#breathless winds

[breathlesswinds]

Our game is taking part in the Otome Games Celebration on Steam!

Breathless Winds features a transgender heroine who discovers herself and true love with one of four different characters - including Gallardia, your hunky childhood friend, and Valerian, a cool and broody prince.

Check it out while it's 50% off, and don't forget to check out all the other amazing games in the celebration!

Store page link

Festival link

[camfusedly]

Why does this fantastic trans visual novel only have 23 reviews on Steam??

Breathless Winds is an island-fantasy visual novel that mostly focuses on an impending metaphorically-ecological magical disaster, with a strong romance side plot centered on a pre-transition trans girl protagonist. The art is GORGEOUS, the artist has a really distinctive and evocative style.

This is the CG where I fell in love with Lantana

The worldbuilding is also very good and immersive, and the writer does a great job doing something that I don’t think is required in a branching visual novel, but I still appreciated, which is making all of the different routes be operating in the same reality—problems that crop up mainly to serve one route will appear in another as well, but with different focuses that make it fresh. Characters’ personalities are very consistent whether they’re acting as a love interest or as a supporting character or even an antagonist.

Romance plotlines I think take a backseat to the fantasy adventure, but they’re very fun and enjoyable. The romance is very much a bisexual dream, with two men and two women with equally weighty plotlines. Two of the love interests are also trans (one man and one woman), which made my little t4t heart extremely happy.

I have A LOT of thoughts about the trans representation, which, again, is not the main plot. Thoughts below:

I’m a sensitivity reader for trans representation, and as someone with that experience, I was pretty shocked because this visual novel pulls off something that I’ve never seen any other narrative do before. Namely, writing long-term about pre-transition with a high level of empathy and compassion.

My advice to writers whose projects show up in my inbox is usually to not set scenes in pre-transition because writers tend to have a lot of problems there. But reading Breathless Winds has taught me that writing about pre-transition is not the problem—the problem is the level of compassion.

Breathless Winds has this compassion in spades. Where many works would get caught up finding edginess in the contradictory nature of pre-transition, Breathless Winds is concerned with Poppy’s inner world and her mental health. Where many works would have her be “walked in on” wearing dresses and use that for humor or conflict, Breathless Winds allows Poppy to experiment in private and come out when she’s ready. Where many works would treat her upcoming transition as something that disqualifies her from romance, Breathless Winds’ romantic options all validate Poppy’s real gender even when she’s pre-transition.

Maybe this is because that my pre-transition days are 11 years in the rearview mirror, but I’m kind of shocked that it never even occurred to me that a romantic fantasy for a pre-transition person is something that could/should exist. I love that this exists not just for pre-transition people (or people unable to transition, etc.), but also for those of us who have transitioned, to imagine a compassionate fantasy for the ways we used to live our lives.

I do just want to advise the reader that Poppy is misgendered and deadnamed by the narrative by necessity, so if that would be troubling for you to read, I would say consider this one carefully.

I also thought that they did a great job with the portrayal of Prince Valerian, a trans man (who transitioned a long time ago in the plot), to be A+, chef’s kiss. I may be biased, but I thought that his route was the crown jewel (ha ha) of the routes, and I’m really glad I did it last.

Valerian performs an impressive "asserting dominance while short" maneuver

While not a big part of Valerian's route, a struggle that pervades his relationships with other men from his country is that even though they gender him correctly, there's a sense he will never be in the "boy's club." This subtle nuance in many relationships between cis and trans men is such a real phenomenon that a lot of writers writing about trans man characters don't explore, and I was impressed to see it here. (It's more common to see writers only interested in overt, misgendering transphobia.)

The writer also did a great job avoiding another pitfall many writers fall into, which is sort of “damseling” the trans man character and exploiting (what a writer might presume to be) his “natural” physical weakness—Valerian is portrayed to be as physically capable and powerful as the other male characters, and a worthy adversary.

If you want to do all of the routes, my recommendation for route order would be to do Gallardia’s route first, then the girls, and then Valerian last. Just a note that outside of picking the route, all of the choices are “for fun”, so don’t stress about your choices! I did Rue’s route first, which had a bit of a goth, downery vibe, and I was like “Oh god, I’m picking bad choices,” but no, that’s just the route, lol.

If you are interested in visual novels or fantasy or romance at all, I really recommend playing this game and giving it a review on Steam!

[government-mandated-femslash]

Today's government mandated femslash couple of the day is

Lantana and Poppy!

[blerdyotome]

Visual Novels to Play this Pride Month (and Beyond)

Happy Pride Month Blerdy Tribe! Representation has come a long way over the years and now more than ever, there are so many great games featuring stories and identities from within the LGBTQ+ community. So, to celebrate Pride, I’ve compiled a list of amazing LGBTQ+ visual novels that you should definitely add to your play lists, backlogs, and wishlists. While Pride Month is celebrated in the…

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[herotome]

Fanart for my new problematic fav Prince Valerian from Breathless Winds @breathlesswinds because I'm a mcfreaking fan 🥺

Other banger lines from him include:

Tch. Am I to worry about that treasonous snake? Your grandmother is a wonderful hostess and has a fine eye for tea. You'd do well to appreciate her. Continue to bark at my feet like a dog. You're beneath me. I wanted to- I needed to- become a better man for you. ... You're now uncertain if you want to prioritize bugs or clothing.

(Y'all should play it and gush about it with me!!!!!!!!!! Links in their dev bio go go go)

[sev-arts]

i got Rue on the brainnnnn

[otomevibes]

Top Otome Games played in 2024

It's that time again!! I played a lot of great games this year, and I'm excited to share them in this list! Most of these are indie titles, because the older I get the more and more I just prefer indies over mainstream games I've found. Most are also free if you want to check them out! So let's get started!

5: Love Limit

Love Limit is a goofy sci fi about a date with an alien gone haywire. This was such a fun and goofy game! With the year I had, it was nice to play something that made me laugh as much as this did! Egen was such a fun LI, and the MC was such a gem. All the endings, good or bad, were a great time and I loved to see how over the top some of the bad endings were. Apparently, there might be some things added to this game in the future, and I'm excited to see more!

4: Seekl

I never thought I would like solving coding puzzles considering how bad I am at coding (yes, I make visual novels myself shhhh), but I actually really enjoyed them? The cast in this, in true Robobarbie fashion, were so fun and lovable and chaotic. I loved the friendship or relationship you had with the LI Odxny. I also love doing morally questionable things related to hacking lmaO The whole thing was a great time, and I also liked the color scheme and UI of the whole thing.

3: Under your Moon

Titan Arum was on my list last year, so it's no surprise that another game by this team is on my list this year. I love horror otomes, and the dread in this was so good. The unease of the unknown in this strange situation, and the way the LI was the only connection you have to anything going on was just perfect. The visuals in this were also gorgeous, and each gender/appearance variant of the LI was so pretty. This was such a great time.

2: Shuuen no Virche

Another horror game for the list LMAO. This has the typical complaints I've come to have about otomate games as a whole, however, this one felt like they were trying to do something new and it really worked for me. I was pretty obsessed with this the month I was playing it. Part of it was just because of how unhinged the plot was at all times. I also really like Ceres as an MC, and I actually think I'd put her on my favorite MCs list lol

1: Breathless Winds

This is it. My new favorite of all time. God, I was so invested in this and the characters and Poppy's journey. It was just so so good. I've been following the development of this game for a few years, and it didn't disappointment. Having a game that was so encompassing of the trans experience was just so good and everything I could have ever wanted. It would take a lot to top this for me, and I really hope more people check it out and it finds the right audience for it. It deserves all the love.

[dorisartdev]