Visual Novel recommendations

[Rosenkrantz]

I'm not exactly a newbie to medium but was out of the loop for the past year or so. Recently I've picked up Summer Pockets and so far I don't think I enjoy it as much as previous VNs from Key.

Anyway, my preferences are something with more interactive flowchart, relatively short or non-linear routes and as little bloat as possible (this one is hard, I know). And to summarize most things I dislike about the medium: Chaos;Child.

 

[Theswweet]

Chaos;Child is one of my favorite Visual Novels...

As for your question - 428 seems like an easy recommendation. Every VN is linear, more or less, but 428 is less linear and doesn't have too much bloat. It's a really funny and great VN.

 

[Yamanote Line]

I have been playing Fashionist Little Miss Lonesome and it is way funnier than I expected.

Is an otome btw but I think that everyone can enjoy it.

 

[jonjonaug]

The first two Zero Escape games. The second one in particular has one of the best implemented flowcharts in any video game.

428 is all about playing around with choices leading to wildly different outcomes, has around 70+ bad ends.

Planetarian if you're looking for something ultra short, no choices though.

 

[Rosenkrantz]

As for your question - 428 seems like an easy recommendation. Every VN is linear, more or less, but 428 is less linear and doesn't have too much bloat. It's a really funny and great VN.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I kinda want something more interactive and fast-paced as 428. Chunsoft really nailed the pacing thanks to constant switch of characters and the plot structure in general.

 

[eXistor]

This is like the opposite of what you're asking but I really loved Yu-No: a Girl who Chants Love at the Bounds of this World. It involves lots and lots of time-travel, a highly interactive flow-chart. But it's not short at all: it's a good 50+ hours to see it all and you'll skip through a lot of the same scenes to try and get different routes. But the mystery is really well done and it's an important game in the genre. It might be one of the first if not the first to actually do the flow-chart thing. It's also really more an adventure visual novel as you're collecting items and looking at things a lot. I suppose I should mention: it was originally an eroge VN (the re-release edited the hentai scenes out) and there's a LOT of "problematic" content. So be warned if you're sensitive to that stuff.

 

[chusetto]

Steins;Gate is the key, even if you hated C;C

 

[ThisIsBlitz21]

999 and ace atorney for sure.

 

[hussien-11]

Anyway, my preferences are something with more interactive flowchart, relatively short or non-linear routes and as little bloat as possible (this one is hard, I know). And to summarize most things I dislike about the medium: Chaos;Child.

Click to shrink...

I recommend Raging Loop, fantastic VN. I also think it satisfies all your conditions.

 

[Rosebud]

Higurashi chapter 1 is free at Steam so you should try it if you like mysteries/suspense. The last chapter (with new translation) was released a few days ago.

 

[MJKadhim]

Steins gate and steins gate 0 if you arent into anime. Which i recommand to watch the anime more :)

 

[Patitoloco]

The perfect four-way of Zero Escape, Danganronpa, Steins Gate and Ace Attorney. It's impossible to go wrong with neither of them.

 

[afreaknamedpete]

Seconding Raging Loop. It's a decent length without being some 50h+ epic, it has a very intriguing horror/mystery vibe with the very cool concept of a game of Werewolf with real stakes, there's multiple routes but it does have an enforced route order and there's only a small handful of them. Very little game but an enjoyable story.

There's of course all the Zero Escape games; though AI the Somnium Files is made by the same creator and it's one of the best VNs I've played in recent memory. Full voice acting, much less epic in scale and a more narrow scope than the Zero Escape games but it's full of mysteries and mind twists and it's also not doorbuster length.

 

[eXistor]

I recommend Raging Loop, fantastic VN. I also think it satisfies all your conditions.

Click to shrink...

I was gonna say that too, but in the end I didn't find the game to be that compelling and the presentation absolutely sucks. It's the worst looking VN I've played, it's so bland and boring looking. It feels like there's a handul of backgrounds, some of which are literal walls and it almost never changes. It's not a bad story though, but I'd get this one at a discount.

 

[craven68]

So i m going to say all of the visual novel that i loved :
Muv luv trilogy ( the first one is funny but not as good as the second or the third !)
Umineko
Higurashi ( i have to read 6,7, 8, but the first 5 are so good)
G senjou no maou
Ever 17
Stein gate and Stein gate 0 ( i may be the only one that prefer stein gate 0)

 

[Rosenkrantz]

Seconding Raging Loop. It's a decent length without being some 50h+ epic, it has a very intriguing horror/mystery vibe with the very cool concept of a game of Werewolf with real stakes, there's multiple routes but it does have an enforced route order and there's only a small handful of them. Very little game but an enjoyable story.

