History NightmareFuel / SlayThePrincess

* This route has some of the most graphic illustrations of physical violence in the entire game. This includes the Adversary twisting the Player's arm to the point she appears to be tearing it off and the Player '''STRAIGHT UP REMOVING HER FACE WITH THE PRISTINE BLADE!''

* This route has some of the most graphic illustrations of physical violence in the entire game. This includes the Adversary twisting the Player's arm to the point she appears to be tearing it off.

* This route has some of the most graphic illustrations of physical violence in the entire game. This includes the Adversary twisting the Player's arm to the point she appears to be tearing it off and the Player '''STRAIGHT UP REMOVING HER FACE WITH THE PRISTINE BLADE!'''

* The first chapter leading to this involves being beaten to death by the princess with her bare hands, shoes and knees. which the Voice of the Broken describes as a much more painful experience than what's shown on screen:

** The lack of agency, gets creepier when you ask the Shifting Mound (who would normally try and put a positive spin on much darker vessels) about her:
--> '''The Shifting Mound:''' Do not mourn her, she has served her purpose.

* Even the Damsel route, which is arguably the most lighthearted route in the game, has its own [[SurprisinglyCreepyMoment moment of creepiness]]. After you rescue the Damsel and she asks you what do you want to do now, you can ask her what she wants. When she responds that she doesn't know, since nobody asked her that question before, you're given an option to press her further regarding what does ''she'' want. However, after that, with each response, she only answers with "I just want to make you happy" or a variation thereof as her art style begins to [[ArtShift degrade to a more exaggeratedly simplistic one]], the music becomes eerily distorted, and the background itself becomes more and more enveloped in shadows. The degradation continues further and further until the Damsel herself becomes nothing more than a crude drawing version of herself, devoid of all personality and sense of self except for a simple-minded desire to make you happy, and it is in that state when she gets taken away by the Shifting Mound. It can easily be seen as [[SurrealHumor funny]] just as it can also be seen as [[SurrealHorror creepy]]. Or [[GallowsHumor both]].

** The exact ways in which the Voices are dealing with their trauma is also rather disturbing. the Hero is downtrodden and wants to forget everything, the Paranoid is scattered and confused, the Hunted is hyper vigilant and fearful, the Cheated is deeply frustrated that nothing seems to work, the Smitten's dialogue almost sounds like a victim justifying a harmful partner, the Stubborn is trying to find some means to defeat the Princess but clearly has run out of options, the Broken has given up even more than he usually does, and the Opportunist seems content just trying to appeal to the Princess and do what she says because he has no other choices. The Contrarian seems the least affected, but it seems his jovial attitude has become a crutch to survive the situation. Even [[DeadpanSnarker the Cold]] seems more fed up with the situation than he normally is, being much more verbally insistent to the Player that they listen ''only'' to him because the other's have failed.

* It's heavily implied that whatever [[NothingIsScarier transpired during the loops]] broke the player so badly that he blocked out the memories in order to remain sane.

** You'll also see the Player disembowel her and the Adversary stop on his face for good mesure.

* While many players enjoyed or were amused by the heavy aura of InterplayOfSexAndViolence that goes hand in hand with the Adversary route, the sheer, single-minded, violent brutality on display can make it unnerving to some.
** Which reaches its climax in the highly graphic illustration collage.

** To say nothing of the highly graphic illustration collage.

* There is such a heavy aura of InterplayOfSexAndViolence that the whole fight comes across as one big allusion to a very violently charged, machoistic, sadomasochistic, multi-round sexual encounter between the two combatants. The sheer single-minded ''eagerness'' makes it genuinely unnerving to see play out.
** What makes the above so disturbing is how genuinely satisfied the Adversary looks during the highly graphic illustration collage.

** The exact ways in which the Voices are dealing with their trauma is also rather disturbing. the Hero is downtrodden and wants to forget everything, the Paranoid is scattered and confused, the Hunted is hyper vigilant and fearful, the Cheated is deeply frustrated that nothing seems to work, the Smitten's dialogue almost sounds like a victim justifying a harmful partner, the Stubborn is trying to find some means to defeat the Princess but clearly has run out of options, the Broken has given up even more than he usually does, and the Opportunist seems content just trying to appeal to the Princess and do what she says because he has no other choices. The Contrarian seems the least affected, but it seems his jovial attitude has become a crutch to survive the situation. Even the Cold seems more fed up with the situation than he normally is, being much more verbally insistent to the Player that they listen ''only'' to him because the other's have failed.

* The nightmares start on the title screen. If you take too long to start the game, the princess goes from sitting sadly against the wall of her cell to staring directly into the camera, shattered into two pieces- one half is quietly horrified, while the other is gleeful.

* When you finally get to see the Player's reflection in the mirror, you find him to be an avian-like monster with beady white eyes. What's worse is that each time you get to the Long Quiet you can see his reflection go through its own life cycle. Growing bloated after the first encounter, the next withering into rotting flesh, then decaying outright into a skeletal form, until you're finally nothing at all.

* Meeting her for the first time can be an unsettling experience. She is wearing the body of the last vessel you encountered and possessing a multitude of hand (her empathy will put make the experience go more smoothly).

** While the demo's versions of the Stranger were creepy, that was due to their monstrousness. The full release's version is still very much human, but it comes with the BodyHorror that results from a BiologicalMashup as five versions of the same Princess are merged together - including versions of herself that died - and all of them are conscious and self-cognizant of it. The amalgamed princess is then dragged off by The Shifting Mound just as you were about to respond to their cries for help.

