The error seems to be on my end. While I did start a new game, I just tried to start anew again to double check but the bug occured the moment I clicked "new game". Guess the files somehow got screwed up.
EDIT: Copying my saves to a different location, uninstalling the game, wiping the save data in app data --> roaming ---> Renpy, reinstalling the game and putting my saves back in fixed it