Figured I would try and start a little something to spicen up this subbie.....one of my favorite gaming genres are visual novels. What is a visual novel might you ask? Well as the name portrays, it's a book.....only told by images and subtitles in the form of a video game. It's less about action and consistently needing to have the controller in your hand, and more so narrative driven with gaming often taking a backseat. 

It's a genre that while I dig, I admittedly need to dive more into. Here are some games I have played of this genre:

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
Danganronpa V3
Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls
Steins;Gate
Paradise Killer
A.I.: The Somnium Files
Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright
Ace Attorney: Justice for All
Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations 
Doki Doki Literature Club
Corpse Party

Games that I own but have yet to play:

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Signal
Zero Time Dilenma
The House of Fata Morgana
Raging Loop
Death Mark
Steins;Gate Zero
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies
Phoenix Wright: Spirit Of Justice
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
The 25th Ward: Silver Case
428: Shibuya Scramble
Psycho Pass: Mandatory Happiness

(Probably more that I should update on if I wasn't so lazy)


For sure A.I.: The Somnium Files nirVana which comes out in late June, is Day 1 for me as I platinumed the original last July but I might find time to squeeze one of these games listed above. 

Have any of you guys played any visual novels? Overall thoughts on the genre as a whole? Any favorites as far as games or characters go? 

Travis Strikes Back had a visual novel part in it that seemingly went on for 30 mins. It made me want to commit unspeakable atrocities against the human race.

I loved story based games growing up, idk what happened :lol:

Doki Doki Literature Club is pure fucking genius. One of the greatest horror games ever made.

What I seen of PSYCHO-PASS: Mandatory Happiness was very good.

Two great visual novels if you are into vampires are:

Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York
Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York

I never played it but Vampire: The Masquerade — Night Road also got good reviews.   Just avoid Sins of the Sires, it is utter trash.


I am digging the interactive stories style of visual novels.  Did not think I would get into stuff like Coteries of New York but the story of the characters really hooked me.

The original Phoenix Wright was so surprisingly good. I didn't think I'd enjoy the genre but the story was so well presented and had so many fun twists and turns I was hooked. I can barely remember 2 and despite owning it I haven't gotten around to 3.

Aside from that the only other VN type game I've played was DBZ: Gokuden 1 on SNES. It re-tells the entire Dragon Ball story up to the Lord Piccolo saga and it's basically more like a trivia game. You proceed by picking the right answers although sometimes it will just skip story beats if you pick the wrong answer. It also has RPG like elements where you participate in battles, but once you know what to do it's pretty mindless. They released a Gokuden 2 which goes from the 23rd World Tournament to the Frieza saga but I've yet to play it.

The only other game I'm familiar with is Hatoful Boyfriend from it's Something Awful thread. Probably one of the biggest hard lefts of any video game I've seen.

Hatoful Boyfriend def is something else...

I've seen Hatoful Boyfriend for a little before, think it might still be on XBOX Game Pass. Very weird stuff LOL. Same with VAL-HALLA, which is a cyberpunk bartending game that got a lot of rave reviews.

Think I will start on the Spirit Detective series, there's two games available, I have Death Mark which is the 1st one(Got a really good deal on the limited edition). Supposedly linear enough and not too long.

Two and a half chapters into Spirit Hunter: Death Mark, think of this game(or series) as the equivalent to a TV-MA X-Files, only with Japanese spiritualism. It's a very digestible game for the most part, it's very straight to the point in it's plot and very rarely does it get too wacky with the humor stuff, which a lot of visual novels from Japan end up falling into. It's horror inspired as you are dealing with the paranormal hence why I think it's the X-Files(Without the alien stuff) but maybe more graphic with the content inside. Very limited voice acting or cutscenes, all in Japanese the soundbites that are in this game. The game has a game log so if you miss something, you can go back and see what the dialogue was all about which is a staple for any visual novel IMO.

Plot thus far is that your main character who is some sort of detective ends up getting a dog bite like mark on his wrist randomly and then ends up in a mansion after hearing rumors or reports of what this mark represents. You end up meeting a doll(Yes it's pretty far out shit) who indicates to you that you have ___ days to live due to this mark and you must defeat the spirit/presence that gave you this mark. Along the way, you meet up with other people who have the same mark and are in turn helping them conquer these spirits that are based off Japanese lore. 

