Making another princess in Lair Land Story

I love raising sims, be they based on dating (such as in the case of something like True Love ’95) or simply helping someone (inevitably a cute girl) survive the harshness of reality. Or not, as the case may be. So when Circle Entertainment and PQube announced an English version of Lair Land Story, I was immediately interested. This is exactly my sort of game.

In Lair Land Story, you take on the role of Herol, a baron who played a prominent and heroic role in a war that has just ended. Herol actually witnessed the final moment of the war, when a mysterious young girl who had been sleeping in a temple burst into tears, exploded in a blinding light and then suddenly seemingly brought all the hostilities to an immediate close via means unknown.

Lair Land Story

Unfortunately, she collapsed immediately afterwards and lost all her memories, so Herol, being a decent sort of chap, decides to take her back to his home town with him. The local priest determines that the young girl may well be a test sent from the Goddess to show that humanity is capable of positive growth and change, and thus encourages Herol to take care of the girl in order to — hopefully, anyway — build her into a shining example of what humanity is capable of.

Naturally, the moment he agrees to this, others immediately start beating his door down asking for his help with other projects such as restoring the damage done to the city by the war and helping the Church deal with the massive rise in homelessness and unemployment, and it’s at this point you’re left in charge. How will you help Chilia grow? And how — if at all — will you help the kingdom you call home?

Gameplay in Lair Land Story will be immediately familiar to those who have played games like Princess Maker or Long Live the Queen. Each game turn, you can schedule up to three activities for Chilia to do; these fall into the categories of studying to increase her stats, working to provide a smaller stat increase and some monetary income, rebuilding the city and “other” activities which usually allow her to get some rest and relaxation.

Lair Land Story

The work and study activities have their own experience levels, with Chilia able to earn more money and enjoy greater stat increases as she specialises in a particular area. Rebuilding the city, meanwhile, helps to improve the city’s economy, which can make all sorts of things more affordable as well as unlocking new events to enjoy. In a nice touch, your improvements to the city are reflected in the backdrops when you visit the various areas, so you can actually see the fruits of your labours as you progress.

As you continue through Lair Land Story, additional mechanics become available, including a “bonus goal” system whereby you can set a target to achieve by the end of a season and receive bonus points for accomplishing it, and a research mechanic that allows Chilia to develop new items for either using or selling for additional income.

On top of all that, you can decorate your house, manage Chilia’s fan club, develop an affinity with the divine in exchange for various blessings and all manner of other things, too.

Lair Land Story

As always with this type of game, it’s simply not possible to do everything in a single playthrough of Lair Land Story, so it pays to focus and specialise Chilia’s attention as much as you can while keeping an eye on her exhaustion and enthusiasm levels. You’ll also need to keep a close eye on the purse-strings; while you start with what seems like a comfortable amount of money, it’s very easy to burn through that and be left with no money for simple upkeep, particularly when there are things like new hairstyles and cute swimsuits available to purchase in the town.

As well as scheduling activities for Chilia, in each turn you’re also able to visit three locations in the town. Sometimes these will simply trigger a short conversation with someone at that location, while at others there will be more substantial events that can lead on to more involved narrative paths. By following these along, it’s possible to get to know a variety of potential suitors for Chilia, as well as prospective partners for Herol also.

The nice thing about Lair Land Story is that at no point does it feel like it’s railroading you down a particular “correct” path; like the best examples of the raising sim genre, this is a game about exploring and discovering things for yourself. Sure, that does mean you may not end up with an “optimal” ending the first time you play — but this is a game built to be replayed, particularly when bearing in mind the “Bonus Points” mechanic that allows you to purchase various benefits for yourself on subsequent runs.

Lair Land Story

Lair Land Story has a really appealing look and feel, particularly for those who grew up in the ’90s. A PS1 or PS2-style aesthetic is somewhat in vogue for smaller-scale games right now, but most people take this to mean “low-poly models and blocky textures”. Lair Land Story takes a different approach to its retro-inspired look and feel by focusing on the 2D side of things, however. It features a very distinctive art style that is extremely reminiscent of titles like the PS2-era Atelier games (particular Atelier Violet), as well as an anime intro that absolutely wouldn’t have looked out of place on a PS1 or PS2 disc.

It eschews a truly “authentic” low-resolution pixelated look in favour of a widescreen, high-definition look, but there’s very definitely a late ’90s/early ’00s feel to the whole game — and, whether intentionally or not, this extends to the voice acting, which is reasonable quality in terms of the actual performances but leaves a little to be desired in terms of sound quality; there are a few of the Japanese voice actors who should have probably been told to stand a little way back from the microphone, let’s just say!

All of this just adds to the charm, though. Lair Land Story isn’t a big-budget game, nor does it have any pretensions towards being a huge and epic adventure. Instead, it’s a thoroughly appealing, endearingly small-scale game that is well worth your time and attention, featuring lovely art, some wonderful music, delightful characters and an absolute ton of replay value.

Lair Land Story

It’s a pity that no physical releases of Lair Land Story seem to be planned right now, but Circle Entertainment has been known to partner with some of the limited-press houses for some of their other titles in the past, so never say never. For now, though, rest assured that Lair Land Story is a game that will put a smile on your face from the moment you start playing — just do your best to make sure you keep a smile on Chilia’s face also. You never know when you might need a magical girl.

Lair Land Story is available now for PC via Steam and Nintendo Switch.

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Pete Davison
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