The Twisted Paths of Dysfunctional Love in Milky Way Prince – The Vampire Star, out Now on Xbox Series X|S

Hi, I’m Lorenzo, I’m the creator of Milky Way Prince, which is more of a personal diary than a simple game. To me, working on this project was a cathartic experience, as I needed to overcome, exorcize, and analyze a complex and challenging time in my life.

I chose to do it through a video game because I think it’s the perfect tool to do it, as it allowed me to write what had happened to me, and analyze it from different points of view. I was able to re-explore my experiences according to precise logic and explore what could have happened if I had made different choices.

Our times are teaching us how important it is to approach specific themes with the right sensitivity, and since I was dealing with a thorny subject like mental illness, especially borderline personality disorder, I needed the right metaphorical veil. I chose stars and astronomy because to me being involved in a relationship with a BPD partner felt like being in love with a star. The more the love grew and the connection intensified, the more unstable and unpredictable our system became.

Vampire stars, or symbiotic binary stars, seemed like the perfect metaphor for mutual and obsessive co-dependency, a symbol for parasitic abusive and submission dynamics. Relationships are obviously a two-way bridge, where it’s all about exchanging, they are not exempt from mechanics of power and control. So, what happens if I am too harsh? Or too submissive? And could I manage to break a toxic cycle? Are relationships a way to compensate for each other’s weaknesses, with the risk of giving up too much, or too little, of oneself? These are the questions at the core of the game.

It’s wonderful to finally have a version running at full resolution, showing the drawings in their native resolution at full framerate, and playable on the TV with a controller! Milky Way Prince is available on Xbox today, and I hope it will feel meaningful to its players, taking them on an intense journey through the evocative rawness of our need for love and connection.

Milky Way Prince – The Vampire Star

Fantastico Studio

☆☆☆☆☆ 19

★★★★★

$14.99

Get it now

A visual novel about an abusive relationship, idealization, and intimacy. Live a summer of dysfunctional love through branching storylines, twists, sudden changes, and a special mechanic where you choose which senses to use with your boyfriend. In these moments, you will learn about him, his personality, and his past, making you question everything. Milky Way Prince is a semi-autobiographical story entirely designed, programmed, illustrated, and scored by a young author, Lorenzo Redaelli. "During my experience with a borderline partner, I thought that falling in love with him was like becoming part of a binary star system. It’s the rarest, most precious thing in the universe – but the closer they get the more unstable they become." "My idea was to create an immersive experience where the player is asked to try to understand the dynamics of this unusual relationship. The character you interact with adapts their behavior to yours – using academic terminology, they could set up “rage tests”, “love bombing", or otherwise guilt trip you. The plot's branching storyline is guided by variables such as “submission” and "interest” that fluctuate at each interaction."