Again I am just 2 chapters in out of 6 but I am following a spoiler-free guide in the sole purpose of getting the full platinum trophy(Playing on PS4). It's a pretty good visual novel for the most part, my lone two criticisms would be

A) No labeling of which character is saying what, it gets a bit confusing trying to figure out who is saying what. This works with 2 people and the game does try and match character on screen with the dialogue below but not always. I don't think it's asking a ton to get "Name: _______________________________" to know who is saying what. Especially when there have been almost 10 different characters mentioned thus far in the game altogether(Even though I haven't run into a scenario where you have more than 4 characters at a time). The game tries to portray MALE or FEMALE by different color of text(Orange for male, blue for female) but it isn't enough when there are multiple guys and the character model isn't being shown, even though in the context of a character's traits, you can sort of guess who it is. It's nitpicky admittedly but I am not sure why that wasn't an option given? 

B) Lost about 15 minutes due to the saving system, it isn't autosaved which isn't a problem but what is........is knowing how to save. You need to manually save on the upper right hand side whenever your at the main hub which is a mansion and not do a system save. It sounds confusing at first but it becomes rather simplistic once you do, not sure why the system save below in the tabs is even there as an option.

That's about it for criticisms. 

There is minor gameplay in the form of a dungeon crawler with the navigating which is often in a maze/labyrinth esque format which I can admit can be confusing without a guide but it's text heavy as the way it should be. You care enough about the characters and the different spirits are pretty crazy, tons of lore and buildup behind them and some of the scenes shown can be gruesome(Nothing over the top gorey though). The trophies basically have two different scenarios on how to end a chapter, either KILLING the spirit or SAVING the spirit so thankfully the saves you can do right before decision time are big time as far as trying to fully complete each chapter. There's very little combat which is turn based which is basically you and your chosen partner/ally picking an item and combining it to defeat or defend yourself from the spirit, no quick time event or anything that makes you have to be quick with your responses. The only thing that makes you pick an answer is LIFE or DEATH which is a scenario that happens a few times each chapter where you guess right and you survive/progress the story or if you guess wrong, you die/have to start over. Having a guide sort of defeats the thrill of this but it's there for you to make choices based off information that is told to you throughout the chapter. It's a straightforward visual novel outside of the two different paths which is both good and bad depending on what your looking for. Choices only mean something as I mentioned if you decide to kill or save the spirit/foe of each chapter. 

Really good visual novel thus far, the pacing is pretty good. I got the sequel(Spirit Hunter NG) on a heavy discount on Steam so maybe that will be something to jump into for the future. 

May 16, 2022 18:10:41 GMT Blindy said:

Two and a half chapters into Spirit Hunter: Death Mark, think of this game(or series) as the equivalent to a TV-MA X-Files, only with Japanese spiritualism. It's a very digestible game for the most part, it's very straight to the point in it's plot and very rarely does it get too wacky with the humor stuff, which a lot of visual novels from Japan end up falling into. It's horror inspired as you are dealing with the paranormal hence why I think it's the X-Files(Without the alien stuff) but maybe more graphic with the content inside. Very limited voice acting or cutscenes, all in Japanese the soundbites that are in this game. The game has a game log so if you miss something, you can go back and see what the dialogue was all about which is a staple for any visual novel IMO.

Plot thus far is that your main character who is some sort of detective ends up getting a dog bite like mark on his wrist randomly and then ends up in a mansion after hearing rumors or reports of what this mark represents. You end up meeting a doll(Yes it's pretty far out shit) who indicates to you that you have ___ days to live due to this mark and you must defeat the spirit/presence that gave you this mark. Along the way, you meet up with other people who have the same mark and are in turn helping them conquer these spirits that are based off Japanese lore. 

Again I am just 2 chapters in out of 6 but I am following a spoiler-free guide in the sole purpose of getting the full platinum trophy(Playing on PS4). It's a pretty good visual novel for the most part, my lone two criticisms would be

A) No labeling of which character is saying what, it gets a bit confusing trying to figure out who is saying what. This works with 2 people and the game does try and match character on screen with the dialogue below but not always. I don't think it's asking a ton to get "Name: _______________________________" to know who is saying what. Especially when there have been almost 10 different characters mentioned thus far in the game altogether(Even though I haven't run into a scenario where you have more than 4 characters at a time). The game tries to portray MALE or FEMALE by different color of text(Orange for male, blue for female) but it isn't enough when there are multiple guys and the character model isn't being shown, even though in the context of a character's traits, you can sort of guess who it is. It's nitpicky admittedly but I am not sure why that wasn't an option given? 

B) Lost about 15 minutes due to the saving system, it isn't autosaved which isn't a problem but what is........is knowing how to save. You need to manually save on the upper right hand side whenever your at the main hub which is a mansion and not do a system save. It sounds confusing at first but it becomes rather simplistic once you do, not sure why the system save below in the tabs is even there as an option.

