1001 CHOICES | Slay the Princess - Part 1 

Mark either refuses to do what he’s told or is unquestioningly obedient, there is no in between

Game: Slay the princess. Mark: Good soldiers follow orders.

The one game where rebellion against the objectives of the game actually opens up new paths, and Mark finally starts following the rulebook. Truly, he is the embodiment of "never let them know your next move"

“I don’t care what she believes, my power of belief is way stronger” Mark pretty much summarised the entire plot in one sentence.

Find it funny that Mark, a history of doing the absolute opposite of what he's told chooses this of all games to be the world's #1 tool and follower of authority.

Mark unintentionally beating a long-ass game in a few minutes is the most Mark thing

Jonathan Sims being the narrator is NOT what I expected at all but its so good.

I was just casually listening to this in the background but was completely caught off guard when I suddenly hear Jonathan Sims of all people as the narrator. That man has tormented me for 200 episodes so I know his voice from anywhere.

If I had a nickel for every time Jonny Simms was trapped in a cabin with a hellish void outside I’d only have two nickels, but it’s still weird that it happened twice.

I'm so glad Mark is playing the Johnathan Sims Argues with Johnathan Sims Simulator.

You know it's gonna be good when it has an episode number Edit: "a episode ..." to "an episode ..."

Bro managed to get like basically the true ending of the game on his very first try LMAO

lotta love for jonny in these comments but i think everyone needs to give more appreciation to the princess herself, nichole goodnight, who does literally all of the princess's lines. this will get more impressive as the game lasts longer.

Markiplier: "You ever make a choice?" Newborn child: "Not a single one"

Hearing Jonathan "The Archivist" Sims voice throughout the whole game gives me life. And Mark being added in makes it so much more great.

It's kinda crazy how well Mark predicts the "I think therefore it is" aspect of the game accidentally

13:14 "I AM THE KING OF FIV- SLAY THE PRINCESS"

"Go watch In Space With Markiplier, why don't cha?" Because I've seen literally every video in that series at least 5 times and it takes, like, 10 hours to get through the whole thing. ... Alright, one more go around couldn't hurt.

Narrator: Slay the Princess Mark: Yes Narrator: You are happy Mark: Yes

I havent watched Mark in years. To come back and watch that first 14 minutes was just the most "some things never change" moment in my life. I cannot breathe it was that funny. Never change Mark. You are the definition of happy.

Hearing the narrator's voice and thinking "Huh, this sounds like the guy from Magnus Archives, couldn't be him though" and then seeing them literally credit Johnny Sims as the narrator was such a surprise dude. Love when my favorite voice actors end up in games I like.

kind of a mindfuck that I finished The Magnus Archives a week ago and now Markiplier's character seems to be trapped in a Domain, complete with a statement by The Archivist

The reason the Narrator and all the voices sound the same is because all the voices (aside from the princess) are voiced by the same guy, Jonathan Sims! He's a really talented voice actor (he also has a podcast series called The Magnus Archives that he wrote and plays the main character!)

I'm so glad Mark is playing this game. It deserves the limelight, and while other RU-vidrs have covered it and made it fairly popular, having someone like Mark check it out is huge. This game is wonderful, and if you want to explore all of the myriad of dialogue branches yourself, I can't recommend it enough. Even RU-vidrs who do "Full Playthrough" and "All Ending" videos of it haven't actually gotten all of the possible dialogue, as the game has so many subtle dialogue changes depending on how you behave as a player throughout. Every little choice matters, even if the game doesn't explicitly label it as a choice that would advance the narrative.

I love how marks first run was just “run it like they tell me no thoughts head empty.”

Holy crap, I was jokingly thinking in my head "Is that Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London?" AND IT FREAKING IS!

