How to get into visual novels, the most underappreciated genre of gaming

Visual novel (abbreviated as VN from now on) is a genre of gaming heavily focused on text-based storytelling, originated from Japan. There’s much debate about whether or not a VN can be considered a game or just a glorified Powerpoint slideshow, is it a genre of gaming or an entirely different medium, but that’s the topic of another time. You can think of it as a multimedia novel with a lot of text like a normal ebook alongside visual and audio material, and sometimes with gameplay mechanics on top.

While reasonably popular in Japan, VNs don’t receive a lot of attention outside the Land of the Rising Sun. Below are some of the barriers that, in my opinion, make people who are gamers/readers and might enjoy VNs hesitate in jumping on the VN bandwagon:

• VNs? Aren’t they just porn games for horny teenagers?: How dare you motherfucker, VNs are great works of art that explore deeply the human conditions … Okay, well, technically you are not entirely wrong: many of the VNs being produced in both inside and outside Japan are dating sim/erotic games with very simplistic plots, many of them contain explicit content. There’s nothing wrong with a pure romance/erotic work per se, and let’s not pretend that there is not a huge market of similar products in mainstream books/movies/games (did you know that Fifty shades of grey was the best-sold book of the last decade?). But there are still many VNs where the amount of erotic scenes is so low, like 1% of the total reading time (which is definitely lower than your usual American shows!), you would be insane trying to get to the erotic scenes by reading for dozens of hours. And of course, many all-age zero sexual content VNs exist too!
• But look at how much text they’ve got! I’m a gamer and reading is lame. Wait, some of them don’t even have any gameplay you mean? And no, clicking through text doesn’t count as a gameplay mechanic! Fuck off! I’mma back to my League of Legends/Dark Souls/Call of Duty, etc. First, I gotta say that if you are still with me here, it means you don’t hate reading that much! While there are VNs with strong gameplay elements, like the Danganronpa and Zero Escape series, it’s true that they are the minority. In fact, strictly speaking, those games are adventure games with VNs elements, and with that same logic you would have to consider text-heavy RPG games like the Persona series or Planescape Torment to be VNs too! In general, most VNs only feature a very barebone choice system for branching narratives as their only gamey element. Some don’t even have any choices with a completely linear story from start to finish, these are called Kinetic novels. Look, if you truly hate reading a lot, then visual novels probably aren’t for you. There are many different types of engagement and reading is just one of them. But, because VNs are mixed-media, maybe the art, the music, the voice acting, and the occasional gameplay can help ease the tension and make it more attractive than just pure text? I would encourage you to still try out some VNs, maybe they can be the gateway to reading in general for you!
• I do love reading, but look at their lengths! Some of them, for instance, this VN called Fate/Stay Night is almost double the length of the entire Lord of the Ring trilogy, 820595 words compared to 455125 words! My eyes will bleed out long before I finish it! This is a very valid complaint as I definitely have the same problem for most VNs: most of them are too damn wordy. But I think the same is true for the majority of normal books too, maybe my modern brain can’t handle reading anymore… Well, there are quite a few excellent short VNs that you can finish in one evening. And just like with other long-form storytelling mediums of novels and TV shows, the length can justify itself with a more complex story, a bigger cast of characters with more character development, and a more immersive setting. Some of the best ones are true page-clicker that can make you click through the night just to see what happens next!
• Great. But seriously though, are they really that good? My reading list/watch list/play list is already as long as the toilet rolls I hoarded for this Covid quarantine! Do I really want to add another long-ass not-really-a-game-but-also-not-really-a-book into my wishlist? Yes you would want to.