That's about it for criticisms. 

There is minor gameplay in the form of a dungeon crawler with the navigating which is often in a maze/labyrinth esque format which I can admit can be confusing without a guide but it's text heavy as the way it should be. You care enough about the characters and the different spirits are pretty crazy, tons of lore and buildup behind them and some of the scenes shown can be gruesome(Nothing over the top gorey though). The trophies basically have two different scenarios on how to end a chapter, either KILLING the spirit or SAVING the spirit so thankfully the saves you can do right before decision time are big time as far as trying to fully complete each chapter. There's very little combat which is turn based which is basically you and your chosen partner/ally picking an item and combining it to defeat or defend yourself from the spirit, no quick time event or anything that makes you have to be quick with your responses. The only thing that makes you pick an answer is LIFE or DEATH which is a scenario that happens a few times each chapter where you guess right and you survive/progress the story or if you guess wrong, you die/have to start over. Having a guide sort of defeats the thrill of this but it's there for you to make choices based off information that is told to you throughout the chapter. It's a straightforward visual novel outside of the two different paths which is both good and bad depending on what your looking for. Choices only mean something as I mentioned if you decide to kill or save the spirit/foe of each chapter. 

Really good visual novel thus far, the pacing is pretty good. I got the sequel(Spirit Hunter NG) on a heavy discount on Steam so maybe that will be something to jump into for the future. 

I ended up finishing the main story of this game yesterday, have just the free DLC that was added onto the PS4 version of the game left. 3 trophies away from the platinum. Thoughts stay the same, just a very good visual novel with little to no real filler. No part of the game did I truly feel overstay it's welcome or feel that was unnecessarily needed. I will say the game got a bit gorey later on, again nothing truly bad but still it's what you'd expect from a Japanese horror visual novel. There were quite a few jumpscares in this game that I forgot to mention, bunch of audios playing in the background, a couple second face pop-in of a demon or evil spirit. 

Another knock on the game is this wasn't a perfect English translation as far as the dialogue goes. Couple of misspellings and grammar related errors but this didn't really bother me as I am not much of a snob when it it comes to that(As you can tell if you read my writeups!). Admittedly, these weren't really noticeable in the early portion of the game but it did rear it's ugly head in Spirit Hunter: Death Mark's endgame portion. Curious if the DLC has this or not.

Gunning to finish the DLC in the next 2 days in all likelihood, seems like a decent length for the game. Enjoyed my time with the game. 

EDIT: and done, I really liked how the final chapter had every non-playable character in some fashion come and end up helping you out in this case. Some had more important roles than others but still pretty cool nevertheless. Just great pacing altogether with this game. Very good visual novel. 

World End Syndrome is one of my favs. It usually takes me a while to get through VNs, but I couldn't put that one down.

Root Letter has a similar vibe - I absolutely loved it and I've got the PS4 remake waiting to play. The price dropped pretty quickly on that one, but I'm still waiting for the sequel (Root Film) to get a bit cheaper.

Right now I've got AI: The Somnium Files and Yumeutsutsu Re:Master on the go - I need to balance the murders and stuff with some over the top cutesy. 

My Danganronpa buddy and the king of visual novels is back!

Yeah man you will really like AI: The Somnium Files. Such a good game, platinumed it last year. Already have nirvanA on preorder for the Xbox Series X due to a better price I was able to get. Game has gotten some laughs out of me, it has enough quirk but never goes full overboard on it either. The different branches were done so well too, so many what if scenarios that ultimately lead to an insane twist. Characters still hold up to me, so many good ones. Curious how the sequel can compare. 

It is coming out in a few weeks, can't wait! My summer jam for sure.

I feel like I've been playing AI for hours and hours, but I've hardly got anywhere yet - I just have to investigate absolutely everything and go through every bit of dialogue in case I miss anything!

I'm definitely enjoying it though. The visual style and writing kinda remind me of the Zero Escape series, so that's cool.

You reminded me I'm partway through Death Mark too! It got a bit depressing for me, so I gave it a rest for a while. I definitely agree with your criticisms though!

May 23, 2022 13:08:20 GMT @aaron said:

I feel like I've been playing AI for hours and hours, but I've hardly got anywhere yet - I just have to investigate absolutely everything and go through every bit of dialogue in case I miss anything!

I'm definitely enjoying it though. The visual style and writing kinda remind me of the Zero Escape series, so that's cool.

You reminded me I'm partway through Death Mark too! It got a bit depressing for me, so I gave it a rest for a while. I definitely agree with your criticisms though!

