The Rerooting of an Asphodel: Love, Betrayal, and Bloom
How far are you willing to go if you feel everyone has betrayed you? Would you be willing to hurt them back? In The Rerooting of an Asphodel, you’re drawn into a haunting world where grief blooms like flowers and trust is a fragile, wilting thing. As Kassja—a women left for dead by her own people—you navigate a forest teeming with secrets, accompanied by a cryptic stranger whose smile hides something more.
If you’re a fan of gothic undertones, tragic weight, and a tangle of romance and manipulation, then this visual novel might be just for you. We had the opportunity to interview A. Villarroel and artist Breezy of Grimrose Studios and ask them about character creation, aesthetic choices, and their history as developers.
A. Villarroel: “Heya! I’m A. Villarroel, but oftentimes I go by Sloth. My trajectory as a dev is actually pretty short so far. As such I can divide it in 3 sections: traditional writing, Twine IF writing, and VN development.”
“Going back to when I was a kid, I played one video game or another, mostly incremental and puzzle games, but then I turned my attention to reading so I wasn’t much of a player anymore. However, I found interactive fiction on itch.io for the first time in 2022, approximately. That’s when both worlds connected and I played almost exclusively IFs for about a year; then I knew I wanted to write an IF myself. I had an idea, and despite my intention to make it an IF piece I turned it into my first book, which I can’t say is my best. Its chapters were my start in writing, so thanks to it I got practice.
Writing that book plus short stories was step one. Starting 2024 it was summer and I had vacations, during which I messed with Twine, but published my finished IFs in June-July. By that time, I had already been playing visual novels so I was interested in O2A2 2024 – Visual Novel Jam and had entered DevTalk’s Discord server for VN development. I eyed the jam longingly, because I know a bit of traditional art but none of digital or character art. Despite this, I met an artist who I joined for the challenge. Both newbies in VN development, we launched our first game.”
“That’s how I entered what I think is my current state in game development: mostly writing and developing VNs.”
The mentioned artist happens to be Breezy, my friend and co-founder of Grimrose Studios (priorly known as The Breezy Sloth Studios) under which we also released The Rerooting of an Asphodel’s demo and will do so for the full version. With them I continued to develop games and they supported me, especially when I joined Spooktober 2024 in about four teams as a member, where I acquired most of the skills I needed to start my own projects.
“I think my first inspiration to trigger my IF development love was A Tale of Crowns, followed by It Paints Me. Those Aren’t necessarily the pieces that most represent the style I do, but they are great references for me to learn from. My main challenge when I want to create something is to make the time to do so, or the fear of not meeting my expectations. Therefore learning from the process and results themselves become rewards to keep me going nowadays, beyond my contentment with my output on a specific project.”
A. Villarroel: “The process was fairly neat, considering I wasn’t developing the idea solo. I had a vague concept, in which only Kassja and Aja were more or less already thought of, but then Breezy started doing some designs which we solidified as I outlined the story.
Meanwhile, Soren also came to be because we had in different ways thought of a character who would be a vital part of Kassja’s past, finally becoming a real character in Soren when I sat to write down my plan. I only had an image of a few scenes, which allowed Breezy to help me brainstorm other scenes. I’m thankful for that, because then I merged our ideas into my own story structure and I knew exactly what to do.”
“Truthfully, I can’t pinpoint specific titles as inspiration. Yet, on a subconscious level, I think my general inspirations for story and aesthetic were Gothic writers, old European ballads (I recently made a game based on my favorite murder ballad if that is a sign), and Shakespearean or Greek tragedies as I used the classic tragedy as my story structure guideline. For characters, I have far less clarity.”
“Although, I can say my favorite one is Aja, probably because of his status as the alien and the androgynous quality in “him”, if I call as Kassja does. I hadn’t thought I could write a character without a specific sex, a bit of a strange thought for a fiction writer who could create anything as a character. Anyway, I felt I didn’t need Aja to fit the binary simply because he isn’t human and doesn’t need to, as well as because this adds a bit to his characterization as the one introducing Kassja to a completely new view of life.
