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What are the best visual novel games on PS4?

5

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Considered

7

User
Recs.

Dec 1, 2019

Last
Updated

5 Games Considered

Best visual novel games on PS4	Price	Platforms	Steam Rating
-- Pyre	$19.99	PC, PlayStation 4, Linux, Mac	Very Positive
-- Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony	$59.99	Windows, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4	Mostly Positive
-- Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma	$39.99	-	Mostly Positive
-- Steins;Gate 0	$34.99	PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3 (Japan only), Xbox One (Japan only), Windows	Very Positive
-- Danganronpa 1 - 2 Reload	$39.99	PlayStation 4	-

Pyre

Top Pro

Excellent music

Pyre's music is a breath of fresh air filled with rustic, down-to-earth tunes. With warm acoustic guitar melodies for story scenes and high-energy, rock-influenced tracks for the Rites, the soundtrack features a blend of different sounds that all come together nicely. See More

Top Con

Too easy at times

Even playing on normal mode, Pyre's Rites may be too easy to complete for some players. Adjusting or customizing the difficulty may be necessary for those looking for a bit more of a challenge. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Action Role-Playing Sports

Co-Op:2 Player Local

Top Pro

Compelling characters

The characters you meet across the game who join your team as exiles all have their own backgrounds, quirks and motivations, making them feel real and full of life. Jodariel, the imposing, horned blonde woman featured in many of Pyre's promotional material, is a fan-favorite with an intriguing yet tragic backstory that belies her appearance. Every character throughout the story is just as compelling and memorable, making you want to help them through the Rites and for them to return back home. See More

Top Con

Versus play is local only

Playing matches against other people is limited to local matches. The Rites have a lot of potential for a larger multiplayer mode against players around the world. See More

Top Pro

Detailed artwork

Pyre's art is beautiful and well-crafted, with bright colors, great attention to detail, and character designs that reflect the exiles' roles on the playing field. Characters like Volfred Sandalwood have smart designs, with Volfred in particular designed as a commanding man who carries importance, with his bulk mirroring his role as a defensive player in the Rites. See More

Top Pro

Memorable story that blends with gameplay

Pyre is a mix of a fantasy visual novel with sports gameplay that links back to the plot. The story tells the tale of the game's many exiles, characters who were sent to Pyre's version of purgatory. These exiles can only return home by conquering the Rites alongside you, the game's 3v3 sport. As the story progresses, you grow close to the characters while learning about their backstories and motivation. Once they achieve their freedom, it will be time to say goodbye. There's a sense of accomplishment from growing attached to each of your team members while helping them return back home. See More

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

Top Pro

Quirky storytelling

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is a mish-mash of a visual novel, an adventure game, a colorful cast of anime characters like talking bears with varied creepy designs and a host of high school characters solving a murder mystery, all packed together as a competition of wits to investigate each crime scene and figure out what happened. Getting fellow classmates to believe the player's version of events involves stylish debates with text flying across the screen, where the other characters can be swayed by the correct answers or timely lies that risk the chance of perjury. See More

Top Con

Questionable mid-story pacing

Unfortunately, things begin to drag on toward the middle of the story, where the plot begins to feel tedious and repetitive. These crimes in the middle are more tedious and repetitive than anything, lacking the finesse and enjoyment of other parts of the game. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Genre:Adventure, Visual Novel

Top Pro

Great music

DRV3's soundtrack encompasses many genres, allowing you to enjoy a wide variety of instruments, which includes guitars, drums, brass instruments, synths and many others. The end result is a gritty, futuristic soundtrack with punchy, energetic songs that make the proceedings feel action-packed while also making key story moments memorable. See More

Top Con

Polarizing ending

Love it or hate it, the ending is undoubtedly polarizing, with some fans enjoying the conclusion to the game's many twists and turns, with others left feeling disappointed or annoyed. Your experience will vary, so be prepared to fall on either end of the spectrum once you reach the end of your 30+ hour series of investigations. See More

Top Pro

Unique blend of different gameplay concepts

Filled with heated debates, character bonding and relationships, whodunit murder mysteries, along with mini-games and dungeon-crawling, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is a blend of ideas and mechanics that manage to work as an unexpected, yet cohesive package. This is a game that sounds impossible on paper, but everything fits together as a package surprisingly well. See More