Kotaro Uchikoshi was the director for all the Zero Escape series games and A.I. and it's upcoming sequel! The game gets really good once the different branch/paths open up. The somnium/trials can get a bit much admittedly, that might be my lone real blemish of the game. I went through a guide on just the final few/or ones I needed to get a different path on for the platinum trophy. Hope they can tune that a little bit for the upcoming sequel.

Death Mark is admittedly pretty heavy on it's Japanese horror inspiration. Feels sorta like Fatal Frame in how the game is presented, which I can imagine is where this game drew a little inspiration upon. I can't lie, was at times sorta spooked me out when playing due to those audio sounds that pop out of nowhere and the jumpscares it had at times. Had a little light on and everything, most of my playthrough has been in the evening. I had a spoiler free guide to get through the navigation and choices admittedly. 

May 23, 2022 13:56:17 GMT Blindy said:

Kotaro Uchikoshi was the director for all the Zero Escape series games and A.I. and it's upcoming sequel!

Well that makes sense! He wrote Punch Line too - it's very different from Zero Escape and AI, but it's definitely worth a look if you haven't tried it already. There's an anime series of it too, but I liked the VN a lot better.

You definitely need to try 428 soon! I was really impressed with it. It's got some great characters and there are a lot of funny parts too. I don't normally replay VNs (unless a new version comes out), but I can definitely see myself giving 428 another playthrough in a few years.

I've been using a guide for Death Mark too. I'll always use a spoiler free guide for PS4/5/Vita games, because I don't want to miss a trophy and have to mess around redoing routes. For Switch/3DS/whatever else, I'll only use a guide when I get stuck.

The Famicom Detective Club games on Switch are really great too. They're in the same kinda "melancholy feel in a small Japanese town" as Root Letter and World End Syndrome, so I absolutely loved them!

Which was your fav Danganronpa game?

I've gotta find time for the Zero Escape trilogy, I just got 1 ending of 999 and put it off. This was one of my 1st VN experiences so with tons of games of this genre under my belt, think I will be better prepared for it. Def. will look into Punch Line though!

Yeah I think I put down 428: Shibuya Scramble mostly because the real life models for the game that get used was sort of an eyesore from a visual standpoint. Seems silly now in retrospect but another one I have heard fantastic things about that I have to find time to play.

I saw a lot of good things about those 2 Famicom Detective Club games. I know they are based off 80's games so they may suffer a bit from being "too old" per say but def. something under my radar. Switch has become the new PS Vita for visual novels due to the portability!

Danganronpa is an absolute joyride, if I had to rank them:

Danganronpa 2
Danganronpa 1
Danganronpa V3(There's a group that either likes or loathes the ending, I am in the latter. That ending really soured me on this game)
Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girls

In that order. DR2's cast made it for me. It took what DR1 did so well and upped it a little bit more.

I think that's probably my ranking too!

I absolutely hated the V3 ending too - the game dragged on and on and on, then it gave us THAT ending. The Monokubs were awful, I hated the "twist" with the first case, I didn't like a lot of the characters...the whole game just kinda dampened my enjoyment of the series TBH.

DR2 is great though - at first I wasn't sure if it would be as good as the first, but the characters and cases were all amazing. The end was a bit rubbish, but I didn't mind too much because the rest was so good!

The Famicom Detective Club games do sometimes suffer from the old '80s NES issue of not giving you the slightest clue what the hell you're supposed to be doing next. Even compared to stuff like Ace Attorney, there's a LOT of trial and error with selecting the same dialogue over and over, going to every location and clicking on EVERYTHING and all that stuff. Even when a solution seems obvious, sometimes the game wants you to do a couple more things before it lets you select it.

But they're such a good experience overall, I definitely think they're worth playing - but a guide will probably be necessary!

I got onto the third Zero Escape game, but it's just so UGLY. I'll get back around to it eventually, but everyone just looks so gross.

I actually liked the Chapter 1 twist of Danganronpa V3, the problem is

SPOILER: Click to show

Shuichi was such a bad protagonist, just such a dull character. Would have enjoyed playing with a female protagonist like Kaeda

. And characters like Kokichi, Angie, and Tenko could only carry so much for me.

SPOILER: Click to show

Taking Angie and Tenko down in 1 chapter was brutal, and losing Kokichi by Chapter 5 was crippling, the endgame of two absolute duds in Himiko the Magician girl & Tsumugi was terrible

I agree with you the Monokubs sucked absolute ass. V3 did have this banger of a track though:

SPOILER: Click to show

I felt V3 had the best minigames of the 3 at least but I would expect it as the first game of the series to not be Vita born.

