The game's logo on Steam, featuring Kobold Princess
Princess & Conquest is a hybrid Strategy RPG Visual Novel H-Game, created with RPG Maker VX Ace. Though many features are still in development, it is currently available for purchase by multiple digital distribution services, such as Steam and Itch.io. The game's current publisher is Critical Bliss. After releasing in Early Access on October 10, 2019, the game's 1.0 version became available on April 13, 2023, with additional content added in future patches.
Originally, the game started life as Towergirls: Kingdom Conquest. It was a fan-made interpretation of the original Towergirls Play-by-Post Games, contrasting an official project still in development and led by Towergirls IP holder "Gats". However, due to disagreements between the creators, a legal battle between them ensued. After being deemed a violation of the DMCA, this game's art assets had to be altered, and the concept was reworked into P&C, though abundant similarities between the two properties remain.
In the reworked setting, the previous monarch that ruthlessly reigned above all the land's princesses, the Dragon Queen, has retired. And her daughters, the haughty Dragon Princess sisters, have proven unable to maintain peace by themselves. This causes all of the territories in the land to go to war for dominance. The player, a knight, is destined to shape the realm with their heroic acts, and will be joined on their adventure by not only rescued princesses, but also freed slaves, hatched eggs, resurrected undead, recruited villagers, and their own progeny.
Tropes:
- Abdicate the Throne: One of the possible ways to recruit a Princess is to start a romance and sleep with them, which will lead to an heir being produced that can be left in charge while the former leader travels with you.
- Born as an Adult: Progeny, whether born or hatched, will instantly mature to adulthood and be capable of joining the party in battle (or, in the case of an heir, leading a reign in place of their mother).
- Bunnies for Cuteness: Progeny are represented as bunnies in achievements and menus, both for their adorableness and the animal's reputation for fast procreation. There's also the Rabbit Princess and her citizens, who are rather provocative.
- Campfire Character Exploration: It's possible for the player to set up camp, not only to burn Swirlies for experience, but also to bond with the current party. Certain combinations of Princesses can bond with each other.
- Cat Girl: There are an entire race of them, with special mention going to the Cat Princess, Ninja Princess, and the prince that, upon being rebuked, killed Ghost Princess in her past life.
- Church Militant: The Church of Conquest is a highly influential faction that is supported by the Dragon Queen and specializes in countering sexual corruption at all costs. One of their agents, the Crusader Princess, is a specific example of this trope.
- Cute Mute: Ghost Princess' mouth starts out sewn shut, but if her Route is followed, she will be capable of talking again.
- Despair Event Horizon: Most party members have a "corruption" stat that increases when they've been mistreated by the player or roughed up too much in battle. If it fills all the way, they become despondent, and unable to rejoin the active party for that run of the game. Before that point, though, "corruption" can be reduced at a church. For a Princess, though...
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Regular male goblins already look very feminine, but male hobgoblins are exceptionally hard to tell apart from female hobgoblins at a glance due to them wearing armor and having lots of fur.
- The Dragon: Dusk Princess, an impish servant of the Dragon Queen herself. She antagonizes the Knight early on for fighting one of the Dragon Princesses, and is usually fought in Routes that involve defeating her master.
- The Faceless: The Knight protagonist never removes their Cool Helmet, and thus always looks the same regardless of their Multiple-Choice Past.
- Floating Continent: The Kingdom Above, a land in the sky that the Dragon Queen's loyal servants have claimed.
- Gameplay Story Segregation: A repeatable Guild quest that the Knight can accept if they are on the Kobold Princess route involves protecting the Tavern from a group of Wendigos. Said Wendigos state that they are doing this to help bring food to their Princess, even though the player can have her in their party easily by this point.
- Gender Bender: The Harvest Prince(ss)'s Cardinal Bell has this effect, originally just for said Prince(ss), but later updates made it so various other rulers (and progeny) could undergo its effects.
