The latest visual novel games

Visual novels are a genre of video games that prominently features narrative content, in particular dialogues and internal monologues from characters involved in a complex story. These characters are most often represented using a collection of static sprites, with slight variations or animations used to portray specific gestures and emotions.

With text and plot being so central, part of the experience of playing a visual novel is akin to reading a traditional novel. However, players are sometimes presented with a choice between different dialogue options that will affect future events in the story. Some visual novels include more elements of interactivity, to the extent that they can be considered adventure games too.

Visual novels that include significant problem-solving gameplay — therefore, thinky visual novels — often rely on point-and-click sections to enable players to explore part of the game’s world and discover items relevant to the plot. Notably, the Ace Attorney series introduced elements of courtroom drama and murder mystery fiction to the genre, with players solving cases through investigation and cross-examination of various witnesses.

The games listed below are the most recently released visual novel games in the Thinky Games database.