I'm glad mark is experiencing the overwhelming choices for dialouge you are given in this game....I think everyone was like: "woah, that's a lot of options." At the start of everyones 1st playthrough

From the very first seconds of the game I realized that it's most likely a representation of your anxiety and fears telling you what's best for you. Keeping you away from the things that will actually heal you. First of all, all the voices are the same. That's because it's all your inner voices. The Narrator is anxiety and fear trying to take control over you, convincing you that if you do what he tells you to, you will be happy. But The Narrator isn't just the narrator. He also wants to be the writer, telling you what to do. It's the same way that fear and anxiety sneakily manipulates you into thinking you should do what it tells you. "I care for you" "I'm doing this for you" But the princess is right there. And what's the logic in killing her? The picture for the game has a heart stabbed by a knife. Hearts are a symbol for love. And The Narrator wants you to kill that. Because love can hurt you. It can bring your entire world down. Hero is the voice of your reason. He hesitates and thinks critically. It's like when you're thinking to yourself: "Should I really be doing this?" But fear can quickly convince your reason otherwise if it has a good point. The cold voice is the opposite of the hero. It doesn't care, it sounds empty. And that's because it is. When you feel empty, you don't care. The cold voice is the most easily explained, I think. The Princess is the symbol of the end journey. The goal. To live happily ever after. When main character gets the princess, he has won, everyone is happy, and the story ends. In every story, this is the best outcome for the protagonist. She is a symbol of what you actually need. It'll take a lot more to kill her because love is very hard to kill. The coldest of hearts are able to find love. Your reflection is a symbol of how you view yourself (Shocker) Some ugly dark monster that deserves no such thing as a princess. It's self worth. In the start, The Narrator tells us that the world as we know will end if we don't slay the princess. How does that voice know that? All he wants us to is to kill the only thing that seems to be the best thing for us. Once we kill the princess (love) we get the cold voice. A broken, empty voice who doesn't care whether we live die or kill the princess again. Because once love has been killed once, you won't ever forget that feeling. And it will always linger on in your mind. "Why even bother if they'll leave us again?" "Why bother life if the world is going to end?". That's about all I picked up from it. I did notice some lines like "Is this really what you wanted? Do you hate me so much that you would kill yourself just to deny me freedom?" It goes to represent that fear is willing to hurt yourself directly if it means staying away from love.

"I don't care what she believes, my power of belief is so much stronger" Uh... Mark, have you played this before? lol

that first run lol. The narrator begged for a hero, and lucky for him, he got Mark

Just in case it wasn't clear: the (explore) tag options have means you can *expect* to be able to not progress the choices. It can be useful if you're trying to get information, for example from that hand thing you encountered.

He didn't slayed the princess, he served, ate and devoured

I've never reacted to a voice actor SO viscerally but hearing Jonathan sims sent my body into shock

Mark! Yes! Avoid Spoilers like the Plague! play it as fast as you can before you learn anything. This is one of *THOSE* games, where as soon as you know enough to be interested, you know too much. this is one of the best games to play Blind ive ever seen

The classmate I sat next to in school downloaded this game illegaly to the schools computer, and grinded it like literally the whole schoolyear and I remember just occasionally glancing at his screen and seeing like a severed hand or something. Wild times.

jonnys voice is so different when he's not playing a spooky archivist ..as soon as I typed this he started getting spooky. as soon as the basement door opened I was like "oh hello archivist"

Two of the best voices in one video. Jonathan Sims and Mark.

The Narrator: "You did kill someone. Greater good or not, something would be very wrong with you if you didn't feel at least a little bit bad." Mark (doesn't feel at least a little bit bad): SLAY THE PRINCESS!

This art style is incredible. I love the way they did the eyes. It feels like the princess is actually alive and then dead when the light fades from them Never thought some basic style drawing could be so well done like this

the way I gasped at hearing Jonathan Sims, from the Magnus Archives. Figures he would voice a game like this one

I watched Manly's playthroughs of this originally, so I was super excited to get to see Mark's version. The fact that he went for the "good ending" on the first run is honestly hilarious. Also, seeing Manly's name in the credits was amazing. Can't wait to watch more

Mark managed to basically not interact with the princess at all for 25 minutes straight. I kinda forgot this game was about a princess. xD

Mark: "Why am I a bird?" Also Mark: (red bull gives you wings noises intensifies)

Me: oh nice a Markiplier video *Mark starts playing the game* Me: JONATHAN SIMS?????

