In most, players take control of a main character, see the story unfold through that character’s first-person perspective and make decisions for them throughout the story.

Visual novels present their stories using text, voice-overs, background music and pictures. Instead of the hundreds of pages of text in traditional hardcover and paperback novels, visual novels are presented in digital format and playable on video game consoles, smartphones or computers. Simply put, visual novels are exactly as their title implies: novels presented visually.

Often some of the most popular anime and manga, like Steins Gate or Fate/stay night, are adapted from visual novels and vice versa. As a result, they make up a huge part of the video game market in Japan. Japan is a country with a high demand for visual novel games that’s unparalleled anywhere else in the world. As a bonus, for English/Japanese or Japanese/English learners, some visual novels will have dual language support.Īn example screen from a visual novel, Clannad published by Interchannel, Protype, Sekai Project and Visual Arts. For people who aren’t big into video games, visual novels are usually straightforward and easy to navigate, often only requiring the use of the directional buttons and a single action button to “turn the page” and select options. Simply purchase a physical copy of the visual novel game or download it from an online store, load it on the device of your choice and you’re good to go. The great thing about the Japanese visual novel is that they are available at almost every game or electronics store or on almost every gaming console, as well as the Windows and Mac operating systems.

While scaled down, visual novels include this same process of decision making - whether it be which person to ask on a date or which dialogue option to select, people must make decisions when playing visual novels. They must swing the sword, fire the weapon or choose which path to take. In video games, players must make choices. While they do lack active gameplay elements, the one thing that separates them from films, books or any other medium is decision making. The video game community seems to be split on whether visual novels are indeed video games. Go to the PS Vita section of any video game store in Japan and you’ll quickly see that half the shelf space or more is taken up solely by these games. In North America and Europe, critics, journalists, and gamers have pronounced that the PS Vita (PlayStation’s handheld console) is dead. For gamers in Japan, however, the PS Vita is very much alive and kicking for one major reason: the incredible popularity of the ビジュアルノベル, or Japanese visual novel.

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