Pink hair, frills, magical girl powers and lots and lots of death; this is certainly how I would describe Long Live the Queen, a visual novel role-playing game created by Hanako Games. Originally debuted last year, it was only recently released on Steam to a larger public as a result of a successful Steam Greenlight campaign. Finally it seems I have found a game that successfully embraces and empowers the traditionally girly (a la the magical girl genre) all while requiring all the tactical knowledge and intelligence befitting of a strategy-heavy rpg.
The objective of the game is straight forward enough: you must help fourteen year old Crown Princess Elodie survive long enough to reach her coronation, scheduled for the date of her fifteenth birthday, and become queen. Yes, you heard that right. After the suspicious death of her mother, the young and depressed Elodie is next in line to become queen and just about everyone wants to take advantage and assassinate her. Angry peasants, deceptive nobles or relatives, and even monstrous creatures are all clamoring to get their villainous hands on her, whether in spite or for their own self-gain. You take the role of Elodie and guide her in learning everything from swordsmanship to divination to economics all in an attempt to prepare her for what dangers and chibi-style deaths might lay in waiting.
Though its anime-style graphics and the visual design reminiscent of a dating simulation may be a little off-putting to some, especially those with an aversion to pink, beneath the cutesy exterior is a serious and heavily tactical core. As Elodie you must decide what two classes you want to take each week. Each class teaches a different skill in one of four categories: social, intellectual, physical, and mystical. But it’s not as simple as that: after each week you’ll have a chance to spend the weekend doing a leisure activity that affects Elodie’s mood. In a realistic way, certain 
moods will make her gain less experience from certain activities and more from – after all, you wouldn’t have much motivation to practice public speaking or physical activity if you’re depressed and spending time with an animal might be a good choice if you’re lonely. Likewise, after the lessons you’ll also have various encounters that will test the skills you’ve chosen or neglected. If you’re prepared, you’ll pass but if you haven’t trained enough in that area, you’ll fail, resulting in a variety of negative responses. Overall there are a great deal of statistics involved that makes seeing which is the “best” option incredibly difficult and contributes to the richness of the gameplay experience.
Central events including a religious celebration and ceremonial ball act as a structured timeline for the story, but, like most rpgs, what happens in-between comes entirely as a result of your previous choices, adding greatly to the replayability factor. Though Elodie is only fourteen, she, and by default you, makes all the decisions of the kingdom. It is this factor of both personal and political agency that I found a particularly wonderful quality of the game, as you are literally able to shape Elodie into whatever kind of ruler you want her to be. She can be a ruthless warlord or a persuasive diplomat, but in any iteration she is resilient. As the player, you can choose if you want to have her accept the proposal of a suitor, lead forces into battle, and prosecute accused criminals. If she does pass away, a fate I encountered only once in my hour of playing, I can guarantee you’ll want to keep playing until you make the right decisions to allow the lovely girl to succeed, whether it’s out of a sense of 
attachment and devotion or a desire to get revenge.
Although there is technically the death of a child involved if you fail, albeit a death that is only depicted in a cutesy cartoon way, the positive (feminist!) values of the game more than made up for it in my experience. All skills, even those considered “feminine” like decorative expression or dance or elegance, have value in the story; Elodie must be prepared. Elodie is responsible for her own fate and the fate of her kingdom. Her plight is compelling. I haven’t achieved this outcome yet, but there are hints in the trophy list that Elodie might have a female suitor to counterbalance all her male ones. Even after just one hour and one playthrough I’m rather enticed by the possibilities. Though it’s not exactly an action packed game, the story and campaign successfully drives you forward. Overall if you’re looking for an offbeat strategy game with a cute flair and don’t mind the visual novel style, I think I can divine a little frilly royalty in your future.
Long Live the Queen is available on Steam for $9.99 (currently on sale for $8.99) for Mac, PC, and Linux.
