If You Like Starship Troopers and Anime, Check out Stories From Sol
Stories From Sol: Part 1 Gun-Dog is a new game entering onto the scene. It’s a hard space sci-fi story, a genre not without a plentiful fandom, although this sneak peek led me mostly through sharp comedic timing and even a romantic interest? Looks pretty cool. Please note that not only is this a demo, but it also’s part one of the whole story, so if you enjoy it, make the dev know…
NeuroNet: Mendax Proxy is a Stunning New Visual Novel
“Dream Harvest,” the developers of NeuroNet: Mendaxy Proxy have provided a demo that gives a special preview of this futuristic fiction that showcases a highly visual and highly interactive story experience. The synopsis goes something like this. Wake up, you’re the newest programmed artificial intelligence developed by a very prominent corporation in the high-tech metropolitan Catena. Take it into your own hands in the bizarre POV of the AI, who is named Arc…
Overboard! Is The New, Edgy And Hilarious VN With Surprising Dark Twists
This article about Overboard is in the June 2022 Issue 4 of ChoiceBeat: The Visual Novel and Interactive Fiction Zine.With eye-catching flat graphics and exciting period-stylized environments, no one could say the game Overboard! doesn’t have class. (Also known as Overboard! Get Away With Murder.) Literary elements and composition create an intellectual environment on the fictional steamship SS Hook, where your task is to resolve speculation on a murder. It’s not just an…
Eternia is a Unique Visual Novel About Pets I Played For No Reason
There’s a short, charming story in Eternia: Pet Whisperer. Even if you’re a cockatoo/border-collie lover like me, or whether you lean more toward the exotic koala/frill-necked lizard, or rat brothers. These animals have a slight backstory, and cute appearance, plus a natural subtle wit. It’s got that solo dev quirk that I love best of all, where the plot derails to form a full loopable plot-line but keeps things manageable; that’s a plus,…
Some Resources For Using Copyright Music in a GameDev
When I went to learn what was involved in making my visual novel, this surprisingly was not so simple. Do not get me wrong, I’m here to give you the goods, but when it comes to music, graphics, or anything really, the way copyright protection works is stern yet often confusing. So, let me get you going here. Don’t fret–or do! I’m here to tell you that things are not hopeless. More specifically:…
Date Night Bowling: This is a Visual Novel About Fun Love
For the record, I am a big fan of Way Down Deep and their dating sim releases over the last year like the socially distanced romance sim Romantic Distancing and the popular release Half Past Fate. I’ve been eyeing Date Night Bowling since I first saw it in an upcoming game roster. So when the opportunity to play it on Switch arose, I snagged it and slipped on some bowling shoes. Eww, digital…
Not It: Spookiest Edition is a Dark & Amusing Visual Novel
Earlier this year, I took a look at a visual novel from this developer called The Last Act. Incidentally, they have a new act called Not It: Spookiest Edition just in time for Halloween. In fact, this whole game’s story revolves around an old legend of a curse that arrives every Halloween. I suppose, being on hiatus and everything, I can still find some room to squeeze this one in because this whole…
Blake is a Colorful Grit Filled Cyberpunk Visual Novel
Blake is an interesting new visual novel from LegendOri Productions about a complacent computer programmer turned vigilante in a futuristic cyberpunk city. The primary scenario within the game involves a new technology that can make somebody totally anonymous. Even amongst the modern people-tracking computers of its era, a criminal of heinous description is leaving a fatal trace and incidentally has decided to start toying with Blake’s sanity. The visual amalgamation of all the…
Beacon Pines is Finally Out Now and It’s Astonishing
Beacon Pines is interactive fiction, but really it qualifies with a new level of cozy interaction and fathoms deep optimistic complexity to its characters. The basic structure of the story relies on an interesting plot device made of… well, plot devices! You start in a storybook tale of a young fawn, though I’d say that’s up for interpretation, named Luka at his grandmother’s. Through exploration and experimentation and interacting with those around you…
Kraken Academy – Why am I in Love With Broccoli Girl?
