Another Princess is in our Castle

Happy Halloween! Another Princess is in our Castle is a game by CM9 Animation made in Unity for the PC. The game is still under development, but it is available for download here. It’s a horror game where Mario comes back to visit the castle but it looks like it’s haunted by more than just some Boos.

You play as Mario, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. You decide to come back to Peach’s castle a few years after the princess’ death, but something isn’t quite right…

The game is in 1st person, you move Mario around holding a lamp and you need to traverse Peach’s castle and find all the little Peach statues without getting caught. Every time you collect a statue, Peach’s ghost come flying at you, so you need to hide away in a treasure chest to avoid her wrath.

There are 8 statues of various SM64 characters to collect in the game and a completed run takes less than 30 minutes.

The layout of the castle in Another Princess is in our Castle is pretty much identical to that of Super Mario 64, so it’s hard to get lose if you’re used to playing through that game.

Once you get the first statue outside the “The Princess’s Secret Slide” level, the castle turns dark and Ghost Peach is unleashed. You then need to hide inside the empty chests placed throughout the game to avoid her. If she sees you (basically if she’s in the same room), then she’ll chase you and game over. You’ll start again from the beginning since there aren’t any checkpoints.

Overall I like the concept of the game, and the style does make the game feel like you’re back in Super Mario 64. I understand that the point of a survival horror game is to make the player feel weak, overwhelmed and hopeless, but I think it’s a bit too hard to tell where peach is at any time. After grabbing a statue she will move towards you, otherwise she’ll do rounds guarding the building. There are a few sound effects that indicate her presence nearby, but I can’t tell which direction they’re coming from.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Another Princess is in our Castle ends up turning into when the game is completed.