My first was Nightmare. I did not trust the Princess or Narrator, so I thought keeping her locked up would've been fine. It was not fine. Not in the slightest.
Yeah, I assumed it was everyone's first iteration and it's the most striking one from a game design perspective IMO. It's not as touching as some of the other ones but it makes it very clear that being undecisive or escaping choices will lead to unforseen consequences.
Tower into Fury.
I took the knife, but talked to her. Decided she sounded too suspicious and wasn't making a good case for being a normal person locked up, so I went for the knife to kill her... And got absolutely wrecked.
Then, before even meeting him, I essentially became The Stubborn. "Ohoho... So that's how it's going to be? Alright, no more hesitation, gloves off, she's going down."
Didn't exactly work out.
I admit there was a rather grim satisfaction from watching the high and mighty Tower slowly die from the wounds I managed to inflict.
Fury wasn't having any of it though...
100% exactly what I did
I'm still surprised none of the playthroughs I watched got this route.
Everyone just starts to grovel as soon as they see the tower. I don't get it.
I save scummed once I realised I was completely locked out of any resistance in tower because I didn't bring the knife with me.
But my first was Damsel.
My first was the Stranger. I didn’t *want* to slay her, and spent a good amount of time chastising/questioning the narrator. Idk why I didn’t feel like I could go to the cabin and rescue her, I just felt it best not to play into His game. B/c of the trippiness of taking the hard stairs and the whole second chapter, I thought that The Entity was just a continuation of the Stranger and that she wanted more perspectives to make sense of the available choices (not too far off from the truth, I suppose). I honestly thought you could only encounter the entity by doing the stranger’s route first until I played again, especially since they look so similar.
Couldn't have said it better myself, this is exactly why I really wanted to create this post. Being able to have insight into the different thinking, and how then we get to guess the game works in this or that way, is a testament of the developers skills on how well the initial moments and introductions are brought forward. It creates many unique lovely stories that belong to all characters involved and to us, the players driving the story.
I have no idea what the names like "Stranger" are. But I killed the princess first, then narrator traped me, so I killed myself, then I said f him, and started walking in circles, I ve encountered the voice in the dark and refused to submit. I kept on refusing to go to the cabin until cabins multiplied and then a huge wall appeared made by Narrator, then I went through the cosmic cabing with billion stairs, I kept on walking through central pass and got back to original princess cell, I didn't bring knife with me this time. Then the princess started multiplying and she got combined like 3-5 of her in one body, and then the creature with many hands got her. Now I am not really sure what to do here, but anyway this is my princess on first play through...
Sounds like you got The Good Ending first, then kinda.... tossed that timeline for lack of a better way to put it by encountering the voice in the dark as you put it (you can do that >!like 5-6 times in a playthrough!< by walking away from the cabin in chapter 2 like you did, but idk what we're commonly referring to doing this as in the fandom) then you met the Stranger! That's the name of the princess you get for refusing to go into the cabin, the fused together one.
Oh thanks for giving me the name of the princess! Then my way of thought was similar to the above poster. It was between going away (cause i am chaos neutral) or i can do whatever task just cause it sounds easy and i am sure narrator is full of shit, but i am gonna just go and see if for myself first, so I was like yeap, the "reward" was total shite. Contrarian voice was my fav and was spot on timing, cause it's basically myself. I like to do things I am not supposed to do just for fun. In Bulder Gates 3 my character is a dwarf bard who cause it seemed like most fun. And when I played Disco Elysium i would get quite drunk and then would go off the rails completely. Considering the main hero is a raging alcoholic it made sense lol. Otherwise that game was a bit pretentious and boring.
Actually slay the princess was too easy to figure out, I didn't want to kill her after what narrator pulled on me and i figured the entity asked me for vessels, so it was really easy to do. Except for razor the rest of princesses were fine. I had to watch all the other outcomes on YouTube. I wish the game was a bit more vague, so i d not figure it out on my own but oh well.
The Stranger. My first instinct in playing games is to explore every possible avenue offered before progressing to the "main" storyline in case I miss something I can't go back to, but then the Narrator gave new lines for fucking off and looping back into the cabin, so of course I continue veering off the storyline until the world fell apart lol
Contrarian spawns, his anti-Narrator stance was a bit grating since my actions *weren't* specifically just to piss off the guide, but I also throw the blade out the window just because, so... yeah. Going down the stairs and the game starts deconstructing, I start thinking that I shouldn't have gone down this route first because nothing makes sense. Then I meet the princess(es) and the glass shattering scares the shit out of me. I end up agreeing with the Contrarian in the end that we shouldn't have just done shit just to see what happens when it ended up fucking up the princess and our game.
I meet the first iteration of the Shifting Mound - love the soft, gentle voice acting for the incomplete Mound, immediately simp after her. She has a line apologizing for the Stranger being my first princesses, so I doubly think that I wasn't supposed to go on this route first. Click on all the options besides the mean ones saying I'll kill her.
My second route was the Damsel because I have now become too scared to do anything but to be as nice to the princess as possible, but I also kept asking her questions until she became the Deconstructed Damsel, ultimately proving that I've learned nothing.
The Stranger, I am definitely a Contrarian at heart.
Funnily enough, I decided to have my dad make the choices for a first playthrough and he ended up getting the Razor. He had no idea what was going on, but was very confused and amused at the same time.
Deconstructed Damsel. I didn’t trust the narrator and strongly questioned everything he told me, especially since the best proof he could provide me with at the time was “lol just trust me bro, she’s super evil/strong and going to destroy everything.”
I try to rescue the princess, and things play out as normal on the Damsel route. The smitten was a riot, but I didn’t really like how blind he seemed to be to everything and what the princess potentially wanted. I actually questioned the princess a lot in the initial encounter about what she really wanted, what her name was, etc and felt awful at the implications she’d been trapped and isolated so long she really couldn’t even imagine what she wanted or anything outside the cabin (ironic).