* Trying to run from the Princess leads to her taking off her mask (as seen in the page's image), revealing a literal NightmareFace. The subsequent MindRape (which could also double as a TearJerker, as the sequence is implied to be from the Princess' point of view) causes the Narrator to GoMadFromTheRevelation and abandon the player.

** Murder the Prisoner, and you'll encounter a very similar landscape. Except it's raining. Constantly. In this route you'll find a rotted, waterlogged cabin in which there dwells a shade in a black mourning dress. When ''she'' locks you both down in the basement, a wave of water rushes in, threatening to drown you. You kick and struggle to keep your head above water, but you soon realize it's futile; because the Princess' ''drowned, swollen, still-enchained body'' wraps a hand around your ankle and drags you down with her.

* Her final awakened form (after 5 vessels have been collected) is much more unsettling.
She has at least 3 main faces, and a multitude of her smaller bodies and projections sprawled at her feet. Most of the latter are naked, which can be quite confronting in a game that up to this point has been devoid of nudity.

* The first chapter leading to this involves being beaten to death by the princess with her bare hands, which the Voice of the Broken describes as a much more painful experience than what's shown on screen:

"Diagnosis. It forgets everything it is. Anger. Rage. Distance. Poverty. The lonely soul is lonely again. Love turns to mockery. It dies. It is reborn. Worse. Lonelier.\\

* The Spectre is a CuteGhostGirl, and is amicable enough. However, that does '''not''' mean she's let go of you killing her, or that she's harmless. For the moments she snaps at the player over what they've done, she pulls a brief but effective NightmareFace, her face instantly rotting to show her teeth in a SlasherSmile. The contrast between her cute face and her rotting one highlights the horror of the latter.

* Choosing to fight the Princess results in you getting GuttedLikeAFish with your spine snapped. You bleed out in a pool of your own viscera.

* The nightmares start on the title screen. If you take too long to start the game, the princess goes from sitting sadly against the wall of her cell to staring directly into the camera, shattered into two pieces- one is quietly sobbing, and the other stares madly into the camera.

* When you finally get to see the Player's reflection in the mirror, you find him to be an avian like monster with beady white eyes. What's worse is that each time you get to the Long Quiet you can see his reflection go through its own life cycle. Growing bloated after the first encounter, the next withering into rotting flesh, then decaying outright into a skeletal form, until you're finally nothing at all.

* There is such a heavy aura of InterplayOfSexAndViolence that the whole fight comes across as one big allusion to a very violently charged, machoistic, sadomasochistic, multi-round sexual encounter between the two combatants. The sheer single minded ''eagerness'' makes it genuinely unnerving to see play out.
** What makes the above so disturbing how genuinely satisfied the Adversary looks during the highly graphic illustration collage.

* This route is two pronged: either fire or water.

* You begin on this route by choosing to leave the Princess imprisoned in the basement, which enrages her. The Hero barricades the door, only for the Princess to eventually break free, moving in unnatural ways while sporting a NightmareFace. There's little wonder why the Hero dies of sheer fright.

* Trying to run from the Princess leads to her taking off her mask( as seen in the page's image), revealing a literal NightmareFace. The subsequent MindRape (which could also double as a TearJerker, as the sequence is implied to be from the Princess' point of view) causes the Narrator to GoMadFromTheRevelation and abandon the player.

* The introduction to this Chapter spells out just how horrifically '''bad''' things have gotten. It's starts off with "Chapter III" popping in without a subtitle. Then Chapter IV, then V, then VI, then so many it's impossible to tell how much time has passed. The black screen is overwritten by an illegible mess of chapter titles. And then we get the name of the chapter, silently and abruptly cutting through in black letters.

* The cabin and woods turn into increasingly hostile AlienGeometry, the contours of everything becoming increasingly jagged due to the Razor's influence.

* When you try to just leave and avoid going to the cabin altogether, the path loops back around, depositing you right in front of it. And the Narrator makes it pretty clear by his tone that this is entirely his doing. Keep doing this and not only does the path continue to loop, you'll start seeing cabins literally everywhere. To the point where the screen is full of them, and there's no where you can go that doesn't lead right to it.

* The Wild princess is one of the most eldritch forms. ''[[GeniusLoci Now she's the forest itself.]]'' '''''[[FusionDance And you're a part of her too]].''''' The primary scene for the chapter is unnerving. A mass of white veins or roots in the outline of trees against a black void, the fusion of her and you. The Princess is forgiving if you stay fused together and if you accept this existence, your Voices are happy enough, forgiving her in turn. She can sense that the two of you are ''supposed'' to be one. But if you start to separate, recalling all the ways she hurt you, the white forest turns red as the Princess starts to rant in sorrow and fury at the wrongs she suffered as well.

** Arguably it's even worse if you trigger this fate through a brawl with the Witch. Because not only do you suffer the same fate as described above, you get to ''watch what it does to her'' before it kills ''you''.

* Having been killed in the chapter prior, the Wraith Princess returns as a skeletal VengefulGhost with a VoiceOfTheLegion even more discordant than the Nightmare Princess'. Her skull is stuck in a grinning rictus. Her huge GlowingEyesOfDoom seem to stare into your soul. And speaking of soul, she [[DemonicPossession possesses you]] by ripping a hole into it that she can enter. She then forces you towards the door on an ankle that she broke, complete with awful crunching noises with every step.