Click to shrink...

Is it like Death Mark without P&C elements? I enjoyed a good deal out of that game.

 

[Palette Swap]

Yeah, 428 sounds like what you want.
No bloat / alternate routes makes it a bit hard because they're often mutually exclusive.

I love them, but I wouldn't recommend most of Uchikoshi's games or Steins Gate if you want to avoid bloat, because there's a ton of fat in these games.

It's not strictly a VN, but AI: the somnium files was pretty well paced, it's a lot less mindblowing than slower burns, but it gets going quicker.

 

[afreaknamedpete]

Is it like Death Mark without P&C elements? I enjoyed a good deal out of that game.

Click to shrink...

Can't say I know much about Death Mark besides some screenshots, though I can comment that there's almost no gameplay the speak of in Raging Loop. You make a very small handful of choices, and there's an enforced route order so the wrong answers just very rapidly lead you back to the same choice. You could honestly remove choices and lose almost nothing.

Also Raging Loop is horror/mystery yes but it doesn't really have much in the way of actual gruesome imagery or gore like what the steam page for Death Mark implies.

 

[Rosenkrantz]

Also Raging Loop is horror/mystery yes but it doesn't really have much in the way of actual gruesome imagery or gore like what the steam page for Death Mark implies.

Click to shrink...

I'm ok with not having gorn on display, I'll add the game to my wishlist, the price is a bit steep right now.

 

[Ctrl Alt Del]

I'll echo the recommendations for the Zero Escape series and Steins;Gate.

 

[Pyro]

 

[Rosenkrantz]

Click to shrink...

LOL. Never thought that Danganronpa is going to be this popular.

 

[Timelord19]

Umineko, but find the patch with the PS3 sprites.

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

Am I the only one that doesn't consider games like Zero Escape or Danganronpa to be Visual Novels? Maybe I'm just old, but I always considered those an evolution of "Adventure Game" in the classic PC sense. While Visual Novels to me didn't have any gameplay or puzzle solving, just a novel told through a visual medium with at most choices to influence the story (ala Fate/Stay Night or something). At the very least I feel like we need to have terms to differentiate between these two things because I legitimately don't know what people want most of the time Visual Novels come up nowadays. Experiencing Umineko is very different from experiencing Phoenix Wright, ya know?

Umineko, but find the patch with the PS3 sprites.

Click to shrink...

Nah, original PC sprites for life. So much more personality.

 

[Timelord19]

Am I the only one that doesn't consider games like Zero Escape or Danganronpa to be Visual Novels? Maybe I'm just old, but I always considered those an evolution of "Adventure Game" in the classic PC sense. While Visual Novels to me didn't have any gameplay or puzzle solving, just a novel told through a visual medium with at most choices to influence the story (ala Fate/Stay Night or something). At the very least I feel like we need to have terms to differentiate between these two things because I legitimately don't know what people want most of the time Visual Novels come up nowadays. Experiencing Umineko is very different from experiencing Phoenix Wright, ya know?


Nah, original PC sprites for life. So much more personality.

Click to shrink...

Can the original PC sprites at least get the voice acting? Becuase the seiyuu of Beatrice was awesome.

 

[Rosenkrantz]

Am I the only one that doesn't consider games like Zero Escape or Danganronpa to be Visual Novels?

Click to shrink...

The way story is structured I think it's safe to say that Zero Escape up until the 3rd game is very much a visual novel with adventure game elements. I think storytelling techniques are more important in calling something a VN than the gameplay elements or lack of them.

 

[Benzychenz]

Steins gate and steins gate 0 if you arent into anime. Which i recommand to watch the anime more :)

Click to shrink...

Literally crazy talk, the anime is basically just fast forwarding through the key moments with no breathing room. I watched it with my housemate after I played the VN and was blown away by how bad it was in comparison.

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

Can the original PC sprites at least get the voice acting? Becuase the seiyuu of Beatrice was awesome.

Click to shrink...

I believe that was possible at one point though I have no idea how viable it is now. To be honest, I read Umineko as it was first being translated into English, so voice acting would also just be weird to me. But I can at least agree that the voice acting is good, whereas I just legitimately think the original art is better suited for the story.

The way story is structured I think it's safe to say that Zero Escape up until the 3rd game is very much a visual novel with adventure game elements. I think storytelling techniques is more important in calling something a VN than gameplay elements or lack of them.