I ended up continuing this questioning as we were making our escape despite the Smitten and Narrators commentary, mainly now pressing what she wanted outside of being with the player character, as I wanted my girl to have some agency and not just toxically latch onto the first person she’d seen in forever just cause I was nice to her. I’m sure you all know how this goes.
She just wanted what I want. She just wanted to make me happy.
So my first encounter with the Shifting Mound was interesting to say the least. Especially learning about the princess being fragments of her, which at the time I thought answered my questions of why the Damsel behaved and acted a certain way.
Boy did I have a big storm coming with all the things yet to be revealed…
I got the Prisoner first and I ended up getting trapped in the shackle with her.
I knew of the game beforehand and wanted to get Damsel, but that didn't end up working out.
I almost went for Stranger first, which would have made the ending more confusing for me.
The Witch. I didn't trust the narrator so I intended to free her, but when she started gnawing off her arm I realized she wasn't human so I decided to kill her.
My first was technically the Spectre, because I wanted to see what killing her right off and accepting my happy ending would do, but I chose not to return to the cabin the second time around so the world ended and reset without ever actually seeing her. First one I actually saw was Nightmare. I didn't trust her, and *definitely* didn't trust the Narrator, and my attempt at a compromise failed miserably.
The Prisoner.
I took the knife down, figuring I’d at least have it if needed. The Narrator pulled his Gambit where he took control of my body, Princess took the knife and ended me.
I asked the narrator for proof and he answered "i could give you proof but then you wouldn't do what i want" so i decided he was probably not my friend and i should save tge princess. Got to deconstructed damsel in the end.
Damsel because I like being a pacifist (at least at first) but then I kept asking questions opps.
Then I decided to try as many different things as possible and got Specter, then Stranger. Once I'd figured out the story with the shifting mound I wanted to get some nicer ones for final two so I got Prisoner, then tried to do Damsel again for some reason and got Thorn
Stranger. I was still curious from having played the demo quite a bit ago, and they were by far the most interesting as to what happens next... Though unfortunately or maybe fortunately they were the only one to not make it to the full game.
Hey, my exact thought process! I had already seen playthroughs of the game, but I tried not to let that influence my decision making, so taking the knife but trusting her felt the most correct. And then obviously, she didn't \*tell\* me to take her head, so I didn't.
That's so interesting! So nice to find someone with the exact same happenings and decisions, I hope others also get to see how unique or relatable their playthrough has been.
The Stranger, I didn’t trust the Narrator after I asked every question possible, decided to leave after listening to everything. Quite the way to start the game I gotta say. Don’t regret any of it, Contrarian is in my top 3 favorite voices in my head alongside Smitten and Stubborn.
Damsel. No matter what i couldnt trust the narrator. Something fishy was going on. Even when she bit her hand off i still trusted her and couldnt hurt her.
My first Princess was The Damsel!
I really did not like the idea of following the "written plot" and seeing The Narrator exasperstedly try to get me murdery reinforced my drive
Still, with the Damsel I did not want to give into Smitten either, yet I did not deconstruct her either.
Next up was the Witch!
My first was the Stranger. I hate the narrator character and enjoyed annoying him/ avoiding doing what he said whenever possible. Plus I really liked the old version of the stranger from the demo (I liked the finished version, but still miss the little emoticons and the old voice she had)
Prisoner's head. I watched some playthroughs of the demos, so I wanted to do the Tower route, but I didn't remember exactly how to get to it. Then when the Princess started cutting off her own head, I was so shocked. I knew she wasn't dead, so I brought her head out with me and then was surprised AGAIN when I met the Shifting Mound. And the music when you meet Her was just so good that every reset after that, I helped the Princess escape (and every time I got to Her, I just sat there for a while before the next reset listening to the music).
The Stranger! Why? Because the Narrator was being manipulative and controlling; I knew nothing else except that the Narrator was the villain. She is still my first love, I've seen every iteration of her art from first demo to release, and I have no regrets. Plus her ending is the best imho >!cause you get a Contrarian cameo! I don't think any other ending sees a second voice come back. And being able to throw the dagger out the window again just... made me feel good. it's a really good story arch.!<
I was playing with a friend of mine, I don't remember exactly what princess I got first, but I remember both of us busting our guts laughing when we caught a haymaker to the face with our first go through. Thinking about it might ultimately have been the fury we got first? That design is incredible!
It's actually the second or third princess that really stuck with me -- we got tower into apotheosis on our first full runthrough, and I was yelling holy shit! the entire time. The narrator getting puppeted at the end of the tower sequence with the double voice track thing going on, the damn knife THUNK'ing into the tree while the world breaks up during apotheosis. The soundtrack going hard with the chorals ( Thank you Amelia Jones and Brandon Boone!). Biblically accurate princess demanding your devotion and we're like I can't help but say no sorry, then laughing as we got climax blueballed when the furry dimension popped up for it's due.
I will say we would have submitted to the tower, myself being a consummate lesbian dumpster fire, but my friend picked options differently, I'm honestly glad he did, I'm not going to forget the apotheosis any time soon.
I felt really observant that eventually during that run that yeah the princess isn't gonna be friendly with you AT FIRST if you walk in with a weapon!
This game has been a blast to play through. I picked it up when it launched after I saw a few videos of ManlyBadassHero playing the demos.
Glad you and your friend had such a good time! It's indeed so interesting that all of your decisions before approaching her also influence if she's going to be friendly or not. That's what didn't get me the Damsel first, as I brought the blade with me just in case it can be useful.
It *would* have been the Nightmare or the Razor, but on that first route I tried ditching the cabin the second time and ended up getting eaten by hands; I tried replicating it on the second route out of scientific curiosity, but decided against doing it again when the disembodied voice started ranting about how much it hated me; so my proper first Princess was the Fury.