- Guide Dang It!: Several instances but most notably are the two hidden Kingdom stats, Kingdom Lifeforce and Kingdom Lewdness. The former, which depends on certain actions like if there are ongoing wars in the Kingdom or not, influences on how much living NPCs vs. undead NPCs appear around the Kingdom. Kingdom Lewdness affects how many NPCs are willing to have sex and can be influenced by certain things like having Princesses wearing skimpy outfits or having them be corrupted. Get it too high and a fog that creates a perpetual night will cover the Kingdom, otherwise more celibate NPCs will give into desires, and it culminates in a Non-Standard Game Over lewdness ending. There are a duo of succubi that appear throughout the Kingdom if you are along this path though, as a warning.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The player chooses the name of the Knight protagonist at the start of a run.
- Hot as Hell: The Desert Princess has a chance to appear in a more devilish form, depending on the state of her territory.
- Intrepid Merchant: Merchant Princess, a Tanuki in human form that travels to various warring reigns to sell her wares. There's also Trevor and Lina, clothing salespeople that are somewhat less intrepid than the Princess, but still frequent taverns and campfires to sell their wares.
- In Spite of a Nail: The premise of Remix mode, where the Knight does of a Refusal of the Call to help the Kobold Kingdom yet the world still descends into chaos, with the Knight finally acting after some time has passed.
- Killed Off for Real:
- A Princess that loses their reign, if not Made a Slave, will be slain. The Knight can even choose to battle and slay them himself, as some special treasures require a royal soul to function.
- If the player doesn't rescue Komachi within 20 days of the playthrough she will starve to death and be unavailable for the rest of the run.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: If the Knight has a high Romance value with a Princess that's on the losing end of a siege, she can be convinced to give up her territory and become a party member rather than end up as a spoil of war.
- Made a Slave: If a Princess loses all of their territory, there is a chance they will become enslaved by the Goblins, and the Knight can later buy their freedom in auctions.
- Morton's Fork: If you go play the tutorial, you get the option to choose one of the two treasures of the Kobold Reign, the Sacred Candle (which leads to Kobold Princess' immediate recruitment) or the Chunga Root (which doesn't do what the Sacred Candle does), no matter what you do or which treasure you choose, it will always result in the destruction of the Kobold Reign thanks to the Red Dragon Princess burning it down after defeating her and thus, with nowhere else to go, Kobold Princess joins Sir Knight's party.
- Multiple-Choice Past: The playable Knight can have multiple backgrounds, each of which grants a different benefit in the game, such as "Prince Knight" (which makes it easier to Romance the Princesses) or "Stranded Knight" (which makes them a Merfolk, giving them a bonus to seafaring territories and a penalty to landlocked ones). If the tutorial is gone through, this choice occurs at the end of it, after having already gone through a quest.
- Multiple Endings: The game originally had six main Routes to follow, which entailed special goals such as "set up the perfect wedding ceremony" or "find and defeat the Dragon Queen", as well as various Conquest Ends if one Princess is in control of the entire realm, and a Non-Standard Game Over if the player uses the Turtle Shell in the Slumbering City. More Routes, focusing on other princesses, were added in later updates.
- New Game Plus: Completing any Route of P&C allows a new run to be started, retaining the Knight's and all Progeny's levels and skills. If the Mimic Princess was befriended, they can also carry over certain items.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The game's main plot only occurs because of the Knight's actions in the tutorial; if he had been defeated rather than briefly overpower Dragon Princess I, then the land's Princesses would still be too fretful about the Dragons to destabilize the region with their Conquests. Also, the Kobold Kingdom would still exist.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: In this adaptation, all of the Princesses have given names, but only those that can be recruited will have them revealed; all of their dialogue boxes refer to them by their titles.
- Optional Sexual Encounter: The player is able to hook up with NPC’s while at a location. Considering that it can give extra affinity to the respective kingdoms, it can be useful for diplomatic purposes.
