voice-of-the-soren

[voice-of-the-soren]

Important question: is the scary monster voiced by the same voice actress that did Slay the Princess romanceable?

🎙️ Voice Acting That Brought Camp Bear Ridge to Life 🎙️

Bad Summer's extended demo is more than new content - it’s alive, thanks to our insanely talented voice cast. ❤️

Every whisper. Every scream. Every shaky breath. Every smug laugh. They gave our world texture, weight, and personality. They breathed life into every scene.

To our cast: You crushed it. To our players: Turn your volume up.

Play Bad Summer now!

Itch l Steam

[voice-of-the-soren]

This one yearns for connections he feels he doesn't deserve. Even when shown compassion, they hid themself away. He will make for a cautious heart. Do not mourn them. They aren't alone anymore.

still image below

[voice-of-the-soren]

"And what about this moment? How are you feeling, right here and now?" "Here? I'm okay. As long as I'm here…I'm okay."

Just A To the Moon Series Beach Episode (2024) developed by Freebird Games + "Everything's Alright" by Laura Shigihara and Kan Gao from To the Moon (2011) developed by Freebird Games

+Comment from the comments section of the "World in a Memory" lyric video:

[voice-of-the-soren]

tbh i like that more and more games are introducing a "narrative mode" instead of an "easy difficulty", cause a big thing about the easy mode discourse was centered around "are people capable of playing hard games", which showed a lot of elitism and sometimes ableism, but with the introduction of "narrative mode", it completely shifts the paradigm away from "hard mode is for real gamers, easy mode is for noobs" and towards "this is just the game mode for you to experience the story", which not only smooths over that problem, but also enables devs to really rethink how they want to approach designing their game and telling a story to their audience, which i think adds in a lot of possibilities beyond just "is the game easy or hard"

[voice-of-the-soren]

Slay the Princess Steam front page!

The Pristine Cut has gotten close to no mainstream press coverage since it released (bless the folks who did!) But that means, folks! It's up to y'all to help us shill this and let people know about the update AND to tell folks who haven't played the game to give it a whirl.

[voice-of-the-soren]

*inhale*

SP3CTRE IS MY HOMMIE. MY PAL. I WANNA KEEP TALKING TO HER. I WANT HER TO BE HAPPY. I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO MY BODY. I WANT TO KEEP HER COMPANY. I WANT HER TO LAUGH. I WANT TO HEAR HER TALK ABOUT NOTHING AS WE SIT IN A DARK CABIN TOGETHER. I WANT TO BANTER.

*exhale* Anyways yeah guys I'm enjoying pristine cut

[voice-of-the-soren]

I saw a D&D AU with the Voices, and I decided that I also wanted to do a D&D AU with the Vessels, so here goes:

*cracks knuckles*

The players are the chapter 2 vessels, who have joined together after they were each mysteriously attacked---and nearly kidnapped---by worshipers of a primordial god only known as The Narrator. Even though they're all vastly different people with vastly different motivations, they have to work together in order to figure out how they've somehow angered a long-forgotten god.

The Tower is a scourge aasimar and an Oath of Conquest paladin, who devoted herself to The Apotheosis, queen of the gods and the embodiment of justice and retribution. She acts as the self-appointed leader of the group, even though a good chunk of the other players are having none of her self-righteousness and narcissism. She doesn't believe that the Narrator actually exists, and considers the quest to just be another heretic-killing spree.

The Adversary is a tiefling Ancestral Guardians barbarian, who grew up in a rough-and-tumble all-barbarian community and is slated to become its next leader. She's just happy to travel around the world bashing heads, and she winds up clashing the most with Tower---mainly due to their very different backgrounds. She genuinely doesn't care who or what the Narrator is, and just wants to kick ass and have a good time.

The Spectre is a ghost and a necromancer wizard, who actually died when she was attacked and has brought herself back in order to track down her killer and to take her revenge. She kind of lost herself in the ivory tower of academia when she was alive, and part of the reason she's sticking with the others is so she can actually form connections before it's truly too late. She's studied several old cults in her time, but the only thing she's found of The Narrator is an old painting of a crow with sharp teeth...

The Nightmare is a dhampir and an Undead warlock, who draws her magic from the dread vampire queen who turned her. She is no stranger to being hunted, for people fear and shun vampires and their spawn, but she knows full well that this time is different. And during the attack, she managed to devour a dream of her would-be captor, getting a little glimpse into the ancient powers of the god that wants her gone... and, well, who can resist the allure of taking down a being as old as time?

