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What are the best visual novel games on PS Vita?

4

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Considered

8

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Recs.

Dec 12, 2020

Last
Updated

4 Games Considered

Best visual novel games on PS Vita	Price	Platforms	Genre
-- Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony	$59.99	Windows, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4	Adventure, Visual Novel
-- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable	$19.99	PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita	Role-Playing, Visual Novel, Dungeon Crawler, Simulation
-- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc	$19.99	PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, Mac	Horror, Visual Novel, Point-and-Click Adventure
-- Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair	$13.49	PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Windows	Horror, Visual Novel, Point-and-Click Adventure

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

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 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

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

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

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

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

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable

Top Pro

Well-written dark and mature story about finding hope in impossible situations

The story here deals with a lot of death, darkness, and suffering, but there's always a light at the end of the tunnel if you're willing to look for it. You start off as a regular high school student who transfers to a new school in the city, assigned to live in a dorm with a group of other students. There's a supernatural phenomenon that happens at midnight known as the Dark Hour where Shadows turn up on the streets and cause all kinds of trouble in the city. You and the group of students in the dorm are among the few who are lucid during the Dark Hour, so it's up to you to stop the Shadows every night at midnight and the full moon. Things can get quite dark with the way the plot explores human sin and how our own vices can corrupt us. Some of the symbolism of what the Shadows represent can be pretty grim. But the main protagonist always has his group of friends to fall back on -- a theme that shines through the hopelessness and despair without getting heavy-handed or cheesy. It's a full, well-written story from start to finish that stays with you for a long time. See More

Top Con

The main dungeon, Tartarus, is an insanely repetitive grind

Tartarus is an impossibly high tower that only shows up during the Dark Hour, filled with Shadows and strong bosses. Outside of story sequences during the full moon, Tartarus is the only place you get to go for dungeon crawling. The randomly-generated rooms mostly look the same from floor to floor, save for some color swaps after you beat a boss and unlock the next section of the tower. All you do is look for the next set of stairs up in between fighting against Shadows over and over and over again for the entire game. It's really, really repetitive, and unless you adore this kind of grinding, you will have to push yourself through this somehow to continue on with the story. See More

Specs

Genre:Role-Playing, Visual Novel, Dungeon Crawler, Simulation

Top Pro

You get to collect and control many types of demons and angels as your Personas to fight in battle

Your Personas are demons and angels that you summon to use their spells and special abilities in battle. Fusing different Personas together lets you create stronger ones with better abilities. You can switch your Personas in and out of battle as needed to exploit enemy weaknesses you come across. And there are hundreds of different types of demons and angels with their own fitting designs and relevant mythological lore, ranging from familiar names like Shiva, Lilith, Valkyrie, Phoenix, Raphael, and many many more. See More

Top Con

The combat is hard -- especially boss battles

Persona 3 is a challenging game with tough difficulty spikes during boss fights. Once you get a hang of the elemental weaknesses and earning extra turns, there's still the issue with bosses overwhelming you with tons of damage and/or boosted defenses. Grinding for levels is an option, but you want to always prioritize fusing better Personas with stronger and more useful abilities such as buffs and debuffs. As long as you do that, you should be fine. See More

Top Pro

Challenging yet rewarding turn-based combat

The battles in Persona 3 are tough, yet once you get the hang of the system, it's quite engaging. You fight with your Personas and your party members, who have their set Personas of their own, aiming to pinpoint your enemy's elemental weaknesses and exploit them. Once you find the weakness, you and your team are rewarded with an extra turn; if you keep landing the right attacks, then the game lets you chain a finite number of turns one after another. If you don't look up a guide, then finding weaknesses is a matter of trial and error. But this also applies to your enemies -- if they exploit your weaknesses, then they get extra turns instead. The bosses are pretty hard since they hit for a ton of damage, so you absolutely need to take advantage of gaining extra turns. And as you get farther along in the game, you get access to buffs to your party's attack, defense, evasion, and more, as well as debuffs to debilitate your foes. As you get better with the combat and earn some tough victories, the sense of satisfaction you get helps you to keep pushing forward. See More

