Long Live The Queen

 PC
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 121 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 84 out of 121
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 121
  3. Negative: 10 out of 121

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  1. FirestormMk3
    Jan 24, 2014
    7
    Long Live the Queen is a surprisingly engrossing visual novel type experience. With a surprising number of endings and a well-written story I can readily encourage anyone who enjoys visual novels to give this one a try.

    The game covers the year until our protagonist's coronation ceremony, and while there are many different endings make no mistake, living until that coronation is by no    Long Live the Queen is a surprisingly engrossing visual novel type experience. With a surprising number of endings and a well-written story I can readily encourage anyone who enjoys visual novels to give this one a try.

    The game covers the year until our protagonist's coronation ceremony, and while there are many different endings make no mistake, living until that coronation is by no means a guarantee. With assassins, betrayals by nobility, wars, and duels both magical and non-magical there are many ways to meet an untimely end. This game even brings with it a more literal meaning to "death by chocolate." Each week you choose two topics to be tutored in, which is how you gain skills in the game. You will have a bonus or penalty to how much you learn based on your mood plus you'll learn skills you already have many points in more quickly. Then you'll choose how to spend your weekend which will affect your mood. Each week there is also an event. What happens in each event is not only affected by your previous choices, but by your skill levels. By default you can see the skill checks that the game is making, and it can be rather disheartening to see several failed checks pass by (or sometimes worse, a single one followed by a death), but it gives you some idea what you're missing and helps you plan what you'd like to be able to do differently on later playthroughs.

    A lot of the intrigue can be a little hard to keep up with, but you can see the effort that went into the game's story with more and more attempts. Studying up and your history and domestic and foreign affairs will provide insight in the flavor text of the skill increases, but will also give the protagonist more insight and options in dealing with them. Quickly it becomes clear that each betrayal, each rebellion, and everyone's feelings about you are actually justified and their characters actually have consistency. On a first playthrough someone's actions can seem like a cheap plot twist, but only on another attempt do you have the right combination of skills and make the right choices to learn you actually could have seen it coming.

    And make no mistake, you will play this game several times. Even should you live to your coronation a single playthrough will only take a few hours, depending on how fast you read. But there are several times the length of one attempt worth of hidden treasures that are fully worth digging for.

    Long Live the Queen is a game with heart and genuine emotional involvement. If you have any interest in the genre you owe it to yourself to give this a try.    … Expand
  2. azadi
    Nov 12, 2013
    5
    Don't quite understand the high rating. The game is very shallow and has no depth. What first seems may be a unique and fun system is nothing but illusion of narrow linear course. Each game is the same way with events happening in same order at the same time. Nothing changes and you only have find whatever is the skill you need get points in to get all the endings. No real choice in theDon't quite understand the high rating. The game is very shallow and has no depth. What first seems may be a unique and fun system is nothing but illusion of narrow linear course. Each game is the same way with events happening in same order at the same time. Nothing changes and you only have find whatever is the skill you need get points in to get all the endings. No real choice in the game other then finding out the points you need. Other reviewed mentioned strategies which i find none in this game at all because of the narrow nature.… Expand
  3. cidgrad01
    Mar 5, 2014
    6
    I picked up LLTQ for $2.50 or $5 during a sale and am essentially done with it after about 5 hours’ worth of play. It’s surprisingly enjoyable but I can’t recommend it because it’s too short and weighed down by an overly complex skill system that will only appeal to a very niche market.

    First of all, I give it extra points for the amount of effort that went into all the different story    I picked up LLTQ for $2.50 or $5 during a sale and am essentially done with it after about 5 hours’ worth of play. It’s surprisingly enjoyable but I can’t recommend it because it’s too short and weighed down by an overly complex skill system that will only appeal to a very niche market.

    First of all, I give it extra points for the amount of effort that went into all the different story options & skill choices. Critics say it’s too linear but that’s not entirely true. Having the same events occur at the same point in the story allows you to strategically plan how to overcome challenges. If random events were procedurally generated each time you played, you would only be able to survive by dumb luck. Also, you can unlock extra dialogue choices, outfits and hidden events depending on which skills you develop and actions you take.

    It is fun to fail at a skill check, possibly die, then replay and build your character differently and overcome a story obstacle. However, the further into the story an event occurs, the further you need to backwards plan for it. This gets complicated due to the labyrinthine way the story events snake together with learning skills & plotting mood adjustments (different moods give bonuses & penalties to learning different skills) and the only way to get around it is to write down some notes about which events occur at which times. While I appreciate all of the multiple endings and achievements available, unlocking those would require way more effort than most people would be willing to spend. The game does give you an option to export a text log of story events, but it doesn’t include any information about skill checks so it’s not nearly as useful as it could be.

    I was still having a pretty good time despite the flaws because I liked the story, but just when I felt like things were getting interesting, it ended. You only need to survive through 40 turns or so to win, and those turns go by blazingly fast when you already know which choices you’re going to make.