The Witch is a tabaxi Circle of Spores druid and an Arcane Trickster rogue, who's been living on her own in the woods after suffering a great betrayal and heartbreak that damaged her trust in anyone. She's only working with the others because she believes she'll get further if she does, and while she initially intends to backstab them once they're no longer useful, she finds herself growing closer to them as their journey continues. All she really wants is to go back to her old life... but her goal may change as her walls begin to come down.

The Prisoner is a human Armorer artificer, who once angered an archfey and was cursed to always be bound in chains. Undeterred, she turned this to her advantage, reforging her chains into armor that she could use as a weapon. She starts traveling with the rest purely due to self-preservation, as every time she resolved to just hide, The Narrator's worshipers found her again---but she's definitely the practical mind that they needed.

The Damsel is a half-elf College of Creation bard and a Beastmaster ranger, and she's a princess whose kingdom was usurped by an evil family member, leaving her on the run. She's very naive about how the world works, mainly due to being sheltered her entire life, and is sure that this situation can be solved with a nice conversation. Thankfully, she has someone to help her...

The Beast is a fey that was cursed to take the form of a barely-sapient panther, and she barely recalls her life in the Feywild. Still, she has a soft spot for the innocent princess she came across in the woods one day, and she will protect her for as long as she can.

The Razor is an elf Soulknife rogue and a College of Swords bard, and she's actually a pretty well-known circus performer. She's absolute chaos personified, and she really doesn't give a shit about The Narrator either way---she's just ready to kick ass, stab people, and hang out with her new best friends. Even if not all of them are super into being friends with the crazy blade lady.

And last but not least, The Stranger is a changeling Divine Soul sorcerer and a Grave Domain cleric, who unknowingly draws their power from the long-forgotten goddess of change, transformation, endings, and new beginnings. They woke up one day with no memory of who they were, and were immediately attacked for reasons they could not explain---so, needless to say, they're pretty traumatized. It also doesn't help that they don't even know what they really look like, so they're constantly changing to reflect what people expect of them... which isn't the most healthy thing, but they're an amnesiac, give them a break.

So... yeah!

[voice-of-the-soren]

This is a love story 💫💗

[voice-of-the-soren]

slay the princess is NOT a het love story btw

[voice-of-the-soren]

[voice-of-the-soren]

Slay the Princess: The Pristine Cut releases tomorrow...

[voice-of-the-soren]

this is a tierlist of princesses ranked by how reasonable it is (in my opinion) that they are mad at you! this is ofc subject to change w the pristine cut but i kept thinking about it and while i was taking a break from writing an essay on this game i wanted to take the time to do this.

justified:

wraith - objectively correct for being pissed at you. you only get to the wraith by hurting the princess, seeing what you did, and deciding to hurt her further. doubly correct if you reach the wraith through the spectre imo.

drowned grey - you failed her and, assuming leaving the prisoner's head no longer leads to the drowned grey in the pristine cut, you very specifically betrayed her trust. she's correct for wanting you dead.

the nightmare - i hear you saying about the organ failureee but she doesnt actually have any control over it! shes reasonably upset and as things go she really seems to be holding back. you fucked up by locking her in the basement and its nice of her to consider forgiveness even if she will bot be forgetting any time soon.

a bit much, but fair:

moment of clarity - building off of the nightmare, the source of her anger is fair and her doing everything she can to make you let her out is understandable, but the fear that grips the voices makes me feel like she might have gone a little too far.

the witch - generally the circumstances that lead to the witch are a misunderstanding. either you were possessed and killed her, or you went upstairs and it scared her. the fear and betrayal are entirely understandable but misinformed.

less fair but i get it:

eye of the needle - i get being frustrated by a subpar fight but i think maybe chasing tlq out of the cabin to make him give you a good one was a bit much and honestly it is what it is. a lot of people ARE into that though so thats awesome.

varies:

the stranger - she's a lot of princesses at once so individual ones have different opinions and different reasons for that.

the thorn - if you give her a new reason to feel betrayed then she's justified, and if she's only upset from the witch then she gets placed in "a bit much, but fair".

unfair:

the fury - as of now it seems shes upset bc you either had to be put down by the adversary, didn't want to fight the adversary, or made the tower take action at all. none of these are fair reasons to unravel a person.

should've been more upset:

the spectre - she's allowed to hate you for stabbing her and it's really nice of her to give you a second chance.

the wounded wild - she's allowed to be upset that you tore yourself away from her after she finally felt whole and after everything the two of you have been through, she's just so tired.

