Slay the Princess is a visual novel about a hero being tasked with slaying a princess who will supposedly end the world if left alive. Throughout the story, you’re guided by the voice of a Narrator who instructs you to kill the princess at all costs but keeps you in the dark about the specifics of your task. You’re also accompanied by a voice who expresses doubt that killing a princess really is the right thing to do. The game is sort of a choose-your-own-adventure, where you’re given a set of choices that result in the story going in different directions. There are many branching paths and chapters in this game, some less obvious than others, so this guide will list each of the different named chapters you can reach.
Do note that this guide will contain spoilers regarding each of the different branching chapters in Slay the Princess. The game is best played blind on your first playthrough, but this guide could help to find routes you may have missed.
There are many different directions this story can go, and it all starts on a path in the woods.
Chapter II Routes
In the initial Chapter I at the beginning of Slay the Princess, how you go about your assigned task is very important to determining which direction the story goes in and what the next chapter will be. In each of these chapters, the Princess will take on a new appearance and personality, and the interior of the cabin will change to reflect that. You’ll also be accompanied by an additional voice, who differs depending on the chapter.
The Stranger
This is perhaps the simplest of all the different branching paths in Slay the Princess while also possibly being the most unconventional. To access this route, simply refuse to enter the cabin at all, turning around and heading back down the path in the woods. Keep doing so until everything goes black. In the next chapter, leaving will no longer be an option due to the walls surrounding the forest, and the cabin you didn’t enter the first time will take on a surreal appearance. Picking this as your first route may lead to some changes in the ending.
This would be your first time entering a cabin, but something certainly seems off already.
The Spectre
Pick up the knife before entering the basement. Don’t say anything to the princess and slay her at the first opportunity. This is also how you get the “Good Ending”, which is not considered a route of its own as the game will simply end there. You can instead choose to take the knife from the Princess’ body (if you do so immediately after slaying her, however, it will instead lead to The Razor) and stab yourself with it. Afterwards, you’ll find yourself on a path to a cabin that now looks like a decrepit haunted house. Perhaps it’s as haunted as it looks.
The cabin resembles a haunted mansion, even if it’s still only two rooms.
The Prisoner
Pick up the knife on your way to the basement. When encountering the princess, speak with her and tell her that you’re going to try to help her escape. The door will lock when you attempt to exit, so return to the princess to continue trying to free her. The narrator will attempt to force you to Slay the Princess, giving you many identical options to do it, but there will be one option to resist. Repeat this when you’re again given several identical options to slay her, and the chapter will end. Now, the cabin has changed to look like a dungeon. The Princess was already a prisoner, but perhaps she’s even more shackled now than before.
The cabin is even more of a prison now than it was from the start.
The Damsel
Don’t pick up the knife, then proceed to do the same steps you did to get the Prisoner route, attempting to free the princess and resisting attempts to slay her. The scene will play out similarly, then you’ll find yourself approaching a cabin that looks like a room in a regal castle, a bit more in line with where you’d expect to find a princess.
Like a tower you’d see in a storybook.
The Adversary
Grab the knife, then talk with the princess. Attempt to kill her with the knife, then make the choice to finish the job when prompted. In the next chapter, the cabin now looks like it’s made out of carved stone.
The wooden cabin now looks like it was made of stone.
The Beast
Enter the basement without taking the knife, then speak with the princess. Attempt to free her, then when the knife falls in front of you, try to stab her. When fighting with her, choose to give up. The chapter will end and you’ll soon find yourself in a cabin that looks more like overgrown wilderness than a building.
The Princess has become something closer to a wild animal, and the prison changes to reflect that.
The Nightmare
Talk the Princess upon seeing her, then tell her that you’re going to leave her locked in the basement. Go back upstairs and lock the door behind you. You’ll wait in the room upstairs (you don’t have the option to leave the cabin) and eventually the Princess will manage to escape. Afterwards, the next time you enter the cabin, the basement will have changed into a seemingly endless dark void.
The basement has transformed to a strange and bizarre void.
The Witch
Go into the basement without the knife, then speak with the princess. You can either wait until the knife drops in front of you and fatally stab her with it, or you can go upstairs to grab the knife, leading to her escaping when you come back down to the basement. Either way, in the next chapter the cabin will now look like it was dug into the ground.
Even the ground floor of the cabin looks like a basement now.
The Tower
Take the knife into the basement, then talk with the princess before attempting to stab her. During your fight with her, choose to give up. You’ll soon find yourself in a cabin that appears much bigger and more grandiose in the interior than its exterior would suggest.
This room doesn’t seem like it should fit inside a single small cabin.
The Razor
Kill the Princess at the first opportunity, then check to see if she’s actually dead. As it turns out, she isn’t just yet, and stabs you while you’re distracted. Next chapter, you’ll find a cabin that looks like it’s been heavily damaged. Perhaps the Princess had something to do with it.
It looks as though somebody went at the room with an axe.