Top Con

Persona 3 Portable is pared down compared to Persona 3 FES

While Persona 3 Portable does offer some nice bonuses and a change of pace with the female protagonist, there are also a number of drawbacks. The game plays more like a visual novel than anything, taking away your 3D space to explore environments. It doesn't come with The Answer, either, which is the expansion in Persona 3 FES that adds more battle content with a lengthy story. This is still a good choice for those looking to play Persona 3, but if you want the full experience, you should pick up the FES version as well. See More

Top Pro

Building friendships with characters through Social Links gives you an edge in battle

There are all sorts of characters to get to know and befriend through the Social Link system. You can make friends with your classmates, your party members, and a few other characters in the community of the city you live in. Spending time with them gives you a contained, and often touching story where you get to know them more and help them solve a personal struggle. After reaching the end of their Social Link, you're able to fuse special and powerful Personas that can help you tackle some of the game's hardest challenges. It's a neat system that gives you a gameplay incentive for building relationships. See More

Top Con

Long stretches of in-game days with no story progression

For a large chunk of the story, you're stuck waiting until the next full moon. This is when the most powerful Shadows show up in the form of a boss fight, letting you progress the story. But there are times when you have absolutely no other cutscenes during an entire moon cycle. Your party members just tell you to wait and hang in there until the next segment. All you can do is go to school or the mall or maybe hang out with any available Social Links, and it feels pretty monotonous when you're stuck waiting like this. See More

Top Pro

Persona 3 Portable has a few bonuses, like playing as a female main character

The most notable addition in this version is getting to choose the female protagonist or the regular Persona 3 male protagonist. There's also a big plus in getting to control all of your party members during battle, a key mechanic that the original Persona 3 sorely lacks. Playing as the FeMC, as she's known in the Persona community, opens up Social Links for all of your party members. This is great since you could only have Social Links with your female party members as the male protagonist, and you were limited to romances with them instead of platonic friendships. Some of FeMC's Social Links are much better than the male protagonist's options, making them worth checking out. See More

Top Pro

Cool and modern sense of style with the visuals and soundtrack

Everything in Persona 3 is stylistically on-point. The recurring cool blue or warm pink in the eye-catching menus and UI, text boxes, and even the protagonist's features gives the game a distinct aesthetic. The character designs are also really cool, with slender forms and a modern yet laid-back sense of fashion. And the trip-hop/hip-hop soundtrack blends classical, rock, pop, and synthwave sounds together in such a unique way that no other game really comes close to. Despite all the different ideas, it all comes together as a cool and cohesive look. See More

Top Pro

Memorable final boss that fits the game thematically

Without spoiling anything, Persona 3's last boss is one to remember. It's a grueling fight with an incredible accompanying music track. The challenge surrounding the boss fits right with the theme's of tackling impossible situations when all hope seems lost. It's a standout fight among JRPGs, period. See More

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Top Pro

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

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc has 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

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

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Genre:Horror, Visual Novel, Point-and-Click 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

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 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 Fashionista, the Ultimate Clairvoyant, 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

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

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

Not for players who want more involved gameplay

Since this is a visual novel, 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, this might not be the game for you. 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

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair

Top Pro

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

Danganronpa 2 has a wacky but intriguing setup: stranding a dozen or so students in an island 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

Story isn't as compelling as the first Danganronpa, Trigger Happy Havoc

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

Specs

Genre:Horror, Visual Novel, Point-and-Click 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. Once you figure out the correct culprit, you then get to watch as the murderer gets punished in a creative and twisted way. But if you get it wrong, it's game over for you. 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 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 Team Manager, the Ultimate Yakuza, the Ultimate Chef, the Ultimate Swordswoman, the Ultimate Gamer, and plenty more. 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

Spoils the first Danganronpa game right at 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

Not for players who want more involved gameplay

Since this is a visual novel, 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, this might not be the game for you. 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

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