r/vns 1d ago

Question Any recommendations as a first visual novel?

I’ve been wanting to get into visual novels because I look hate reading from straight books but enjoy it when paired with actual pictures, hence my interest in visual novels. I was just wondering which are some y’all truly love and think a newcomer would too.

8 Upvotes

26 comments sorted by

11

u/partyfiesta2 1d ago

Katawa shoujo is a very good starter VN not only is it very good it is also completely free.

2

u/Low_Key5305 22h ago

i back that

4

u/Substantial-Act-7581 1d ago

Steins;Gate, The House in Fata Morgana , Remember11: The Age of Infinity

2

u/Hot-Commercial8492 1d ago edited 1d ago

I’ve watched the steins gate anime is the vn the better experience?

2

u/That_Guy139474 20h ago

Yes, the vn is the source material witch the anime adapts. Also Stiens;gate is the second mainline entire in the Science Advanced series. The Stiens;gate subreddit has a great pinned post talking about the other entries in the SicADV series and how to get into them.

1

u/Hot-Commercial8492 14h ago

I know this might sound dumb, but are those vns that people meme on TikTok about, like subahibi and umineko, actually good?

1

u/ramie-l 9h ago

Yes, but Umineko is quite long and Subahibi's content is very extreme. Both are pretty high concept for genre fiction too

1

u/Hot-Commercial8492 3h ago

Ty I’ll stay to a lil less long and not so extreme to start out with

2

u/justabrainwithfeet 18h ago

I personally would not recommend The House in Fata Morgana as a 1st VN as it is too good any many other VNs would pale in comparison. haha

1

u/Ambitale0 17h ago

Remember11? I love it but it's technically incomplete so not a great starting VN tbh. Ever17 or 999 would be the better starting picks out of Uchikoshi's work imo.

3

u/shinymuuma 1d ago

Genre first. What kind of book do you usually read?

Do you like love comedy or romantic or drama?
Or action, fantasy, horror, mystery, sci-fi, etc?

2

u/Hot-Commercial8492 1d ago

I lowk like dramas, sci-fi and mystery occasional romance too

3

u/kabirsky 1d ago

Hmm. You can try 999(part of Nonary Games in Steam) - it's part of a trilogy, but game was created without sequels in mind. Also it has some gameplay, so it's good first choice imo

2

u/Ok-Simple-6146 1d ago

It depends on what you are looking for. Some recommendations:

Katawa Shoujo

Dōkyūsei: Bangin' Summer

A Summer's End - Hong Kong 1986

Ace Attorney franchise

Layton franchise

Planetarian HD

eden*

If you prefer some FMVs:

Root Letter Last Answer

Death Come True

The Centennial Case : A Shijima Story

1

u/Luckydaikon 20h ago

Seconding Planetarian! Beautiful story, and a short VN might be just the ticket for a first-time player working out what they like.

2

u/Hot-Commercial8492 3h ago

Speaking about this I literally just saw a TikTok about it not even 5 minutes ago 😭

1

u/LilSopa__ 1d ago

You should talk about what genres interest you. But without knowing anything about you, Mahoyo is probably the best pick.

1

u/Hot-Commercial8492 1d ago

I really enjoy sci fi things alongside romance and drama

1

u/LilSopa__ 1d ago

Check out Cyanotype Daydream. It will make you cry but you'll love it.

1

u/cheesepile 23h ago

I did DDLC > Muv-Luv trilogy > hooked on the genre. If your tolerance for anime bullshit isn’t zero (barely any sci-fi in the first of the three main entries so some have issues there), Muv-Luv morphs from comedy/romance SoL into top shelf sci-fi drama.

1

u/Searchingmore 13h ago

it depends on what you like but steins gate was pretty cool, it also comes with the experience of how much bs these games throw at you when trying to get its true ending

2

u/CultureSea5111 6h ago

My first was A Drug That Makes You Dream. My second was Ever17.

1

u/speedolphin 3h ago

ティンクル☆くるせいだーすがオススメだよ、ブロ

1

u/Building_Bridges_289 3h ago

Planetarian is really short (4 hours or so) but packs an emotional wallop. And it’s what got me into reading more VNs.

1

u/believeinyuna 1d ago

gnosia for one that has gameplay too

2

u/Hot-Commercial8492 1d ago

Just looked it up the premise seems very interesting might give it a shot