0:49 “did you find the musical?” yes mark i did. i forced myself to get every ending of every series you have ever done. what more can i do

MARK PLAYED THIS?! I am sat

You know it’s going to be a good horror game when the Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute is narrating the game!

A game with many long intracate routs open to interpretation. Mark: why am I a bird? ooo stab stab nice great day to listen to athority i mean slay this princess is the name of the game

WE'RE ONE STEP CLOSER TO MARK KNOWING ABOUT THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES THIS IS NOT A DRILL

God I know they’re two completely separate works of fiction and the simple fact that Jonny sims is the narrator doesn’t make it the same but there are so many things in this game that remind me of Magnus 20:02

For anyone seeing this game for the first time I HIGHLY RECOMMEND playing the game yourself before watching a playthrough. Making your own choices is very satisfying. Mark is playing this game very differently than how I started, I actually got to see a new "perspective" from this so playthroughs are still enjoyable.

Getting a Markiplier AFK Journey ad halfway through the video is kinda like a random Lixian edit lmao

Mark skipping almost every "explore" option, especially at the end, is going to kill me. He is going to be so, SO confused by the end of this, lol

I both love and find it incredibly annoying how shallowly-deep this game's choices are. Mark was extremely get-to-the-point the entire time and so when he was possessed the spectre was cold and distant, just using him as a means to an end, but if you actually talk with her a bit it can completely flip with her actually reassuring you and encouraging you to hold it together and get out. It's basically an entirely different experience, yet it's technically the same ending because things only majorly change on the reset points. The "explore" options are basically what define the entire game, yet they're labled as "explore" options, which implies they're just extra superficial detail.

I have to commend Mark for being one of the few youtubers I've seen go "Whatever you say, Narrator, time to slay that princess!" and then completely follow through

Weird that Mark is only now getting to Slay the Princess with The Pristine Cut right around the corner, but hey, more eyes on Black Tabby Games is only a good thing, their stuff deserves it.

I'm guessing a lot of people might say this, but there was a lot of dialogue you missed because of not choosing the "(Explore)" options. Whenever an option is labeled "(Explore)" it almost always doesnt change your path or what choices you can make, and mainly just gives optional dialogue, which can be very helpful with piecing the lore together, especially in the final sequence

In my perfect little world Markiplier likes the narration so much that he looks up who plays the narrator and then becomes a fan of Jonathan sims and then the Magnus archives

I am so wildly happy that Mark is taking a stab at this game, it's an absolutely wonderful game and I can't wait for more people to see it and try it!

25:00 Mark Loyal as Always

24:18 I like how the dead princess actually wave back to Mark😂 So wholesome

I don't usually do this but like Mark said.. If you want to play this yourself, please do so before watching Mark finish it. This truly is an experience that can only be TRULY experienced for yourself once.. But you can always enjoy someone else's journey.

"I think I'm going to play this game to completion": Omg yes, please, there seems to be _so much_ choices and options there, and I'd love to see them all, or as much as can be! This sort of ultra-meta game is always so much fun to watch!

I thought I recognized the narrator's voice, so I looked into it and found that the narrator is voiced by Jonathon Sims, who also does the Magnus Archives. Great podcast, highly recommend.

“When you play Mega Man, you’re trying to Mega the Man” So deep, Mark, hadn’t thought of it that way

Yesss Markiplier and Jonathan Sims in the same video (sort of lol) I was hoping Mark would play this!

Hearing the voice of Jonathan Sims, head archivist of the Magnus Institute, London, in this game was a very nice surprise

13:23 he beat the game

WOW, “Slay the Princess”??? this is about to be great

This game is cool. I like how clear it is the narrator is trying to manipulate you into feeling a certain way about the situation or make a certain choice through his descriptions and dialogue. Basically right off the bat when you get to the cabin he sets a certain tone. Tries to make you feel that this cabin is a bad place with bad things in it, and by extension the princess locked therein is bad too. Deliberateky trying to make you uncomfortable rather than letting you come to your own conclusions. It's the best use of the unreliable narrator trope I've seen in a while. Not just because of how blatant it is, but also the fact that everything else remains unclear so you still don't know what choice to make despite the narrator's obvious manipulation. There's a demo on steam btw.

