SPOILERS AHEAD
Do not be tricked into thinking this a review of the game; I am simply rambling because the game is so notable that I can't help but to get all of my half-baked thoughts pertaining to it out, before they fade away into the Primordial Aether.
This is the reason upon why I play these VNs. For many of them, you play them, and you find them to be not the most fun nor engaging. As if the writer couldn't properly translate their muse onto digital paper. I initially felt this was the case as the hook was notably weak. Though as I watched that lame prologue come back into play at very crucial parts of the story, and in some places become entirely meaningless in the widest scope of the plot, and then eventually tie itself neatly back together; I started to forge an idea in my mind just the scope of writing I was dealing with.
That is because (in my interpretation) The prologue was a false hook. You play through the prologue scene and just a bit after, and you think that this game is just going to be about another depressed gay dude going through college and eventually learning self acceptance via some belligerently generic suit of outcomes. But then you reach the true hook, which was stepping through the threshold into Peregrine. And as small swaths of that alternate existence become clear to you, you think to yourself "Hey, this isn't quite right..."
And just as you have time to realize that it's a subversion and start making assumptions about the direction and nature of the plot, it turns you topside under. And every once in a while, you guess correctly, leaving you very involved as a reader. It's interesting, because I describe this storyline as if it has a blindingly rapid pace, but it doesn't; the pace waxes and wanes in speed as if an orchestral notation. Or perhaps even it was written in a way to where it seems slow but is actually quite fast in the overall scope of the story.
Another thing that I quite enjoy is that the game doesn't take itself too seriously. In fact I'd proclaim that it is uniquely balanced in the way it juggles light and heavy topics to forge a delightful, almost random experience- a randomness that feels quite true and parallel to our reality. Shit just happens right? It's that mentality, but cranked up to 11 so as to fit the nature of an engaging plot. Now that doesn't mean it's overly dramatic, it's just telegraphed to the reader so that they can start to get a feel for the direction that the plot is taking.
Additionally, I like how much comradery and chemistry was simulated between the characters in such a short timespan. It's funny because you can tell that even the characters themselves feel that way in the end. And on the topic of the ending, I was a little sad but also refreshed at how bittersweet it was.
All in all, this game was music to my ears (not even mentioning the exemplary soundtrack), It was fantastically written and didn't overstay it's welcome. Thank you for providing me this experience and I hope to see that you have more tales being strewn onto the spinning wheel.