I usually pick up VNs on Itch over Steam, but I wanted to ask--is there any difference between the Steam release and this?
no there isnt! you'd think there would be since on itch it's free/pay what you want and on steam it's paid, but nothing between them is different. it's just part of my game dev practice to provide accessible options for players, and i know that some people don't have the resources to pay like $11 for a game or something. i've noticed that paywalls often times discourage people from playing certain games and i think it's really important to be able to provide players the ability to have the experiences games provide regardless of if they can afford to pay for it or not! so this game has a free option and a paid option :^) you can choose whatever works for you the best!
i've also noticed that a lot of the people that play my game in particular are a lot of young queer people and i know that it's not exactly easy to ask your parents for money to buy a queer game... it's easier to just remove that roadblock so they can still have the game's experience without having to have uncomfortable conversations that they're not ready for yet ^_^
apologies for the long winded response hehehe but i've actually been waiting for someone to ask :P hope you have a good time playing the game!!! <3