Danganronpa 2 had such a great cast man.....Gundham is still my favorite character of the entire series. Nagito isn't far behind, Chiaki....man this was such a good game.

Got an easy platinum for a visual novel by the name of "One Night Stand". Contrary to belief..........this isn't a really trashy game but yeah this was a real quickie(no pun intended), spent about 2 hours give or take to get all of the trophies. Premise is real simple, you wake up as a male who has no idea what is going on but sees a random girl lying next to you while your in her room and your trying to understand what happened or who this person is. It's a game meant for multiple playthroughs given each scenario ends within 3-5 minutes per. There are different things you point and click on to trigger different dialogue and different endings to play out. Some hilarity can ensue for sure like clicking on wearing the lady friend panties only to be thrown out by the female individual due to being stunned and repulsed understandably. It's rather simple which is absolutely a good thing in this game's favor.

Looking at the game design, I really thought this was going to be a real artsy, pretentious sort of deal but I gotta say, the game surprised me a little bit. Judging the book by it's cover, I really thought we were going to have another "Virginia" on our hands, a narrative that doesn't do anything at all for me. On the contrary, for the short time I had with One Night Stand, it was pretty decent all things considered.

It isn't something that will stick with me for a long time but for the short time you have with it(again no pun intended, really I mean it!), it satisfies your crave for enjoyment(Alright totally pun intended). The art design is feels like sketchbook design almost, think A-Ha's "Take On Me" sort of if you can. If you want an easy platnium or achievement, this is the game for you. You can follow a guide for the couple of trophies your for sure to miss but altogether, it's pretty easy enough to follow and get even without a walkthrough. Given I got this for half off during an Indie sale on Playstation Network, it was alright for what it was.

Yeah, I played that one a while ago and it was alright. It's pretty cool visually and there were some nice moments.

Pantsu Hunter is pretty similar, so you might like that one too.

There are a load of those cheap (and quick platinum) VNs on the PS Store. Some I've played are:

Jisei
The Language of Love (this one was really sweet)
Strawberry Vinegar (same)
A Winter's Daydream (I can't remember anything about it, but I know I played it)
Dating Life: Miley x Emily
Sakura Succubus 1-4
Sakura Swim Club
Syrup and the Ultimate Sweet
Big Dipper (awful)

Loving the big sis Junko avatar @aaron


So with A.I. The Somnium Files nirvanA Initiative coming out this week(Not shipping till next week, thanks Target), I gave a free demo of Yurukill: The Culimination Games a try. You basically play Chapter 1 and can carry the game over to the main story when the game comes out in July. I digged what I played although reading people who played the Japanese version which came out a month earlier sort of scares me as people said it was rather underwhelming.

Game is 80% visual novel with some serious 999/Danganronpa vibes with the minigames and puzzle/escape room portions and 20% Shump/Shoot Em Up. Yes the genre that games like R-TYPE and Dariusburst are apart of, this game has shoot em up portions inside a ship, nothing too crazy or innovative but it's something different and I kinda liked them. Now I tried this demo on the hardest difficulty but the shump portions were rather tough so I lowered the difficulty along the way to Normal.

Story is pretty insane, reminds me of Danganronpa only without the teenage characters. Basically there's prisoners trapped on a giant amusement park who are all captured for committing a henious crime. Your character much like with say the anime Deadman Wonderland, is innocent but is practically vilified by everyone for comitting a deadly crime that has him imprisoned for life. You have a Monokuma like host. Alongside these prisoners are "Executioners" who basically accompany the prisoners and basically control their lives with a press of a button so the prisoners are at the mercy of the executioners who are normal citizens who haven't committed any sort of crime but have a link to their chosen prisoner. There's 5 or 6 teams and going by the demo, you play as each prisoner and have to convince or find a way towards your partner/executioner that you don't deserve to die by going through puzzle rooms inspired by the partner's life changing moment.

Not sure if I get this game day 1 since it comes out like 2 weeks after A.I. and I don't want to be overwhelmed by visual novels but this was such a great move to give the 1st chapter away the way they did. 1st chapter ran me a good 3 hours, I enjoyed what I played, this one could go either way.

Demo is free on Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PS5. I played on the latter so the load times were really good as expected, not sure if Switch and Shumps work out well which is why I stood away from trying it on the system. :lol:

That sounds kinda cool...but I realllly suck at bullet hell type stuff, so I might give it a miss. 😅

I haven't played any more of the first AI since my last post - I really need to get back on it, but Ni No Kuni II is taking up all my game time!

