this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025
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A long looong time ago, my gf found one called Saya no Uta. It has H-Scenes (only a few I think), but its pretty well written. I wasn't as big on it as she was, but that started my adventure down dark mystery/psychological horror VN. To this day its her favorite, though.
I can't remember everything I played and enjoyed (I wish I could but its so long ago now). I actually had to search for my favorite one because I constantly forget it. Its more dark mystery psychological with only a small amount of horror scenes, but its called DIVI-DEAD.
Again, it has H-Scenes, but thats not the sole premise. There are so many clues and endings. It has a college campus map, so being in certain places at certain times changes everything. I believe you get a time limit of like... 1 in game week to get the best ending? It goes off the rails a bit here and there, but I have fond, albeit blurry memories of it. It feels so dim and unsettling for such an old game. So good.
I've also seen that CHAOS;HEAD has good reviews, but I don't know much about it- only that I've seen the name before and I think it got an anime a long time ago. I'll keep looking and trying to remember more.
Actually just remembered one. Its called Another. It had a fairly popular anime release, but if you haven't seen it I recommend that one as well. And, of course, there's the well known Doki-Doki Literature Club.
I did some hoping, and some seriously long looks at the list. Thank you for these! I was gunna toss you some back if you don't mind. I realized none of them are JP, but they are all vis-novels.
Mediterranea Inferno Giallo, Homo, Death Game Pumpkin Eater Kinetic, Vomit Fest, Trauma Grotesque Beauty Ito, Dream Realm, Monster We Know the Devil Counter-Culture, Queer, Great OST
Idk if you would like any of these, but they've all been nice games to "play." Some are less interactive than others.
Got these written down in my Obsidian vault (alongside DIVI-DEAD, because I'll be damned if I forget that one again). Interaction is minor. I don't really play VN to interact with anything, but its cool if there's some sort of mechanic.
For example, Kamidori Alchemy Meister actually has fairly compelling adventure, party building, monster catching, shop building, crafting, and shop sales mechanics (much like Moonlighter shop and sales mechanic). Its a huge game with a ton of characters, but still advertises as a VN.
For me, I don't need all that as long as there's a compelling story. I know some VN out there literally don't have choices and just play as... well, as visual novels, lol. Thank you for the list. Pumpkin Eater actually stands out the most to me. It seems reminiscent of analog horror done in a VN watercolor. I like the aesthetic and it already feels unsettling.
If you want some non-VN psychological horrors, my top two are Fran Bow and Sally Face. Sally Face is incredibly good, but Fran Bow is a very VERY close second. They're more point and click puzzlers, but that's another favorite genre of mine.
The funniest part is DIVI-DEAD was the one that was calling to me the most. Probably because the way you praised it. I figured I would give it a watch to see what's going on with it, and go from there (gotta track these guys down you know?) I think vis-novels are probably the easier of the bunch to get going. Holy jam, Kamidori is set @119 hour playtime? Jesus Christ, that's not a VN, that's War & Peace.
Pumpkin Eater I played once, and have thought of as the grossest VisNovel I have ever read. It's kind of like sad family splatter-punk. It is kinetic however, it's kind of like paying for a show or something. Doesn't bug me, but I do know people are like "Where's the game!?" Speaking of good games (I see you there!) I love those two very much! They capture the frantic joy of flash games to me. Which I think Jars does as well, as long as you're not against grinding in a puzzle game. It's just so cute, a little "spoopy" and has such a fun OST. Right now, I am currently playing Look Outside, which is a RPG Maker game with a lot of love put into it. My most recent play however was Sanitarium which champed it's way through the whole thing on my laptop. I played it with headphones and heard stuff I had never heard before. Was a great game, is a great game. It's Adventure based however, in fact none of these are VisNovs, just spoopy games. They're what's been on my radar as of late.