Those of us who like games like Princess Maker are feasting. The original games end up localized and even on platforms like the Switch. We’re getting interesting indies like I Was a Teenage Exocolonist. Now we also have Egg Hatcher and Gamera Games’ Volcano Princess, another simulation that involves helping your “daughter” grow up happy, healthy, and maybe eventually as royalty.
As is common with the genre, Volcano Princess involves the player being a single parent to a young child. The story picks up when she’s a little girl, following the death of your wife. Your goal is to take her through the days, weeks, and months until she becomes an adult and decides if she’ll support a noble family, turn to the dark side, or maybe become royalty herself. All of this means managing various stats until they increase, going through learning progress from certain lessons until she masters them, unlocking new classes and abilities, going around town to learn from experiences, fighting monsters, and getting closer to people around her.
Screenshot by Siliconera
As someone very familiar with the Princess Maker genre, I especially appreciated how it feels like Volcano Princess lets you be more involved in your child’s life. In both games, you can go through the perfunctory, “hey, I’ll chat with you at the beginning of the week and that one sentence is our conversation.” But unlike Princess Maker, when you go out before the week’s schedule, you can take part in activities together. It really feels like a father-daughter outing. You aren’t delegating or leaving her in the care of other masters, teachers, or employers. You’re taking the time to help be there when she goes to hear a story, grow crops, or paint.
In general, Volcano Princess feels both more interactive and approachable. It borrows from the Story of Seasons series by letting you see clear indicators of how characters feel about your daughter. You have those activity points to watch to help determine extra actions for her to perform outside of her normal schedule. The schedule itself has these learning progress bars, so you’re seeing both the stat improvement and the additional insight into how far she’s come. You have the ability to send her into the RPG battles. There are the Birdie Festival contests. We’re getting to be a more involved parent, and I really like that.
The only downside to Volcano Princess is its localization. It wasn’t handled well. But then, it also seems like the story is rather thin. That part isn’t much of an issue, considering how many games inspired by Princess Maker go. You’re typically dropped into a role as a parent with little motivation beyond, “you seem like you’d be an okay guardian due to experience/being a hero who killed a lot of monsters,” so that isn’t an issue. It’s that all the dialogue and text can come across as awkward or a bit stilted, which does hamper the experience a bit.
Still, Volcano Princess is an absolutely lovely sort of Princess Maker-like game. There are a lot of schooling and activity options for your new daughter. You get many ways to interact with her and influence her growth. She’ll have people to spend time with, developing relationships with her peers. It’s very clear about how to help her learn and grow, even if the localization isn’t its best. Anyone who enjoys the genre should pick it up.
Volcano Princess is available for PCs via Steam.