Top Pro

Eccentric cast of characters

The sixteen main characters in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony are all at the "ultimate" level of their specialties, such as the ultimate detective, the ultimate tennis-player-turned-convict, the ultimate artist, and many more. Their personalities shine through during debates as they argue their points of view, some with no shortage of pointed vulgarities, with other outright lying in order to keep the player on-edge. The localization's many pop culture references to "alternative facts" and misinformation campaigns helps the characters feel relevant and real. See More

Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma

Top Pro

Suspensful atmosphere

You truly feel like a prisoner, trapped in a jail where the wrong choice can lead to your death. Everyone seems really suspicious and it feels like you can't trust anyone. See More

Top Con

The story won't make sense without playing the previous 2 titles

ZE: ZTD is the conclusion to a trilogy, answering most of the unanswered questions from the previous titles. If you haven't played those, it's best to avoid this game because it will just confuse you. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Top Pro

Interesting puzzles

Most of the puzzles in this game are "escape a room" type of puzzles. The puzzle tasks vary from fixing a broken pipe to decoding an alien language. At times it might feel impossible, but if you persevere and complete one, it feels really rewarding. See More

Steins;Gate 0

Top Pro

Multiple endings that depend on your choices

One of the best parts about the story is how your decisions affect the ending you get. The multiple paths branch out depending on how your respond to emails and text messages, which show the recipient characters how you think and feel. Their reactions to your state of mind determines how things play out in the long-run, opening up lots of chances to replay the game to see all the different outcomes. See More

Top Con

Not for people who want more involved gameplay

Since Steins;Gate 0 is a visual novel, that means a lot of reading. The gameplay boils down to how you get one of the multiple endings, which is limited to your responses to text messages and emails with other characters. If you want a game with more interactivity, then this one probably isn't for you unless you're willing to try something different. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Visual Novel

Top Pro

Great English localization

The English localization is pretty good. The voice acting is purely in Japanese, so the game relies heavily on its subtitles to get its story across. Thankfully, everything sounds natural and flows well, keeping things relevant and accessible for non-Japanese audiences. Every little thing on-screen is translated to English, too, including things like cute reaction stickers that your friends send you through text messages. There are a few mispellings and mistranslations here and there, but it's not bad enough to pull you out of the experience. Anyone will have an easy time understanding all of the dialog here. See More

Top Con

Some reused art assets stick out

From time to time, you may notice that the characters don't always look the same. There are some old models from the first Steins;Gate game that get reused here, probably to save time, but it's distracting. The old character models aren't as interesting or detailed as the new ones for this game, so they end up sticking out in a bad way. It's nothing too terrible, though it may throw you off. See More

Top Pro

Unique concept of bending time to prevent World War III

The story takes things one step further with its themes and concepts. You're part of a group of students who use time travel and artificial intelligence support to stop a terrible future where World War III breaks out between the major powers on the planet. There's plenty of intriguing science-fiction lore to learn about along the way, and it's all easily digestible thanks to great tips that the game shows you from time to time. It's a cool concept that goes beyond the usual stories about war, keeping things new and exciting. See More

Top Pro

Dark and mature storyline that grapples with grief and loss

Steins;Gate 0's story is quite serious, dealing with some real concepts that many games don't really explore. The story takes place in an alternate timeline after the first Steins;Gate game where the protagonist failed to save his loved one, causing him to struggle with anxiety, PTSD, and depression. You spend much of your time speaking with other characters who try to get through to the main character, hoping that he overcomes his grief to help save the world from falling into war. It's a poignant yet realistic approach that still has layers of hope, keeping things from getting too bogged down in sadness. See More

Danganronpa 1 - 2 Reload

Top Pro

Fascinating premise of pitting characters against each other to break them psychologically

The Danganronpa games have a wacky but intriguing setup: locking a dozen or so students in a school together, and forcing them to kill each other in order to be allowed to leave. The twist is that the murderer can only leave if they are not discovered during a class trial. It's really messed up to watch the lengths the school's "headmaster" goes to in their efforts to drive the students insane and force them to kill their friends. At the same time, you get to know a lot about these individuals in seeing just how far they go to scheme and murder each other, all while attempting to cover up their tracks so as to not get found out. See More

Top Con

Not for players who want more involved gameplay

Since these are visual novels, that means there's more reading than actual gameplay. There are some adventure aspects, like getting to roam around the school during free time and investigations. The bulk of the gameplay involves talking to characters, point-and-click investigations, and getting through the class trials. If you're looking for something with more complex controls, these might not be the games for you. See More

