Preamble

Well, with the site gearing itself for "GOTY MODE," I thought I would do something "different." I have already made a "traditional" 2021 GOTY list and published my yearly "Multimedia Extravaganza," so there's not much else for me to do other than cover industry-wide trends I noticed with my preferred gaming genres. One of the lesser reported trends I saw was the growing body of quality indie and higher-budgeted visual novels. This move was embodied in three particular ways:

1. Tabletop IP holders, in particular, Paradox, used visual novels as on-ramps and tutorials for traditional tabletop roleplaying games.
2. The indie scene saw a growing proliferation of visual novels representing LGBTQIA issues and topics. Though, I admit this is not an entirely "new" trend.
3. After years of petitioning from fans, a handful of non-Western games finally got official localizations.

So, TL;DR, 2021 was a "good year" for visual novel fans.

With all of this, I'm happy we are moving on from ironic western indie joke visual novels that grapple on to one or two VN tropes and repeat them verbatim for comedic effect. I will tell you; it was downright PAINFUL to see respected gaming press members talk about I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator positively during 2019 GOTY conversations. I'm sorry that I don't derive any joy from a shameless corporate cash-grab and could not relate to it when it was presented during "Best Comedy" or "Best Writing" talks, even in jest. As a part-Japanese person, I honestly feel like the gaming press generally doesn't understand the slightly yellow-faced undercurrent inherent to games like these. I feel distinctly grossed out whenever I see YET ANOTHER example of a western company doing a "quirky Japanese thing," and all they have to add is that said quirky Japanese thing is weird or crazy or doesn't make sense. As a friend of mine once said, it would be like seeing a black standup comedian and having your only takeaway be that the show was funny because the comedian was black.

Slight tangent aside, let's return to the issue at hand. With this blog, I hope to highlight some of the visual novel bright spots from 2021. I will emphasize I tried to limit this to new experiences or games that got their first "official" western release in 2021. I understand many people enjoyed Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!, but I think everything you need to know about that game is already readily available on the internet. And as someone who played The House in Fata Morgana on the Vita, I'm happy a new wave of people are coming around to the game, but it wasn't a unique experience for me last year. I'll also give an "honorable mention" to Danganronpa: Decadence for being one of the best deals you will find on the Switch. However, I suspect everyone knows where they stand on the Danganronpa franchise at this point. Still, it's a worthy pick even if the much-ballyhooed "Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp" mode isn't as big a deal as initially promised. Finally, I want to admit that most of the games I'm going to look at are not for everyone, and none of them are necessarily going to sell you on visual novels if you already have a deep-seated hatred for the genre and its core mechanics.

Boyfriend Dungeon Took Some Big Swings

I'm starting things off with probably one of the more controversial selections on my list. For those unaware, Boyfriend Dungeon seeks to represent the positive and negative aspects of dating. As a result, a character in the game is purposefully toxic and parasocial. There was no trigger warning at the time of the game's release, and people felt that there should have been one with such a character playing a prominent role in the game's story. Since the controversy first exploded, I have come to sympathize with the developer, especially given how small their team is and their desire to move on from Boyfriend Dungeon and tackle other games and subjects. However, this controversy is not the only stumbling point worth mentioning. Despite its best efforts to convey a sweeping relationship-based journey, not all romanceable options are created equal. Boyfriend Dungeon solves some of the quibbles people have with the lack of player interactivity with visual novels. Still, it does not entirely solve the common VN pitfall of some characters being more exciting or well-written than others and players feeling burned after exploring a route for hours and being met with disappointment.

However, the more fundamental issue most have with Boyfriend Dungeon, including me, is mechanical. Despite the initial promise of a visual novel "mixing" itself with rogue-like dungeon spelunking, its marriage of genres doesn't entirely work. There's a fundamental disconnect between the long-term emotional connections the visual novel parts of Boyfriend Dungeon attempts to make and the temporary one-off nature of rogue-lite dungeon crawling. And if you are not a fan of straightforward dungeon crawling, this is not an experience for you. At best, I would say I tolerated the dungeon portions of the game and did whatever was necessary to transition to the visual novel sequences. However, you can't avoid the combat sequences, and I found them to cause the story to drag and progress at a crawl.