Chapter III Routes
These paths can be accessed not from the initial chapter like the previous ones, but instead through making certain decisions in the chapters that follow it. Every Chapter II route except for The Stranger has at least one Chapter III route that can be reached through it. These chapters (with one exception on a technicality) do not have further branching chapters from them, but they themselves have many possible routes and outcomes. In these chapters, not only does the cabin change to reflect the princess, but so does the entire forest around it.
The Thorn
Follow the Witch route, then bring the blade with you to the Witch. When speaking with her, hand the blade over to her. Afterwards, the next time you go to the cabin it will be overrun with roses and thorns.
The cabin becomes overrun with thorns and roses.
The Burned Grey
To get to this chapter, follow the path to the Damsel chapter. When you meet the princess, stab her with the knife. If you went to the basement without the knife, you can bring her upstairs and then stab her anyway. Afterwards, you’ll automatically stab yourself, and wake up on an eerily normal looking path to the cabin.
Nothing seems too out of the ordinary, but something’s still wrong.
The Drowned Grey
This chapter is given the same name as the other Grey, but the two scenarios are fairly different, and they’re both reached from different chapters. This one is gotten from The Prisoner. You’ll automatically take the blade down to the basement with you regardless of your choices. Either Slay the Princess when speaking to her or give her the blade. Afterwards, go back upstairs. Events will play out similarly to the “Good Ending” in Chapter I, but the game won’t end this time, regardless of whether or not you chose to stab yourself with the knife. The chapter will end, and you’ll find yourself in a place similar to the previous Grey chapter, but now it’s raining.
Much like the other Grey, but now with a downpour.
The Wraith
This route can be gotten from either The Spectre or The Nightmare. For the Specter, you can either attempt to slay her (with or without the blade), or you can tell her you refuse to help her. Either way, the chapter will abruptly end and lead to the Wraith. For the Nightmare, take the knife to the basement and stab the princess when speaking with her. Regardless of what you do next, the chapter will end and also lead to The Wraith. Now, not just the cabin, but the entire surrounding forest appears to have taken on the appearance of death.
Now the entire forest seems haunted.
The Eye Of The Needle
This route can be gotten from The Adversary. Enter the basement without picking up the knife, then when speaking with the Adversary, turn and run from the room, and then pick the knife up. The cabin and the area surrounding it now take on the appearance of a series of narrow caves.
The forest now looks more like a narrow chasm.
The Fury
This chapter can be gotten from either The Adversary or The Tower. For The Adversary, either flee from the fight and don’t pick up the knife, or attempt to fight her unarmed. For The Tower, bring the knife to the basement and make an effort to resist the Princess’ attempts to control you. When she tries to get you to slit your own throat, you’ll have the option to slay her instead. Continue choosing “Slay the Princess” each time you’re given the option. Either way, the forest now looks like it was formed out of sickly molten flesh.
The environment has now taken on the sickening appearance of melted flesh.
The Wild
You can reach this chapter through either the Beast or the Witch. For the Witch, attempt to flee the basement after meeting her, or bring the knife to the basement and try to kill her. For the Beast, during the encounter with the princess if you fail to wound her (in which case it instead leads to “The Den”, listed below), you will be eaten. If you die afterwards (how it happens doesn’t matter, but you can still Slay the Princess with the blade if you brought it), it will also lead to The Wild. In either case, you’ll find yourself in a surreal area where there doesn’t seem to be a cabin at all.
Perhaps the most bizarre change in scenery of them all.
The Den
To get to this chapter, follow the Beast path and bring the blade with you. During your encounter with the princess, don’t try to talk to her and don’t attempt to flee for the stairs. When prompted, decide to wait for her to attack you, then strike. You’ll end up in a fight with her, and afterwards the chapter ends. Now, the forest has taken on the appearance of a jungle.
The forest now looks more like a lush jungle.
The Arms Race/Mutually Assured Destruction
During The Razor, bring the knife with you to the basement. Regardless of which actions you take next, these two chapters will play out.
The room looks even more broken than it did before.
No Way Out/The Empty Cup
This route is much like The Arms Race, only this time during the Razor, don’t take the knife with you when you go into the basement. While they have different names, this route is very similar to the previous one except for how it ends. No matter what you do, after you first enter the basement where the Razor is, it will play out the same way.
The Moment Of Clarity
During The Nightmare, either attempt to run away from the Princess or tell her that you refuse to do anything. Either way, a sequence will play that leads to the Moment Of Clarity. This chapter is one of the more bizarre and nebulous ones.
Things have gotten so confusing it’s unclear if there’s even a cabin at all now.
The Apotheosis
Bring the blade with you to the basement during the Tower chapter. Speak with her until she attempts to make you slit your own throat with the knife. You may or may not be able to perform any other actions at this point, but to get this route you’ll need to select the option to slay yourself. In the next chapter, the cabin is already in sight, but it’s at the end of a long path of winding steps.
This chapter starts on a winding series of stone steps.
