Over the past few years, I've grown an interest in Visual Novels more and more!
The one I most recently started slightly obsessing over was "Today, I'm Harvesting You" because of the amazing art style but I absolutely started off with "Doki Doki Literature Club".
Beginning to see a bit of a romance and horror theme there haha
Does anyone else have favorite Visual Novels they enjoy that they can recommend?
I love a good visual novel! I mostly play/read horror (and psychological thrillers) as well. I’ve actually been considering making a video talking about my favorites. Anyway, here’s some I absolutely recommend (I’ll try not to get too spoiler-y with the descriptions!):
The House In Fata Morgana. This one has one of the most beautiful, intricate storylines. It’s very gothic literature-y, which I love. It’s hard to describe it without giving anything away, so if you don’t know anything about it, definitely go in blind. It starts off a bit slow, I actually almost stopped early on, but trust me, it really picks up.
The Zero Escape Trilogy. These games aren’t 100% visual novels. There’s escape room parts to the games, which I think are brilliant and fun. The last game has more of a Telltale art vibe and isn’t technically a visual novel, but it’s necessary to play if you want the full story. They’re brilliant, thought provoking and some of the most fun I’ve ever had with gaming.
Danganronpa series. Again, not 100% visual novels, but a lot of fun. The premise of the games (excluding Ultra Despair Girls) is that you’re stuck with a group of people playing a murder-type game. Super fun. This is one of the more “anime” type visual novels out of the ones I’ve really enjoyed. Which can be a pro or con, depending on how you feel about anime.
The Letter. Really creepy horror VN centered around a house, a letter, and a pissed off ghost. The majority of the cast is very unlikable, but they’re so unlikable it actually makes the story fun, if that makes sense.
Cooking Companions. Another horror VN where you play as an unknown protagonist stuck in a cabin with “friends” and food supplies start running low.
Raging Loop. This may be one of my favorite strictly horror VNs. You play as a protagonist who gets stuck in a rural mountain village and forced to play real life Werewolf.
Crimson Spires. Mystery/romance VN. I think this one gets overlooked a lot because of the art style, but it’s very well written, the voice acting is phenomenal and all the characters you can romance are very likable (or at least, entertaining and not one dimensional).
All Of Us Are Dead. Horror VN about a group of high schoolers stuck in their school at the beginning of a zombie outbreak. There’s a live action series of it on Netflix now, which is eventually going to watch.
Spirit Hunter series (Death Mark, Death Mark 2 and NG). Fun and creepy, what more can you ask for?
Higurashi When They Cry. Note: I haven’t actually played this one. The only thing that has stopped me from reading through this is that I know it’s incredibly long. However, I’ve watched the old anime and the new one, so I can say that the storyline is wiiiillddd (yet very good). This is another one that is hard to describe without giving anything away. If you want to just watch the anime, I recommend the older one if you can find it. Last time I checked, it wasn’t streaming anywhere online. I had it on dvd back in the day. The newer one is easily available to watch (pretty sure it’s on Crunchyroll), and it’s worth the watch even though the older anime is better. I don’t think the game has as much actual visual depictions of violence (like, it’s all described in detail, but just through the writing), but the anime is very gory. Not for the faint of heart.
I’ll probably end up thinking of more to recommend, because I’m a nerd, but those are my top recommendations!
