The vast realm of video games may primarily be known for fast-paced, high-octane gameplay that tests the players' skills, reflexes, and hand-eye coordination, but video games are diverse and there are many other genres that find other ways to draw in players. Visual novels are a genre of video games that focuses on heavily immersing the player in the story and making them feel as if they were experiencing the plot first-hand.
These text-based adventures have a wide range of content; from dating sims to murder mystery, there's a visual novel experience for just about anyone. While there are thousands of visual novel games, there are a few titles and series that stand to be the most prolific within the genre and have paved the way for many games that followed. Here are some of the most influential and beloved visual novel games.
8 Clannad
- Genre: Romance, Slice of Life, Tragedy
- Year: 2015
- Platform: Windows, PS2, S3G, FOMA, Xbox 360, PSP, PS3, Android, PS Vita, PS4, Nintendo Switch
Clannad is a very popular anime that first debuted in 2007, while the visual novel game came out in 2004 in Japan and waited until 2015 for its long-awaited worldwide release.
The story revolves around the player character, Tomoya Okazaki, and his hardships with his home life. Eventually, Tomoya encounters a soft-spoken girl named Nagisa Furukawa, a young girl that is repeating her last year at school due to too many absences caused by her sickness. Tomoya forms a bond with Nagisa and helps her in her endeavor to reform and join the school's drama club.
After unlocking each of the different endings of the game and playing out each character's scenario, an entirely new arc is unlocked and picks up where the first arc (the School Life arc) ends off.
7 Steins; Gate (Elite)
- Genre: Science fiction, Adventure
- Year: 2009
- Platform: Xbox 360, Windows, PSP, iOS, PS3, PS Vita, PS4, Android
Steins; Gate is the second game in the Science Adventure series and is the most popular title in the series due to its anime adaptation that debuted in 2011.
Steins; Gate's story revolves around protagonist, Okabe Rintaro, a self-proclaimed "mad scientist" and university student at Tokyo Denki that discovers his experiments in time travel have finally bore fruit. Most of the plot is played out through character dialogue/conversations as well as text messages and phone calls the player can either choose to answer or ignore. The player's decisions will change the story's progress overall and can lead to many endings.
Overall, Steins; Gate is a perfect visual novel for those who love science fiction and are interested in time travel, exploring different timelines, and a changing storyline that hones in on the overall concept of cause and effect.
6 Zero Escape/The Nonary Games (Series)
- Genre: Adventure, Puzzle (Escape the room)
- Year: (Original Release) 2009, (Latest Release) 2016
- Platform: Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, PS Vita, PS4, iOS, Windows
The Zero Escape series consists of three different games, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, is the first game in the series. The next in the series is Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward and the last game in the trilogy is Zero Time Dilemma. The series focuses heavily on solving puzzles to escape each room as well as the relationships between all the characters.
Alongside the colorful characters is the overarching plot that is explored throughout each of the games. While each game can still be enjoyed on its own, the trilogy is best appreciated to its fullest together rather than separately. The Zero Escape series delves into time travel as well as sending one's consciousness back and forth through different timelines. This series is a great pick for any gamers with an itch for a visual novel that gets heavily philosophical as well as scientific.
5 Ace Attorney
- Genre: Adventure
- Year: (Original Release) 2001, (Latest Release) 2021
- Platform: Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Windows, Wii, iOS, Android, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One
Phoenix Wright is an incredibly prolific character on his own, and while the Ace Attorney series is very popular and well-received, many don't immediately recognize the games as a visual novel. Due to the nature of the series, much of the games rely on their characters' dialogue to progress both the storyline and also the gameplay.
The Ace Attorney series revolves around legal dramas and the cases assigned to multiple protagonists throughout the series. Aside from poster boy Phoenix Wright, the player takes on the role of Wright's mentor, Mia Fey, as well as prosecutor Miles Edgeworth in one of the spinoff titles.
4 Professor Layton (Series)
- Genre: Puzzle, Adventure
- Year: (Original Release) 2007, (Latest Release) 2017
- Platform: Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch
While the Professor Layton series may be very popular, it's primarily known for its puzzles/riddles and is not often regarded as a visual novel. While the gameplay mainly features Professor Layton and his sidekick, Luke, solving unique and engaging puzzles, the rest of the game's story is played out in the manner of a typical visual novel. Outside the puzzle within each level, the rest of the game relies on character dialogue to progress.
For any fans of puzzle-based games who want to follow a text-based story, the Professor Layton series may just be the perfect game to relax with.
3 Hatoful Boyfriend
- Genre: Dating Sim, Otome
- Year: (Original Release) 2011, (Special Editions) 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016
- Platform: Android, iOS, Windows, OS X, Linux, PS4, PS Vita
Although most of the initial hype around this particular game was a bit ironic and seen as a bit of a joke, players that actually invested some time to check Hatoful Boyfriend found out the outrageous otome game had a lot more depth than most people thought. Hatoful Boyfriend is a dating sim game that allows the player to strengthen their relationships and bonds with a handful of colorful birds.
While some routes are light and fun, others are very sentimental, heartbreaking, or even terrifying. There is a surprising amount of depth and detail found within each bird's route and definitely lived up to its hype, allowing it to be known as much more than simply just "that bird game".
As a fun easter egg, the game reveals that some of the adorable birds featured in the game are "employees" at a real bird café in Japan, called "Torimi Cafe- Poko no Mori" (meaning "Torimi Cafe: Poko's Forest") and even advertises the café in-game, encouraging players to come and meet their favorite characters!
2 Danganronpa (Series)
- Genre: Adventure, Shooter
- Year: (Original Release) 2010, (Latest Release) 2021
- Platform: PSP, Android, iOS, PS Vita, Windows, OS X, Linux, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
Danganronpa is one of the most easily recognizable series within the realm of gaming, not just visual novels. Danganronpa is a very Battle Royale type of game/story, featuring a new cast of talented students that are all forced to participate in the evil (and also iconic) Monokuma's "killing game".
While the main contents of the game are dark and morbid, it doesn't stop the participants from wanting to grow close to one another and form meaningful bonds. Danganronpa may be a gritty "murder mystery" type of visual novel but a part of why its popularity is so prevalent is the fact that it involves many dating sim elements.
1 Doki Doki Literature Club!
- Genre: Dating Sim, Psychological Horror
- Year: (Original Release) 2017, (Plus Edition) 2021
- Platform: Linux, macOS, Windows, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Doki Doki Literature Club! is one of the most infamous visual novels of all time. Made notorious because of its (seemingly) adorable aesthetic, Doki Doki Literature Club! is a dating sim with many layers hidden beneath its superficial appearance.
While its main pull for many players was the idea of meeting and getting to know cute anime girls and taking them out on fun dates, Doki Doki Literature Club! takes the player on a ride full of anticipation and uncertainty. It becomes slowly becomes apparent that there's much more to the cutesy dating sim than first meets the eye as the game slowly evolves in front of the player's eyes, from bright and cheery to terrifying psychological horror.