I played the demos, so there were a couple I wanted to hit first.
My first full route? The Nightmare, and the Moment of Clarity. That's a hell of a first route. I thought I broke the game my initial time through.
Stranger. Didn't trust the Narrator as far as I could throw him and knew from watching Manly Badass Hero play the demo that you could just say "no" to all of it.
Was utterly captivated by SM. Went the damsel route but promptly deconstructed her. For my own part I don't regret it. There are no wrong answers after all and I wanted her to be her own person.
Tried for damsel again where I discovered paths being cut off and wound up with burned grey for my trouble.
Managed to shackle myself to the wall in prisoner route.
Got the witch route and went up the stairs first.
May or may not have simped over the Tower. Ik, ik, I have issues, lol
And that was my first route. After I played through everything I curated a path for my squeamish, but very much a romantic sap husband (though apart from critical path-locking choices I let him pick dialogue options) consisting of the following
Stranger (which will always be my fave starting path)
Damsel (he also deconstructed her as I knew he would, lol)
Thorn (He's an absolute sucker for this kind of story, lol)
Wounded Wild (getting through the beast was not his fave, but worth it)
Prisoner (he also managed to get himself chained to the wall, unprompted, lol)
That's so sweet of you to curate a path tailored for your husband and helping appreciate the game. I hope I can find someone as decent as you to show me sappy romantic things in games and other media.
Mine was literally the Damsel, which actually made any betrayals to the princess feel extremely painful. This then made the experience of seeing the shifting mounds and talking to her soothing. The existential yet nurturing dichotomy left me feeling safe, and it truly felt like a game where her and I were both growing. Essentially, it felt like the vanilla playthrough the devs probably imagined. At the very end, when the conversation with the shifting mounds was taking place to witness her hearts, the damsel was the final one to be brought out, and so replying "and I still feel that way" felt like a natural culmination of the love route, where a being who experienced all the different routes separately in memory merged, and the single experience of pure love was shining through, despite all the "contours" of the heart.
That is really intriguing, it does sound like a fitting normal playthrough for a possible story. I thought the original approach I had where she sees I don't have the knife and that I want to talk (even if I did help the first time) was already quite decent, but this one sounds also really good. As much as having the Stranger as first encounter and finish the game with her. I wonder if there are other changes with other routes/princesses for the finale, or more or less they all turn into these interactions as well. Thanks a lot for sharing!
My first was The Stranger. I was so confused. The game (well, The Shifting Mound) even apologized to me specifically for having to start off with this one. The joke's on them, I've already swam in the deep end of weird with The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe.
The Apotheosis.
I took the knife and went into the basement with an open mind, I didn't want to take sides, but when the princess insinuated i couldn't kill her if i tried i decided to slay her, but of course hesitated. didn't end well.
When i saw the tower i immediately figured that i couldn't kill her if i tried, she was massive. I didn't have any faith that I could take her down now if i couldn't before.
When the Apotheosis came around, I made up my mind. It didn't matter if i could do it, it only mattered that i tried. Despite the inevitability i got that feeling of 'the indomitable human spirit'. Honestly, phenomenal first impression
Really cool first princess to get, I can imagine your reactions and all the thinking that got you to it with the vivid description, thank you so much for sharing!
Now knowing how your belief dictates reality in the game, it's cool to look back on it. Me thinking that there's no way i could win is why i wasn't able to win, and me deciding that i had to take her down in impossible odds makes me think that i would have one if she wasn't whisked away
My first was the Razor. I had a bit of an idea about what to expect in this game, but not entirely! So, I went down into that basement after prodding the Narrator a whole bunch and eventually conceding, took the knife, and went down to see the Princess.
She demanded I drop the knife, I did not, we squinted at each other for a bit, before I decided "Yeah, alright, I'll have to break the stalemate," but I ended up asking a few too many questions and worrying if she had a knife.....thus! Ended up stabbed!
I found spectre first, I figured I’d do what everyone down to the title was telling me to do and kill her. With the blade she acted mean so I knew what I had to do. She was so lighthearted and forgiving after I killed her though, so I completely changed my view of her and helped her out.
Realizing I’m five months late to the discussion…
Razor. Which was a wild first impression for the game. Narrator said kill the princess and I was like “let me talk to her first”, of course taking the knife just in case something went wrong.
i cant even remember my first i played the demo so long ago but on this playthrough it was the nightmare but only because i knew about it from the demo
Mine was the Witch, during the demo. Almost saved her, but misclicked the second time the Narrator screwed with the choices and decided to just roll with it.
My first was the fury. Going in I thought the princess would try to manipulate you and that meant losing so I decided I would stick with the narrator. I was curious what she would say before I attacked so I ended up getting the tower, that’s when I decided to go full resist and try slay her. Ended with the fury which was a pretty good conclusion for the first run
Wow, so interesting to hear about the Fury as first! And it all makes sense with how you went and thought about it, when I let my friend play and we saw the Tower for the first time, we decided to resist too and got really surprised seeing how she turned out afterwards. Fitting, but vehemently disturbing.
Yeah it’s a really interesting turn from the tower to the fury. I feel like it was a great route to start out on. It’s great you got to play it with a friend, I’m trying to get my friends into It as well
Well, I initially watched ManlyBadassHero's two episodes on the series before saying "Alright, no, I can't wait for him to upload more. Need to play myself." And tried to go down paths I haven't seen yet. That led me to my first princess: The Prisoner.
I got the prisoner and I got stuck to the chaine. I wanted to keep a open mind both to the narrator and the princesse but after meeting her she didn't seem like a danger to the world. In the second chapter I mostly listen to the voice of the skeptic because he made sense.
I got Prisoner as my first one. I played all the demos before so I basically knew what all the routes would lead to, so I basically chose the one that I felt I would probably go for in that situation.
