The Adventures of Prince Ivan is a visual novel adaptation of a Russian fairy tale, made by OokamiKasumi using the Renpy Visual Novel Engine.

For this review, I'm not going to show the story since the story is the 'main' deal' of the game. Also, no screenshots. I don't want to spoil you guys (at least, not that much) :3


Introduction:
The game is a choose-your-own-path type, where you get to decide (to an extent) what happens in the story and when; leading you through a world full of mystery, snark, and oddity, and eventually to one of the four possible endings. Along the way, you meet all sorts of people and magical beings: from strange, identical uncles; to a witch grandmother; and heck, chicken-cabins that when angered, can break an entire castle like it was mere toothpicks!

Rich in flavour and character, you will never feel cheated of the time you spent as you travel along with Prince Ivan; helping him get through obstacles and quests, and of course, in getting the Princess. Now the question is: Will he? Only one way to know...

Story: 5/5
The story is an adaptation of a Russian Fairy tale. And though if this was just the case, it would have been unfair to rate the story along with the game too. But the developer slightly modified the story, giving it a more modern and humorous twist; and it worked as if it were the original. Everything was tightly packed, that you will not notice if this part of the story was part of the original or added by the developer herself.

Execution: 5/5
The game sports a light overall mood, even when the story itself revolves around rather dark themes. And the humour was well-balanced too; never going overboard.

The way the dialogues were written gave unique personalities to each character, making them more distinct and 'real'. You could easily tell who it was speaking just by listening to the tone of their words, and I find this rather impressive.

Art: 5/5
The art was tailor-made for the game. It mimics ancient Russian clothing, with a slight modern, anime-esque style. You can see how much effort was placed in making the characters and their clothes alone. Every intricate detail is well-defined and accented. And the tinge of modern anime-style worked perfectly, giving the game a certain 'sophisticated spunk'.

Music: 5/5
The music used in the game are compositions of Igor Stravinsky, and it reinforced the theme even more. The music fit right in and perfectly augmented the rest of the game. And with an orchestra playing as you progress, you will never have a dull, silent moment.

Direction: 5/5
I'll go ahead and praise the way the story was directed. The developer has successfully made the old tale really exciting and funny. The way the plot was written kept me wanting more. The chain of events kept moving onward, up the climax and smoothly down to the resolution; ever pulling me along. Never have I felt dulled out during my play-through.

Interactions: 3/5
There was not much player-game interaction until mid to late game. And even with that, roughly half of the choices provided were merely for flavour. Not that I did not like the flavour text, though; they were still interesting enough for me to seek out all of them. But the game sure could use some more interaction.

Random Thoughts:


Overall: 5/5
An amazing game; a beautiful adaptation of a classic tale. Though a bit lacking on the interactions between the player and the game, this was handled gracefully with well-integrated modernizations, and backed up by beautiful art and awe-inspiring music; thereby making this game worth all the stars it could get.


So if you don't want to end up in Baba's oven, you better play this game!