PEGBRJE: Brassica — A Marry Tale
Video Game THEATRE
Brassica-A Marry Tale is a visual novel made by Boys Laugh +, a duo indie team out of Germany. Players follow the footsteps of Prince Saffron of Theotherkingdom as he is sent across to the Kingdom of Radix to meet with Princess Sappho in order to be wed to her in political fashion. Truth be told, however, that there are 2 other princes that are vying for her attention as well, for political or emotional reasons. To keep things fair, Sappho gives the three a quest to complete together (but also competitively) to retrieve a sacred mythological flower called the Lilium Brassica. Unbeknownst to these fair royals, the princess doesn’t seem too interested in marrying any of them. She would prefer to instead mingle with her loyal attendant Cithara and see if something magical occurs with the three while they are together.
If the hints didn’t give enough of an inkling, Sappho would rather the princes end up with each other than with her, and the structure that Brassica is made in allows for it to be perceived as a theatrical event that we the players are witnessing. Besides the soft backdrop and narration done in rhyme, the presentation of each character and their backdrop is almost a comedy in itself with each prince fulfilling a personality role that one might find in a BL novel. One is big, larger than life and totally not a bara, another is a poignant and regal, while the third is… well, that’s up for you as the player to decide. With the options at your disposal, players decide what Prince Saffron will be in this trio of royalty, from the bashful one who cries at the drop of a hat to the flirtatious one with any of the other lads. Who Saffron is shapes the story as it goes, and decides who will win this competition for Sappho’s heart, if anyone at all.
For this kind of theatrical comedy, writing and narrative decisions are key in giving the player the agency to shape what becomes of the story, and Brassica owns its theming perfectly. The introduction alone in its rhyming scheme gives the jovial feeling of watching a corny yet wonderful play unfold in front of your eyes, and the characters deliver this in spades. Each character talks little, but conveys everything that needs to be said for others to understand who they are as people. It gives the entire tone of the play a bounce to it, as time moves forward as conflicts arise and are solved, usually by Saffron intervening with a decision of his own. Whatever that entails, that’s your call.
Brassica-A Marry Tale is unfortunately quite short, as the developers are still working on the next few acts (read: chapters) to complete this magical fairytale of cute boys totally not falling for each other while adventuring for a girl. However, if the first two acts are any indicator in the quality of the game’s future, I’m confidant that anyone who loves theatrics in their visual novels will adore this softly drawn journey. For those of you that adore yaoi, I feel as if you may have already heard of this one — but if you haven’t, you have now. Enjoy this magical whimsy of boys and the possible gals being pals with Sappho.
Honestly it’s just a funny good time.
Now normally, as this concludes page 4, I would include the software here. However, I’ve made the executive decision (it’s only me here…) to make the software it’s own blog page for all upcoming bundle pages. Makes it easier to organize them in the future.
Be on the look out for that in the coming days! It won’t interrupt the regular flow of posts.
