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That's what the dev wrote in his discord, but if you mean is that if there is any real difference in story or content, no there is not. They're just different "playstyles"
the main diference is how you access the content.
for example, in a VN, the game revolves around choices, sometimes those choices are just fluff, in others its more about skipping content, while some do change the route completely and you need to pick the right choices to progress with certain characters.
in sandbox, you may have choices, but the main appeal is that it gives you control of when to go and get the content, as well as completely avoid it, if its not up your alley.
in other words, sandbox is basicaly a VN but instead of following the story beat for beat, and skipping content you dont want, you can pick and choose what to do and when to do it. you may progress with lots of characters at the same time, or just rush for the one you want.
the problem with sandbox is that many(and i mean MANY) developers dont know how to make a rewarding sandbox, and instead make it absurdly grindy, for example talk with X character 25 times to progress to the next stage, or get 5 thousand bucks to buy a massage oil. in some, they try to add RPG aspects like the mc gaining skills, but again, they make the prossess take too long, and when you do get it, its just to pass 1 arbritary story point and completely forgotten afterwards.
in all honesty, i like sandboxes more, because VNs either turn into kinetic novels(no choice, or only inconsequential choices/skipping unwanted content choices), or a school test that will fail you because you said "maybe" instead of "kinda" in a random talk 20 interactions ago, and because of that you lost the blowjob scene.