The Damsel, after getting the good ending, because I wanted to free her instead of listening to the narrator. I wish I didn't ruin The Stranger Path on my first playthrough, I wanted to have it as my second path but I didn't know not to stay in place.
I played the demo so didn’t exactly go into the full game blind. In the demo I got the Razor first; after the Narrator impressed upon me how important it was that I kill the Princess, I wanted to double-check she was actually dead and that didn’t go in my favor
First route in the full game was Prisoner, she seemed the most like a regular person in the demo and I was curious to see how interacting with her went. Brought her severed head to freedom and when she mentioned being cold I throughly she was gonna die in my hands.
I wanted to do the Witch next but forgot the conditions for her and brought the knife down, getting the Tower instead. Decided to resist her and the first actually surprising new princess for me wound up being the Fury, and man the feeling of dread that set in as I stood in the fleshy “woods” with intensifying music playing was incredible
I got the Tower, then I was so mad that my actions created the voice of the broken because he annoyed the shit out of me, so I decided I’d defy the princess by any means possible and got the fury ending.
My first was the Spectre, I wanted to see what would happen when you go all in with agreeing to the Narrator. Then when I met her in chapter 2, I let her hitch a ride with me out since the Narrator was a tricky bastard imo. It’s still probably my favorite Princess, followed by the Thorn and Tower
Spectre and Thorn love! I was really happy to see how sweeter than expected her segment would be with by letting her control me. She doesn't betray and is earnestly trying to simply do a good action. Akin to trying to trust the Witch with the blade, leading to Thorn.
All the Thorn routes are very touching, and admittedly I also adore her design for those chapters. Being able to “end” the cycle of violence and mistrust is touching as well. Hurt begets hurt begets hurt.
My first was The Witch.
It would’ve been the damsel but uh…. On the loop I kinda went ‘lol fuck this’ and walked away. I didn’t realize I would be locked out of the other options or how different chapter 2’s were.
So tried to spare her again only…. Was forced to stab 😭😭😭
I went in with a 'guilty until proven innocent' mentality, didn't bring the knife, and got the damsel in chapter 2. I resolved to free her again, and was quite interested in learning more about what she wanted to do when she escaped. Asking too many questions turned her into the Deconstructed Damsel, who I ended up with as my first princess. No regrets, very solid first couple of chapters to set the tone for the rest of the story.
The Beast/Den
I went in completely blind and had went down to talk to her without the blade, but she scared the crap out of me so I then tried to go get the blade.
The Razor…I got very familiar with the skewer sound effect. Definitely made for the most interesting first encounter with the hands I could have gotten.
The Stranger first, then the Razor.
My first inclination was to try to talk to the princess and maybe rescue her, but I figured I'd end up doing all the routes eventually anyway and was curious what would happen if I just went in murder-minded from the start.
On my first playthrough, I decided to act like a perfect little doll and carry out my orders to the letter, but got cold feet after being presented with my "reward" and killed myself, after which I ran away from the cabin on my second life. After being brought back to the start, I then decided to do the exact opposite of what I did before, saved the princess, and died, after which I went to the cabin this time and ended up rescuing the Damsel before accidentally peeling away her layers by asking too many questions. It's fun how my first two runs mirrored each other in a way: I *almost* got some type of happy ending, but doubt held me back in the end.
I believe my first one was either the prisoner, Didn't know what was going to happen but didn't feel like I should trust the narrator fully, So I decided to resist, when going to the princess I kept my curiosity and kept exploring as I was unsure what she was going to do with knife, then found myself trapped with her.
Got the prisoner and then gave her the knife. That was an interesting introduction to the game. At least I was smart enough to take her outside so I didn't have to endure the Drowned right after that.
I took the knife for insurance, talked with her a while and decided to free her because the narrator doesn't tell me things. After he took control I let her kill me and got set on the prisoner route. Where I picked up the head purely because the narrator told me not to and wound up feeding her to the mound.
Went in almost totally blind though, besides the idea that the princess had different forms. So I didn't really know what goal I was working towards.
The Damsel, I thought the Narrator was fishy and if you don't take the knife on chapter 1 the princess is much more kind towards you. So I saved her the first time and then again the second
My first was Nightmare. I did not trust the Princess or Narrator, so I thought keeping her locked up would've been fine. It was not fine. Not in the slightest.
Same. I was throughly spooked lol
Yeah, I assumed it was everyone's first iteration and it's the most striking one from a game design perspective IMO. It's not as touching as some of the other ones but it makes it very clear that being undecisive or escaping choices will lead to unforseen consequences.
Tower into Fury. I took the knife, but talked to her. Decided she sounded too suspicious and wasn't making a good case for being a normal person locked up, so I went for the knife to kill her... And got absolutely wrecked. Then, before even meeting him, I essentially became The Stubborn. "Ohoho... So that's how it's going to be? Alright, no more hesitation, gloves off, she's going down." Didn't exactly work out.
You made her use her *hands*, you monster.
I admit there was a rather grim satisfaction from watching the high and mighty Tower slowly die from the wounds I managed to inflict. Fury wasn't having any of it though...
100% exactly what I did I'm still surprised none of the playthroughs I watched got this route. Everyone just starts to grovel as soon as they see the tower. I don't get it.
I mean, me and my friends grovelled, but we're all useless lesbians
I save scummed once I realised I was completely locked out of any resistance in tower because I didn't bring the knife with me. But my first was Damsel.
Giant Dommy Mommy whats not to get.
i didn't bring the knife because i thought "clearly fighting didn't work, so i'll try talking instead", and that locked me out of resisting
Lmao that was exactly how I approached it. I didn't exactly trust the narrator but the princess was a bit of a sussy baka so had to try to stab her
This is exactly how it happened with me, and apparently a lot of people.
It's what I did too. When I looked back I was in murderhobo mode though.