Despite all of these flaws, the game still deserves credit for its inclusivity with what it lovingly showcases throughout its story. The game rightfully earned its writing-related accolades and nominations for the LGBTQ issues it tackled and for including relationship options rarely addressed in video games. Even if the title is "Boyfriend Dungeon," there are non-binary characters as well as female romanceable options. For goodness' sake, one of the characters you can develop a relationship with happens to be a cat. Likewise, the game avoids some standard visual novel traps of having the protagonist be a blank cipher for the player. There's a bit of "give" for player customization, but you can tell there's a story Kitfox Games wants you to witness. No matter who or what your character ends up looking like, the narrative will manifest required topics and issues. Issues, mind you, that broach important topics worth conveying.

Bustafellows Is One Of The Best Otome Games Of Recent Memory & The Switch Is Becoming The Console Of Choice for VN Enthusiasts.

In the past two years, the Switch has seen a MASSIVE influx of visual novels, both small and big. As a result, it is gaining favor in the VN community as a necessity rather than a fun novelty or time waster. Now, don't get me wrong. The PC will ALWAYS be the de facto home of the visual novel genre. With platforms like Steam, Epic, itch, and ModDB lowering the barrier of entry for self-publishing, no console can ever hope to capture the visual novel community quite like the PC. Nonetheless, the Switch is making a decent case as a solid alternative. For anyone on the go or wallowing in long commutes, the platform's portability merges almost perfectly with the bite-sized structure and format of most visual novels. With visual novels, you don't have to worry about a single jostle from a speed-bump ruining your experience, but their stories are involved enough to make time fly should you get especially swept away.

Bustafellows is an "interesting" choice for those who don't mind otome games with dating mechanics targeted towards women. It certainly is a game with some potent twists and turns, but I was not too fond of its font choice, and the fact you cannot save at dialogue choices is a deal-breaker. Likewise, its minigames are sometimes fiddly to the point where I found them frustrating. Regardless, the story is what matters most in visual novels, and that's exactly where Bustafellows shines the most. The worldbuilding and characterization are top-notch, with its diverse cast carrying the game's load through thick and thin. Despite its otome trappings, the game de-emphasizes the romance aspects of the genre in favor of sweeping action set-pieces and a transformative storyline based on your in-game choices. To return to my point earlier about visual novels on the Switch being portable and flexible experiences, Bustafellows employs an episodic format that allows you to pace yourself. If you have concerns about visual novels because of their often plodding pace and onerous reams of text, this might be an entertaining diversion.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – The Heart of the Forest Was Better Than The Big Action-Stealth Game Is Was Meant To Tie Into

If Boyfriend Dungeon is the most problematic game I'm looking at today, might be the "worst." Earlier in 2021, some of you may recall, in response to all of the recent garbage action and shooter video games tied to the Vampire: The Masquerade IP, I advocated for people to check out the VtM visual novels. In particular, Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York and the works of Choice of Games, which we will discuss again shortly. After publishing that blog, almost on cue, a visual novel for Werewolf: The Apocalypse, another World of Darkness IP, was brought to my attention. The game was initially planned as a tie-in to Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood, a colossal piece of shit. Despite its many flaws, Heart of the Forest at least attempts to give you a sense of what playing a World of Darkness tabletop game might entail. The same OBVIOUSLY cannot be said about Earthblood.

Nonetheless, let's review the negatives for why you might not want to play Heart of the Forest. The game's art is the most significant issue some have right off the bat. Its surrealistic and abstract art style, unlike the VtM visual novels, is often not visually pleasing to the eyes. Some people, like myself, appreciate it given how much of the game takes place in spiritual realms or dream states. The other "deal-breaker" stems from the game's pace, which is undeniably slower than any of the VtM visual novels. The first three chapters are exposition and establish the game's setting, and they are the most significant chapters in the game with few interactive opportunities for the player. By the time the game begins providing different branches and choices of consequence, you are past the game's midway point. You can undoubtedly replay the game, but I would strongly recommend you save scum somewhere after the first or second chapter to save you some time.

