Kinetic Novel - A Visual Novel with no choices, very rarely seen and usually quite short.īishoujoge / Bishoujo Game - Literally “Beautiful Girl Game”, an often male targeted genre focusing on interactions or the prominence of female characters and their interactions with a male protagonist. Less Common and more like a traditional novel.

Novel (NVL) Game - A Visual Novel where the text covers most, if not all of the screen, often with a transparent or semi-transparent overlay. There are some specialized terms you might hear in the discussion of Visual Novels, the terms below should give a solid introduction so that you can sound like you know what you're talking about, too!Īdventure (ADV) Game - A Visual Novel where the text box takes up a small part of the screen, and it looks a bit more like a traditional game. Why not take the plunge and find out what the hype is all about for yourself? By their digital nature, Visual Novels are a flexible medium that allow for degrees of gameplay and experiences and stories that you just can’t get in other mediums. Arguably the most famous Visual Novel in the west is Phoenix Wright: Ace Attourney, which brings constant critical and commercial success. While they might sound boring or offensive, you might have played one without even knowing it.

However, the kicker is that Visual Novels often allow the reader to make choices much like in classic “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, which can lead to the story branching off in any number of directions to one of many endings. Arguably far closer to real novels than interactive comic books, both by nature of design and length, with some titles like the famous Type Moon Visual Novel: 'Fate/Stay Night' clocking in at around 1,000,000 English words, or more than twice the length of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. A visual novel is a type of interactive fiction that originated in Japan, often characterized by “anime” art style and voice acting and often containing some degree of sexual content, especially in PC games.

Saya no uta visual novel novel database