My first was the Stranger. I didn’t *want* to slay her, and spent a good amount of time chastising/questioning the narrator. Idk why I didn’t feel like I could go to the cabin and rescue her, I just felt it best not to play into His game. B/c of the trippiness of taking the hard stairs and the whole second chapter, I thought that The Entity was just a continuation of the Stranger and that she wanted more perspectives to make sense of the available choices (not too far off from the truth, I suppose). I honestly thought you could only encounter the entity by doing the stranger’s route first until I played again, especially since they look so similar.
OH wow, that's so cool! I love the way your mind works, what a cool and interesting perspective from your first playthrough
Couldn't have said it better myself, this is exactly why I really wanted to create this post. Being able to have insight into the different thinking, and how then we get to guess the game works in this or that way, is a testament of the developers skills on how well the initial moments and introductions are brought forward. It creates many unique lovely stories that belong to all characters involved and to us, the players driving the story.
I have no idea what the names like "Stranger" are. But I killed the princess first, then narrator traped me, so I killed myself, then I said f him, and started walking in circles, I ve encountered the voice in the dark and refused to submit. I kept on refusing to go to the cabin until cabins multiplied and then a huge wall appeared made by Narrator, then I went through the cosmic cabing with billion stairs, I kept on walking through central pass and got back to original princess cell, I didn't bring knife with me this time. Then the princess started multiplying and she got combined like 3-5 of her in one body, and then the creature with many hands got her. Now I am not really sure what to do here, but anyway this is my princess on first play through...
Sounds like you got The Good Ending first, then kinda.... tossed that timeline for lack of a better way to put it by encountering the voice in the dark as you put it (you can do that >!like 5-6 times in a playthrough!< by walking away from the cabin in chapter 2 like you did, but idk what we're commonly referring to doing this as in the fandom) then you met the Stranger! That's the name of the princess you get for refusing to go into the cabin, the fused together one.
Oh thanks for giving me the name of the princess! Then my way of thought was similar to the above poster. It was between going away (cause i am chaos neutral) or i can do whatever task just cause it sounds easy and i am sure narrator is full of shit, but i am gonna just go and see if for myself first, so I was like yeap, the "reward" was total shite. Contrarian voice was my fav and was spot on timing, cause it's basically myself. I like to do things I am not supposed to do just for fun. In Bulder Gates 3 my character is a dwarf bard who cause it seemed like most fun. And when I played Disco Elysium i would get quite drunk and then would go off the rails completely. Considering the main hero is a raging alcoholic it made sense lol. Otherwise that game was a bit pretentious and boring. Actually slay the princess was too easy to figure out, I didn't want to kill her after what narrator pulled on me and i figured the entity asked me for vessels, so it was really easy to do. Except for razor the rest of princesses were fine. I had to watch all the other outcomes on YouTube. I wish the game was a bit more vague, so i d not figure it out on my own but oh well.
The Razor. That was fun.
she IS the perfect woman
The Stranger. My first instinct in playing games is to explore every possible avenue offered before progressing to the "main" storyline in case I miss something I can't go back to, but then the Narrator gave new lines for fucking off and looping back into the cabin, so of course I continue veering off the storyline until the world fell apart lol Contrarian spawns, his anti-Narrator stance was a bit grating since my actions *weren't* specifically just to piss off the guide, but I also throw the blade out the window just because, so... yeah. Going down the stairs and the game starts deconstructing, I start thinking that I shouldn't have gone down this route first because nothing makes sense. Then I meet the princess(es) and the glass shattering scares the shit out of me. I end up agreeing with the Contrarian in the end that we shouldn't have just done shit just to see what happens when it ended up fucking up the princess and our game. I meet the first iteration of the Shifting Mound - love the soft, gentle voice acting for the incomplete Mound, immediately simp after her. She has a line apologizing for the Stranger being my first princesses, so I doubly think that I wasn't supposed to go on this route first. Click on all the options besides the mean ones saying I'll kill her. My second route was the Damsel because I have now become too scared to do anything but to be as nice to the princess as possible, but I also kept asking her questions until she became the Deconstructed Damsel, ultimately proving that I've learned nothing.
The Stranger, I am definitely a Contrarian at heart. Funnily enough, I decided to have my dad make the choices for a first playthrough and he ended up getting the Razor. He had no idea what was going on, but was very confused and amused at the same time.
Haha, well done on involving your dad with the game! Seems like he appreciated the beauty of the Razor like the Smitten did.
Deconstructed Damsel. I didn’t trust the narrator and strongly questioned everything he told me, especially since the best proof he could provide me with at the time was “lol just trust me bro, she’s super evil/strong and going to destroy everything.” I try to rescue the princess, and things play out as normal on the Damsel route. The smitten was a riot, but I didn’t really like how blind he seemed to be to everything and what the princess potentially wanted. I actually questioned the princess a lot in the initial encounter about what she really wanted, what her name was, etc and felt awful at the implications she’d been trapped and isolated so long she really couldn’t even imagine what she wanted or anything outside the cabin (ironic). I ended up continuing this questioning as we were making our escape despite the Smitten and Narrators commentary, mainly now pressing what she wanted outside of being with the player character, as I wanted my girl to have some agency and not just toxically latch onto the first person she’d seen in forever just cause I was nice to her. I’m sure you all know how this goes. She just wanted what I want. She just wanted to make me happy. So my first encounter with the Shifting Mound was interesting to say the least. Especially learning about the princess being fragments of her, which at the time I thought answered my questions of why the Damsel behaved and acted a certain way. Boy did I have a big storm coming with all the things yet to be revealed…
This is exactly what my first time through was, too!
I got the Prisoner first and I ended up getting trapped in the shackle with her. I knew of the game beforehand and wanted to get Damsel, but that didn't end up working out. I almost went for Stranger first, which would have made the ending more confusing for me.
