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What are the best Visual Novel games on Steam?

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Considered

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Jul 9, 2022

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14 Games Considered

Best Visual Novel games on Steam	Price	Steam Rating	Genre
-- Doki Doki Literature Club!	FREE	Very Positive	Psychological Horror
-- Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony	$59.99	Mostly Positive	Adventure, Visual Novel
-- Everlasting Summer	Free	Very Positive	-
-- Steins;Gate	$31.99	Overwhelmingly Positive	-
-- Steins;Gate 0	$34.99	Very Positive	Visual Novel

Doki Doki Literature Club!

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Top Pro

Completely original and innovative ideas

Original ideas for a horror game. This even extends to the actual game files it runs on, which the player also has to keep a track of. See More

Top Con

Overwhemingly has a mental impact on the player

If you are disturbed easily, DO NOT play this game. Heed the game warnings. See More

Capuccino 's Experience

Winner of the People's Choice Award PC Category at IGN and Nominated for "Defies Description Category" in the Steam Awards, This Visual Novel is a breath of fresh air from most Visual Novels in the market. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Psychological Horror

Top Pro

Uniquely delivers the horror elements

Unlike your regular psychological horror game, Doki Doki Literature Club doesn't show it head first to you. It delivers it as a form of glitches, or even disturbing imagery which captures the players' off-guard. See More

Top Con

Spoiler sensitive

Even though it has a great story, it is prone to spoilers too which is very hard to avoid. See More

SociablePtah's Experience

This game is amazing. The beautiful art, the original concept, the awesome jumpscares, all of it is just bizarre. I can not recommend this game enough. See More

Top Pro

Nails Horror

If you think this is some happy, go-lucky dating game, well... you'll be surprised what hides. It nails horror and the feeling of helplessness, since in a dating simulator you don't have power. The game keeps you on your toes once you're past act one, and it's generally scary what happens. See More

Top Con

Low replay value

The game is linear, it doesn't allow you much choice and has a single ending. See More

PracticalKyrbas's Experience

JUST MONIKA See More

Top Pro

Can be used as animated wallpaper

Top Con

Boring

Nothing interesting is happening here. Spelling is dry, has a lack of words. See More

Top Pro

Amazing scares

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

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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 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

CuriousBaalHammon's Experience

my experience was great and sad See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Genre:Adventure, Visual Novel

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

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 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

Steins;Gate 0

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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

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

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Visual Novel

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 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

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

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

Katawa Shoujo

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Top Pro

Well narrated hooking story

The pacing of Katawa Shoujo's narrative is quite great, like a good book. You won't be jumping from one exciting event to another, but this realism in pacing is what makes it so good. Every non-important scene helps building up the atmosphere of the story by mixing trivial and important bits of information, and adds to the feeling of being a regular student in the school. Being a normal boy with no extremely special traits is an interesting, uncommon approach to the main character of a visual novel, and keeps the story stimulating. When talking to any of the five main girls, you will slowly get to know them and their feelings and thoughts. Just like in real life, you can't rush this process. Digging depper into each girl background and mind takes time, but their stories are quite interesting so they will keep you hooked. In addition to that, the girls will trust you more as you progress through their arc, and so the conversations will become deeper, more meaningful and more interesting. If you enjoy reading books (you definitely should!), chances are you will enjoy reading through the story of Katawa Shoujo. You will be eager to know what happens next in the game, but also take some time to appreciate how well-written this game is. It really does a great job describing thoughts in a clear but beautiful manner. Characters' expressions and pauses are realistic too, giving them a good human-like feeling. See More

Top Con

May be a little too dense

Although the writing is great and you can usually read through the story like a breeze, the style can get a little bit dense for some people, specially if you play the game for long hours. Some conversations and interactions are long (even non-important ones) and tedious to follow. Others are filled with deep psychological and philosophical reflections that may be hard to follow, although usually easy to understand. This shouldn't be a problem if you slowly enjoy the story and narration, taking your time to do pauses and reflect on what you have played so far. But if you like rushing games and finishing them quickly, you might not enjoy the full experience of Katawa Shoujo's story. See More

Specs

Genre:Adventure

Top Pro

Deep, yet subtle, psychological foundation

The game takes place in a school for disabled children. Being a child with a disability is not easy, neither physically or psychologically, so everyone in the school has a traumatic background one way or another, and that reflects on their personality and how they interact with you. All five main girls have their disabilities too: Emi has no legs, Hanako got disfigured for life by fire, Lilly is blind, Rin has no arms, and Shizune is deaf and mute. The writers did a great job making each character unique in the psychological aspect, and therefore adding depth to the game's story while still being subtle. The main girls themselves are a subtle lesson to overcoming handicaps: Emi, the girl that has no legs, loves running, and Rin, the girl with no arms, is an amazing painter. While we progress through the story and learn more about each girl, we will dig deeper into their feelings and how their minds work, discovering the strong psychological foundation of the game. See More

Top Con

Replaying it may be boring at the first stages of the game

The first parts of the story are always the same, since you haven't taken any decision yet. This part can be a little bit boring until you get to take some real decisions and your story starts changing from your last playthrough. See More

Top Pro

High replayability: decisions matter!

You are presented with different choices while playing through the story. Some of your decisions are important, some don't, but you won't know which of them matter. Choosing to go to the backyard instead of to your room might be a trivial decision, or might change the entire storyline, because you were (or weren't) at the right place at the right moment. The final outcome of the game will be based on the important decisions you take during your story. There are good endings, bad endings, and somewhat neutral endings, but playing through all of them and ejoying each story arc is definitely a satisfying and entertaining experience. Beware! If you want to fully experience the game, you will find yourself spending long hours replaying it again and again, as there are 13 different endings. See More

Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma

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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

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

Specs

Steam Rating:Mixed

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

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

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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

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

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

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

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

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

Little Busters!

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Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Hatoful Boyfriend

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

AI: The Somnium Files

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Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Dies Irae ~Amantes amantes~

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Top Pro

Fantastic villain cast

While the hero cast can be somewhat underwhelming, the various villain characters are fantastic, with lots of personality to spare. See More

Top Con

Slow start

The novel is very much a slow burner at the start, especially if one follows the recommended route order it can take a while before stuff really starts to hit the fan. See More

PoliteAtlas's Experience

A battle royale with a rather captivating and distinct over the top writing-style. While the core story is somewhat cliched, the cast provides plenty of engagement with the main villains completely stealing the show during the novels four routes. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Great music

A powerful soundtrack to really help fuel the grandeur of the goings-on. See More

Top Con

Very long

This may be a pro or con depending on taste. But the novel can require a bit of patience to read all the way to the end. If the side-stories are included, one is looking at close to 75 hours of reading. See More

Top Pro

First six chapters are free

If you feel uncertain there is nothing lost on trying the first few chapters for free and then buying the remainder at a later date. See More

Syberia

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