The Steam Summer Sale is upon us, and I was thinking about getting some visual novels. My VN backlog on Steam is pretty much empty, VNs don't get bundled a lot and don't really end up in nice sales compared to normal games so I'm not sure what I should be getting. Also, browsing the VN category on Steam is ridiculous, it's filled with either sex simulators or games that aren't really VNs but have text dialogs.

This is the list of novels I've read. I think mystery and/or horror seems to be my thing. I'm thinking of maybe getting Umineko (as a big Higurashi fan) and CHAOS;HEAD NOAH, I'm also thinking of maybe reading ATRI -My Dear Moments- since there's an anime adaptation coming up and I remember the demo was nice. Maybe I'm also in the mood for something light too, I've mostly read some heavy shit lately.

What VNs do you like? Will you be buying any novels? If you're looking for recommendations, I might have some too.

1 year ago

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Do you read visual novels? (Idling for cards does not count)

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Yes
No
1 year ago
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Chaos;Head is a solid choice, I would've recomennded it otherwise.
For good mystery plots, I'd recommend Never7, Ever17 and Remember11 too.
For a lighter plot, I am kinda uncertain as I also like heavy stuff storywise.

But I may recommend Shan Gui for a short, heart-warming little kinetic novel. In part because I took part in the hungarian fan translation of that VN. (Edit: to my knowledge its also officially part of the Definitive Edition)
Its a rather easy read and its not expensive either.

1 year ago*
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I sometimes read visual novels :D So for now I can recommend:
Ballads at Midnight and Solstice.
Sadly Solstice is not on sale :( Maybe in other stores.

1 year ago
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Didn't see Steins;Gate on your list.

1 year ago
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+7.

1 year ago
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https://store.steampowered.com/app/1230140/ATRI_My_Dear_Moments/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/2710/STEINSGATE_SERIES_BUNDLE/ anime did it better for me though.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/324160/CLANNAD I mean how can you not...

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1506980/Lay_a_Beauty_to_Rest_The_Darkness_Peach_Blossom_Spring

https://store.steampowered.com/app/939400/LoveChoice/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/1975/Story_of_Eroolia_Collection/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1528130/Suicide_Countdown_7_Days/ few hours with enjoyment

https://store.steampowered.com/app/687260/Tokyo_Dark/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/9605/Grisaia_Collection/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/716340/Blackberry_Honey

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1714320/Find_Love_or_Die_Trying/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/891510/Loves_Sweet_Garnish/ just cute girls doing cute things.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/251990/Long_Live_The_Queen/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/549860/One_Night_Stand/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/522880/PSYCHOPASS_Mandatory_Happiness/ just because I'm a fan of the anime

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1571910/Dear_Althea/ few bugs but it's ok.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1202540/Marco__The_Galaxy_Dragon/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/11706/MuvLuv_MEGAVERSE/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1578860/Billionaire_Lovers/ pretty cheap, i think it's worth even without the discount. Although it's sale rn.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/635940/Little_Busters_English_Edition i love both the anime and the vn

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1591490/Distant_Memorao/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1769320/Athanasy depends on the mood.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1044490/The_Expression_Amrilato

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/18378/Senren_BankaRiddle_Joker_Set/ (except for Senren Banka, PARQUET is the best here for me)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1044620/Aokana__Four_Rhythms_Across_the_Blueanime was meh but vn is great.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1418180/MUSICUS

1 year ago
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About some that aren't on your list I can recommend:

  • milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk (really short/psychological horror)
  • milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk (short/psychological horror)
  • Sound of Drop - fall into poison - (horror)
  • Ame no Marginal (mystery/atmospheric)

Also I really love VN's with grid dungeon gameplay, there is a few that I know of that are interesting:

  • The Silver Case (mystery/investigation)
  • Death Mark (horror)

For lightheaded stuff:

  • Bard Harder ! (short/TTRPG theme)
  • Monster Loves You (short but there is like 20 endings ?)

Anyway I hope you will find something you will enjoy to read !
Your list have a lot of interesting stuff so I might steal it, for science of course :3 (I really need some more good vn's myself)

1 year ago*
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If you like coffee talk, i just want to point out that there is this https://store.steampowered.com/app/1663220/Coffee_Talk_Episode_2_Hibiscus__Butterfly/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1084640/Chicken_Police__Paint_it_RED/ is also nice, although it isnt horror mystery genre (and im speaking this from someone who like mystery genre as well)

Since you havent played danganronpa v3, you might want to give it a try.

