SOME CONTEXT

I was intrigued by the VN, and read it pretty early on because my reading group gravitated to shorter entries first. I went in completely blind, but I did see people speak in hush hush tones about a surprise. Curious and full of hope, I went in.

WHAT I LIKED

Trying to figure out what the actual fuck is the relationship between Xavier and Daniel with the very little information the narrative gives you was fun. They were roommates...

Some of the people in my group weren't fans of the filters used, but I actually liked them quite a bit. I think the heavy purple filter fit with both the dreamy twilight forest, and the party. But maybe I'm just very biased cause urple is my favourite colour! Excellent choices of background photos for the fucked up ruined factory in any case.

I liked the mystery of the grim reaper rumours, even though it was presented in a heavy handed way. Without knowing where this story could go, my reading group had a lot of fun speculating what it was building up to. Sadly, the eventual reveal left me disappointed, but we'll get to that in the dislike section...

Xavier's characterisation was well set-up, in both how other characters talk about him and in his inner thoughts we see in the narration. We don't get much of him, but

The music changing volume when Xavier is out (both of the building and out cold) was a nice little touch.

WHAT I DISLIKED

The punctuation errors, especially missing commas, were constant and distracting.

Xavier is one of those water flavoured tiktok ladies electric chair sksksksk

I really wasn't a fan of the genre shift. I feel like it worked against everything else the game had to offer. I was more invested in the relationship of the two characters, the low stakes of growing up and moving out, awkwardly stumbling through relationships and then just... bam, new genre! I am not sure if being upfront or remaining coy and keeping it as a surprised is the right call here.

Even when the genre shift does happen, it didn't really serve us any of the over the top flare you'd expect or want from this type of story. The weak visuals and audio really hurt this segment. I won't harp on it too much, since a lot of those woes were explained in the post game devlog

CONCLUSION

I remember strongly disliking this entry when I first read it, it was one of my least favs. The big ace up its sleeve felt like a betrayal rather than a fun little surprise to me. I mellowed out in my feelings on it quite a bit in the meantime. Knowing the "twist" heading into the game and some additional context probably helped temper my expectations on a re-read.

I need to go a bit meta here, since I can't help and compare it to the author's other May Wolf VN from 2024, The Greener Side. Both have similar issues, but the 2024 project avoids the biggest gripe I had by making the two different genres meld so well together, instead of clashing in a rough shift like Rogue Star River.

Both games also show similar strengths by the writer. Vanillabelle has a skill for writing characters where it's interesting seeing what's happening in their head and heart. There's always tension between feelings of friendship, brotherhood and tender crushes that I end up enjoying. And then, the game switches into action, making me wish we could return to the more character focused parts. Oh, and both have a frustrating "stay tuned for more" even where the game could work as a standalone short story.

All in all, I think the author's getting better at their craft, cultivating the strong points and despite often repeating my gripes with their writing, dulling the issues a bit. Rogue Star River rolled around and dodged blows so The Greener Side could walk. I am looking forward to being able to say The Greener Side walked, so Vanillabelle's next project could run!

Despite my gripes about the game and saying a promise of a continuation was unnecessary, I wouldn't mind seeing Rogue Star River be turned into a long format VN. It would just need to cook for a lot longer than a jam VN, and to consider how to set up expectations and then reveal its cards carefully.

the pronouns usage makes the story very hard to read