Kraken Academy has been on my mind since I first eyed a trailer of it some months ago. “I have to play that one,” came to mind. Many of you are probably familiar with my love of visual novels. And in this case, I’m working with a combination of visual novel and interactive fiction characteristics–an all-things-aside awesome and hilarious game. Explore the bizarre introduction to Kraken Academy with me, and I’ll explain why…
Arietta of Spirits – This is Really a Charming Indie With a Supernatural Spin
Arietta of Spirits is a story-driven action-adventure set in a bustling forest teeming with creatures from the spirit realm. Your identity is Arietta, a young lady camping at grandma’s cabin along with Arietta’s mom and dad. Arietta meets a spirit named Arco on their first night. After Arietta’s departed grandmother greets her on the cabin pier and sends her on a quest to retrieve a silver ring, things take a major turn. With…
Raptor Boyfriend is A Game About Love Unlike Any Other
Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance is an ambitious and masterfully crafted visual novel/dating sim that takes place in small-town Ontario. With fun cryptid characters and absolutely stunning illustrations, its gameplay value is probably some of the best I’ve seen for this genre. I have been excited to play this for some time, as a general fan of visual novels and cryptid fantasy games. You don’t have to worry about anxiety-driven creature interaction…
If You’re Fascinated by the Gig Worker Vibe or Sci-Fi, Check Out This Game “Neo Cab”
Neo Cab is an award-winning visual novel released in 2019 somewhere within the future echoes of driver automation and the course of smart services. It involves themes of corporate monopolization, intimate driver/passenger simulations, and the management of being a business in the contemporary market. The story features Lina, an empathic cab driver new in Los Ojos, where being an actual cab driver is a rare occupation. There are many nuances to Neo Cab.…
Visual Novel Spotlight: My Cup Of Coffee
My Cup of Coffee: The Trouble with Earl Grey is a visual novel that takes place in a turn-of-the-century coffee shop presumably somewhere within Victorian society. You play as a family apprentice of the coffee trade and you more or less are plonked right into days as a barista. The story revolves around a casual plot involving a group of customers known as the Grey family. Using clues from casual conversation, you are…
Universe for Sale Looks Like a Good Sci-Fi Game
Universe for Sale is an upcoming title that combines sci-fi themes and metaphysical themes into a quirky and compelling visual novel/interactive fiction. I already do not recall the main character’s name, and neither will you, as the shroud of mystery is an important part of this introduction. He is a self-described “cultist” with a floating head who drops into a tea shop on Jupiter to meet with a young lady named Lila. The…
“What Comes After” is A Heartwarming Interactive Fiction
What Comes After is an interactive fiction from the creator Coffee Talk in collaboration with the Rolly Glory Jam. This story-rich game takes place on a pandemic-era commuter train that transforms into a ferry for souls to the afterlife after Vivi falls asleep. There’s no set directive, but the game is experienced through interacting with souls on the train. This ranges from average folks to owls and trees! It is a highly creative…
Monster Pub is a Hidden Gem I Will Always Love
Monster Pub is a neat and funny narrative wrapped up in a nice isometric, pixel art game that is ultra-casual. You’re whoever you want to be, a shadow-cloaked being, approached on a dark rainy street by a bright pink monster named Pfeffer. She leads you to a mysterious location that turns out to be a public house… for monsters, which is apparently based on the set for the ’80s TV show Cheers. Only…
Wheels of Aurelia 1978 is a Free Hidden Gem
Wheels of Aurelia is an interactive-fiction-style racing game set in Italy in 1978. The left-hand steers the wheel of a gritty game that is full of themes of crime, punk, and danger. While the themes are a bit serious, its thematic integrity is in check by fun, innovative game design, and a serious historical snapshot. Drive through the coastlines in low-polygon graphics and talk to your passengers about anything. Wheels of Aurelia: Clarification…
Forgotten Fields is a New Indie About a Young Man’s Private Life
Forgotten Fields is an indie-developed story-rich interactive game by Frostwood Interactive. It is about a young Indian author seeking inspiration for his next book in the midst of a major family transition at his childhood home. The character, Siddharth, visits home which at first seems a distraction but may help him re-think his writing completely. The game design is aesthetically pleasing low-poly 3D modeling combined with interactive puzzles and visual novel-style dialogue. It…
Nyaa-Kuza!! is a Freebie Indie Student Game
Nyaa-Kuza is an illustrated half-action interactive fiction title from the self-dubbed Catzooka Studios out of the University of Utah’s EAE program. Play as Mochi, an ex-Nyaa-Kuza brawler cat, whose cat wife, Hime, has been “catnapped” by the syndicate. You’ll traverse the outskirts of a Japanese city interacting with leads and allies in a conventional visual novel style to find Hime. At other times, the game is highly interactive with button-mashing fight scenes with…
Scarlet Hood & the Wicked Wood, 👌
Scarlet Hood and the Wicked Wood is a new visual novel/interactive fiction game. The story follows Scarlet, a budding musician in an aspiring band of close friends. Start your journey on route to your band’s major performance at a club in the city. Plus, explore the opportunity it provides with a heavy offer from the club’s boss. In an unexpected twist, you’ll soon find yourself, through unforeseen circumstances, in another world! This land…
The Last Act is a Spectral Afternoon at the Theater (Visual Novel)
The Last Act is a visual novel with a theatric theme about an actress in a lead-play character. Interact with a social group of charismatic characters, while finding yourself getting more and more into the script as the serious drama unfolds. The choices you make unfold the story in different ways, but ultimately you’ll find yourself interacting with supernatural characters that seek to interact with your fate. Will you continue on with the…
Half Past Fate is the Only Dating Sim I’ve Seen Attempt to Address Love During the Pandemic
Half Past Fate: Romantic Distance is a visual novel about dating during the pandemic. It is out as of February 2021. The story revolves around a mutual interest involving a young man and his broken laptop named Stephen and a clerk at a computer repair shop named Robin. Soon after they meet, the city goes into lockdown because of the pandemic. They try to make it work using video dating for multiple months…
The Colorful Art is Must-See in “//TODO: today” (a New Visual Novel)
//TODO: today is a visual novel and dating sim. You’ll follow the main character through a crisis involving life direction in the context of paying rent, becoming an artist, working in a bookstore, dating, and the help of a cute but invasive artificial intelligence named Joyce. The game takes advantage of bright pastel colors and hand-drawn art. It conveys a message of getting out of a rut as an adult and using a…
Self-Driving Cabs, Murder?, “CRASH Autodrive” Tells a Different Story
CRASH: Autodrive is a point-and-click interactive fiction that takes place in Pittsburgh, PA, in the year 2027. You are a passenger in a robot auto cab that hosts you and three other passengers on your way to your respective destinations. The car takes an unanticipated detour and strikes a crossing bicyclist on a deserted back road in the city. With the aid of a host full of clues from your cab sharers, you…
Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers Appeals to Gamers, Romantics, and Visual Novel Lovers
Arcade Spirits: New Challengers takes place in an alternate history, the year 20XX, where arcades have not been subjected to deprecation or obsoleteness, unlike what happened after consoles in the 1980s. As such, the arcade is quite an interesting place to run into quirky characters. Get into all sorts of gaming fun in a truly nostalgic vibe. I keep an eye on Steam’s demo listings on a daily basis. I’ve been really into…
“Coffee Talk” What is This Seattle-Set Indie Masterpiece?
