Review – Princess of the Water Lilies

A Cat, a Pond of Frogs, and a World That Never Quite Finds Its Meow.

A tiny cat saved from drowning, raised lovingly by frogs, and gifted a magical collar that blooms the world around her. It should be an amazing foundation for a mesmerizing bedtime story, right? It’s no wonder that Princess of the Water Lilies—a puzzle-platformer inspired by games like Ori that blends hand-drawn biomes with environmental magic—kicks off with the delight of a classic illustrated tale. But does that charm last?

A Family Tale with a Weird Start

In any case, life in the pond begins with genuine tenderness as you, a near-drowned kitten, become part of a frog family, forming a mutual bond framed as if ripped from a 70s–90s animated film. However, that sweetness quickly dissipates. A mechanical dinosaur — unmistakably reminiscent of Horizon Zero Dawn, but don’t ask me why—storms in without warning, stamping through the forest, setting it ablaze, and unraveling that short-lived peace. The camera framing presses your cat forward but then abruptly stops scrolling at the right edge, forcing you to wait until the steel dinosaur catches up just to continue the sequence. Unfortunately, for me, it killed momentum more than it created tension, let alone fear.

Outside those moments, the broader universe of Princess of the Water Lilies spans several core regions — a forest, a colossal tree, a cavern — all serviceable backdrops that unfortunately never grow into anything memorable. Fast travel also exists, but it’s handled by an enormous frog who literally sits in the ground for some reason, and its awkward placement often means that returning to earlier areas requires redoing entire puzzle chains.

A Magical Collar Without a Magical Flow

Princess of the Water Lilies‘s puzzling itself is built around making the cat purr. Purring wakes mushrooms, shifts vines, or creates small environmental tricks that open pathways. Clawing helps with simple interactions and enemy defense, though the actual ‘attack’ command defaults back to purring — a strange choice considering the cat literally has claws.

These mechanical quirks would be easy to accept if the platforming felt coherent, but basic traversal often turns into a struggle. Mushrooms need to be lured into an exact position at an exact moment, except they don’t always listen; and when they finally move correctly, the platforms they influence tend to vanish too early or too late. Finding the tiny timing window between “the mushroom is close enough” and “the platform already disappears again” becomes a constant irritation. Worse, obstacles sometimes require you to backtrack because a creature blocks the route unless bribed with a snail or insect you didn’t bring—dragging the pace down further.

Puzzle chains grow more elaborate with each chapter, yet the controls never keep up. From time to time, softlocks may occur, forcing you to either get yourself killed or launch a full restart. Princess of the Water Lilies‘s awkward camera angles also often sabotage your jumps when the mushroom you need wanders off three layers down, only to teleport through a plant you were counting on. Even the small things pile on: connecting a controller after launching the game doesn’t work, requiring a full restart for it to be detected. One hit kills you instantly, sending you back to autosaves that sometimes make you redo long stretches. On top of that, the few boss battles you’ll encounter are also nothing to write home about. Before you know it, what should feel magical becomes exhausting, especially as frustration replaces the intended sense of wonder.

Gentle, Sweet, Orchestral

The hand-drawn presentation of Princess of the Water Lilies has moments of softness and charm, although not nearly as evocative as its inspirations. Colors are warm, the animations gentle, and the early family scenes genuinely sweet. But the environments, despite their lush strokes, rarely stand out beyond their standard, fairly generic biomes.

On a more positive note, while the sound effects slip into forgettable territory, the musical design leans heavily on orchestral melodies that rise and fall in pleasant waves. They suit the atmosphere well enough, even if no track embeds itself deeply.

Final Thoughts

Princess of the Water Lilies shines brightest in its opening moments: a fragile cat welcomed into a frog family, the warmth of the pond, the charm of a magical collar. Who doesn’t like that sweetness? Yet that early promise slowly fades through clumsy platforming, mushrooms that refuse to cooperate, and repetitive puzzles that tie themselves into knots. There’s beauty in the art style and sincerity in the orchestral score, but progress so often feels like wading through molasses that the magic never settles, never quite delivering the enchantment the premise suggests.

Additional Information

Release Date: Nov 20, 2025
Reviewed On: PC. Download code provided by the publisher and PR agency.
Developer: Why Knot Studio, Red Dunes Games
Publisher: Red Dunes Games
Website: Princess of the Water Lilies
Relevant links: Princess of the Water Lilies on STEAM