the burned grey - she's allowed to hate you for stabbing her and it's really fucked up that you did that. she's objectively correct for fighting the cycle of violence with fire and it's really kind of her to think you'd never Really hurt her and it must be the cabin.

not upset:

prisoner, adversary, damsel, tower, apotheosis, networked wild, base princess, beast, den - they just aren't actually upset with you so they don't have any particular place on this tierlist.

she's stimming <3:

the razor (x3) - she's stimming <3

[voice-of-the-soren]

i miss sigcorp crew, i miss eva and her garden, i miss neil, i miss roxy and rob, i miss faye, i miss river and johnny and lily and tommy and sarah, i miss the platypus plushie and the multicolored paper rabbit, i miss anya, i miss the moon, i miss the sigcorp headquarters, i miss their offices, i miss the sound recorder, i miss the ████████████ i miss the paper airplane and the bird, i miss rudog, i miss the balcony, i miss the plane, i miss the hibiscus flowers and the green book, i miss colin and sofia and asher, i miss lynri, i miss quincy, i miss ricebot and long cat, i miss the mansion, i miss the room without an end, i miss the lavender and the stars, i miss the realities elsewhere, i miss the memory machine, i miss the confusion, the heartbreak the hope I MISS THEM SO MUCHHHHHH

[voice-of-the-soren]

[ID: The post "so bored with work I'm playing w the damn rocks" edited with Impostor Factory characters. Quincy shows the smooth rock with a cheerful expression and Lynri smiles with a thoughtful hand on her chin for the "ur so fascinating" reply. Quincy, hands on the sides of his head with tears flowing down his face asks "what did she mean by this". Ricebot and Longcat cheerfully - "you an interesting critter bro". End ID.]

(Original post here. Images are official art from the AU Playbook by Del (eastxide)!)

[voice-of-the-soren]

concept

[voice-of-the-soren]

the whole sigcorp franchise is about grief -- life, death, grief, and moving on. but i really appreciate how each game handles the topic differently and paints a new perspective of it via the characters in focus:

in to the moon, johnny struggles to cope with a loss and a sense of guilt he can't rationalize. the game asks if it's fair for johnny to be happy if his happiness outweighs the real memories and consequences of the life he lived... but ultimately, it's not up for the doctors (or us) to decide -- johnny's love for river was real, and that mattered to him more than anything else deep down. nothing could change that fact, and he subconsciously held onto it, even as the fabric of reality broke down around him.

in finding paradise, colin struggles to accept his own life coming to an end despite having little to no regrets, and uses fantasy as an excuse to justify his dissatisfaction. the game asks if there's any clear difference between "real" memories and "the fiction we tell ourselves"... but when so much of our lives is fueled by a natural fear of death and loneliness, the distinction barely matters. every moment can be meaningful if you just want it to be, even if it's in retrospect. even the little things.

in impostor factory, lynri struggles with seeing worth in her own life, yet simultaneously does everything she can to leave a lasting mark on the world -- while quincy struggles to be her anchor, as he becomes increasingly aware that they can't live a normal life together. the game asks if lynri has the right to be selfish and pursue her goals at the expense of any chance at happiness with quincy, or if quincy has the right to be selfish and keep lynri grounded if that just seals her fate... but there's no correct answer to that. life is too complicated for there to be a singular, perfect thread of choices. sometimes pain is unavoidable, so all you can do is make the most of what you have while it still lasts.

and every time, these dilemmas are directly mirrored through eva and neil. it always circles back to the hypocritical nature of what sigcorp does, to eva putting on a strong face and trying to see these issues in black and white to protect herself, to neil genuinely believing in the value of his work but failing to take his own advice.

i think the beach episode was the perfect conclusion to all of this. we don't know how eva's gonna carry on now... but we have to imagine that she is. we have to hold onto that hope, for her sake and for our own. we, the audience, have to accept this as the end of the series, and believe that the moment we press the escape key, eva accepts it as well.

these fictional people's lives meant something to us. and if there was hope for them, there's hope for us, too.

[voice-of-the-soren]

Any of The Wild variations show that the separation Shifting Mound and the Long Quiet, when they used to be one, is irreversible.

Even if Quiet decides to stay together, it's not meant to be. The Shifting Mound only takes the Networked Wild. Right at the edge of the cage the Narrator formed around them. As desperate as she is to never be alone again, she cannot hold them together, either. Only separate them into their distinctive identities again.

The Narrator was right in this. This cut - this cut he made - between them can never be mended. They never will be and never have been able to leave as one- return to being one.