I ordered the Ni No Kuni I remaster for like 5 bucks, they are practically giving that one away. Just need to find time to dive into that one.

(A lot of people's preorders, even day 1ers got cancelled, this has been a real rough shitshow for a lot)

It has arrived! This hard as hell Collector's Edition has been in and out of stock for this game so while I wanted the $10 off standard edition, I had to jump over this ridiculous hard to get collector's edition. Has the figure seen below of Aiba but also a soundtrack, artbook and hardcover of the game. Yes it's XBOX(XBOX getting a Japanese visual novel, say what?) but like who cares?! These editions have been ridiculous to get so it's a bit more expensive but I barely splurge like this and figure why not? 

Anyway game is here, this changes everything up! Can't wait to dive in. 

Hey Blindy send me a recommendation that I can get on Steam. I'm interested.

Jul 3, 2022 17:55:48 GMT Emperor said:

Hey Blindy send me a recommendation that I can get on Steam. I'm interested.

Not sure if your interested in XBOX Game pass for PC but man if you are, you get to feast on....

Danganronpa: 
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games(9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors & Virtue's Last Signal)
A.I.: The Somnium Files(1st one to the one I am playing right now)
Paradise Killer

Just off the top of my head.

In all seriousness, I think the Phoenix Wright/Ace Attorney series is the perfect way to start. There's a current Ace Attorney Trilogy collection that I just checked it 50% off, they are pretty easy to digest and are (mostly) well-written with a handful of terrific characters. I've only played these, have everything else on my 3DS and Switch(The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles released last year for the Switch)

Phoenix Wright is the one Visual Novel game I know. And as you say it's on Steam! I had no idea. Better check that one out.

I love the Aiba figure!

I've got the Junko Popup Parade figure (of course) - I want a load more, but I've really got nowhere to put them 😅

Jul 7, 2022 21:31:22 GMT @aaron said:

I love the Aiba figure!

I've got the Junko Popup Parade figure (of course) - I want a load more, but I've really got nowhere to put them 😅

Yeah I don't go crazy with this but Aiba is a fantastic character and I really wanted that Collector's Edition which is still selling out within minutes upon going up on any console. 

May 16, 2022 18:10:41 GMT Blindy said:

Two and a half chapters into Spirit Hunter: Death Mark, think of this game(or series) as the equivalent to a TV-MA X-Files, only with Japanese spiritualism. It's a very digestible game for the most part, it's very straight to the point in it's plot and very rarely does it get too wacky with the humor stuff, which a lot of visual novels from Japan end up falling into. It's horror inspired as you are dealing with the paranormal hence why I think it's the X-Files(Without the alien stuff) but maybe more graphic with the content inside. Very limited voice acting or cutscenes, all in Japanese the soundbites that are in this game. The game has a game log so if you miss something, you can go back and see what the dialogue was all about which is a staple for any visual novel IMO.

Plot thus far is that your main character who is some sort of detective ends up getting a dog bite like mark on his wrist randomly and then ends up in a mansion after hearing rumors or reports of what this mark represents. You end up meeting a doll(Yes it's pretty far out shit) who indicates to you that you have ___ days to live due to this mark and you must defeat the spirit/presence that gave you this mark. Along the way, you meet up with other people who have the same mark and are in turn helping them conquer these spirits that are based off Japanese lore. 

Again I am just 2 chapters in out of 6 but I am following a spoiler-free guide in the sole purpose of getting the full platinum trophy(Playing on PS4). It's a pretty good visual novel for the most part, my lone two criticisms would be

A) No labeling of which character is saying what, it gets a bit confusing trying to figure out who is saying what. This works with 2 people and the game does try and match character on screen with the dialogue below but not always. I don't think it's asking a ton to get "Name: _______________________________" to know who is saying what. Especially when there have been almost 10 different characters mentioned thus far in the game altogether(Even though I haven't run into a scenario where you have more than 4 characters at a time). The game tries to portray MALE or FEMALE by different color of text(Orange for male, blue for female) but it isn't enough when there are multiple guys and the character model isn't being shown, even though in the context of a character's traits, you can sort of guess who it is. It's nitpicky admittedly but I am not sure why that wasn't an option given? 

B) Lost about 15 minutes due to the saving system, it isn't autosaved which isn't a problem but what is........is knowing how to save. You need to manually save on the upper right hand side whenever your at the main hub which is a mansion and not do a system save. It sounds confusing at first but it becomes rather simplistic once you do, not sure why the system save below in the tabs is even there as an option.

That's about it for criticisms. 