I love how the way you behave towards the Princess changes her. I know that’s the point, but like…if you treat her as a monster, she becomes one. If you treat her as a victim, she becomes one. But she never becomes a full human…does she? But 8:26 took me out

Markaplier is literally just “Good soldiers follow orders” this entire video

For some reason when he said “Hello everybody my name is markiplier” today, I felt overwhelmingly nostalgic. And then I realized exactly 11 years ago on the 23rd of June 2013 was when I discovered your channel. Sincerely, thank you Mark.

mark AND johnny sims??? I'M SOLD

“It’s you” despite everything it’s still you

I have never been so happy to see a Slay the Princess video!! This game needs more recognition it's so fucking awesome.

i like how mark tackled this one, way back when people started playing this game, they would ask questions, meander around, TALK to the princess, and generally make a mess of things, but mark here got right to the point (of a blade, get it), that feels like the best way to start this before getting distracted(able) and into the weeds of path/ending hunting or lore hunting

mark and Jonathon sims in one??? my day has been MADE

Mark talking about In Space With Markiplier: ‘Did you find the musical?’ Me *immediately* breaking into ‘Space was so-o co-o-o-o-ol…’

Listening to Jonathan Sims narrate a spooky tale for 40 minutes? Perfect (it took me 2 seconds and then I immediately gasped out loud - our archivist!) Also, I'm absolutely loving the flashbacks/references to In Space w/ Markiplier, the themes and story were so so good

HOLY CRAP A BLACK TABBY GAMES ON MARK'S CHANNEL!?!?!?!?? SHOOK. THAT MEANS HE MAY END UP PLAYING SCARLET HOLLOW TOO

we love you❤

37:35 okay why does this sounds like circus baby?..💀

Nichole is not just a stunning voice actor, she is an all-round amazing person and it makes me genuinely happy that her hard work and exceptional talents are being recognised throughout the corners of the internet.

"I don't care what she believes, my power of belief is so much stronger" As someone who's 100%'d this game, this line is hilarious.

all mark's choices are motivated by "WELL... i know the name of the game..!"

26:10 + when you play Minecraft, you mine and craft

*Mark, btw, kinda important, the [Explore] options let you pick other options without progressing through the story while giving you additional paths/context.* 9:24 and 11:42 He's already close to figuring out what the entity is supposed to explain through the [Explore] questions in this round at the end. I want to add that these aren't spoilers or that he's playing the game "wrong", just wanted to comment this because he got mega-confused at the end because he skipped. He might figure it out later, I noticed it's something commonly overlooked in Let's Plays is all.

JONATHAN SIMS!!!!!!! THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES????? THIS IS SO TMA CODED "Why u so quiet?" mark he has to be quiet because if he isn't the horrors will find him "she's so... coldly beautiful." Jonny is such a good narrator, this is why i love tma so much "a GGG- GHOST!!!!!" never expected jonny to be scared of a ghost this game is so end coded this game is so vast coded

The fact that I started listening to The Mangus Archives because Mark wasn't uploading and this is one of his first games back... ...gods be dammed it's all come full circle

25:53 I genuinely love how his love for half life has not died🙏🙏 half life mentioned btw goated game

HOW. How did Mark figure out that [SPOILERS!] the world and the princess become whatever you believe them to be? How did he figure that out this quickly???? I’m genuinely impressed.

Narrator: two sentences in Me: Jonny Sims?! (It is Jonny Sims, I checked immediately)

The Paranoid and the Narrator spatting whilst the Hero amateurishly running the autonomic neural maintenance with the Nightmare princess deadass glaring at the protagonist who's having a literal internal dispute is just peak VN game.

19:30 someone explain

dawg this is the earliest i’ve ever been to a markiplier video

A new edition of the game with extra endings, new routes, and more is coming out in fall!! Including a console release with specail merch!! Go support the creators if you can! I'm not affiliated with the dev team, I've just been following game progress since the demo.

I can't believe that Mark is actually playing AND making a series of this game. I hope these videos do well.

If you didnt fall in love with the princess, did you really play the game? Lol

Proud that Mark managed to avoid any potential spoiler about this game for this long