And I will tell you why: I have always been an avid consumer of stories in different types of art form, from books to films to music (yes, many music artists are excellent storytellers, just listen to an album of Kendrick Lamar and tell me it’s not better than your last movie!), and I can tell you right now that VNs have some of the best narrative experiences that you can’t quite find anywhere else. The combination of beautiful 2D art, great writing, brilliant voice acting, fantastic music, and some well-thought-out choices can make for an immersive experience that even the most expensive triple-A games can’t rival. The best visual novels also have a perfect ratio of fun/artistic value that is very rarely achieved in other mediums, where thought-provoking themes and sublime emotions are married with a real page-clicker story. I can’t count how many times a supposedly “classic” novel bores me to death because of how boring they are, nor a pretty entertaining movie that frustrates me because it can’t get past the surface level of depth. Many of my favorite VNs not only destroyed me emotionally but also introduced me to a plethora of interesting themes and ideas worth thinking about.

Now that you have finally been convinced that VNs are the greatest artistic achievement of humanity, it’s time I recommend some of the VNs that can serve as your first time. It is actually quite a difficult thing to do because of the obvious reason that everyone’s taste is different. I will list 8 VNs that are:

• Quite popular and wildly considered to be of high quality: so that you can be assured that it will be reasonably good, and then after reading it if you want to rave about it you can find more people to talk to!
• Relatively accessible. Of course, VN itself is a niche genre, so don’t expect the VNs here to have a broad appeal to everyone. Honestly, if you are here you probably are looking for something that is a bit off from mainstream entertainment, and indeed that is what makes VNs so great! So even though this is supposed to be a beginner guide, don’t roll your eyes if the VN’s premises sound a bit weird!
• Available in English and can be easily acquired. English is the main language that I consume VNs in so I apologize that I won’t be able to cover other languages, just know that aside from English there’s quite a big scene of VN translation to some other languages. I will try to recommend VNs that you can find on Steam and other official means, but some of them might require you to dirty your hands a little bit! Just remember to wash your hands after that, okay?

Below is the list of the 8 VNs that I think would work very well as an introduction to the genre/medium. This list is limited to the titles that I have completed and can personally vote for! I will link each game to its respective Steam page if possible, and some brief reasons why it’s a good VN. Choose what fancies you!

The short and sweet VNs for busy/skeptical people

No time? No excuses! You want to decide if VNs really is something worth getting into, like right now, this freaking evening? I got you!

1. Narcissu

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/264380/Narcissu_1st__2nd/

Premise: Two terminally-ill people reject to die either in the hospital or at home.

Starts off the list is a very short classic VN. You can download it for free anywhere on the internet including Steam. With zero sexual content, a short duration of only 2–3 hours, a breathtakingly emotional soundtrack and a heartfelt story, there really is no reason not trying out this VN!

2. Saya no Uta/The Song of Saya

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/702050/The_Song_of_Saya/

Premise: After a traffic accident, our main character has a brain surgery that saves his life, but it changes his sensory perceptions: everything around him becomes blood and guts, and all humans become monsters to him. The only light in his dark world is Saya, who for some reason still looks and sounds like a beautiful human girl to him.

The second short and sweet VN on the list. It is my favorite short VN and is a masterpiece of horror storytelling. Stemming from the twisted mind of Gen Urobuchi (who writes some of your favorite anime like Fate/Zero, Madoka Magica, Psycho-pass, etc), The Song of Saya is a story that is as much exquisite as it is disturbing. Beauty in the midst of atrocity is, for me, the highest possible achievement of any horror-themed work of art, and The Song of Saya is a clear example of it! The art is deliciously looking (Hah!), the soundtrack is amazingly haunting, and the story is lean but provocative. The game has only 2 choices, but they are done very well, especially the first choice which leads to one of my favorite “bad endings” ever. There is an option to blur our or completely turn off the gory and disturbing images, and the Steam version comes with no sexual content (I played the original years ago, but I’ve heard that the Steam version still works great without the explicit content), so I would urge even people with little aptitude for horror to try this out. I myself am a big scaredy-cat and I love this to bits!

The hybrid VNs with gameplay for “gamers”

Want something with juicy gameplay instead of just reading your eyeballs out? The next two entries are for you!

3. Danganronpa

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/413410/Danganronpa_Trigger_Happy_Havoc/

Premise: A cute teddy bear gathers the most talented students in Japan into one death game where the only way to survive is to kill without getting caught.

