending cataclysm, it’s the horrifying ordeal of being known.

This time-loop horror game presents you with one challenge: Slay the princess waiting in an abandoned cabin who will supposedly destroy the world if she escapes. What seems straightforward quickly unravels into a repetitious battle as each loop ends with either you or the princess dying at each other’s hands, and each time she appears in a different, monstrous form. But how many times can you see the most violent, primal versions of each other before you know the other better than you know yourself? Slay the Princess is all about our perceptions of one another, and the more times you die, the more you learn about someone who may not be everything you’ve been told. Its overarching mystery is compelling, but getting to know someone at the end of a blade is the draw that keeps me walking down the cabin’s stairs. — Kenneth Shepard