Specs

Genre:Visual Novel, Horror, Adventure

Top Pro

Engaging murder investigations and class trials

Once a group of students discovers a dead body, the "headmaster" declares that it's time for the investigation period. This leads you to a series of events where you search around the crime scene and any other relevant locations in a point-and-click style to find clues about the murder. After collecting all of the evidence, you then move to a courtroom where you have to sort through your classmates' lies and biases to solve the mystery. Every phrase your classmates say show up on the screen as text, and it's up to you to use your "truth bullets", meaning your clues from the investigation, to shoot down anyone's lies or falsehoods to move the trial forward. There are also a few other mini-games that help you figure out the facts, like a cool rhythm game where you have to shoot someone's lies on-screen in-time with the beat. Your closing argument has you put together the missing pieces of a comic book that shows the whole murder and cover-up, from start to finish, using pieces of evidence you uncovered, letting you see everything that used to be unclear. You then get to watch as the murderer gets punished in a creative and twisted way. See More

Top Con

Danganronpa 2's story isn't as compelling as Trigger Happy Havoc's

Even though Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair's story is quite entertaining and intriguing, it's not as interesting as the first game. Most of this has to do with how the setups in both games are similar: a group of outlandish students playing a killing game in order to escape, which means you have a general idea of what to expect this time around. Both stories are still solid in their own right, though. See More

Top Pro

Diverse cast of crazy but entertaining characters

There's a great variety of characters here, each with their own quirks and specialties. Every student is a prodigy, or an Ultimate something, such as the Ultimate Programmer, the Ultimate Yakuza, the Ultimate Fashionista, the Ultimate Swordswoman, the Ultimate Affluent Prodigy, and plenty more. And the so-called headmaster is a talking stuffed bear named Monokuma who delights in driving the students crazy enough to murder each other. You can get to know the students as your friends by hanging out with them on your free time and giving them gifts. A lot of them have over-the-top, outrageous personalities that make them fun to be around, and their banter during cutscenes can be pretty hilarious sometimes with the way they argue and snipe at each other. Their specialties tie into the murder mysteries in interesting ways as well, so it's worth it to keep track of what everyone's best at. See More

Top Con

Danganronpa 2 spoils the first game right from the start

Be careful if you decide to play this game before Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, the first installment. There are spoilers right off the bat, mostly involving certain characters from the first game. This technically is a standalone game since you don't need to know any information from Trigger Happy Havoc, but just in case you end up liking the series, it helps to start fresh from the first entry. See More

Top Pro

Stylish visuals

Right from the title screen, all the artful details in the game really pop out at you. The colorful UI, the style of text during class trials, and the quirky but interesting character designs are all unique and pleasing to the eye. The cast all have such different hair and eye colors, helping you tell everyone apart and remember who they are. Everything looks amazing and quite impressive. See More

Top Con

The class trials tend to hold your hand to help you solve the murders

During the trials, there's one specific character who tries to steer your thinking in the right direction. There are plot-related reasons for why it is always this character, but their efforts tend to undermine whatever thinking you arrive to on your own. What's worse, the investigation period before the trials doesn't allow you to draw any definite, evidence-based conclusions about who the culprit(s) is/are on your own. This means that you have to rely on this particular character to guide you to the right answer during the trial itself. See More

Top Pro

Catchy music with an experimental sound

The soundtrack is addictive to listen to and doesn't get old. It's a good mix of different sounds, like pop, rock, trip-hop, and electronica, put together to make songs that don't really sound like any single genre. Even though it doesn't sound all that familiar, the tracks somehow manage to fit every single situation quite well. You won't hear anything like it outside of this game series. See More

Top Con

Some of the characters' over-the-top personalities can get exhausting

While the cast of characters never seem to run out of energy, their non-stop bickering and strangeness can wear you down over the course of the game. Not everyone is a chatterbox, but the ones who are never seem to shut up, and can end up turning you off after a while. You may even find yourself feeling relieved once a particularly annoying character gets killed off. See More

Top Con

Relies too much on red herrings for entertainment

The murder mysteries start to fall apart once you realize that there's always some red herring used to create more drama. Looking through the clues on your own, you can usually come to your own conclusion about the culprit based on a hunch, but the other characters take every chance to sway your thinking in certain directions. In the beginning, this is okay, but it can grate on you as this technique pop up again and again. See More

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