With different variants of Covid threatening us into continuing to social distance, I haven't been able to do quite as many enjoyable things. I have other important things to do, since I 'm about to start my second year of my grad program, but I've been casually videogaming in the time I haven't been a hostage to my internship and all it entails. In keeping with my tendency to be drawn toward fairy tale inspired stories and cute things, I played two short video games by the name of "She and the Light Bearer" and "Little Briar Rose".
'Little Briar Rose' is 'Sleeping Beauty' from the point of view of the prince, who is trying to get past the thick wall of briars to wake the princess. The prince must go to four villages to gain the favor of the different magical creatures living there so that he may tear down the final wall of briars and make it to the princess' tower. Your prince visits gnomes, fairies, mermen, and spriggans--all of which are dysfunctional--and solves problems for them through mini games, puzzles, mazes, and item searches. The game is mostly a search for the correct items to please the creatures you've spoken to, so it is good to make note of the surrounding interactive items. If the player cannot figure out the necessary item, they can receive a hint by completing a picture. A problem with this, is that the pictures don't really change often, and the game is not terribly hard, so the hints may make the game too easy.
If you are not careful with your answers, and insult the creatures of the forest, you can find your prince under a curse. Suddenly, you are a completely different prince picking up where the last left off. Each cursed prince gets replaced with a new one, who can encounter the other cursed princes throughout the rest of the game. It's a cute low stress game that you don't really need to play more than once unless you are trying to get all the achievements. There is an official mod that allows you to play the game as a princess rescuing a prince, so if you want to spice it up, you can give that a try, but the dialogue does not change so you still get referred to as a prince.
Each game can provide about two or three hours of entertainment respectively (give or take some time, depending on how you play).
*I bought both games from 'Steam' while they were on sale. I was not paid for this review at all.
Full price for 'She and the Light Bearer" is $9.99 (August 2021)
Full price for 'Little Briar Rose" is $4.99 (August 2021)