A Little Lily Princess

I didn't see a topic for this cute little visual novel here, so I decided to make one myself. Has anyone ever heard of A Little Lily Princess? It's a short game based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's book, A Little Princess. The story's about the same: A girl named Sara Crewe is sent to an English boarding school for girls while her father is out in India. She's a nice, rich girl who is kind to everyone, from the shy, slow Ermengarde to the overworked servant girl Becky. But on her 11th birthday, she's told that her father died, and she is left penniless. The headmaster of the school, the evil Miss Minchin, makes her into a servant and abuses her, turning her into a slave and making her do all kinds of work.

In the game, you can have Sara pursue one of six girls, some of whom aren't treated as romantic options (Lottie and Mariette), while some are. It's really simple: All you do is choose activities for Sara to do every week, and you gain resources you can use in whatever girl's route you choose, though it's really just clicking and really light decision making. I've played all six routes and it's a very good game! It's true to the spirit of the book, and while some choices it makes do detriment it (cutting out Amelia and making Miss Minchin into more of a generic Saturday morning cartoon Sadist Teacher villain and a Karma Houdini at the end), it has a lot going for it, such as giving characters who were only minor characters in the book more focus and personality, cutting a lot of the pretentious Purple Prose, making Sara more flawed and three-dimensional, and giving characters added backstory. If you're looking for something short and sweet but still has a lot of heart and is a great adaptation of a famous book, this is the game for you. I really like it myself!

Edited by TwilightPegasus on May 6th 2019 at 8:48:59 AM

I've played it a while ago and really enjoyed it. Jessie's route is my favorite one.

Though I should point out that Miss Minchin is not a Karma Houdini; Karma Houdini is for characters who completely dodge karma, which she does not. Sure, her punishment of not being able to take financial advantage of Sara may seem light, but being punished at all disqualifies her as a Karma Houdini.

I see. Guess I should look at more tropes before deciding who or what's what.