When Aster Falls is a visual novel that follows the relationship between Rohan and a succubus, Aster. Rohan wakes up on morning to find a succubus in her room who state that Rohan has one the human lottery and this succubus, Aster is going to use her to gather energy for her hive. Upon hearing this Rohan quickly shoots down the idea explaining that she is asexual and not interested in sex. Upon hearing this, Aster is relieved and explains how she is constantly out on missions and does not get a lot of time to relax. Rohan begins asking Aster questions about herself and where she’s from. Aster explains that succubi feed off emotions of love and lust. Through her explanations, the player gets the impression that Aster, might also be on the aromantic and asexual spectrum, as Aster explains that sleeping with humans is more of a job and less about attraction to them. It is important that the game does mention this since it shows the complexities of the asexual and aromantic spectrum. Just because someone has had sex, does not mean they cannot be asexual. While there are many asexual people who do not have sex, there are those who do and even those who enjoy it. Aster also makes it clear that romantic relationships are heavily frowned upon in her society. Aster then asks Rohan if she’s told everyone about her orientation. The game allows the user to either state they have told pretty much everyone their close to or just their friends. This is an interesting decision, since technically either would be reasonable for Rohan to have done and by giving the user this choice, the user gets to feel more like they are playing as the character by giving them some agency on who they are. After this, the user can choose what activity they wish to do with Aster. There are three possibilities, cooking, board games, or watching TV. Through board games and cooking the player becomes to form a bond with Aster. Watching TV does the same as well, but since the player watches a dating game show, they get to learn that Rohan is not aromantic and still looks for romantic relationships. This segment is done well, but it is unfortunate that if a player does not watch TV they do not get to learn as much about Rohan’s identity. This is just a minor thing though, since while they will not explicitly learn as much about it, they can implicitly through the relationship Rohan and Aster build and their actions. Another interesting thing is that eventually, Aster will feed off of Rohan through their romantic relationship. This initially puts Aster off because she is worried Rohan would not be okay with it. This is an interesting choice, since it in a sense shows the validity of purely romantic relationships, but not equating it to less than a sexual one, but it also shows Aster’s confusion on the difference between asexuality and aromanticism. It gives the player another chance to understand these are too separate orientations and not mutually exclusive. The game eventually ends with Rohan and Aster getting together and enjoying their time together. When Aster Falls definitely takes steps to educate its audience on asexuality and a bit of the diversities of the aromantic and asexual spectrum. This does to appear to be its primary focus though, the game definitely puts its emphasis on creating a cute romance between Aster and Rohan. Even though it may not focus too much on educating its audience, it is still able to show positive asexual representation by having developed explicitly asexual characters who are not looked down upon for their sexuality.

https://sad-ghost-studios.itch.io/when-aster-falls (link to the game for anyone who wants to play)