visual novel

Ever 17: The Out of Infinity is another visual novel from KID that’s been given the remake treatment. Originally a 2002 release, this new version adds a lot of new art and an official English translation. Under the hood, it’s essentially the same game but the story and setting seems […]

Ever 17: The Out of Infinity – PS4 Review

March 10, 2025 in PS4 / Reviews tagged artificial intelligence / choose your own adventure / disaster / escape / ever 17 the out of infinity / fish facts / kid / sci fi / underwater park / visual novel by Mike

Alright, back to the visual novel gulag. I’ve avoided them for a while but this one at least feels historic, in a sense. Never 7: The End of Infinity originally released in 2000 in Japan and was previously only available to Westerners via a fan translation. Now KID’s effort has […]

Never 7: The End of Infinity – PS4 Review

March 9, 2025 in PS4 / Reviews tagged choose your own adventure / kid / never 7 the end of infinity / romance / sci fi / stranded teenagers / time loop / visual novel by Mike

Read Only Memories: NEURODIVER is a point and click visual novel from developer MidBoss and publisher Chorus Worldwide. It’s a sequel to 2017’s 2064: Read Only Memories that our man Steven reviewed way back when. Unlike the two-year delay between the PC and PS4 versions, all versions of Neurodiver released […]

Read Only Memories: NEURODIVER – PS5 Review

May 21, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged Lgbtq / neurodiver / read only memories / sequel / visual novel by Ian

Forgive me if I start to plagiarise myself on this one. Pesterquest is the sequel to Hiveswap Friendsim. As such, it’s a visual novel set in the Homestuck universe which, I’ll be honest, I’ve not dug much into. The same themes apply with an alien on a quest for friendship […]

Pesterquest – PS5 Review

December 7, 2023 in PS5 / Reviews tagged adult themes / friend simulator / homestuck / narrativelty-driven / pesterquest / time travel / trolls / visual novel / what pumpkin games by Mike

Hey, kids. Do you like friends? Do want real and viable approaches to get friends? Maybe don’t use Hiveswap Freindsim as a guide. It is, however, a fairly relaxed, cheeky visual novel that explores friendship in a swift but entertaining manner. What Pumpkin Games have penned this little tale that, […]

Hiveswap Friendsim – PS5 Review

December 7, 2023 in PS5 / Reviews tagged cheeky humour / friend simulator / hiveswap friendsim / narratively based / visual novel / what pumpkin games by Mike

Visual novel hybrids do interest me. Aside from the usual tales of choosing your own adventure, the addition of light gameplay elements can elevate them above the genre’s more wordy literature. Shuyan Saga is another attempt at that Lofty Sky Entertainment have undertaken. Set in a feudal China, this addition […]

Shuyan Saga – PS4 Review

September 28, 2023 in PS5 / Reviews tagged brawler / canada / chinese mysticism / lofty sky entertainment / narrative choice / shuyan saga / visual novel by Mike

Japan can be pretty odd. Some of the strangest games we’ve played have come from there and yet they still have a way of surprising us. However, Yurukill does it in an entirely different way. Instead of being just inherently weird, the developers, IzanagiGames, have squished together two genres that on paper […]

Yurukill: The Calumniation Games – PS5 Review

July 4, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged Murder mystery / point and click / shoot em up / visual novel / yurukill by Richie

Of all the hobbies I’ve latched on to over the years, gaming’s probably the one that’s stuck with me throughout life. I’m not going to crowbar some sentimental nonsense into this review but I’ve not seen the time I’ve spent in front of a computer or console as wasted. That […]

Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers – PS5 Review

May 29, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged arcade spirits the new challengers / dating simulator / esports / gaming / relationships / ren'py / romance / visual novel by Mike

Divination, stylised as //DIVINATION\\, opens with a warning that it depicts disturbing imagery and themes. What it should also have done was have opened with an apology for the remarkably brief experience on offer here. You see, our leisurely playthrough lasted all of twenty four minutes. Not twenty four hours. […]

Divination – PS5 Review

May 18, 2022 in PS4 / PS5 / Reviews tagged cheeky bastards / divination / eastasiasoft / visual novel / wb yeats wine lodge / you're the reason that paradise lost by Ian

I know games sometimes like to cover civil unrest, protest and it’s consequences but they largely don’t concern themselves too much with ethical quandaries behind the curtain. There’s always a greater good and the good guys usually win out. Vengeful Heart has a fairly obvious cause to fight for but […]

Vengeful Heart – PS5 Review

April 4, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged cyberpunk / dystopia / eco-terrorists / insurgency / l / narratively-driven / salmon snake / vengeful heart / visual novel by Mike

A while back I reviewed Strawberry Vinegar and it was arguably the moment where I really, really started to sound alarm bells about the visual novel genre. It was probably one of my first introductions to the fiction that is, ostensibly for weirdos, by weirdos. I knew Ebi-Hime had written […]

Blackberry Honey – PS5 Review

March 1, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged blackberry honey / ebi-hime / love story / narratively-driven / victorian housemaids / visual novel by Mike

Occasionally, adventure games catch my drift and The Song Out of Space seems right up my alley. Coming from Pixel Noire, the tale of extra-terrestrial interference, murders and Cold War tensions do tick a lot of my boxes. Unfortunately, it all seems rushed and doesn’t linger on the intrigue to […]

The Song Out of Space – PS5 Review

February 21, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged aliens / cold war / fbi / narratively-driven / pixel noire / point and click adventure / the song out of space / visual novel by Mike