- Our Dragons Are Different: They’re humanoid and rule the world with a scaled fist in the game. While many are antagonistic to nearly everyone else and only interested in vanity, there are exceptions.
- Perpetually Static: Inverted; one of the main selling points of P&C is that, even if the player idles instead of supporting or sabotaging other reigns, they will still undergo developments and compete with each other.
- Playing Both Sides: The knight protagonist is encouraged to do this, particularly if the player wants to woo and recruit a Princess that can't easily Abdicate the Throne via an heir (such as the undead Skeleton Princess).
- Princesses Rule: The only "Queen" in the game is the Dragon Queen that ruled over the Princesses, even though the Princesses themselves were allowed enough authority to own territory and amass armies.
- Relationship Values: The Knight has two values for every Princess: Authority, which determines the services that can be granted within their territory, and Affection, which determines the Princess' willingness to spend time together. A high Affection can lead to the Princess being recruitable, but as they will no longer be able to directly lead their territory, it will nullify any Authority bonuses.
- Required Party Member:
- The player can usually choose which Princesses to gain affinity with and recruit, though some with their own Routes (like Dog Princess) force themselves into your active party once their storyline is activated.
- Outside of Remix mode, which skips the tutorial set in the Kobold Kingdom, the player will always start with the Kobold Princess due to the youngest Dragon Princess razing her territory to the ground towards the tutorial's end.
- The Rival: Some of the Wandering NPCs that can appear at the start of a run include Mugen (a foreigner whose airship crashed in the region), Amelie (a kobold paladin raised in human lands), and Michael (a pro-human, anti-monstergirl knight), all of which can and will join the battles between reigns, and sometimes for the opposite side of the player. There's also Niuya the Merfolk and Helias the Sun Moth, though their only goal is to increase the Diplomacy between reigns rather than engage in combat.
- Secret Character: There are a few reign-less Princesses and special NPCs that can be recruited through special quests, and also grant a Steam Achievement upon joining. As a bonus, they are listed as Progeny, allowing the player to carry them over to a New Game Plus. They include the Crusader Princess, the Scarecrow Princess, Amelie the Kobold, the Crystal Princess, the Moss Princess, the Mimic Princess, and Dokuro the Goblin.
- Series Mascot: The Kobold Princess, who was the main Towergirls mascot, is prominently displayed on P&C's store page, and is the first recruitable Princess in P&C.
- Shapeshifting Seducer: One of the NPCs is Babs, a sheepgirl witch in the woods that wants to practice her shapeshifting spells, and acts as an in-setting gallery for every lewd action the player has experienced.
- Shout-Out: All of the cosplay costumes that can be obtained from Lina are references to other works, such as Human Princess' "The Symbiote" or Golem Princess' "Big Momma".
- Snake People: Lamia are one of the races in the setting; they can be seen throughout the land, but lack a reign of their own. Instead, their Princess is within the Sphinx Princess' pyramid, which requires affinity with the Desert Princess to access.
- Succubi and Incubi: If any Princess (formerly just the Human Princess until a version update) gains enough corruption during battles, instead of crossing the Despair Event Horizon, she transforms into a succubus, though the process can be reversed at a nunnery as long as they aren't removed from the party.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: If you really want to, you can curry affinity with multiple reigns only to pit them against each-other. Better yet, wait for a siege to happen and help storm the castle yourself so you can slay the Princess inside and capture their soul!
- Weird Currency: Swirlies, a type of candy that's used as money throughout the realm because of every Princesses' enjoyment of sweets. They can also be burned at a campfire to convert them into experience points.
- While Rome Burns: While you are incentivized with keeping the Princesses from killing each-other, a callous player can choose to sit out a conflict. There are advantages to this, the main risk is that a Princess who gets her reign conquered has a chance of dying or fleeing from the area instead of getting captured. That being said, even dead royalty have their uses with the right items.