Click to shrink...

Hmm, I guess I see what you're saying but I don't really agree. When it comes to video game genres I tend to define them by the gameplay mechanics moreso than story structure. Plus like I said I guess I'm old. When people said "visual novel" twelve years ago, they never meant something with puzzles or gameplay mechanics.

 

[Rosenkrantz]

Hmm, I guess I see what you're saying but I don't really agree. When it comes to video game genres I tend to define them by the gameplay mechanics moreso than story structure. Plus like I said I guess I'm old. When people said "visual novel" twelve years ago, they never meant something with puzzles or gameplay mechanics.

Click to shrink...

I mean, VNs with gameplay elements aren't anything new. Stuff like Divi-Dead and Yu-No from a hundred years ago have them to some extent, even if it's simply navigating the map dungeon crawler style. Besides, how do we separate VNs with branching paths and kinetic novels without any sort of choice then? What would be a real VN among them?

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

I mean, VNs with gameplay elements aren't anything new. Stuff like Divi-Dead and Yu-No from a hundred years ago have them to some extent, even if it's simply navigating the map dungeon crawler style. Besides, how do we separate VNs with branching paths and kinetic novels without any sort of choice then? What would be a real VN among them?

Click to shrink...

I don't think creating a difference between visual novels with choices and ones without choices is needed, as that's less of a large difference than there being gameplay like puzzle solving and dungeon crawling. For what it's worth wikipedia, citing an ANN article from 2006, notes that in Japan they do distinctly refer to games without those gameplay elements as visual novels and ones with them as adventure games, but that distinction is often ignored in the West. Which I guess is kind of what I was saying too. I think 999 is an adventure game, not a visual novel. Though I cannot speak for if that sort of distinction is still used in Japan today, I do think it's weird we've basically abandoned the term "adventure game" for these sorts of things when we used it in the 90s.

Not that I meant to derail your thread with this, I just legitimately wasn't sure what you were looking for. But it seems like maybe either?

 

[Xita]

Are some people not reading the OP? Steins; Gate and especially Umineko aren't short lol, like I love the latter but it's not something I'd recommend if you want to avoid bloat (it's a 100+ hour VN after all) and Steins; Gate is pretty notorious for having a slow start. Plus unless something different happens in the Answer arcs Umineko doesn't have a flow chart.

To recommend something though I'd recommend Raging Loop.

 

[Rosenkrantz]

I don't think creating a difference between visual novels with choices and ones without choices is needed, as that's less of a large difference than there being gameplay like puzzle solving and dungeon crawling. For what it's worth wikipedia, citing an ANN article from 2006, notes that in Japan they do distinctly refer to games without those gameplay elements as visual novels and ones with them as adventure games, but that distinction is often ignored in the West. Which I guess is kind of what I was saying too. I think 999 is an adventure game, not a visual novel. Though I cannot speak for if that sort of distinction is still used in Japan today, I do think it's weird we've basically abandoned the term "adventure game" for these sorts of things when we used it in the 90s.

Not that I meant to derail your thread with this, I just legitimately wasn't sure what you were looking for. But it seems like maybe either?

Click to shrink...

I think there's a big difference, gameplay wise, between Japanese adventure games (in a western sense of a word) like Glass Rose or Shadow of Memories (I think it's the name) or FromSoft's Echo Night series and what refers to as ADV on VNDB. Classic western P&Cs have a very distinctive gameplay mechanics, so, in that sense calling something like Danganronpa an adventure game would be a misnomer imo.

No worries, I love good discussion.

 

[Yasumi]

I haven't played it personally, but I've heard You and Me and Her: A Love Story is quite good. Definitely one of those VNs you shouldn't google *at all*. Length is apparently 10-30 hours.

YOU and ME and HER: A Love Story on Steam

YOU and ME and HER: A Love Story is the visual novel medium in its purest form. Will Shinichi choose Miyuki, the beautiful queen bee of the school, or the endearingly awkward misfit Aoi? With art by Tsuji Santa, these beautifully rendered romances will stay with you forever.

store.steampowered.com

 

[Euler]

Can the original PC sprites at least get the voice acting? Becuase the seiyuu of Beatrice was awesome.

Click to shrink...

I think the Umineko mod allows you to mix and match whatever you want. There are lots of settings.

 

[mudai]

There are many great visual novels, but from the top of my head I would recommend the Zero Escape series (especially the first two games 999 and VLN. VLN is my is my absolute favorite. Phi! <3) and 428. The latter is funny, quirky and just mad fun. 999 and VLN might actually blow your mind. Overall great stories!