There is minor gameplay in the form of a dungeon crawler with the navigating which is often in a maze/labyrinth esque format which I can admit can be confusing without a guide but it's text heavy as the way it should be. You care enough about the characters and the different spirits are pretty crazy, tons of lore and buildup behind them and some of the scenes shown can be gruesome(Nothing over the top gorey though). The trophies basically have two different scenarios on how to end a chapter, either KILLING the spirit or SAVING the spirit so thankfully the saves you can do right before decision time are big time as far as trying to fully complete each chapter. There's very little combat which is turn based which is basically you and your chosen partner/ally picking an item and combining it to defeat or defend yourself from the spirit, no quick time event or anything that makes you have to be quick with your responses. The only thing that makes you pick an answer is LIFE or DEATH which is a scenario that happens a few times each chapter where you guess right and you survive/progress the story or if you guess wrong, you die/have to start over. Having a guide sort of defeats the thrill of this but it's there for you to make choices based off information that is told to you throughout the chapter. It's a straightforward visual novel outside of the two different paths which is both good and bad depending on what your looking for. Choices only mean something as I mentioned if you decide to kill or save the spirit/foe of each chapter. 

Really good visual novel thus far, the pacing is pretty good. I got the sequel(Spirit Hunter NG) on a heavy discount on Steam so maybe that will be something to jump into for the future. 

Really feel like I made this happen. Can't wait man, 2023. So good.

(And yes I almost finished A.I. The Somnium Files nirvanA Initiative, right there for GOTY so far for me. Post up is coming very soon.)

So I have wrapped up A.I. The Somnium Files: nirvanA Initiative! Pretty much, if you at all liked A.I. The Somnium Files, you will adore this game as much as I have. The writing is terrific, the humor admittedly might not be for everyone(It has a ton of toilet/sex jokes, especially the 1st half of the game) but it got me laughing, the twists were pretty good and it really took the small flaws of the 1st one and got it to be a little better(The somniums were less convoluted). What these games do so well is they make sure the player isn't completely lost within the plot with simplistic comparisons or consistently refreshing your memory with what you played. Some may see it as babying, sure but the plot gets pretty deep with science and philosophy that it is appreciated the way the story holds you on the ride without allowing you to get too lost in everything discussed.

Speaking of, the plot is admittedly pretty deep and full of twists, as you'd expect from the creator behind the Zero Escape series. A lot of spirituality is discussed as well as a lot of different philosophies that exist within the real world so if you at all liked this, you will probably enjoy the living heck out of this game. Again, this game does a bang up job making sure you aren't completely lost with it's simplistic by design examples & refreshing your memory. Where this game differs a little bit within the 1st however is that I feel some of the characters introduced in this game don't really end up having a real role for being in this game and often have little to no significance in the grand scheme of things. However, for the most part, each character ends up becoming a piece to the puzzle that helps you fully understand what is going on in this game. Without going too much into spoilers, you find a dead body of someone that is left in a peculiar way and this leads you to a wild goose chase as to who did it and how they did it. Where this sequel differs is unlike with the 1st game that had you play one primary main character, this one has two major protagonists, both Ryuki & Mizuki(Who returns from the 1st one). Each one has a different temperament, each one was pretty enjoyable to play and laugh with and each one has a completely different A.I. companion that has tagged next to them that adds to the hilarity & plot. Both characters of course play the same but each route of theirs holds significance in the story so neither did I feel really drag itself too much. There are minor gripes I have with how one of the characters is handled by the end game due to lack of appearance but overall, this was a job well done by Spike Chunsoft.



Practically every character from the 1st game is back, although this game does put more of an emphasis on the new cast with the older cast being either cameo appearances or playing a role in the background if at all. The cast and characters made the 1st game so damn good and while (IMO) this cast isn't as good, it is still a pretty diverse cast of characters that you either love or hate out of sheer evilness. Playing this one in English, the voice acting was terrific and once again, I felt like the voice actors & actresses perfectly fit each character to a tee.



I mentioned one of the major positives in this sequel vs the original one are the somniums. If there was at all any kind of blemish with the 1st game, it would be the somniums of A.I. 1 got a bit too much where you are cutting it super close from failing and walking a couple extra steps make the difference of you succeeding or not. A couple of the 1st game's somniums also got a little bit confusing in a maze like sort of way, where as the sequel basically hints and tells you to consider looking at items, not leading you into doing something out of order or unnecessarily to waste your time. By no means was the 1st game's somniums bad but you can definitely see the point of emphasis Spike Chunsoft(The developers) made in bettering this vital mechanic. Playing this on the normal difficult was just right but there are easier difficulties for this mechanic if you just want to breeze through for the story. Where nirvanA Initiative falls a little short gameplay wise is the amount of Quick Time Events(QTE) involved. Compared to the 1st one, this feels like it has almost twice as many QTE's so if you like quick button presses, you will be a happy camper. For me, these weren't so great because the checkpoints aren't too kind if you press one wrong prompt....we're talking replaying a couple of QTE sequences prior to. It also didn't help because I played this on the XBOX Series X console, which is more fault of my own, I am not as used to the controller as opposed to the Playstation where I know the button prompts by heart. So when they say RB, I accidentally hit RT and it's game over and I am like "God damnit stop doing that LOL".

