Amazing VN, you know one clicks with you when it leaves you wanting more, I binge read it in 2 days.
It sort of reminds me of Mass Effect with the way you socialize with your crew mates only here it leans much more heavily in that direction, which I can totally get behind since those were the best bits in that franchise. Tulemeni, she's definitely the most exotic and alien crew member of the bunch, even more robotic that the ship AI. At the same time she's strangely soothing, talking to her puts my mind at ease like the song of a siren... Rael himself realizes there is danger in interacting with her in her virtual realm. I hope to learn more about her as the story progresses. Caleia, she's a huge hardass and yet her characterization ensures her attitude never feels out of place or outright detestable, she's hard to love (not for me though, I'm working towards that if you catch my drift) but you get why she acts the way she does, and while she may come off as purely antagonistic at first she actually provides a useful counterpoint to Zuberi's rationale. I mentioned Mass Effect earlier, well if Zuberi and Caleia played it, I bet he'd go for the Paragon route and she for Renegade for sure lol. And finally, there's the marten boy, I just wanna give him a big ol' hug and protect him.
Rael is a cool MC, I like his levelheadedness, he's a good soldier (not to mention dashing of course). While the player does have leeway in his characterization he never feels like a blank slate but more like his own character which is my preferred way of handling MCs to be honest. I picked the colonial administrator backstory, the moral conflict it provided made Rael an infinitely more intriguing character than he otherwise wouldn't have been without (I have yet to try out the other backstories so I can't judge those). Let's hope to God that's the last impossible decision he has to make, one is enough for an entire liftetime.
Vallhund is a great artist, his style is very easy on the eyes, great work by Rico too with that background art, it really sells the whole sci-fi aesthetic. And the writing speaks for itself, I found myself agreeing with the author's mentality more than once, like, you know when sometimes you read a VN and the direction it goes in leaves you frustrated a-la "I would have done it differently"? It's like this guy read my mind on multiple occasions. I especially liked it when you can turn down a certain someone's "reward" offer: accepting it while he was down on his luck and essentially being desperate would have been really fucked up (if any of you reading this took him up on it you're a monster lol). Generally speaking, the characters behave in a way that is mature and I can't thank the author enough for that, I hate seeing characters especially adults act like high schoolers.
Can I also just say how much I appreciate the adventurous nature of this VN? Many VNs gravitate towards slice-of-life and romance, and while there's absolutely nothing wrong with those genres I'm looking for something more which this VN has given me. While reading this I found myself immersed with the endearing characters, the sci-fi worldbuilding, the military or adjacent attitude we see throughout the story adequate to the running of a ship, be it sailing the high seas or the stars above.
Great VN, I'm pleased and eagerly awaiting the next update. You have my most heartfelt rooting, go Team Void go! Or is it Team Dreamer? Ah you get it, love y'all, respect