Review: Princess Maker 2 Regeneration Revives a Classic

By the time my first daughter was 14 years old, she was 600 points strong, could defeat an undead knight that challenged her in a graveyard, and was well on her way to marrying a dragon, but she still couldn’t beat a 60-something year old pirate named Muscle Halvar in the Harvest Festival Combat Tournament. Those sure were some words, right? But if you play Princess Maker 2 Regeneration on the Switch or PC they not only make sense, but give you concise insight into the exact sort of adopted daughter and prospective princess’ path in life. It’s a wild game of stat management and child-rearing that blends hilarious absurdity with critical number crunching for optimal results.

Princess Maker 2 Regeneration begins with a war hero being invited to live in a kingdom with a pension and being tasked by the gods with adopting a young daughter. Your goal over the next eight years is to turn that 10 year old into a princess. However, that yearly 500 gold stipend isn’t nearly enough! Also, it sort of feels like your avatar decided that after all that hero-ing, you’re done. So you sit at home and decide what your daughter does every week for each month, scheduling out the three periods, and basically rely upon her to bring in cash from odd jobs and errantry. Oh, and maybe if she’s doing well, you’ll let her use some of that money she brings in on clothing, weapons, and classes to improve her stats. 

It is so much fun. 

Well, to me it’s so much fun. I’ve been having a ball playing Princess Maker 2 Regeneration on the Switch. For you, your levels of enjoyment may vary. This simulation is very much a numbers and management game. Classes tend to always be beneficial and only boost stats. Jobs will boost some stats and eat away at others, but provide you cash. All jobs raise her stress levels. Some jobs increase her sin levels too. Not to mention killing enemies while exploring the world make her more sinful. Certain endings are locked away by specific stat requirements. Others you’ll happen into if she works at specific jobs for too long. Marriage candidates look for specific stats too. You aren’t going to marry one of the princes, in most cases, unless you have certain levels of charisma, refinement, sin, and morality. 

Your first few runs in Princess Maker 2 Regeneration will basically involve you learning how to play the game and determining what you like about it. There are no tutorials here. Everything counts. You’ll learn how to manage what little money you get and focus on building up funds from your daughter’s jobs. You’ll learn how to manage stress so she isn’t so upset that she’s running away every other month, wasting possible time. You’ll understand that the best early investments are the sun dress and winter dress, in case of heatwaves or storms, but that you can avoid investing in weaponry if you’ll skip combat. After you’ve raised a few kids, you’ll start approaching each game with a particular destination in mind. Maybe this time, your princess will be evil! Next time, you’ll try and trigger as many events while exploring as a warrior! Perhaps she’ll try and become royalty on her own merits, without actually marrying into it.

With the Switch version of Princess Maker 2 Regeneration, Bliss Brain takes advantage of the new platform for some positive adjustments. For example, since this is a 4:3 resolution game, you constantly see all of your daughter’s stats on the right side of the screen. I didn’t realize how helpful this would be until I started playing! The voice acting is also fantastic and very much appreciated. I also liked how some of the updated art and CG looked.

That said, there are also issues with this latest incarnation of Princess Maker 2 on the Switch. Some of the font and formatting choices for text could have been better or have issues with size and spacing. The localization also isn’t great, with awkward wording present throughout, though I do think it was better than in Princess Maker 2 Refine at times. For example, it bugs me every year when the princess goes to the Combat Tournament and refers the person she’ll face in the match as “her” opponent instead of “my.” Also, saying you’re “recording the time” when saving is really weird. I think that the Hunting job might bugged as well. When my daughter’s Stamina was past 300 and her Combat Skill was past 50, she’d still be failing every day and earning no money from it. There are these little things that add up and make me wonder if it is intentional, an oversight, or a bug.

There are ways in which Princess Maker 2 Regeneration does feel like a valued, fresh start and approach to the game, partially because of it also being on systems like the Switch. However, there are also times when it feels like it also isn’t quite there yet and Princess Maker 2 Refinemay be a better bet. There are some definite bugs present and in need of squashing. I also wish the localization was stronger. However, the core game is a lot of fun, especially if you appreciate stat management simulations such as this. I think it is worth the time even if it isn’t the best version of the game available, and I hope Bliss Brain fixes some of the more glaring problems after launch.

Princess Maker 2 Regeneration is available on the Nintendo Switch and PC, and the PS4 and PS5 versions launch on August 8, 2024.