    LLTQ gets an A for effort but I simply can’t advise anyone to buy it unless the thought of manually charting out every story event, skill point expenditure & mood adjustment through trial & error appeals to you. It will keep you amused for a few hours and you’ll have no need to ever go back to it.    … Expand
  4. themagiccan
    Dec 29, 2013
    7
    If you played Cute Knight and was expecting Long Live the Queen to be something similar, you may be in for a big surprise as Cute Knight was loads more fun.
  5. skulls
    Oct 20, 2015
    6
    The game is alright. It was fun for a night or two. I got almost every part of the story but this was more of a chore because I had to go through so many of the same things for a little bit of new content. The story comes down to a few major events happening and if you have the right stats you get a better outcome. Yay... just when you become queen and can make some real change the gameThe game is alright. It was fun for a night or two. I got almost every part of the story but this was more of a chore because I had to go through so many of the same things for a little bit of new content. The story comes down to a few major events happening and if you have the right stats you get a better outcome. Yay... just when you become queen and can make some real change the game ends probably because they couldn't handle all the possible plot lines they'd set up that never went anywhere interesting.… Expand
  6. orctown-troll
    Jun 28, 2014
    5
    LLTQ is a NICHE product. It has slide-show graphics. It has a silly premise. A silly story. Within this framework the game is fun in its niche-market mode. The point is you will run through the story many many times to uncover all the variations that flesh out the full story. If you are a fan of anime and Japanese RPG production values, then this would be a recommended buy at about $2.LLTQ is a NICHE product. It has slide-show graphics. It has a silly premise. A silly story. Within this framework the game is fun in its niche-market mode. The point is you will run through the story many many times to uncover all the variations that flesh out the full story. If you are a fan of anime and Japanese RPG production values, then this would be a recommended buy at about $2. This game (and genre) has great potential to offer GREAT gameplay. But it fails because of a vital lack of CONTENT. There are insufficient variations in the story. The graphics are UNDERWHELMING. The skill trees don't lead to anything. Too many story paths lead to death and failure rather than discovery. It is not much fun going back for 'another run' through the same, limited 'tunnels'. 5/10. Mediocre.

    orctowngrot    … Expand
  7. ChanReview
    Feb 15, 2015
    6
    The game appears to be all cute and fluffy with butterflies; but it is deceiving.

    Your aim is to schedule a princess's life in order to avoid imminent death before her coronation ceremony. It's rather comedic in how the princess dies (there are many, many, many ways to die) and the way she speaks if you do not teach her any better. It is by no means easy to live all the way to the end    The game appears to be all cute and fluffy with butterflies; but it is deceiving.

    Your aim is to schedule a princess's life in order to avoid imminent death before her coronation ceremony. It's rather comedic in how the princess dies (there are many, many, many ways to die) and the way she speaks if you do not teach her any better. It is by no means easy to live all the way to the end and I can almost guarantee death on your first attempt; but that is what makes it fun.

    Story line is a bit underwhelming and could have been improved and eventually you will get bored of the game as there is only so many times you can click and rearrange classes for her to attend before you get bored. Was an interesting and fun game initially to say the least, but left much to desire. You eventually get to the point where you click classes randomly, ignoring her mood, and wishing for the best.    … Expand
  8. DiggetyDoo1
    May 10, 2015
    6
    This game features a story that at first seems cookie-cutter but when you play a bit more, it's slightly less cookie-cutter. Slightly. The art is adorable and the characters are somewhat likable. There are some pretty tricky decisions and stat management to do. The mechanic of learning different classes is pretty amazing and the mood mechanic is nice too. Your choices have a pretty bigThis game features a story that at first seems cookie-cutter but when you play a bit more, it's slightly less cookie-cutter. Slightly. The art is adorable and the characters are somewhat likable. There are some pretty tricky decisions and stat management to do. The mechanic of learning different classes is pretty amazing and the mood mechanic is nice too. Your choices have a pretty big impact on the game. Playthroughs can be VASTLY different. One annoyance is that you can often end up creating never-ending cycles of death that cannot be beaten and thus you are forced to restart the entire game so an autosave function would've been much appreciated. The protagonist really feels like an extension of you which is helped by the many, MANY things you can learn. On different playthroughs, it's hard to keep track of the different ways you can die in this game. There are plenty of opportunities to die in this game (ran through with a sword, killed by dark magic and poisoned by a box of chocolates to name a few). Often deadlines to do certain things can approach ALARMINGLY fast. Even when you're restarting the entire game because of a never ending cycle of death. But that's one flaw in an otherwise quite good Visual Novel/Life Simualtion. Get it in a sale.… Expand
  9. allo_ver
    Feb 21, 2016
    5
    While I'm not very fond of visual novels, I kind of enjoyed Long Live the Queen.

    Following an interesting initial premise - You are a young princess about to reach adulthood and your eventual coronation -, the game relies on a nice skill based system, where certain events and dialogue options are enabled depending on skill levels. The plot offers a good variety of characters and a    While I'm not very fond of visual novels, I kind of enjoyed Long Live the Queen.