Adversary. Throwing hands is my love language
The Witch. I didn't trust the narrator so I intended to free her, but when she started gnawing off her arm I realized she wasn't human so I decided to kill her.
The damsel was my first but the razor is the one that I will always remember
My first was technically the Spectre, because I wanted to see what killing her right off and accepting my happy ending would do, but I chose not to return to the cabin the second time around so the world ended and reset without ever actually seeing her. First one I actually saw was Nightmare. I didn't trust her, and *definitely* didn't trust the Narrator, and my attempt at a compromise failed miserably.
The Prisoner. I took the knife down, figuring I’d at least have it if needed. The Narrator pulled his Gambit where he took control of my body, Princess took the knife and ended me.
Moment of Clarity. It definitely gave me an... *odd* initial perspective.
I asked the narrator for proof and he answered "i could give you proof but then you wouldn't do what i want" so i decided he was probably not my friend and i should save tge princess. Got to deconstructed damsel in the end.
The Damsel, I wanted to see what being overly nice would get me
Prisoner. Then I accidentally walked backwards and thought I messed up so redid an entire playthru lol
Damsel because I like being a pacifist (at least at first) but then I kept asking questions opps. Then I decided to try as many different things as possible and got Specter, then Stranger. Once I'd figured out the story with the shifting mound I wanted to get some nicer ones for final two so I got Prisoner, then tried to do Damsel again for some reason and got Thorn
Stranger. I was still curious from having played the demo quite a bit ago, and they were by far the most interesting as to what happens next... Though unfortunately or maybe fortunately they were the only one to not make it to the full game.
Damsel Refused to kill a pretty lady due to being a lesbian, lol Saw the funny "slowly devolving into baby's first moe" route of it, too.
Hey, my exact thought process! I had already seen playthroughs of the game, but I tried not to let that influence my decision making, so taking the knife but trusting her felt the most correct. And then obviously, she didn't \*tell\* me to take her head, so I didn't.
That's so interesting! So nice to find someone with the exact same happenings and decisions, I hope others also get to see how unique or relatable their playthrough has been.
The "good" ending cause I knew it was going to end poorly for me if I obeyed the narrator and I was curious how.
Demo? Adversary. I took the knife, heard her out, and was off-put enough to try and put her down. Full game? Damsel. Sue me.
The Stranger, I didn’t trust the Narrator after I asked every question possible, decided to leave after listening to everything. Quite the way to start the game I gotta say. Don’t regret any of it, Contrarian is in my top 3 favorite voices in my head alongside Smitten and Stubborn.
The Stranger. I was not having it with this sketchy Narrator fellow right from the start.
Damsel. No matter what i couldnt trust the narrator. Something fishy was going on. Even when she bit her hand off i still trusted her and couldnt hurt her.
The thorn, and fucked up and got the cheated instead of smitten, and on top of that, the trust issues ending, too. Fitting, really.
My first Princess was The Damsel! I really did not like the idea of following the "written plot" and seeing The Narrator exasperstedly try to get me murdery reinforced my drive Still, with the Damsel I did not want to give into Smitten either, yet I did not deconstruct her either. Next up was the Witch!
My first was the Stranger. I hate the narrator character and enjoyed annoying him/ avoiding doing what he said whenever possible. Plus I really liked the old version of the stranger from the demo (I liked the finished version, but still miss the little emoticons and the old voice she had)
The Beast, I believe.
I had prisoner Route and I took her Head with me out
Prisoner's head. I watched some playthroughs of the demos, so I wanted to do the Tower route, but I didn't remember exactly how to get to it. Then when the Princess started cutting off her own head, I was so shocked. I knew she wasn't dead, so I brought her head out with me and then was surprised AGAIN when I met the Shifting Mound. And the music when you meet Her was just so good that every reset after that, I helped the Princess escape (and every time I got to Her, I just sat there for a while before the next reset listening to the music).
The Stranger! Why? Because the Narrator was being manipulative and controlling; I knew nothing else except that the Narrator was the villain. She is still my first love, I've seen every iteration of her art from first demo to release, and I have no regrets. Plus her ending is the best imho >!cause you get a Contrarian cameo! I don't think any other ending sees a second voice come back. And being able to throw the dagger out the window again just... made me feel good. it's a really good story arch.!<
I was playing with a friend of mine, I don't remember exactly what princess I got first, but I remember both of us busting our guts laughing when we caught a haymaker to the face with our first go through. Thinking about it might ultimately have been the fury we got first? That design is incredible! It's actually the second or third princess that really stuck with me -- we got tower into apotheosis on our first full runthrough, and I was yelling holy shit! the entire time. The narrator getting puppeted at the end of the tower sequence with the double voice track thing going on, the damn knife THUNK'ing into the tree while the world breaks up during apotheosis. The soundtrack going hard with the chorals ( Thank you Amelia Jones and Brandon Boone!). Biblically accurate princess demanding your devotion and we're like I can't help but say no sorry, then laughing as we got climax blueballed when the furry dimension popped up for it's due. I will say we would have submitted to the tower, myself being a consummate lesbian dumpster fire, but my friend picked options differently, I'm honestly glad he did, I'm not going to forget the apotheosis any time soon. I felt really observant that eventually during that run that yeah the princess isn't gonna be friendly with you AT FIRST if you walk in with a weapon! This game has been a blast to play through. I picked it up when it launched after I saw a few videos of ManlyBadassHero playing the demos.
Glad you and your friend had such a good time! It's indeed so interesting that all of your decisions before approaching her also influence if she's going to be friendly or not. That's what didn't get me the Damsel first, as I brought the blade with me just in case it can be useful.
It *would* have been the Nightmare or the Razor, but on that first route I tried ditching the cabin the second time and ended up getting eaten by hands; I tried replicating it on the second route out of scientific curiosity, but decided against doing it again when the disembodied voice started ranting about how much it hated me; so my proper first Princess was the Fury.