Inspired by the iconic series Ace Attorney (which you really should also check out!), this is an excellent entry into the gamey VNs with detective/lawyer gameplay mechanics. It sells itself as a very wacky, why-so-serious game with its colorful art, funky soundtrack, quirky cast of character, and a teddy bear as the main villain. While the adventure style gameplay during the investigation-phase is nothing to write home about, the game shines during its over-the-top trials where characters are shouting lies left and right and you have to manage a bunch of weird gameplay mechanics to get to the truth. For some of the hardcore mystery fans out there you might find this game’s cases to be on the easier side, don’t worry as this is only the first game in a trilogy! The next 2 games feature cases that are a lot more creative and actually require a brain to solve. They are highly recommended after finishing the first game.

4. 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/477740/Zero_Escape_The_Nonary_Games/

Premise: Nine people are kidnapped by a mysterious person called Zero and are forced to participate in a survival game named the “Nonary Game”. Instead of killing each other, they need to go through a series of doors numbered 1–9 with puzzles inside them to reach the exit before 9 hours run out and the ship they are in will sink, killing all of them.

Another death game! Forgive me as I am a fan of this genre and VNs really excel at this type of story. This game has a more sci-fi feel to it as you will be thrown a lot of scientific mumbo jumbo during the game! At first, the game looks like just another generic death game, but continue playing and you will be amazed at its crazy twists and turns, its lovely cast of characters, and especially its amazing usage of the visual novel format to tell a branching narrative that can only be done in an interactive medium. The escape-room puzzles are quite fun to solve too. Like Danganronpa, it also has 2 sequels continuing with the story if you are still hungry for more!

The medium-length VNs for a purer VN experience

Starting from this entry are VNs that are more representative of the genre/medium, with almost no gameplay aside from some choices. Who would have thought that removing the gameplay elements out actually leads to a better storytelling experience?

5. G-senjou no Maou/The Devil on G-String (It’s a reference to a classical piece of J.S.Bach, not the damn underwear!)

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/377670/Gsenjou_no_Maou__The_Devil_on_GString/

Premise: You play as the son of the scariest yakuza in the underworld who works covertly for him while still going to high school like a normal teenager. One day a long-haired weirdo girl and a criminal mastermind named Maou (means devil lord in Japanese) appear in your city, dragging you into their battle of wits.

You might know Death Note, a very popular anime about the mind games between the 2 main protagonists. G-senjou no Maou is sometimes called the “Death Note of VNs” and like that anime, it is also a great entry for anyone who likes the cat-and-mouse mind games where the characters outsmart instead of throwing punches at each other. It features a calculated protagonist, a smart heroine who is like a female reincarnated version of Sherlock Holme, and a genius criminal. The way the tension is built up from one twist to another is quite unmatched elsewhere, making it a very addictive read. True to its name, it features a great soundtrack which consists of reimagined classical pieces the can satisfy the classical elitists out there!

6. The House in Fata Morgana

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/303310/The_House_in_Fata_Morgana/

Premise: You wake up in a mansion, with a woman who calls herself The Maid by your side. You have lost all of your memories. Under The Maid’s guidance, you slowly discover the history of the people who lived in the mansion throughout different eras to find the trace of yourself back.

Aesthetically speaking this entry is the most unique VN on the list: its art and music are clearly inspired by European art and music instead of the usual anime/manga style. Its story is also a very excellent gothic tragedy tale that resembles a Shakespeare play or a Victorian novel, even though the team behind it is full-on Japanese! It might look like a horror story at first (I surely thought it was one before reading it!) but don’t worry, it’s not really scary and its focus is on the human conditions with its great cast of human characters. For people who are not too fond of the anime aesthetic (there are surprisingly quite a few of them in existence…), The House in Fata Morgana provides a perfect alternative to the VN experience.

The long and epic VNs for the hardcore readers out there!

The last two entries on this list both clock at around a hundred hours of reading, aiming mostly to the book lovers who can’t get enough of their reading! And even if you are not a hardcore reader already, don’t be afraid! Trying these 2 VNs might turn you into one, as you will find that the act of reading is oh so very pleasurable!

