2024's top visual novel games
As the distinction between various media becomes more hazy, several games totally conflate play and publishing. As many visual novel games as there Thoroughly establish yourself as a gamer and use text-heavy comments to enhance different game types. On the opposite end of the scale, there is just narrative telling that requires little to no player interaction.
Whatever your favorite kind of story-driven gaming, sessions with a lot of commentary work best when you can curl up on your couch or bed and dip in and out of your selected book. In other words, graphic novels were designed to be read on portable devices.
Our ranking of the top visual novel games is as follows:
Switch version of The House in Fata Morgana
Players are given extremely few interactive conversation options in The House in Fata Morgana, although these choices don't really affect the plot. Still, the game isn't that bad. Let's examine its mouthwatering package before we even discuss the delectable storyline. You may lose yourself in the fantastical world of the home with the hypnotically dreamy music, which is enjoyable to listen to again.
The artwork enhances the mystique by drawing influence from a very retro Persona style. It's the heartbreakingly lovely tale of a guy who wakes up in an abandoned home with no memory of his history, nor of any of the previous residents. You accompany our protagonist through four previous versions of the house's existence, where individuals are mangled, severed limb from limb, and punctured alive, in a sequence of horror stories. It leaves a subdued feeling of gloom and dread long after the movie ends.
VA-11 HALL-A - iOS and Nintendo Switch
Playing as Jill, you are immersed in a cyberpunk future where you work in a dive pub called VA-11 HALL-A. Follow the recipe book exactly as it says and mix the cocktails, or keep in mind which beverages are most popular with the guests at each stage of the evening. It doesn't really matter either way. Although you may find little snippets of more conversation, the words are king in this instance.
The jukebox is used to infuse music diegetically, with a playlist chosen at the beginning of each scene. The future atmosphere is further enhanced by the exquisitely detailed and color-restricted pixel graphics. The characters that Jill encounters in this book include a group of rad shibas, robot sex workers, and a live-streamer who is always on camera. It’s time to mix beverages and save lives, whether you personalize by earning tips to decorate your one-room flat or not.
Steins;Gate - Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android
A covert group storms the Future Gadgets Lab in an effort to steal the technology after adolescent mad scientist Okabe Rintaro unintentionally creates the first time travel gadget in history—a phone that can transmit brief messages to the past when connected to a microwave. Using flip phones to change reality, he must deal with the passing of either Makise Kurisu, his true love, or his childhood friend Mayuri. However, by carefully crafting a mobile message strategy, it could be possible to go to a distant timeline—the legendary Steins Gate—where both survive.
The story is given fresh life in the Nintendo Switch Elite edition, which combines the animation of this beloved visual novel with its video game equivalent. That being said, you ought to play any one that you want. Any reader should have this complex science-fiction story with endearing characters and winding time loops in their library.
The Nintendo Switch version of Doki Doki Literature Club Plus
Because Doki Doki Literature Club Plus subverts your assumptions, it would be unfair to the player and experience to even summarize the plot here. It covers more ground than your typical dating simulator, touching on issues like mental health and the value of made-up friendships. More so than the writing, how you interpret DDLC+ is a Kafkaesque mirror of your innermost thoughts.
The poetry that are a part of every chapter of the game are among its less well-known features. Every detail is well thought out. As you go along, each female shares with you her own poetic style, which is unexpectedly profound despite its obviousness. The story's meta aspects—which, given the phrase's dual meaning, wind up being a lot—provide the gameplay.
Nintendo Switch - Gnosia
Gnosia blends a dreamlike visual aesthetic, a psychedelic music, and gameplay that wouldn't be too far from Among Us if it had clever crew members and a narrative. It eases you in, offering additional duties little by bit as you figure out which crew members of the space station have been taken over by the homicidal Gnosia. You use RPG-style statistics in your morning conversations with the members to help you identify those who are lying more easily.
The cycle continues as new individuals take on the characteristics of Gnosia and learn to comprehend your diverse colleagues in their various positions. Once you have the information from Groundhog Day and your collected jigsaw pieces, fill out your logbook.
The Nintendo Switch title Spirit Hunter: Death Mark
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark delves deeply into Japanese mythology, whereas its follow-up, NG, takes a more modern approach. In each, you take on the role of a detective looking into a string of enigmas centered on a particular mythology, which has a terrifying ghoul at its center that you have to appease. Please be advised that each story's accompanying visual is quite unsettling.
Investigate the crime locations of these historical tragedies, look for hints there, and then make use of the knowledge when confronted with the ghosts at each location. Make wise decisions, or else you run the possibility of experiencing fear once again.