Regardless, for anyone with the slightest bit of interest in playing a World of Darkness tabletop game, this is one of the better on-ramps out there. The game has a simplified character sheet that marks how your in-game choices impact your character's levels or relationships. Unlike the VtM visual novels, it also takes the time to mimic how skill checks work in the World of Darkness tabletop games. Finally, it introduces all of the various factions and clans in Werewolf: The Apocalypse in a coherent and in-depth manner. With Werewolf: The Apocalypse 5th Edition supposedly right around the corner, this game serves as a practical "starter module" and even a reference point for people trying to make homebrew campaigns. For that alone, I can't help but applaud it.

Choice Of Games Continues Making Good Vampire: The Masquerade Interactive Fiction

If you are the type of person who thinks of Zork or Infocom's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy when you hear the words "visual novel," might I direct you towards the works of Choice of Games? Again, this is a topic I explored on my VtM special last year, but Choice of Games is a small indie studio that exclusively works on interactive fiction. When you start one of their works, you are greeted with a page of text and a dialogue choice that will cause your story to diverge down different routes. In some of their VtM works, you select your starting clan, which impacts how the game starts and how other characters react to you. The amount of text in each game is simply astounding, with the average Choice of Games outing containing about 500,000 words. Night Road, which is meant to be the first chapter in their VtM series, is a whopping 650,000 words!

Last year, Choice of Games published TWO works of interactive fiction set in the VtM universe. Vampire: The Masquerade — Out for Blood is the most unorthodox entry in their catalog as you take the role of a vampire hunter rather than the usual bloodsucker. It's the most uneven game of theirs, but I give them credit for depicting what life is like for non-vampire entities in the world of Vampire the Masquerade. As someone who plays VtM 5E, it gave me ideas on how to better use humans as NPCs in my homebrew campaigns. On the other hand, Vampire: The Masquerade — Parliament of Knives sends you to Canada, where a coup has ruptured the previous vampiric leaders in charge of Ottawa. It does a fantastic job of differentiating the sometimes overwhelming number of clans and factions in VtM and, much like earlier games by Choice, has a ton of homebrew potential. Likewise, both maintained the studio's quality standard and provided unique experiences and perspectives.

A Year of Springs Tackled Serious Subjects With Grace And Charm

A Year of Springs is the full-fledged version of "one night, hot springs," a short indie visual novel about Haru, a trans woman who is invited to join her friend on a traditional Japanese hot springs trip. As part of the story, you will be prompted to deal with many uncomfortable scenarios and situations faced by trans people trying to enjoy everyday activities with their friends. As the title suggests, the crux of the game has Haru unable to convey her discomfort with her friends while still wanting to partake in everyday social interactions. As heavy of a topic this might be, it is essential to note that A Year of Springs tackles its issues headfirst but is for all ages. The journey is meant to be wholesome while also a teachable moment. And that all-ages-friendly tone is reinforced by its adorable art and charming and bubbly music.

With A Year of Springs, developer npckc combines three stories tackling the same scenario. The first game is through the perspective of Haru and is probably the most compelling viewpoint. There's a moment in her story where her gender is validated by a random employee at the hot spring, and it's one of the most empowering video game moments I saw in 2021. The second story involves Erika, the friend who invited Haru on the hot springs trip, and their slow journey of being a better ally. The final story features Manami, who surfaces the process of coming out and the impact that can have on others. All of the stories have a subtext of romance, which can rub some people the wrong way. To those skeptical of that and the game's topic, at the very least, consider checking out "one night, hot springs," which is free on various online marketplaces. It's also worth mentioning that a single route should take you about thirty minutes to complete.

If You Didn't Play The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, You Missed Out On One Of The Best Games of 2021!

