The last couple of months have seen an absolute deluge of visual novels land on the PlayStation Vita. Perhaps because they are relatively inexpensive to localise, and that the only people still regularly playing the Vita are fans of Japanese games, we have seen a real surge of the genre…
Read MoreThe Fruit of Grisaia is an extraordinary work of art. There really is no other way to describe it; to refer to it as a “game” in the traditional sense seems somewhat disingenuous, as even by visual novel standards there’s not a whole lot of player agency here. And yet…
Read MoreThe importance of box art has been relegated in today’s digital marketplace, but the front cover of Code:Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ drips such ornate passion it could knock over a shelf of raunchy pseudo-romance covers. Without any hint as to what the heck the title means, the featured couple’s warm…
Read MoreYou, the heroine, are not having a good day. You’ve got work to go to, a relationship you just got into to deal with and on top of that, a little creature named Orion has accidentally made his way into your head and wiped all your memories. This is the…
Read MoreMuch like walking simulators do not appeal to everyone, visual novels have their detractors as well. That being said, do not let this title’s relatively low level of interaction deter you from experiencing what is one of the best narratives out there. I do not just mean in video games,…
Read MoreHatoful Boyfriend is a visual novel/ dating game where you play as a human girl who goes to a school for the gifted. Gifted birds. Literally. Your classmates are pigeons and doves, and your job is to say the right things so that your chosen birdie falls in love with…
Read MoreFor years now Steins;Gate has been renowned for being one of the finest visual novels ever produced. First released way back on the Xbox 360 in 2009, it has been ported to PC, PSP, iPad, Androd and, now, the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. There has even been an anime…
Read MoreHakuoki is one of the better visual novels out there. An otome game (as in a game that is targeted towards women, in which a female character needs to form a romantic bond with male characters), Hakuoki comes to us from Idea Factory, and has the distinction of being one…
Read MoreEarlier this week we reviewed TyranoBuilder, a great bit of software brought to us by Nyu Media that allows people to create their own visual novels. That being said, it is a reasonably limited piece of software in some areas at the moment, such as the lack of existing art…
Read MoreFor people who lack coding skills, or those who want to play around with making simple games before the move into real game development projects on Unity or Unreal, there have been simple drag-and-drop software packages like RPG Maker over the years that have allowed them to build their own games…
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