| Butterfly Soup | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Brianna Lei |
| Engine | Ren'Py |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | September 16, 2017 |
| Genre(s) | Visual novel |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Butterfly Soup is a visual novel developed by Brianna Lei and published in September 2017 for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The game has the player follow the perspectives of four LGBT Asian-American girls in Fremont, California, alternating between their first year of high school in 2008 and when they were young children. The coming-of-age story shows them as they join a baseball club and centers on the romance between the main character, Diya, and her friend Min.
Lei developed the game over two and a half years, inspired by sports anime and teen drama shows to write a game that relied on the personalities and characterization of the protagonists. Lei tried to develop a game that she would have wanted when she was in high school, with elements of her own upbringing as an Asian-American child and an open perspective on sexuality. Critics praised the game's story and writing, especially for its realistic depiction of teenagers and strong characterization. It was named the "best visual novel" of 2017 by PC Gamer and was nominated for the Excellence in Narrative award at the 2018 Independent Games Festival. A sequel, Butterfly Soup 2, was released in 2022.