    Following an interesting initial premise - You are a young princess about to reach adulthood and your eventual coronation -, the game relies on a nice skill based system, where certain events and dialogue options are enabled depending on skill levels.

    The plot offers a good variety of characters and a complex enough scenario, and figuring out a path to survive all the threats to your coronation - and there are many - will prove challenging for a while, as you juggle which skills should be trained and which will be neglected. It's a trial and error process that can be figured out after a while. More difficult is to figure out a path to get all endings, as it requires vastly different approaches to overcome the same challenges.

    However, its good ideas are undermined by very low production values.

    For a game that relies on still images to present the plot, there's not much variety. You will spend most of the time gazing at the same still picture of the castle. Events are only described in text with the still image of the castle in the background, with very few exceptions (that simply change the background for a bit). The character portraits all seem to be derived from the same very few templates, so it's hard to differentiate among them.

    Also, there's no voice acting of any kind, the music is somewhat dull and repetitive, and the writing is lackluster (all character seemed to have very similar personalities).

    In the end it's not a bad game, but it could have been much better with a few minor improvements.    … Expand
  10. beardi
    Feb 4, 2016
    5
    First time I played it I was really impressed. Then, you start to discover the nonsense. The second time I played it was somehow boring. Too repetitive (and still unpredictable). It would say it is a cute game, but not my kind of game.
  11. bigsilverhotdog
    May 1, 2016
    6
    I recommend this game IF it is on sale, and in spite of the fact that it is way, WAY, ****WAY**** too short.

    It has an interesting story, good writing, standard high quality iconic anime art design, plenty of "choose your own adventure" paths to take during the year in which you "graduate" from Princess to Queen, and a satisfying amount of humor. The problem is that at the very    I recommend this game IF it is on sale, and in spite of the fact that it is way, WAY, ****WAY**** too short.

    It has an interesting story, good writing, standard high quality iconic anime art design, plenty of "choose your own adventure" paths to take during the year in which you "graduate" from Princess to Queen, and a satisfying amount of humor.

    The problem is that at the very moment you really start to enjoy the game, right at the moment you become Queen and you think "Ok, now things are really going to get interesting!" -- BLAM, THE GAME ENDS. Seriously, I'd only been playing for an hour and I was really getting excited that the game had the potential to be a really GREAT game...

    and that was it. Game over. Thanks for playing this incredibly short story.

    Yeah, ok, there is a little replay value if you want to see all the different ways to fail, and all the different outcomes that the game displays to you as text AFTER you become Queen... but that's not very much at all. I wanted to rule, to deal with the consequences of the "setup" that I'd just played, to see the results of my choices, and to make many more choices. The game felt very much like a shareware demo -- "If you want to play the real game as the Queen, then buy the full game."

    ...or perhaps more appropriately:

    "I know we said "Long Live the Queen", but what we meant was, "Long Live the Queen perhaps, if you make the right decisions in the 1 hour 'Choose your own adventure' Princess-Graduating-to-Queen time window during which this game takes place and the long life of the Queen takes place entirely in your own imagination after it says Game Over."

    At 10 dollars this game is a complete INSULT. At the 2 dollars I got it for during the Steam Summer Sale it was a MARGINALLY acceptable value. But there should have been a game to play after the intro was over.    … Expand
  12. diehard-gamer
    Jan 1, 2015
    5
    OK(ish). Just purchased this for approx £3 on steam. Played for several hours. Its OK. Its a bit like playing a spreadsheet with storyline events that require you to have certain values in your key spreadsheet cells to continue. There is no way of knowing when which cells will be required, so you will 'die' randomly quite often. There are save games so you can time travel back to beforeOK(ish). Just purchased this for approx £3 on steam. Played for several hours. Its OK. Its a bit like playing a spreadsheet with storyline events that require you to have certain values in your key spreadsheet cells to continue. There is no way of knowing when which cells will be required, so you will 'die' randomly quite often. There are save games so you can time travel back to before your death and start increasing the values in the cells you need to get past the event, but the cells are interlinked and increasing the values you need takes time, so you may not be able to increase them fast enough to continue. Its OK for £3. The spreadsheety gameplay reminds me a bit of 'console game dev' on Android and Democracy on PC -so If you liked those games, you may like The Queen too.… Expand
  13. seraphmina
    Jan 26, 2017
    7
    I played with a walkthrough and enjoyed it a lot. If you go in blind then you're going to need a bit of determination to figure the game out and keep your character alive.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
67

Mixed or average reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. PC PowerPlay
    Feb 24, 2014
    70
    What initially seems like a game of dressups and progress bars reveals itself to be a much deeper story based affair. [March 2014, p.58]
  2. Eurogamer
    Jan 31, 2014
    70
    The fact is that wandering through the plot of Long Live the Queen, blithely making mistakes on the assumption you'll do better the second or third time, is wonderful. Trying to actually do better is a byzantine process involving either heavy use of a guide or incredible persistence.
    Read full review
  3. Everyeye.it
    Jan 22, 2014
    70
    A spoiled-teenager-princess simulator, where the main character can die in the most unlikely ways. What more do you want?
    Read full review
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