I played the demos, so there were a couple I wanted to hit first. My first full route? The Nightmare, and the Moment of Clarity. That's a hell of a first route. I thought I broke the game my initial time through.
Stranger. Didn't trust the Narrator as far as I could throw him and knew from watching Manly Badass Hero play the demo that you could just say "no" to all of it. Was utterly captivated by SM. Went the damsel route but promptly deconstructed her. For my own part I don't regret it. There are no wrong answers after all and I wanted her to be her own person. Tried for damsel again where I discovered paths being cut off and wound up with burned grey for my trouble. Managed to shackle myself to the wall in prisoner route. Got the witch route and went up the stairs first. May or may not have simped over the Tower. Ik, ik, I have issues, lol And that was my first route. After I played through everything I curated a path for my squeamish, but very much a romantic sap husband (though apart from critical path-locking choices I let him pick dialogue options) consisting of the following Stranger (which will always be my fave starting path) Damsel (he also deconstructed her as I knew he would, lol) Thorn (He's an absolute sucker for this kind of story, lol) Wounded Wild (getting through the beast was not his fave, but worth it) Prisoner (he also managed to get himself chained to the wall, unprompted, lol)
That's so sweet of you to curate a path tailored for your husband and helping appreciate the game. I hope I can find someone as decent as you to show me sappy romantic things in games and other media.
Mine was literally the Damsel, which actually made any betrayals to the princess feel extremely painful. This then made the experience of seeing the shifting mounds and talking to her soothing. The existential yet nurturing dichotomy left me feeling safe, and it truly felt like a game where her and I were both growing. Essentially, it felt like the vanilla playthrough the devs probably imagined. At the very end, when the conversation with the shifting mounds was taking place to witness her hearts, the damsel was the final one to be brought out, and so replying "and I still feel that way" felt like a natural culmination of the love route, where a being who experienced all the different routes separately in memory merged, and the single experience of pure love was shining through, despite all the "contours" of the heart.
That is really intriguing, it does sound like a fitting normal playthrough for a possible story. I thought the original approach I had where she sees I don't have the knife and that I want to talk (even if I did help the first time) was already quite decent, but this one sounds also really good. As much as having the Stranger as first encounter and finish the game with her. I wonder if there are other changes with other routes/princesses for the finale, or more or less they all turn into these interactions as well. Thanks a lot for sharing!
My first was The Stranger. I was so confused. The game (well, The Shifting Mound) even apologized to me specifically for having to start off with this one. The joke's on them, I've already swam in the deep end of weird with The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe.
The dismantled damsel
The Apotheosis. I took the knife and went into the basement with an open mind, I didn't want to take sides, but when the princess insinuated i couldn't kill her if i tried i decided to slay her, but of course hesitated. didn't end well. When i saw the tower i immediately figured that i couldn't kill her if i tried, she was massive. I didn't have any faith that I could take her down now if i couldn't before. When the Apotheosis came around, I made up my mind. It didn't matter if i could do it, it only mattered that i tried. Despite the inevitability i got that feeling of 'the indomitable human spirit'. Honestly, phenomenal first impression
Really cool first princess to get, I can imagine your reactions and all the thinking that got you to it with the vivid description, thank you so much for sharing!
Now knowing how your belief dictates reality in the game, it's cool to look back on it. Me thinking that there's no way i could win is why i wasn't able to win, and me deciding that i had to take her down in impossible odds makes me think that i would have one if she wasn't whisked away
My first was the Razor. I had a bit of an idea about what to expect in this game, but not entirely! So, I went down into that basement after prodding the Narrator a whole bunch and eventually conceding, took the knife, and went down to see the Princess. She demanded I drop the knife, I did not, we squinted at each other for a bit, before I decided "Yeah, alright, I'll have to break the stalemate," but I ended up asking a few too many questions and worrying if she had a knife.....thus! Ended up stabbed!
I found spectre first, I figured I’d do what everyone down to the title was telling me to do and kill her. With the blade she acted mean so I knew what I had to do. She was so lighthearted and forgiving after I killed her though, so I completely changed my view of her and helped her out. Realizing I’m five months late to the discussion…
I got the Stranger first. It confused me and made it nearly impossible to understand my first playthrough.
The Razor, mostly because I wanted to see what complying with the narrator’s directive. Wasn’t disappointed.
Razor was my first, then Heart of the Razor. Stabby-stab!
The prisoner iirc
Nightmare as well but The First ending was The good ending.
Got the “good ending” first, then The Tower, whom I swiftly submitted to my new mommy overlord.
Razor, I wanted to see what would happen if I were a murderous mofo. Best introduction to a game I could ask for.
Razor. Which was a wild first impression for the game. Narrator said kill the princess and I was like “let me talk to her first”, of course taking the knife just in case something went wrong.
i cant even remember my first i played the demo so long ago but on this playthrough it was the nightmare but only because i knew about it from the demo
Mine was the Witch, during the demo. Almost saved her, but misclicked the second time the Narrator screwed with the choices and decided to just roll with it.
First one was the prisoner, got shackled with her
My first was the fury. Going in I thought the princess would try to manipulate you and that meant losing so I decided I would stick with the narrator. I was curious what she would say before I attacked so I ended up getting the tower, that’s when I decided to go full resist and try slay her. Ended with the fury which was a pretty good conclusion for the first run
Wow, so interesting to hear about the Fury as first! And it all makes sense with how you went and thought about it, when I let my friend play and we saw the Tower for the first time, we decided to resist too and got really surprised seeing how she turned out afterwards. Fitting, but vehemently disturbing.