Nintendo Switch - AI: The Somnium Files
Murder mysteries and visual novels almost often go together like portable consoles and visual novels. One area in which AI: The Somnium Files excels is character development. Our protagonist understands when to doubt a suspect's testimony because to his mechanical false eye buddy. You direct the course of the inquiry, giving you the impression that your decisions count. You may also go back in time and see a circumstance from the viewpoint of someone else by using the timeline.
AI: The Somnium Files provides much more than just conversation options and branching routes; instead, you may enter the heads of the characters and make your own decisions by completing challenging puzzles. As you go, more parts of the puzzle start to fit into place.
Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android
DanganronpaThe Danganronpa series became a global sensation thanks to the anime, although the trend was started by the PlayStation Portable games. A perfect crime is the only way out of a school where fifteen kids are imprisoned. Murder your classmates, and most crucially, go free after a peer-led trial in which you get away with it. These teenagers are all the best in their fields, but the ones who remain with you and often outwit you are the personalities.
The trials of Ace Attorney seamlessly blend into a traditional murder mystery book. Dangonronpa is best at taking you by surprise. The secret elements in the games never cease to amaze and thrill, even if you play them in chronological order and think you understand every trick.
The Nintendo Switch version of Decadence is accessible. For iOS and Android, the standalone games Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair are accessible.
Final Cut of Disco Elysium for the Nintendo Switch
Disco Elysium is so insane it beyond description. It's a dice-rolling simulator, an RPG, a psychological investigation, and a cinematic noir thriller. But average is one thing it most definitely is not. Not even for a split second. You get to choose the characteristics of our unfortunate protagonist as the story meanders around Revachol's many corners.
Disco Elysium has a very rich voice catalogue, but it's much more than that. In addition to using charm, cunning, or raw force to get past obstacles, you may develop your character in a variety of ways. Your odds are determined by how often a die rotates. Dopamine rush from gambling.
Hades - Nintendo Switch 
Naturally, the main attraction of Hades is its fast-paced, roguelike combat, in which you repeatedly die while attempting to outwit your father and escape the underworld with a little assistance from your above-world kin. But when you provide nectar and then the ever-rich ambrosia, the tale gradually takes shape in front of you.The dialogue in Hades is where its real appeal lies. Engage in conversation with everyone from above and below. Gaining knowledge of mythology allows you to access unique attacks and items that will aid you in navigating the underworld's many levels. You perspire while reading the narrative since it is just as intricate and dense as the gameplay. See our Hades review for further insights into our opinions.
Dream Daddy: A Simulator of Dad Dating for the Switch and Mobile
Need I say more? This unique game lets you date a variety of attractive fathers. In case you want further information, the fundamental idea is as follows: you have to alter your look to correspond with your actual nature, choose a partner from seven options, and finish mini-games.You'll want to play the adorable little game again and again to see how it ends, since it depends on whatever parent you pick to play with.
Nintendo Switch – Arcade Spirits
In the romantic comedy Arcade Spirits, you may fully personalize a character by choosing their pronoun, haircut, skin tone, hair color, and eye color. From there, as your personality develops and you guard an arcade, you go out into the world in quest of friendship and love.Many accessibility features are also included in the game, such as self-voicing for screen reader users and redesigned user interfaces developed in collaboration with the visually impaired community.
Nintendo Switch
Digimon SurviveIn Digimon Survive, an extremely dark spin on the franchise, each character's fate is determined by the decisions they make. In addition to the visual novel aspects, you also have to train a group of formidable Digimon and engage in tactical battle. For further insights, see our Digimon Survive review.If you like playing the Digimon games series, we also hope to see a Digimon Go app in the future. If you're looking for even more digital monsters in your life, we suggest reading our Digimon World: Next Order review.
Nintendo Switch Coffee Talk
Make them comforting hot beverages, pay attention to their issues, and get to know each and every one of your customers. There is now one episode of Coffee Talk, and on April 20 there will be another. Make sure to read our thoughts on the game in our Coffee Talkpisode 2 preview.
Nintendo Switch - Rain Code - Master Detective Archives
Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, a game from the creators of Danganronpa, centers on an amnesiac detective-in-training who must work with Shinigami, the cute ghost who haunts him, to solve mysteries. For those who aren't quite convinced, we provide a Master Detective Archives: Rain Code review for your reading.View our Interview with Kazutaka Kodaka for further details on the game's sources of inspiration, Danganronpa easter eggs, and potential future Rain Code material.