The puzzle platformer Steal Princess doesn’t take its plot too seriously: It starts off with an Indiana Jones-style sequence, complete with a giant boulder trap. The dialogue and story are downright silly, following a lady thief who’s forced to rescue a prince from demons or stand trial for her crimes, and an overly perky, vapid fairy who keeps telling her she’s actually a great hero.
While they’re framed with amusing fluff, the puzzles can be seriously mean. After a few levels of basic tutorial, the learning curve gets steep, forcing you to keep your eyes glued to the top screen in the hopes of picking out some clue about what you’re supposed to do amid your fairy guide’s random babbling.
While the boards all follow the same basic format (get from the starting point to an open door), they aren’t all created equal. The game is weakest when it overly emphasizes combat by placing a big monster as the only obstacle in a level. Basic and bland attack options make fights repetitive and tedious. Enemy AI quality also seems to vary wildly from level to level, with some bad guys chasing you around the map, while others just stand around waiting for you to kill them.