Despite his usual impassive exterior, I could experiment with him the most because he can’t think in human terms, and because I especially enjoy writing him I can say he’s my favorite. Kassja follows closely, while Soren I grew fonder of as I wrote the full game and he got more screen time.”
A. Villarroel: “Thank you for letting me continue my Aja talk. I didn’t really have as a goal for Aja to seem friendly, but rather unreadable with something clearly off. So I went the manipulative way, yet calm, potential reason for the effect you mentioned.”
A. Villarroel: “I feel Soren is a character I can’t put my hand in the fire to defend, but I have a lot of his background to consider, unlike players so they’re definitely missing details. Soren’s background and motivations can’t be displayed in excruciating detail because it wouldn’t server the story, but there is more in the full game and I personally would like to write extra scenes with him that can be accessed
through social media, so whoever is curious enough can get more glimpses there.”
“What I can immediately answer though is that Soren did not know for a fact Kassja would be abandoned to die, nor time in case that were to happen. However, her abandonment by her family as her health didn’t improve was likely.”
Breezy: “Hi, I’m Breezy—the lead artist and character designer for this visual novel! My artistic inspiration comes from legendary comic artists like Mike Mignola, my biggest influence. I’ve always loved his use of bold black shading and minimalist coloring, but when applying it to this project, I quickly realized it wasn’t the right fit. While Mignola’s style excels at moody, atmospheric action scenes, I struggled to make the characters look both cute and hot in that aesthetic—it just didn’t capture the vibe I wanted.”
“After exploring more references and doing some art studies, I landed on a fusion of styles: anime expressiveness, comic-book dynamism, and a hint of Art Nouveau elegance.”
“The result is the final art style you see in the game!”
“Even though I worked really hard on it, I can’t say it looks as perfect as I wanted. But that’s okay; we learn from our experiences!”
Breezy: “Aja was one of the toughest characters to design—and honestly, I’m still not entirely satisfied with him. I wanted him to feel both ethereal and eerie, like some kind of forest fairy monster. For inspiration, I looked at D&D creatures, horror depictions of fairies, and even the way different artists portrayed satyrs and centaurs. Those elements became the core of his final design.”
“Now, his monster form was a whole different challenge. The version in the game is actually toned down from my original sketch. The first draft I sent to Sloth was so creepy it scared even me—and Sloth’s reaction was basically: “Yeah… no. That’s too much.” So, I simplified it into something more basic.”
“The monster form isn’t the real Aja—it’s not how he wants Kassja to see him. Instead, it’s a twisted manifestation of his rage and sorrow after her betrayal. It’s meant to feel shocking, unnatural, and completely at odds with his usual calm demeanor.”
A. Villarroel: “It was our first official release for the studio, and the first game we co-lead, so I didn’t have specific expectations. Then I don’t think community reaction could match them. It’s been a long time since the demo release and we haven’t been updating a lot on it because of our pause; I believe the final release is more for our own fulfillment rather than for players who have already played.
A. Villarroel: “I have the game’s script ready so I can’t say I am still shaping that. However, from my own role I would like to post extra scenes based on the characters’ past or on different endings. I can’t say any more for actual DCLs or art because that requires coordination and I would probably take into account more player demand rather than my sole fulfillment.”
Breezy: “The Rerooting of an Asphodel will undergo a complete design change and revamp, both in terms of art style and character design. It’s entirely up to me, based on my own practicality, how the characters should be represented. Because of this, the update will take a while to be released; I apologize for that.
We got our hands on some exclusive early concept art from the devs behind The Rerooting of an Asphodel, and it’s such an cool peek into how the game took shape. One of the images shows the first designs for Kassja, Soren, and Aja—all rougher, more experimental versions of the characters we’ve come to know. The second image is all about Aja, and it’s interesting to see this somewhat more friendly look to them.
Thank you so much for joining us for this behind-the-scenes look at The Rerooting of an Asphodel. It’s been a real treat about Grimrose Studios’ creative process, their characters, and the heart that went into building such a haunting, emotional story. If you haven’t played the demo yet, now’s the perfect time to give it a try yourself.
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