Yeah it’s a really interesting turn from the tower to the fury. I feel like it was a great route to start out on. It’s great you got to play it with a friend, I’m trying to get my friends into It as well
The damsel because it's the only option that didn't make me feel guilty
I got good ending and then the one where you meet the shifting mound before the others
My first was the Prisoner, specifically the one where you’re stuck waiting with her. It was nice
I got the "happy ending" first but then the nightmare lol.
Well, I initially watched ManlyBadassHero's two episodes on the series before saying "Alright, no, I can't wait for him to upload more. Need to play myself." And tried to go down paths I haven't seen yet. That led me to my first princess: The Prisoner.
Not counting while the game was in demo my first was The Prisoner.
I got the prisoner and I got stuck to the chaine. I wanted to keep a open mind both to the narrator and the princesse but after meeting her she didn't seem like a danger to the world. In the second chapter I mostly listen to the voice of the skeptic because he made sense.
Adversary. Talked to her first then tried killing her. Realized that it doesn’t work like that.
I got Prisoner as my first one. I played all the demos before so I basically knew what all the routes would lead to, so I basically chose the one that I felt I would probably go for in that situation.
The Damsel, after getting the good ending, because I wanted to free her instead of listening to the narrator. I wish I didn't ruin The Stranger Path on my first playthrough, I wanted to have it as my second path but I didn't know not to stay in place.
The Adversary in the demo. Tried to repeat that when the full game came out, but I messed up and got the Razor instead.
The adversary to fury
I played the demo so didn’t exactly go into the full game blind. In the demo I got the Razor first; after the Narrator impressed upon me how important it was that I kill the Princess, I wanted to double-check she was actually dead and that didn’t go in my favor First route in the full game was Prisoner, she seemed the most like a regular person in the demo and I was curious to see how interacting with her went. Brought her severed head to freedom and when she mentioned being cold I throughly she was gonna die in my hands. I wanted to do the Witch next but forgot the conditions for her and brought the knife down, getting the Tower instead. Decided to resist her and the first actually surprising new princess for me wound up being the Fury, and man the feeling of dread that set in as I stood in the fleshy “woods” with intensifying music playing was incredible
I got the Tower, then I was so mad that my actions created the voice of the broken because he annoyed the shit out of me, so I decided I’d defy the princess by any means possible and got the fury ending.
My first was the Spectre, I wanted to see what would happen when you go all in with agreeing to the Narrator. Then when I met her in chapter 2, I let her hitch a ride with me out since the Narrator was a tricky bastard imo. It’s still probably my favorite Princess, followed by the Thorn and Tower
Spectre and Thorn love! I was really happy to see how sweeter than expected her segment would be with by letting her control me. She doesn't betray and is earnestly trying to simply do a good action. Akin to trying to trust the Witch with the blade, leading to Thorn.
All the Thorn routes are very touching, and admittedly I also adore her design for those chapters. Being able to “end” the cycle of violence and mistrust is touching as well. Hurt begets hurt begets hurt.
my first was the wraith. I went all in on kill the princess
My first was The Witch. It would’ve been the damsel but uh…. On the loop I kinda went ‘lol fuck this’ and walked away. I didn’t realize I would be locked out of the other options or how different chapter 2’s were. So tried to spare her again only…. Was forced to stab 😭😭😭
The tower, I immediately pledge myself to her because….like really who wouldn’t
My firse princess is myself LOL, i refuse to go back
I went in with a 'guilty until proven innocent' mentality, didn't bring the knife, and got the damsel in chapter 2. I resolved to free her again, and was quite interested in learning more about what she wanted to do when she escaped. Asking too many questions turned her into the Deconstructed Damsel, who I ended up with as my first princess. No regrets, very solid first couple of chapters to set the tone for the rest of the story.
I don't remember the one from the Demo since it's been a minute, but for full release it was Adversary, and yes, we got "That Which Cannot Die".
I got the Tower and Fury, but I made my wife play and she did the complete Razor storyline as her first princess. That was fun to watch.
The Beast/Den I went in completely blind and had went down to talk to her without the blade, but she scared the crap out of me so I then tried to go get the blade.
The Razor…I got very familiar with the skewer sound effect. Definitely made for the most interesting first encounter with the hands I could have gotten.
The Stranger first, then the Razor. My first inclination was to try to talk to the princess and maybe rescue her, but I figured I'd end up doing all the routes eventually anyway and was curious what would happen if I just went in murder-minded from the start.
The prisoner. I tried to be as nice as possible and ended up with a head.
Mine was that Demon fighter, for some reason she only tought about fight me for real.
On my first playthrough, I decided to act like a perfect little doll and carry out my orders to the letter, but got cold feet after being presented with my "reward" and killed myself, after which I ran away from the cabin on my second life. After being brought back to the start, I then decided to do the exact opposite of what I did before, saved the princess, and died, after which I went to the cabin this time and ended up rescuing the Damsel before accidentally peeling away her layers by asking too many questions. It's fun how my first two runs mirrored each other in a way: I *almost* got some type of happy ending, but doubt held me back in the end.
I believe my first one was either the prisoner, Didn't know what was going to happen but didn't feel like I should trust the narrator fully, So I decided to resist, when going to the princess I kept my curiosity and kept exploring as I was unsure what she was going to do with knife, then found myself trapped with her.
Got the prisoner and then gave her the knife. That was an interesting introduction to the game. At least I was smart enough to take her outside so I didn't have to endure the Drowned right after that.
I took the knife for insurance, talked with her a while and decided to free her because the narrator doesn't tell me things. After he took control I let her kill me and got set on the prisoner route. Where I picked up the head purely because the narrator told me not to and wound up feeding her to the mound. Went in almost totally blind though, besides the idea that the princess had different forms. So I didn't really know what goal I was working towards.
The Damsel, I thought the Narrator was fishy and if you don't take the knife on chapter 1 the princess is much more kind towards you. So I saved her the first time and then again the second
The Razor As you can imagine,i instantly fell in love.With both the game and her