And then steins gate is nice. I havent played the game, but i watched the anime.

1 year ago
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Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate are up there, for sure. (For C;H, you might want to look into fixes if you want the NOAH release.)

I also don't see Corpse Party: Sweet Sachiko's Hysteric Birthday Bash or Corpse Party: Blood Drive on your list. I've yet to play them myself, but I want to say it should be a safe bet they're as good as the previous two. (Hesitant to say the same about Dead Patient, though, as it never really reached a conclusion.)

And since I feel safe recommending these, Amnesia: Memories and Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds/Edo Blossoms are two solid otome games bound to keep you busy for a while.

1 year ago
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I was early to the Corpse Party party and watched people on YouTube play the Japanese versions of Birthday and Blood Drive and translated it for the audience before they released in English. Should probably add them to the list as well since I've experienced the story. The birthday game is short and fanservicey with the characters, nothing much happens.

I'll never forgive them for Blood Drive, it's just atrocious. You have Blood Covered that is gorey and gritty with an exciting story and almost-realistic characters, coupled with pixel art and bad endings that jumpscared you out of nowhere. Then you have this shit that removes everything great and replaces it with bad art, bad gameplay, bad new characters and a bad save-the-world story.

In particular I remember (minor spoilers) that one new character was a teacher that was in love with Satoshi (uh, her student), she also happened to be filthy rich so without his knowledge she built a hot springs at his house so there could be a scene with the girl characters bathing naked and no one thinks it's weird. WTF

Otome is a genre I haven't really explored but would like to, so I'm gonna look further into these.

1 year ago
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I was early to the Corpse Party party and watched people on YouTube play the Japanese versions of Birthday and Blood Drive and translated it for the audience before they released in English.

So was I! Well, kind of. I've done my best to keep myself unspoiled on Blood Drive, but then again it's been in my backlog for so long, I'm starting to feel guilty about not having played it yet. The franchise is one of the few things that are nostalgic for me now, so I don't think I could be discouraged from going further into it.

Otome is a genre I haven't really explored but would like to, so I'm gonna look further into these.

1 year ago
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I love Visual Novels. Here are some suggestions I've played.

The Sekimeiya : Spun Glass is a really long complex mystery story.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1432500/The_Sekimeiya_Spun_Glass/

I didn't see Zero Time Dilemma on your list, but that might be because it plays more like an adventure game than a VN.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/311240/Zero_Escape_Zero_Time_Dilemma/

But if you like Kotaro Uchikoshi's work (zero escape series), then I recommend Ever 17: The Out of Infinity. Which is also a mystery story.

1 year ago
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1 year ago
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Food Girls is the weirdest game that I absolutely love. I don't know why I like it so much. It's not a particularly great game and is barely translated, but it just appears in my mind sometimes. Weird.

1 year ago
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Haha, yeah it's pretty weird though it does have its moments. :)

1 year ago
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Well we talked before when you did the whole sakura month for play a win event so you know I had to pick up some visual novels as always

Had to complete the set to sakura so succubus 7, gym and that leveling up girls game
Every Summer Holiday and Rapscallions On Deck to complete the chanimk set
Astronomic Date which as you put above would not be your thing but I own all their other games so I thought I may as well buy it
A TAVERN FOR TEA and a pet shop after dark to well complete another set. a pet shop seems more point and click but tavern for tea sounds like coffee talk but tea
Got Max's Big Bust 1 and 2 in a bundle

Once I get a bit more money you can guess it more visual novels to complete lists probably like heart in the woods

I also brought AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative. I see you played it in your vndb account. How did you find it?

1 year ago
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Lmao I kinda did another Sakura month recently with the recent bundle that had a lot of new bundled games, but it was more like 2 weeks. I bought Sakura Santa on Steam since it never gets bundled anyway, but I don't know about completing my collection. The Sakura Bundle on Steam costs me €30 and that's about €25 too much for 5 Sakura games :S

nirvanA Initiative is... okay? I don't know. A key difference between the first and the second game is that Uchikoshi both wrote and directed the first, but only wrote the second while someone else directed it. And IT SHOWS. The plot clearly isn't too well thought out and I can tell that they had a great idea but couldn't execute it properly. If you think about the plot a bit, holes start appearing everywhere.
But I would still say that playing it is worth it if you like the first, as it is just essentially more of the same. Characters are nice, even if they just start dancing out of nowhere sometimes. Plot is interesting, but doesn't leave you with that satisfaction that the first had. It's fun anyway.

