We've previously featured other versions of Love Letter on Board's Eye View, including the premium edition and the Lovecraft Letter variant published by AEG. Love Letter: Princess Princess Ever After is a new version from Renegade Game Studios and Oni Games that adapts Seiji Kanai's original microgame and transposes it to the world of the Princess Princess Ever After graphic novel published by Oni Press.
If you've played any previous version of Love Letter then this is essentially more of the same: everyone starts off with one card and on their turn they draw a card and play a card for its effect. You are trying to eliminate other players so that you end the round by being the sole survivor or having the highest value card when the thin deck runs out. Win the round and you win a favour token; the number of favour tokens needed to win the game varies from three in a six-player game to six in a two-player game.
Love Letter: Princess Princess Ever After uses 21 cards so there's a tweak from the original game - most notably in the inclusion of two Claire the Spy cards. These have value zero and have no effect when played or discarded but if you are the only player to have played or discarded a Spy card and you survive the round, then you gain a favour token in addition to the token that goes to the round winner.
The most striking thing about Love Letter: Princess Princess Ever After isn't the small card and rules tweak, it's the art and illustrations by Wendy Xu. The tarot-sized cards are well finished: they'll be subjected to a lot of shuffling so you may want to sleeve them but they are sturdy enough not to demand sleeving. The plastic favour tokens are attractive and have a satisfying weight.
If you're a fan of the graphic novel then you'll certainly want this delightful edition of the game. Artwork aside, if you already have other versions of Love Letter then there probably isn't enough here to justify adding Princess Princess Ever After to your collection, unless... For anyone who has the standard edition of Love Letter and whose copy is beginning to look dog-eared from its numerous plays, then the publication of Love Letter: Princess Princess Ever After could be just what you need by way of a replacement!