Visual novels and why they made me fall back in love with reading

Look I know its easy to dismiss the visual novel genre and say its just a glorified reading simulator but honestly what’s even so wrong with that? They have easily given me some of the most memorable moments in gaming memory. To spoil would be unfair but I think its safe to say for people that have played these games all I need to mention is THAT first twist from Doki Doki Literature club or another example is the subversion of expectation in the first case trial in Danganronpa V3. These kind of moments that could never be replicated in conventional video game storytelling because of the agency that is taken away from the player.

I think it goes back to my childhood, adult me wouldn’t believe it now but I had such a vivid imagination and I loved to read. Allowing myself to tackle a story at my own pace, letting my mind wander in between pages thinking about what would happen next, I was captive to the paper. But among all of those books I loved to read were the choose your own adventure books. Being able to make decisions, flicking rapidly to a page further on to see the results of my actions. That level of interactivity just felt so much more interesting to me than a front to back story because it felt like my story, I felt like I was in control and I was so much more invested because of it. That feeling all those years ago is exactly the same feeling that I get now from playing visual novels. It stems from that extra level of interactivity, the feeling of immersion. That’s what I think sets it apart from your bog standard book and why I’ll always seek out new experiences in this genre before you’ll find me down a local bookstore. I’m not knocking it if that’s your prerogative but my mind has already been made up.

It all started a few years ago when a little game called Virtues last reward came to PlayStation Plus, it piqued my interest. A chose your own adventure style visual novel combined with escape room style puzzles, I couldn’t help but give it a try. I was hooked from the very start. Okay so the visuals were janky as hell and the writing can be downright laughable at times but it had so much atmosphere and intrigue that I found all those things easy to overlook. So the story starts from you awaking from what appears to be some kind of kidnapping. You find yourself trapped within a cold, brutalist environment. Surrounding you are 8 strangers all looking for the same set of answers, a TV flickers on and before you know it you are forced to play a game of life and death by an AI rabbit called zero3 (I don’t know what the thing is with a cartoon animal villain but we will get back to that). I loved every minute of this absolutely bonkers story with every wrong turn and dead ending leading me to the true conclusion and the answers I had been searching for. Unlike reading a book for example I didn’t feel like a bystander, I felt like I was part of the story, like I had autonomy. I was deducing puzzles, piecing together information from multiple timelines of the stories and using them to progress, it felt so much more rewarding to me. After finishing this game I knew I had found a new genre for me and I was out eager and looking for similar games. Little did I know there was a game due out soon after that would change everything for me

Its safe to say that Danganronpa is one of the best games I’ve ever played, one of the wildest stories I’ve ever experienced in any medium and quite frankly a whole personality trait at this point (Its the inspiration for my name and logo for crying out loud). Picking this game up at launch I was sold instantly on the premise of battle royale meet ace attorney but to just limit it to that would be such a disservice. The game starts similarly to Virtues last reward, awaking to an unfamiliar environment with a group of strangers you are again temped to kill by our favourite mono miscreant, Monokuma, a sentient robot bear who gets off on equal parts violence and bear related puns. He proposes to our super talented students that whoever can kill one another and not be caught in a class trial will be set free leaving the rest to be trapped for eternity. What starts off as this simple and horrifying premise unravels into something even more dark and twisted in ways that I could never have predicted. By the time the credits I was left with my jaw on the floor, it was absolutely genius in the way it subverted my expectations. Sometimes I think back on media that I could forget about experiencing and go back in fresh to relive it all over again, this game is right up there at the top of my list.

Of course all of these games needed the right device to experience them on, this is where the PS Vita steps in. The most underrated console ever released in my opinion. This is where I fell in love with visual novels and have played nearly all of my favourite games from the genre on. Say you treat a good visual novel like a good book then the same rules should apply, shouldn’t they? Would you read a book on a big TV? Absolutely not you would read it curled up in bed, in a coffee shop or on the train. This is where the beauty of a handheld allows me to enjoy all these experiences with me wherever I am. In fact all these years later it is still my preferred system to play all of these old games. Don’t get me wrong, both the switch and steam deck both do adequate jobs but nothing beats the sheer portability of the vita. Having a spare 5 mins to play here and there to advance the story feels tailor made for the console

Before I summarise I just need to give a shoutout to a few extra visual novels I’ve played over the years. Like I mentioned in the intro definitely check out Doki Doki Literature club, although don’t be fooled by its cutesy aesthetics its not for the faint hearted. Then there’s also the rest of the Danganronpa trilogy which is packed full of even more memorable twists and crazy class trials. Other highlights include VA-11Hall-A the cyberpunk bartending game (Which is every part as unique and wild as it sounds), Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk, Steins Gate, Paranormasight and Slay the princess which you can find a review for on this very site. All are great in their own way and provide their own unique twist on the formulae, be that making cocktails, traveling through time or just organising your room to help reduce anxiety. There really is a story for everyone

So just like a good book, I think its easy to dismiss and hard to explain just how incredible a good visual novel can be. But if you give it some patience and allow yourself to get engrossed in the narrative and characters I ensure that it’ll pay you back ten fold. Also if you’ve gotten this far and you’re thinking this is all well and good but you like your games to have a little thing called gameplay then that’s absolutely fine, I understand its a niche appeal but I urge you, if you just like the concept of even one of these games then at least just give it a try. Worst case scenario you’ve wasted an hour of your life and you bounce off it but who knows, you might just be looking at your new favourite game