Those who know me know I live by a princess code. I never leave the house without wearing something frilly and fancy. I have luxuriously silky hair with a sheen that can be seen from space. I carry a giant sword and have memorized my combos which I am ready to unleash on humans, monsters or weird evil turnips. I am the princess of Code of Princess EX!

Well, actually I’m a flabby dude with an addiction to pizza and video games, but I can dream. Code of Princess EX is a hack-and-slash JRPG for the Nintendo Switch that tells the story of Princess Solange of DeLuxia and her heroic battle to save the world from evil by mashing those buttons and doing cool combos.

This is a mindless beat-em-up style game that rises above its simplistic gameplay thanks to tons of memorable characters and hilarious dialogue. While the princess is likable enough, the cast of characters she meets along the way steal the show scene after scene. From the cowardly bard armed with an electric guitar (lute?) to the overbearing, super buff martial arts master who employs “flying hugs” that scare characters, this game has no shortage of personality. 

The gameplay is very simple. There’s no hub or world map, or anything like that. Each level is a different quest, and by quest I mean a bunch of new enemies to beat up. But the combat, although simple, is pretty fun and there’s just enough combos and moves to string together to keep it interesting. You can also jump between three planes to avoid enemies or use a dash to get out of harm’s way. And you can block! Which I kept forgetting to do over and over.

But if you forget to block and fail a quest, there’s little punishment because you can just do it again. Or redo a lower level quest to level up and come back stronger. The cool thing is you don’t have to stick with the princess on quests, you can pick another character and they all fight quite differently. And even if you don’t choose those characters, they still get XP and level up along with whoever you pick. If I ran for president, this would be my campaign promise--experience points for all!

Graphically, Code of Princess EX is a bright, beautiful game with some inspired monster and character designs. Especially the character designs, they’re quite memorable. I’ve played roughly one million JRPGs and it’s rare when something truly stands out in this regard as much of the JRPG aesthetic is similar. The creative team working on this game definitely earned their paycheck.

Code of Princess EX is one of those games that gets by on personality. The gameplay is nothing special, but the characters, dialogue, design and overall flare is exceptional. And that is more than enough for me to make up for any shortcomings. It’s also great for short burst play as the levels are rarely longer than a few minutes. Perfect for the Switch’s portability.

If you’re interested in this game, you may enjoy these manga series: Black Clover , Claymore , Demon Slayer, Rurouni Kenshin

by Urian Brown