7. Fate/Stay Night

Steam: Well unfortunately there’s no official English release of this VN anywhere as Typemoon, the company behind it won’t let it happen. Time to dirty your hands a little bit!

Premise: Seven chosen mages participate in the Holy Grail War where the Holy Grail grants one wish to only the last survivor. The seven mages will become Masters and summon Servants who are legendary heroic spirits throughout human history and mythologies and battle in a survival of the fittest.

Fate/Stay Night was actually my first visual novel ever! I was 18 at that time, just graduated from high school and were preparing for my university entrance exam, I downloaded this game, thinking it was a porn game that I can reward myself after a hard round of studying!

I opened the game. And then this song played.

My jaw dropped, my ears perked and somehow I was completely captivated just reading the first few lines and listening to that song. Needless to say, the rest is history and I was never salty about my pornographic material! Best misdownload of my life! The game not only introduced an entirely new genre/medium of storytelling and artistic expression to me, but it also revamped my love for storytelling in general and helped me get through one of the most confusing periods of my life.

Back to Fate/Stay Night, it is the most popular game in the VN world that since then has spanned a hundred-million-dollar industry of games, anime, etc. But to be honest, I really don’t care that much about most of the later development (with the exception of Fate/Zero because it was written by The Song of Saya’s author!), because I think the original VN Fate/Stay Night is still a masterpiece unmatched by anything Typemoon has put out over the years. Aside from some pacing issues, the game is simply a captivating fantasy tale from start to finish. Great premise, exciting plot, amazing cast of characters, lots of choices, the most awesome bad endings in the VN world, well-drawn art, beautiful soundtrack, great voice acting (if you patch it in), it really is a complete package. It has some very emotionally powerful scenes that I still remember to these days, and is actually quite thematically deep too if you dig into it. The main protagonist Emiya Shirou is simply one of my favorite main protagonists ever in fiction, and his epic journey in Fate/Stay Night is one that I will always remember. A must read for anyone who wants to seriously get into VNs!

8. Umineko no Naku koro ni

Steam:https://store.steampowered.com/app/406550/Umineko_When_They_Cry__Question_Arcs/

Premise: The affluent Ushiromiya family gathers together in the Rokkenjima island owned by Kinzo, the head of the family, this time with the attendance of Battler, our protagonist who has been absent for 6 years and now has finally returned. A typhoon traps all of them on the island. People start to get mysteriously murdered in seemingly impossible ways. Some fear this is the work of a witch named Beatrice, the real owner of the island. Battler, of course, doesn’t believe in witchcraft and he gets on a journey to find out the truth behind the murders!

Umineko no Naku koro ni and its sequel Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru, which should be considered as only one VN, is the longest VN on this list. Some have estimated that its total word count surpasses the entirety of the Harry Potter book series! Needless to say, you are looking at a lot of screen staring here, and you might question my sanity for including this monster into a beginner list.

The reason is simple. This VN is my vote for the best VN ever.

I am not alone in this sentiment as most of the VN community holds this title in the highest regards too (or at least the English-reading community, it is much more divisive in its native Japan). It simply has everything: a left-field premise that works out brilliantly (what I just told you above is just the surface level, trust me on this!), an engrossing plot that somehow stays that way for over a hundred hours, a fascinating cast of characters where even the most sidish-characters are still interesting, along with one of the most complex villains of all time. The VN is very rewarding both emotionally and intellectually for people who are not afraid of riding along this crazy journey, and above all, it is just pure fun to read. Its original art drew by the writer himself is amateurish but charming, the PS3 art is simply gorgeous, its voice acting is phenomenal and it poses what is possibly the best soundtrack in any VN or any game for that matter! Despite its extreme length, I’m confident enough about its quality that I can wholeheartedly recommend this VN to even someone who is completely new to VNs! If you care about storytelling at all then you simply must read this work.

I hope you can have a fun time exploring the wonderful world of VNs!