A new month means a new Community Game-Along theme, and this year, May is all about visual novels! We’ve had a ton of great otome game visual novel announcements recently, and while romance definitely is a central theme to many visual novels, for the month of May, any and all visual novels are game!
If you’re new to the visual novel genre, now’s as good a time as any to start! While visual novels generally forgo traditional gameplay to focus on text-based narration, voiced dialogue, and the occasional decision to change the course of the story, many other genres also incorporate visual novel elements. In the interest of getting as many people involved as possible, any games with significant visual novel portions, such as Danganronpa and Zero Escape, are going to be included in the “visual novel” umbrella.
Since we didn’t get a lot of buzz for last month’s theme (poor Yuji Naka!), I’d like to remind everyone to utilize the hashtag #VNMay on social media. All you need to do is pick a game that fits the theme and talk about your experiences to participate in the Game-Along. Don’t forget to share any lengthier thoughts you may have in blog posts, podcasts, or your favorite medium of choice! If you’re stumped as to what to play, here are a few games to get you started.
Danganronpa (PS Vita) – I feel like I pretty much recommend the Danganronpa games whenever I’m given half the chance, but that’s because I love them that much! NIS America recently revealed that the games sold over 200,000 copies in North America and Europe, which is a major feat and a testament to their quality. Start with Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, and if you’ve already played through that, be sure to knock off Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair before the third game in the series, Another Episode comes out in English later this year. If you’re not quite ready to go full visual novel but want to see what the fuss is about, these games are a great place to start.
Analogue: A Hate Story (Windows, Mac, Linux) – Many incorrectly assume that the only visual novels worth playing are Japanese, but there are many western developers doing equally interesting things in the genre. Christine Love’s Analogue: A Hate Story and its sequel, Hate Plus are both worth checking out if you haven’t already for their take on visual novel-style storytelling.
Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (PSP, 3DS, PS3, iOS, Android) – It’s extremely difficult to find a visual novel to recommend that isn’t exclusive to PC, so its extensive availability is one of the reasons why I absolutely have to mention Hakuoki. Set in feudal Japan, this is one of the first major otome games to be released in English, and its popularity has seen it on a variety of consoles, and most recently smartphones. If you’re curious but not quite ready to take the plunge, the iOS and Android versions have a free demo you can try before committing to the purchase.
Narcissu 1st & 2nd (PC, Mac, Linux) – For those who are wary of the time investment and seemingly endless text of visual novels, Narcissu may be worth a try before writing off the genre entirely. The short games come bundled together and can be played entirely for free, but just make sure you’re ready for a rather sad story of terminal illness before you dive in.
There’s plenty more to be played, but I’ll leave it at that so I can get back to my pick for the month – the recently-released BL visual novel No, Thank You!!!. Whether you’re new to the genre, or a major fan, I want to know what you’ll be playing! Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to hit up #VNMay!
Oh man, I have things to say… I was actually going to write a blog post for this myself.
999/Virtues Last Reward, played best in that order, but VLR will be fine by itself. These are intense, and almost too silly with their use of “science” but excellent tense Visual novels for the 3/DS/Vita
Sweet Fuse: It’s only the best visual novel on the PSP/Vita in English. A lot of people prefer danganronpa, but I didn’t gel with those games anywhere near as much as this Otome game about a girl saving the videogame theme park with a set of 6 handsome men. It is a parody of works like 999/Virtues Last Reward, and as such I would recommend it only if you are familiar with the Japanese X random but not actually random people locked in some kind of space set up.
Song of saya: PC exclusive and hard to recommend, because it’s well and truely deserving of it’s adults only line. Cannibalism is one of the tamer themes it deals with. Overall it is a rather disturbing work that if you are ok with it’s intensity, it well worth a look. It’s quite short compared to other VNs, only at about 10 hours maybe overall? And only 3 or so choices. However, this VN uses it’s music and visuals and text to tell a story that feels pretty unique to the VN genre. You COULD tell it by other means, but I feel this is one VN that can only be as impactful as a VN.
Umineko When They Cry: PC exclusive, and requires a fan translaiton, however, can be gotten at manga gamer. I recommend you look up the mods for it to improve the graphics significantly. Umineko is not short, consisting of 2 games that each take about 60 hours. There are no choices, so this is just a pure 120 hour reading experience. However, it is a wild ride if you give it the chance to sink into you. About a wealthy family going to a family meeting on their island, mainly to squabble about inheritance, but over the course of their time on the island they are all murdered in accordance to an epitaph in the mansion. A witch did it, but for her magic to work everyone needs to believe a witch did it. So much of the game actually takes place between the main character, and the witch arguing about future “re runs” if you like of that scenario, Where the main character has to prove that a human could have done it.
It is pretty bizarre, unique, and worth every minute. If you want a way to think about it, think about Phoenix Wright, with a lot more magic and occurring parallel to the actual murder cases. Like Higurashi, it can get quite graphic in terms of descriptions of murders, and like higurashi, it deliberately structured to make you work fairly hard to work out exactly what is going on. Over the time I played it last year it managed to go from off my radar entirely to being maybe one of the best pieces of Japanese media I have dealt with, along with Song of Saya. Although fair warning, it gets really meta as it progresses, to the point it becomes about it being fiction… Which may put of some people.
However, know that you have enough information to solve the mystery in the first episode. However, it is unlikely that you will unless you are amazingly perceptive.
There are loads of other VNs I would recommend too! But these stand among the ones I most recommend.
Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions! You should still totally do a post if you want, though!
I love Sweet Fuse too, actually more than Hakuoki, so I would definitely recommend that as well. I haven’t played Song of Saya, but I’ve actually been really interested…. Maybe I’ll check it out!
You totally should. It might be the most confronting thing I’ve read though. Not that I’m a great connoisseur of horror, but yeah. Not an easy work.
If you play it tell me! I might replay it and talk with you about it.
Song of Saya is an excellent choice. Very adult, very transgressive, but so incredibly well written. One of my favourite of the genre.
I am currently playing “Coming out on Top” which is surprisingly good.
I’ve heard mixed things about that one! It definitely looks interesting, though
It’s short, it’s kind of lame, but it touches on some very honest feelings.
Another couple you might consider:
Xblaze: Code Embryo – it’s a VN set in the BlazBlue universe, which gives it an odd vibe at times, and it sits a little on the juvenile side of fanservice at times, but for the most part it’s really very well written, and if you’re a fan of BlazBlue it’s essential.
Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters – it straddles the line between VN and JRPG at times, because it does have a fairly complex combat system, but for the most part it’s a VN, and it’s also really quite interesting. Kinda like a Japanese take on Ghostbusters, though a little more serious in tone at points.
Tears to Tiara 2 – also not a pure VN because it has a Fire Emblem-style combat system, but the narrative sections are as in-depth and extended as any other VN, and presented that way. It’s a pulp fantasy kind of narrative, and fun, if ultimately not as memorable as I might have liked personally.
I heard… mixed things on Xblaze. Particularly with its use of reading datalogs to determine where you end up
Tokyo Twilight though has been on my radar for a while