Thank you Red Dune Games for providing us with a review code!  

Most cats hate water.  I know mine do.  Princess of the Water Lilies is about a cat who was raised by frogs and watches many of them, along with several other forest animals, get kidnapped.  Given the title of the game, I am assuming that the cat is a girl and her name is Princess.  Regardless, it’s up to her to find out where her friends went and release them from their robotic kidnappers.

At first, Princess of the Water Lilies plays like a platformer where you can jump, purr, and swipe at objects.  There are mushrooms to bounce off of and huge dandelion seed blossoms to hold onto and glide away on.  Later in the game, you’ll stumble across numerous puzzles that will have to be solved in order to advance the story.  Some of the puzzles can get a bit tricky, and I was glad there are some YouTube play through videos available to watch for enlightenment.

Like most platformers, you’ll have to avoid environmental obstacles like spikes and poisonous gasses.  Many of the enemies and bosses are fearsome at first, but once disarmed, they’re harmless.  There are several different biomes to explore, and each one has a boss to contend with at the end.  There are many huge frogs that you can use to warp between the different areas, if desired.  

There are many hidden areas where you’ll find animals stashed away in crates waiting to be freed. Scattered throughout the levels you’ll find numerous orbs to collect.  The blue orbs can be taken to a big tree in the swamp to restore it to its former glory.   Other than something to do, they don’t seem to serve any purpose.  

The boss battles vary, but the bosses are always big and intimidating.  You’ll have to run from them and avoid their attacks while getting close enough at times to purr on them to short circuit them.  Once conquered, a sweet animal will emerge from the robotic scrap heap that must have been controlling them somehow.  

Skill is involved in figuring out the attack patterns of the enemies and boss battles, but there is some luck and random attack elements that can’t be avoided at times.  One of the more challenging boss battles involves robotic sea horses that spew out poisonous bubbles that appear and move in random directions.  As a result, your kitty may not be able to dodge them all.   Thankfully, Princess of the Water Lilies is pretty generous with save points and saves every time you do damage to the boss, so you won’t have to start over from the very beginning.

Cloud saves are supported, so I was able to test this game on my Steam Deck. I’m happy to report that it ran great! 

Princess of the Water Lilies is well-polished and has a lot of charm.  I love the hand-drawn graphics, and the animals are adorable; I wanted to rescue them all.  The sound effects are good, but the background music was forgettable.  

Outside of cartoon violence, Princess of the Water Lilies is family-friendly.  It’s suitable for all ages, but younger kids may find it too difficult. I found the difficulty to be “just right”, but some people may find the game too hard or too easy.  Different difficulty levels would be nice to offer.

While I didn’t find all of the blue orbs, I was able to complete this game in less than six hours.  The asking price of $14.99 is quite reasonable.  If you enjoy puzzle platformers, Princess of the Water Lilies is worth looking into.