Mini meets

Toadhouse has already released two vignettes set a year before the main game, with two more planned. Each focuses on NPCs you’ll meet in Fernweh, such as Sophia, a transfeminine arcade owner learning about what it means to be a confident woman. They originated from character exercises Linayre felt were too good to waste, but there were other reasons for releasing them. “I wanted to show people that they could trust me to address heavy subjects like self-harm and anxiety in a very respectful but authentic manner,” she explains. These hour-long games were also quicker to release, helping to fund the full game – since Linayre knew a visual novel focused on LGBT and mentalhealth issues would be, in her words, “a risky project”.