Coffee Talk is an interactive visual novel released in the pumpkin spice season of 2020. You play a barista in Seattle in a futuristic/alternate universe. Your customers range from humans to succubus, and it is your job not only to make them coffee in your coffee shop but also to help talk them through their personal problems. The gameplay is interspersed with actual barista beverage-making with various ingredients and you can even make…
A Cottage Story is a Hidden Gem & Terrific Little Visual Novel
A Cottage Story is an indie fantasy-style visual novel currently in development by indie developer LadyMeowsith on itch.IO. The theme is what is described as, “Cottage-Core.” You’ll play as Emory, or whichever moniker you choose. Your form is selectable as well. You are a human/changeling grown up far away from humans. You live within a fantastic forest of goblins, satyrs, elves, and maybe more. Meet characters and treat their ailments by mastering herbalism…
The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante is One of the Best ‘Serious’ Interactive Fictions
The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante is an interactive visual novel. It spans the lifetime of a character named Sir Brante. Progress through the stages of life starting with childhood. You will forge deep experiences that will shape the course of your entire life later on. Your actions will affect your own character and also how others interact with you. Try to live true in a world dominated by an esoteric caste…
Superstorm Melon Date is Weird & The Best
Superstorm Melon Date is a visual novel that takes place in a relatively near dystopic future. People live in shelters and return to the surface only periodically because climate change has plagued the earth with frequent superstorms that burden humanity. People have developed widespread allergies and only the rich can raise fully human children. Therefore, a hybrid species of half-melon people have outnumbered humans because they have better immune systems. To tie it…
Demetrios: The BIG Cynical Adventure Requires Some Decent Puzzle Solving Skills
Demetrios is the second title from COWCAT’s indie studio that I have played, the other one being BROK the InvestiGator. My friends, let me preface this by saying although what I present to you are my first impressions from the demo, I enjoyed this enough that I purchased the full version because I am 100% behind this game developer and might very well go in-depth at some near-future point. Demetrios: The BIG Cynical…
Aviary Attorney is a Beautiful and Hilarious Indie About BIRD Lawyers
Greetings from cloud cuckoo land, I’m your host, Mr. Dave Pizza and I’m the author of this review of Aviary Attorney. The special today is hrmph. So, I’ve been scouring catalogs of games looking for something that suits my current appetite. I’m having a really good run with a few visual novels, but I am hopelessly novice to them. Yet, I was flipping through lists and it occurred to me I had this…
Henchman Story is a Hilarious & Bizarre Visual Novel About Super Heroes
I’ve been trying to give visual novels a place in my catalog. It’s a fun game style that is conducive to some good storytelling. Incidentally, I keep finding more and more edgy but good-natured humor in them. Pick a theme and go, that’s where I’d like to see these go. Most of these games are also tagged as dating sims. But that is pretty much secondary to my interest in them, however, it…
Cryptid Crush is Creepy, Cool, and Completely Awesome
I have been getting really into visual novels and interactive fiction lately. Itch.IO is rich with these games, and they’re kind of a nice gig. There’s a lot they can offer for developers and gamers. Lower production demands without sacrificing creativity, and a focused effort for players. The talent of the creator is still necessary of course. I certainly intended to give Cryptid Crush an efficient test. I played it out until the…
Loco Motive is Coming to Nintendo Switch
UPDATE: Loco Motive is headed for full release on Switch & PC in 2023 (sorry if I don’t update this right away.) I absolutely adore it, and if you want to watch the awesome trailer for it, check out this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFahJJOdMzII’ve spent a good amount of time my life on trains or watching, learning, and reading about trains. For my own context, it’s always been a novel way to travel, and some…
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