Publisher Santa Ragione and developer Lorenzo Redaelli have announced Milky Way Prince: The Vampire Star, a visual novel about “intimacy, idealization, and abusive relationships” due out for PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store in Q3 2020, followed by PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch “soon after.”
A demo will be available via Steam as part of the Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition on June 9. While the demo will only feature English, the final release will also include French, Italian, German, and Spanish language support.
“Santa Ragione always seeks to create games that both challenge and enlighten players and Milky Way Prince felt like a perfect fit for us to expand upon our mission as a studio,” said Santa Ragione co-founder and studio director Pietro Righi Riva in a press release. “We hope Milky Way Prince leaves everyone as captivated by Lorenzo’s touching story as when it first caught our eyes.”
Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:
About
A visual novel about an abusive relationship, idealization, and intimacy.
Live a summer of dysfunctional love through branching storylines, twists, sudden changes, and a special mechanic where you choose which senses to use with your boyfriend. In these moments, you will learn about him, his personality, and his past, making you question everything.
Theme
Milky Way Prince: The Vampire Star is entirely designed, programmed, illustrated, and scored by a very young author, Lorenzo Redaelli. The story itself is partially autobiographical.
“During my experience with a borderline partner, I thought that falling in love with him was like becoming part of a binary star system. It’s the rarest, most precious thing in the universe—but the closer they get the more unstable they become. My idea was to create an immersive experience where the player is asked to try to understand the dynamics of this unusual relationship. The character you interact with adapts their behavior to yours—using academic terminology, they could set up ‘rage tests,’ ‘love bombing,’ or otherwise guilt trip you. The plot’s branching storyline is guided by variables such as ‘submission’ and ‘interest’ that fluctuate at each interaction.”
Key Features
- Semi-autobiographical dark romance story.
- Branching narrative paths with multiple endings.
- Intimate new sensory gameplay system.
- Character art inspired by Suehiro Maruo and Masaaki Yuasa.
- 3D environments influenced by the stage design of Robert Wilson.
- 30-plus minutes of baroque electropop original soundtrack.
Watch the announcement trailer below. View the first screenshots at the gallery.