1 year ago
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Yeah as soon as I saw the front page to the sequel I imminently knew it was gonna be troublesome and slightly disappointing
But good to hear an opinion from someone who has played it rather then just passing on from people who heard from other people

1 year ago
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AI: The Somnium Files

and my nostalgia bone will not let a question about visual novels pass without mentioning Ace Attorney

1 year ago
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Both are already in their list jsdajfias

1 year ago
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Oh, oops!

1 year ago
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Ok, so here we go:

  • Zero Escape (specially if you liked AI:TSF)
  • One Thousand Lies: It's free! It's short! It's an absolute ride that made me cry like a baby!

I probably can come up with more if I think for a bit. Meanwhile, I need to ask: is the coronel sanders vn any good? I did download it as a joke, now I'm genuinely intrigued.

1 year ago
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Don't have any hope that a game called "I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator" is genuinely good lmao. It took me an hour to read, it was fun and gave me a good laugh, and it's free. It's a great game if you read it as a joke (and as a KFC advertisement).

1 year ago
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I absolutely recommend GNOSIA for a very different type of visual novel based around the party game Werewolf/Mafia. It's short for a VN but well worth the time!

1 year ago
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1 year ago
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1 year ago
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Not much of a horror person myself unfortunately, and it looks like whichever few I had in mind are already on your list. I'll just leave my own here in case there's anything you may enjoy in another genre (order by my Vote score and filter however you like). Nice to see a fellow VNDB user!

1 year ago
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If we take away the cyberpunk setting and dinosaur characters, that would seem like a lovely down-to-earth novel about problems, that are familiar to us and that we experience on a monthly basis.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1596730/Dynopunk

1 year ago
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Only "pure" VN I've played is Root Double. It definitely falls into the mystery+horror theme you're looking for. I guess I'd recommend it to you. (I mean, I liked it by the end, but I'm definitely not a VN person and, to me, it felt like it dragged on at times, but the fact that I finished it at all means it was good, right? ^_^' )

1 year ago
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Vampires' Melody is really good, and also very cheap too! I really liked it.

1 year ago
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RB: Axolotl is really different, and I fully enjoyed my time with it (and not just because it's about axolotls, although I'll admit that was a big part of why I bought it). Despite the initially cartoonish presentation and healthy dose of humor, this really does fit firmly in the mystery/psychological/horror spectrum of VNs. Maybe not quite as intense as some of what's on your list, but it definitely gets darker and heavier than you might expect, with some decent twists along the way. Well worth a look if you are after something different.

1 year ago
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Here is a less-known but good one: Guilty Parade

1 year ago
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Mystery and horror:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2097750/AOISHIRO_HD_REMASTER/

I played it in the past with a fan translation. It can be a little bit frustrating, since it has over 60 endings if I remember correctly - and mostly Bad Endings. But the true ending makes up for it.
The English translation of the Steam version isn't really good according to the reviews, but in the Discussions you can find a link to apply the fan translation from the past, which is better.


Fantasy:
https://vndb.org/v24110 - Meteor World Actor

Good, solid title around crime and fantasy. Also has a sequel already. Most likely there will be a third part as well which isn't announced so far.


Also fantasy:
https://vndb.org/v16337 - Sorcery Jokers

Also very good. And good characters.


Not really mystery or horror, but with
https://store.steampowered.com/app/377670/Gsenjou_no_Maou__The_Devil_on_GString/ you already played one of the best ones in my opinion.

This was my first visual novel/eroge ever and unfortunately I couldn't find any title which had such an emotional impact on me since then. And in combination with the epic soundtrack, it's just a masterpiece.

But I would buy it outside of Steam and buy the original version with the English patch or wait for the 4:3 official version, since the widescreen version on Steam has cropped images which is a little bit disappointing.


I can recommend much more, but none of them are mystery/horror, since it's not my genre. With already over 200 visual novels (but mainly eroge, so 18+) played, official English versions and also fan translations, I can say it's my favourite genre in general :)
I also translated a few of them to German already - the last one being https://vndb.org/v7738 (Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi). I would say this one is also mystery. If you played Doki Doki Literature Club (of which I translated the original one), I think you'll also like this one, since it's somehow similar.
Anyway, most of the ones I played aren't on Steam.

1 year ago*
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