[Game Review] Narcissu - A Little Iris

A story of a sad world... a princess who doesn't want to die, and a killer who doesn't want to live...

(wait... what?!)

Narcissu: A Little Iris

This visula novel is a side story (and the third game) for Narcissu series... Unrelated to the first game and the prequel this one is set in Medieval Europe. It tells a story of a sword fighting princess and focuses on life and death... And the terrible fate that awaits killers.

Like the first two games, it's minimal even compared to other Visual Novels, but "A Little Iris" has more graphics and movement than Narcissu before. The story will probably take you less than 3 hours to read.

Steam Link

It's available as DLC to Narcissu's ten years anniversary, and it's not in the main game.

Story and Characters

The story is Narrated by multiple characters and the game will sometimes switch the POV without telling you. But mainly there are two characters. A Fighting Princess and A Killer.

Princess Iris

There's only one path to living... But there are countless ways to die.

The first one is Iris, a girl who's "apparently" a princess who was supposed to marry the prince of another country, she was sent to marry him at age of 8 (wow!! this is...). She lived as a princess there until her betrothed return, but she never saw him. Due to struggle between the battling countries she was sent to prison and kept alive until the day of her execution.

Inside the prison some warriors began to attempt kill her, and her gaurd taught her how to fight to defend herself... "Little Iris" died when she killed her first victim but who can blame her as she only wanted to live. After eight years of killing her execution day has come and she was sent by her teacher to be killed in secret as her public execution will trouble his masters.

Saved by someone, she decided to follow him out of the country... not minding dying in the way.

Johan

"Being half dead in the battle... is the same as being dead.

Johan is the point-of-view character for most of the Visual Novel... Johan is a killer who's looking for a fitting death. He was a mercenary got hired to kill a royal family, but actually seeing the job was to kill a princess in secret made him fear his fate, the death he wanted wasn't to be killed by people who hired him.

He saved the princess and let her follow him out of the country... And soon he learned how merciless she was, a lack of mercy even he was baffled by... He taught her that hearts bleed every time they kill someone... and when they bleed enough.

Johan who killed many innocent people... was searching for the fitting end that the God (he didn't know if he believed in) had set for him, an end suitable for someone who killed without mercy.

The Journey

"Hey... Do you want to grow wheat?"

The two killers took a detour out of the country... In this time of war not one can pursuit them if they reached the border, but they didn't have money or food... The two killers did what they have to survive... The two killers did the only thing they knew how to do: Killing.

But along the way something changed... be it in Johan or the princess.... Maybe the killing isn't the only life they can have.

Johan's Sister

"Now... These people are finally saved."

Johan past takes a lot part of the story... Most of Johan actions in his youth was taken for his family well-being... This sister is devoted girl who grows wheat. While Johan lost his belief in God, his sister was a devout christian. She smiled cheerfully and prayed most of her time... For her, Her brother was a hero, despite him saying that he's just a killer.

Compared to Narcissu 1+2

Being the first entry set outside Japan it drifts away a lot from the original... The theme of life and death is apparent here, but unlike the first two games where the heroines had "a time limit."... This focuses on the struggle of a person that doesn't want to live, but want to die even less.

"Me? Saint? What a joke... I'm just a killer."

The theme of Christianity is stronger than the second game where Himeko had doubted her faith... This game almost asked outright if the God exists and if what we believe in is right.

The heroine, Iris is a medieval version of Setsumi the heroine of the first game and the POV character of the second... Her cynical side and tendency to only speak in one words are similar... Unlike Setsumi however, Iris has a strong will to live.

A Strong Impression

Why the world is sad... who is right and who is wrong.... What makes killing justified, no... can killing be justified at all?
While the game didn't offer an answer, it made me think... It took me long time before I finally reached what I can call an answer.

I thought some games made me sad before, but this game made me the sad the most (at least recently)... It drives home how someone can be right or good while making everyone suffer... it shows that for someone to live, someone else might be sacrificed... and it made me thing again of this question.

Between the one who dies, and the one who's left to mourn him. Who'd you want to be?

• Himeko

I'd recommend it for people who want a story about heart break, the real heart break... or about the redemption of killers... About wavering belief or just people who'd like to see a sword fighting princess. For a Visual Novel this story has a lot of action.

But those I'd really recommend it to, are the people who liked the first or the second game. Even with it being completely different, reading it after them is amazing... I don't think it's more sad game than the previous ones. I'm just a person who overthinks a lot and I played it at the right time.

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images are screenshots from the game.