I must admit I enjoyed playing Long Live the Queen immensely but I think not everybody will appreciate this game. The gameplay mechanics is very simple (but the game is complex nevertheless): for each week you choose two skills that you want to develop. How fast you learn depends strongly on your mood so choose wisely (preferable learn those skills that get a mood-related bonus). Right after that a special event may occur (somebody may visit you, something important may happen in your country etc.) and you'll have to decide what to do about it. In the end you may choose some weekend activities that influence your mood (once again, choose wisely to maximize your learning bonuses).

First thing you need to know is that the major part of the game is about learning the story and what may happen. But there is no other way that to learn it hard way. Believe me you are bound to die horribly during your first playthroughs ;) The game doesn't give you any hints which skills you should develop to avoid death. You'll only be informed which skill checks you failed so in your next playthrough you should know which skill you should develop to avoid dangerous situation. I know that for some people it's unacceptable, personally I really enjoyed it because it's a bit like exploring and learning new things all the time.

The second thing you should know is that the game is definitely non-linear (strongly non-linear I may add) but not randomized. So let's say on week 15 an event A happened, you failed skill B check and died. You restart the game but this time you develop skill B intensively and you survive week 15 this time. That's one way to solve the problem. You can, however, change your decisions that you made during previous special events and perhaps event A on week 15 won't happen at all! Sometimes it's easy to determine which decision you should change, sometimes not. You should, however, be aware that changing your decision is not simple - even if you avoid event A by doing something else you can be sure that something else will happen (let's say event C on week 13) that didn't happen before. That's why I said that the game is strongly non-linear, your choices influence the story a lot!

The most efficient way to win is by small adjustments. At the beginning think about a personality you want to create and then stick with it. After your death just make sure to alter you development a bit so that you can survive longer. Then you die again so you should know which skills you should develop. After several tries you'll finally win! If you start changing your decisions randomly you will get significantly different story and different special events so you'll need completely different skills to survive them. And since, as usual, there is no way to predict which ones are needed you will die for sure ;)

The best part of the game is to win in as many possible ways as possible. You won as a sweet little girl that tries to flatter everybody? Good, now try to play as a ruthless cruel bitch instead! You did that already? Try to play as a grand strategist and unmatched warrior! There are so many possibilities that it can keep you occupied for a long time!

So yeah, that's basically it. If you don't mind dying a lot without your fault and like exploring new possibilities then I can wholeheartedly recommend the game!

Oh, and one more thing: you don't need a super memory to remember about every single choice you made - at the end of each game you can record it so you'll be able to compare which choices you made last time.

The idea is interesting, but looks too hard for my tastes

On paper the gameplay might not sound very appealing, but it's charming and amusing (and sometimes surprising) and I had fun playing this several times, and I'll be playing it again.

It's challenging, but I had a blast experimenting with different skills and trying to succeed with challenges that I failed. I was able to get a pretty good ending without much tinkering. Really fun game.

Great game, and unique too.

I highly recommend it to people who don't mind a challenge :)

I am glad games like these are on GOG. It certainly adds more flavour and spice to the catalogue. :)
Beaten it once by using a walkthrough the 2nd time around, which is not how you should play it, but I was so frustrated that after backtracking so much in the end I could not save her and had to start over. Really tempting... still I really liked the game.

For people on the fence about it, the developer has a available on their website (hanako games). It doesn't take you through too far, but it should be enough to see if it's to your tastes or not.

Another one off the wishlist and onto the backlog. Thank you as always, GOG!

It's not really hard in the sense that others are. Finding all the different ways to die is a fun part of it. You can't really get stuck as there isn't much skill involved. Mostly trial and error in trying things differently.

I always wondered why there's "cross" at the beginning of "commando" in his nickname :D

Hooray! I've been wanting to get this ever since it appeared on Steam, and this is a great opportunity to do so. )

It peaked my interest till I saw how Japanese anime'd out it looked. I love that style myself but not sure how for that kind of material. May try it in the future.

Sounds like a cool game, but the art-style is not for me.

Ooh, good point