Review: Time Princess - Hela's Compass

Hela's Compass is the shorter of the two visual novels that were released this month in Time Princess. In a surprising change of pace, this was not another story about demons. Instead, it opens up a new cross genre that combines science fiction and Norse mythology. The book is only one chapter long, which is a shame because there could have been a lot to unpack within these two genres. The shorter format made it felt rushed and difficult to follow at times. I loved the whimsical world and costumes as well as the fact that it was the first story in a while in this game to incorporate royalty, this time in relation to gods and goddesses like they did with Helen of Sparta. This story could have been even more enjoyable than it already is if more time and effort had been put into it.

Hela's Compass is about a navigator named Kelly who works on a futuristic ship called the Iron Wyvern that shares the unfortunate fate of the Titanic. Kelly embarks on a quest with her crewmates, Neil and Tammy, to uncover a mystery that an old man presented to her regarding her father's death. Along the voyage in the frozen Arctic, the crew discovers a magical compass that contains symbols of Norse gods. When Kelly acquires the compass, she has strange dreams where she becomes Hela, the daughter of the Norse god Loki, and is treated as a princess in the mythological land of Asgard. At first, I thought the story might be heading in the direction of discovering her true identity as royalty, but it turned out these were visions of the past that were sent to her by Hela to show humankind the truth about the gods.

This story has two potential companions, but I didn't feel particularly drawn to either one of them. Tammy is a bit nicer because she doesn't try to get the compass from Kelly through lies or greed. However, I didn't feel like there was much to her character overall. Neil comes off as an intellectual at first and turns out to be rather selfish, though he never poses too much of a threat. I think this story would have been a lot more interesting if there had been a companion in the mythological world of Asgard because I was more interested in that aspect than the arctic voyage. This story struggled with a bit of an identity crisis. It had two very big concepts to present without enough story levels to fully flesh out either of them. I hope the app releases a visual novel in the future that goes into more depth about Norse mythology or science fiction.

The outfits in Hela's Compass are a lot of fun. There is a nice balance between the sci-fi and mythological elements of the novel in the costumes. I particularly loved her futuristic navigational uniform with its Tron-like light strips and metallic accents. My favorite dress was her green and purple goddess gown that she wears in the flashback scenes as Hela. The colors and nautical accents remind me of a mermaid dress, especially with its matching seaweed crown. There is also a casual outfit and some Norse-inspired winterwear. I really enjoyed the special sci-fi themed outfits that Time Princess has released for various events and would love to see them do a story that focuses entirely on science fiction instead of just going halfway there like this one did.

Overall, I think Hela's Compass struggles to balance out two great ideas into one chapter. If this had been a two-chapter story like Miss Kitty's Antiques, it probably would have been easier to follow and more fleshed out. I loved the sci-fi costumes and the mythological elements and wish there had been time to learn more about them. I hope the game developers use this story as a jumping off point to create similar visual novels that have more detail and character development. That said, this feels like a good sample story for new players who want to learn about what makes Time Princess so much fun without the massive time commitment that some of the longer stories require.