My opinion, nirvanA Initiative does fall a tad below the original for me, maybe due to ridiculous high expectations or due to the cast not being as great. That being said though, this is one of the best visual novels I have played and if you at all liked the 1st A.I. game, you just have to dive right into this one no questions asked! I just felt the 1st one was just a superb experience and it was a tough ask for the sequel to come close to how great the 1st one was for me and it came up just shy. 

P.S. This game has a couple of easter eggs for anyone who has played 999, which was a previous entry of the creator of the A.I. series just as a heads up. There is also tons of references to the 1st game that you will greatly appreciate if you played the previous game. However, what this game does well is that it still makes sure you fully understand who and what everybody is/represents if you haven't played the 1st game(Why not?!)

The thread is verging onto going to page 2 with the PW Arcade frenzy that is going on...



A recent Game Pass game appeared not too long ago in the 2020 Visual Novel game "Coffee Talk" and it was a game on my radar due to the acclaim & attention it was commanding. It was only a matter of when, not if, I would find a deal to grip me to give this game a chance...and it being free on Game Pass was the clincher. And man was it a clincher because I ended up 100% the entire game!

Coffee Talk is very reminiscent to a game I did not play yet in VALHALLA: Cyberpunk Bartending Action, only this game isn't about serving cocktails and alcoholic drinks but more so about serving tea & coffee over to your patrons instead. There's plenty where this game hits the spot on.

The lounge & cozy music feels like an absolute perfect ambiance to the chillness & laxness of Coffee Talk. A lot of perfectly fitted coffee lounge music. The writing that takes place in this game is pretty good. Admittedly, the beginning stories of each character do get a bit clique in some sense(Themes of Game Crunch, Interracial relationships, Online Dating etc. are discussed) but each character is oozing personality where you end up enjoying everyone's presence. No one truly outstays their welcome, and that includes your top customer Freya who is a writer who is looking for inspiration to overcome writer's block for her dream novel. The graphics feel like very retro and are totally fine for what this game is aiming to achieve in the couple of hours it has your undivided attention. It's a very digestible 6-7 hour game if your fully completing it and the game isn't a very hard 100% completion. Admittedly though, some of the trophies like 50 correct orders in Challenge Mode or trashing/discarding 25 drinks or staying in the Foam Art for 1 hour for a trophy/achievement seems silly and pretty unnecessary outside of maybe padding the game length but again this is for purely full completion. I admittedly used a spoiler free guide when it came to the story of the game but I imagine needing to get the orders done correctly for your regular customers might seem tough if you have little to no idea of what a certain drink is without trial & error.

The gameplay, however little of it, consists of you needing to follow directions and make a drink the exact way the patron/customer wants it. You will be running into about 8 different regular characters throughout your time with Coffee Talk and there's not too much punishment if you don't get their order correctly. It's a game led by it's story & writing over actually needing to get the correct orders or not which makes this game absolutely ideal for a chill evening game after work or something. Admittedly, it's a very linear story with no real branch paths to take but that's okay! I like how controlled of a story this game is and there you end up getting closure on every character's struggle and emotional pouring to you as the barista if anything. It's a simple formula but it does get you invested in the characters to the game's credit. 

Very easy recommend of a game, it's a game that does not wear out it's welcome and even has a secret ending sort of put into NG+ where you can select a few parts of the story to revisit for exclusive dialogue that leads to more explanation of the crazy twist that this game has by the end. There are other modes to such as Challenge Mode that has you in a timer get the desired drink of your patrons out where trophies/achievements are attached to it. 

This game has a sequel coming out within the next year or so, curious where this game goes because the formula is very simple and there are plenty of other ways this game can do meta-criticism towards with topics in and out of the gaming industry. However, the lead writer Mohammad Fahmi passed away a couple of months ago so there are fairly big shoes to fill in that regard. Game was worth the hype, had a nice time with it. Can't say any of the characters or stories will stick with me forever but the game does a bang up job in what it sets out to do.