I think the last Visual Novel I tried was Katawa Shoujo, which I enjoyed but had its flaws. This morning I saw one tweet singing the praises of this game and decided to take a punt on it - and I am so glad I did. It is certainly the game that has had the most effect on me this year, and maybe even a contender for my GOTY.

You should play this game. You should not read anything else about it before you do.

And for those that are curious/concerned, there is no sexual/hentai content in this VN. It's also free-to-play, and took me only 4 hours to beat so you have nothing to lose.

Its a good game.

I watched it and it's incredible, even if the end is a bit too direct for me. Is it worth playing on my own if I've already seen it? I got the impression there might be some variance based on which girl you pursue first and second.

Slight spoiler warning that isn't really a spoiler warning but still, proceed with caution.

@planetfunksquad: They're all good games ;).

Seriously though, as someone who has also picked it up I really do recommend this game quite strongly. I would say this one is right one up on @alex or @benpack alley. I really would love to say why that is directly so people can at least have a expectation, but that would spoil it kinda.

But with this game I really don't know what counts as a spoiler anymore anyway so maybe I just tell it for those who are curious and want a small pitch on why the game is good. This game is what would happen if some of Nier: Automatas philosophical themes and Undertales metanarrative had a "Why not both?" revelation and turned into a cutesy Visual Novel dating sim. Also the horror tag on Steam and the content warnings should be taken extremly seriously.

At any case people should get it because its free and does some good stuff.

@alistercat: I haven't replayed myself, but there are different CGs for the other girls if you follow different routes on the first playthrough.

Extra spoiler:

@dray2k: lol I very nearly wrote "its a good game, Brent"

Frog Fractions 3.0
Stop reading. Go Play.

Yeah... this game hit me with some authentic feels

Tough ones...

Definitely the most impactful of the few visual novels I've experienced

Warning. Listen to the what the title screen says. I realize it is a slight spoiler, but as someone who is glad he was spoiled before he finished the game I will just say. If you suffer from any kind of trauma I would suggest not playing this game. If darker themes might 'trigger' you, avoid.

If not, go for it. Good Game, but whats good about it is how effective it is at what its does, and if that something can hit you too hard, stay away.

I went into this game a few weeks ago, thinking it'd just be a generic dating sim/VN, but since it was made in the west (and free) I was curious enough to try it. Needless to say, it's not generic. Very fun time to see it unfold!

Agreed. Do not look up anything about the game, just have a bit of faith. It's free on Steam and about 6 hours long, so there's no real risk.

I just downloaded it based on these recommendations. Here's hoping for the best.

Tried to play it for half an hour. I'm not slogging through a visual novel to see something cool no matter how cool it is though!

I'm glad to hear it's not super long. I'd like to get to it before my switch arrives and Mario Odyssey takes over my life.

Just finished it. Holy crap.

Do not read this if you haven't played the game to completion, credits and all.

I have a question, guys...

@gunslingerpanda:I'm not going to force you to play it, but I just wanted to let you and others who are interested know that it takes about an hour to get going. Understandable if you don't want to or can't give it that time though!

@themanwithnoplan: I would highly recommend playing it in one sitting if you can, at least that way you'll be able to get it done before you sink in to Mario!

The long stretch of normal at the beginning definitely makes the later parts more effective, but I feel you. I'd at least recommend checking out a playthrough of the game on Youtube or something, there are plenty to choose from.

@frostyryan:

Finished it. Creepiest 4th-wall-type game of 2017.

Think any of the staff could be convinced to play this in the next few weeks? In a year this good, I don't know what category or whose top 10 this game might even make, but it would be nice if at least somebody would play it, if only because it has a Frog Fractions/Undertale quality of being not quite what you would expect.

So I beat this game on this thread's recommendation and just want to say: thank you for letting me know about this game. I disdain anime and don't usually care for VNs, but Doki Doki Literature Club is very very good. It's currently sitting pretty at number 4 on my GOTY list.

@elmorales94: I'm really glad to hear that, and also see more people trying it. Was a huge surprise for me and is my number 1 or 2!

@bisonhero: I'm sure back in the day we could have got Patrick Klepek to try it, but of the current staff... I'm not so sure. Maybe Abby is the most likely to give it a shot? Or Vinny, if he could find the time.

@bollard: I think Ben or Alex can also be convinced to give an honest shot to just about any genre. Pretty open minded duders.

Also, you're forgetting that Drew was our resident VN expert, between alpacas and WW2 tank VNs.

Eh, out of all the characters, I only really liked Monika.

I use to think this. I use to think Natsuki was the worst. Then @gamer_152 realized something from his playthrough. It has to do with one of the last poems Natsuki writes. NATSUKI WRITES HER LAST POEM USING BASE64 BINARY!She no joke tries to warn you before things get bad. Gamer wasn't able to translate it perfectly, but the poem reads:

"Open Your Third EyeI can feel Nhe tenderness of hey`skin Nhrough the knife, as if it were an extension of my sense of toHch. B9 body nearly convHlses. There's sob%thing incredibly faint, deep down, NhaN screams to resisN this unconNrollable pleasHre. BHt I can already tell that I'cࢥing pushed over the edge. I can't...I can'N sNop mysg넀"

Thanks, game. I feel super shitty right now.

Edit:

@militantfreudian:

Yeah, Sayori almost broke me too. That was really rough.

@elmorales94: Damn that pretty impressive. Im skeptical but I might give this game a go after all.

I don't want to tell a grown up what they should and shouldn't say, but I will say that I think trying to badger Alex into playing this game is kinda messed up considering the content and some of the shit he's talked about fairly openly with his own demons.

I'm glad I played it, it was a neat experience and all, and the subversion of the genre was certainly interesting, but ignoring the trigger warnings was also dumb. But then I always ignore trigger warnings despite the fact I should know better. It was grim and even when I could see some of the warning signs (by the nature of the warnings I thought something dealing with depression or abuse was going to come into it, and certainly after Yuri brought out this really sharp knife and the way she talked about it, well, combined with always wearing long sleeves I recognised a lot of the signs of that particular form of self harm) the graphic nature still kind of shook me. I didn't really have a fun time after playing it.

It's certainly worth playing through if you have even a vague tolerance for visual novels, but I really think you should take the warnings seriously. I know the nature of the internet these days is that trigger warnings are for "snowflakes" and all that dumb shit but it can kick your arse even if you're semi-prepared for it.

One thing that I did think was a little funny, it did the real name thing but that lost a lot of impact because it pulled it in from my Windows account, and that is just the start of my old hotmail account for reasons. So instead of being shocked Monika found out my real name she just called me not_ which was very silly.

I'd also say I'm not sure if I actually finished it. Does anything happen after Monika has deleted everyone or does that just go on forever?

@forkboy:

yeah you're not finished yet, there is another thing you can do.

A hint: remember what Monika did to the other characters before she brought you to that room.

I don't understand the love for this game. Waste of 4 hours of my life I wish I had back to play something fun. I am guessing that people that like this haven't seen much anime before. Higurashi anyone?

mmm doki doki... No words. 10/10

I suggested this to my daughter based on the Kotaku story. She loved it, and pushed me to play it. I WAS impressed by the twist away from unrequited love to clinical depression, but nothing else rose above my expectations (its too slow, giving players too much time to anticipate what it coming). I should show her Serial Experiment Lain next...

@hawkinson76: Huh, interesting. I've added that to my plan to watch list for now. Thanks for the recommendation!