Without many aspects of gameplay or choice, Starry Flowers is left to stand as a Visual Novel based on the merits of its art and writing, and in those departments, it shines brilliantly. Periwinkle and Pastille are delicious romantic protagonists, whose immediate, surface character traits bounce off each other in entertaining fashion, but also have deeper internal conflicts guiding those traits that the story digs into in heartwarming fashion. Additionally, the space that this game carves out for feminine masculinity is truly valuable, providing a vision of gender liberation that I’m eager to see more media explore. The cherry on top is the remarkably clean and cute artstyle, which packages these ideas in an impressively lush format for a 1-person production. I’m hoping that this game gets more attention here on backloggd because it has certainly earned it.

EDIT: The creator of this game, nomnomnami, has been involved in a scandal where it was revealed that she was in an online romantic relationship with a minor. While I do not feel it is necessary to punish her more than she already has been, I do think that people should be aware of the situation. You can read the associated documents explaining the situation here -> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DTaVVam0CYZoAoToSAcZbkgUqYMy4mb_zF8yShA-kcw/edit