 

[purseowner]

You like flowcharts?

Some recent picks:
Yu-No
AI: The Somnium Files

 

[GhostTrick]

Muv-Luv trilogy. If there's one visual novel you have to do, it's this one.

Also check Umineko.

 

[Zalman]

I think Ace Attorney and Ghost Trick are the best visual novels out there, but they're mostly linear and have no flow charts. In this case I'd recommend Steins;Gate and Zero Escape.

 

[Tacitus]

The premise is already something, but the game gets even more bizarre in some of the routes.

 

[Rosebud]

The premise is already something, but the game gets even more bizarre in some of the routes.

Click to shrink...

lol I got this on PS+

now they are giving COD :(

 

[ara]

I get people love Muv-Luv, Umineko etc. but man they do NOT fit OP's criteria lol.

 

[Xita]

I get people love Muv-Luv, Umineko etc. but man they do NOT fit OP's criteria lol.

Click to shrink...

Yeah people are definitely just reading the title and answering with their favorite VNs.

 

[Normal]

Ace Attorney
Danganronpa
Zero Escape
Death Mark

 

[Palette Swap]

I get people love Muv-Luv, Umineko etc. but man they do NOT fit OP's criteria lol.

Click to shrink...

Right? Like I'd love to push the House in Fata Morgana, but it doesn't fit at all with OP's expectations.

People are suggesting Ace Attorney lol.

 

[Dee Dee]

A short experience I always recommend to people that want to get into Visual Novels is "To the Moon".
The story is good, I enjoyed it a lot, it's not too much anime mindfvck for once, just a sweet little melancholic romp.
The presentation also makes it a bit more interactive than your standard virtual comic book VN, you also play a little puzzle mini game to unlock flashbacks and progress in the story. I saw people get really frustrated by the puzzle game, not sure why honestly, it's not exactly tricky.
The mini games in DanganRonpa were sooooo much more awful than the tiny little origami puzzles in To The Moon.
It's completely linear, but I still think you should check it out.

Also throwing in a recommendation for "Raging Loup" as a more recent VN I enjoyed.

Did you play AI: Somnium Files already? Excellent game, hard recommendation for Uchikoshi fans.
(TALK ABOUT FRUSTRATING MINIGAMES THOUGH OH BOY)

 

[ShyMel]

The first Zero Escape game is short compared to some of the other titles being suggested in here. The PS4. Steam, and Vita double pack with 999 and Virtue's Last Reward give 999 voice acting, a flow chart, and some modified content to work around the game no longer being on the DS.

 

[Lee Chaolan]

Aren't they releasing an updated version of Steins Gate 0 as well?

 

[PsionBolt]

I haven't played it personally, but I've heard You and Me and Her: A Love Story is quite good. Definitely one of those VNs you shouldn't google *at all*. Length is apparently 10-30 hours.

YOU and ME and HER: A Love Story on Steam

YOU and ME and HER: A Love Story is the visual novel medium in its purest form. Will Shinichi choose Miyuki, the beautiful queen bee of the school, or the endearingly awkward misfit Aoi? With art by Tsuji Santa, these beautifully rendered romances will stay with you forever.

store.steampowered.com

Click to shrink...

Oh yeah, this game is in English now! I wouldn't say it suits OP's criteria, but it is a game worth knowing the name of for sure. It's weird, because I can't speak strongly about it as either great or terrible, but I'd without a doubt include it on a list "notable VNs" or similar. At the very least, I'm sure it'll be remembered by fans of the genre (and creators within it) for many years to come.

It's definitely nowhere near 30 hours long though, 10 is about how long it took me to "complete" it (as far as that applies to this game). Of course, reading speed varies, but given that it's full voice and I played it on auto-read 90% of the time, I can't see it taking more than 15 hours at the absolute most. And because of its format, you won't be playing it more than once.

 

[Tolby]

I had no idea Totono was just released in English. I'm getting that ASAP. Thank you everyone for recommending it!

As for the OP, I'd recommend:


No bloat, around 3 hours long. Best emotional rollercoaster I had this year. OST is also great.
And it's free.

 

[purseowner]

I had no idea Totono was just released in English. I'm getting that ASAP. Thank you everyone for recommending it!

As for the OP, I'd recommend:


No bloat, around 3 hours long. Best emotional rollercoaster I had this year. OST is also great.
And it's free.

Click to shrink...

Had never heard of this - thanks!