Serre is a short and sweet visual novel from the makers of In Stars and Time! Featuring an alien sent to concur Earth, and an awkward woman alone in her greenhouse.

This game was originally submitted to the Yuri Game Jam 2017, though caught my eye through it’s submission for the Palestinian Relief Bundle. Before I talk about the game, though the bundle itself ended May 6th, you can still donate to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, the target organization the bundle supported now.

I wanted to play Serre primarily because I recognized the developer! Browsing through Ardienne Bazir’s work as a game designer, this game stood out for its warmth and brightness, a focus on romance, and enchanting character design that similarly pulled me into In Stars and Time!

The play time on Serre is fairly short, it took around 45 minutes with me reading both voice parts to my partner to get through the entire piece. With a short story like this, and the meet cute formula of Oaxa; the alien we meet after crashing into the greenhouse, we get a great look at the character voices and ways they express themselves incredibly naturally through precious sprite design and well written dialogue.

There are absolutely shades of In Stars and Time through the short stint of Serre, where @butchcats pointed out how similar Oaxa was to Mirabelle throughout, I found Arlette; our human protagonist, to exhibit some of the writing tropes and internal voice present in Siffren’s writing as well. While I’m not quite ready to review In Stars and Time quite yet, given my familiarity with the game at this point, Serre felt like a welcomed and softer approach to the skills that went on to make the stunning title.

Since this game is so short, you should honestly play it for yourself! I know for me, taking the time to indulge in Serre’s world and the way love and hope for a future played out within the piece made for a perfect late-night game to share with my lover.

If you enjoy the game, or have any thoughts, feel free to talk about them here!