I mentioned this on my 2021 GOTY list, but The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles was one of the best video game pick-me-ups last year. Yes, the package was undoubtedly guilty of repeating some of the same mistakes from previous entries in the franchise while also committing a few mistakes of its own. The first game has an excruciatingly slow pace before climaxing more than two-thirds into the story. Despite the new backdrop and setting, you need to help out friends and allies from false murder accusations way more often than you'd like. The newer mechanics will have a learning curve for those who have not followed the franchise for a while. The second game does an especially poor job of teaching how to approach its deduction systems. Finally, be warned, if your favorite part of the previous Ace Attorney games was entering a courtroom with baggies full of evidence, The Great Ace Attorney series eschews that at least partially.

All that aside, the writing in both games is simply the best it has been in franchise history. Across the two games, you watch as try-hards gain humility and more meek characters find their self-respect. A strength the Ace Attorney franchise has always had is how naturally it blends its mechanics with its characters, and that's doubly so with The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. Herlock Sholmes' sequences are high points as they both mechanically differentiate the cases AND better contextualize the characters they are meant to showcase. Speaking of which, Herlock Sholmes is great! His over-the-top antics aren't for everyone, but they are one of the more effective callbacks to previous Ace Attorney games, and his relationship with his daughter adds a lot of heart to the story.

Finally, as I said on my GOTY list, the localization quality in the official Western release for The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is incomparable. The team in charge of the translation tackled what I would describe as a Herculean task considering the original game had so much obscure Japanese referential humor. Translating the script literally was not an option unless the translation team wanted players to read reams of translation notes, and I think we can all agree, no one has time for that. There are times when I suspect the translation errs too far on the site of "Woolseyism," but it's never so much that I cannot understand why such creative license was done. Likewise, both games feature impeccable background work and character designs. The games are not just visually pleasing as they also sport outstanding OSTs that immediately immerse you into their respective worlds. The new mechanics I warned about earlier are a blast once you wrap your mind around them, and they add some much-needed variety to the Ace Attorney formula.

Yo, The Switch Remasters of Famicom Detective Club Are A Good Time (For VN Veterans)

In my final push to wrap up several games for GOTY purposes, I decided to get around to the Famicom Detective Club remakes that came out for the Switch. I was looking for something less involved than your average multiplayer or action shooter but had enough storytelling and engagement to keep me awake. Hence, I arrived to Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir and eventually Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind. Now that I have finished both, I can safely say they are worthwhile experiences for those that can tolerate the usual visual novel-related issues of something originally designed in the 1980s. The Famicom Detective Club remakes each feel less like full-fledged games, and more like interactive animes, and for those of you that have a few kinetic visual novels under your belt, that's probably fine.

Sure, the detective mechanics are there, but the overall design for each game has been left largely intact. Speaking of which, you should play these games with a guide on hand. Both games rely on massive leaps of logic to solve even the most basic puzzles. Unfortunately, this means you will likely bang your head on a wall for hours on some especially crummy puzzles unless you seek help. And God save your soul if you accidentally sequence break even one task or event in the game. These issues aside, Famicom Detective Club has a spectacular sense of atmosphere. While the games are not for the faint of heart, I loved them.

The remakes are beautifully animated, and the core stories at the heart of each game are compelling enough for me to look past their faults. I get not every creative decision with the character designs proved popular with fans of the originals, but the games make good with what I can only assume was a shoestring budget. I also have to praise the quality of the localization for each game. As someone who slogged through fan translations for the originals, I can tell you the leap in quality is massive. Outside of Tales of Arise and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, I think the Famicom Detective Club translations are among the best of 2021. It was simply video game "comfort food" to see so much care and love be put into an iconic and historically significant cult classic.

Nonetheless, the one nagging issue I have developed since completing both games is that I cannot stop thinking of the endless number of classic visual novels that warrant this treatment even more. I'm still kind of amazed that after Clannad got its due, the non-adult version of Kanon still hasn't gotten an official English translation. Not only did both games lay the bedrock for modern visual novels, but the anime adaptations for each are still held in incredibly high regard, and they got localized. Likewise, there's an essay to be written about Type-Moon wanting Western audiences to forget about Fate/stay night's eroge origins. Still, the non-pornographic versions of the initial Fate/stay visual novels warrant some consideration in the future. I can tell you first-hand, the first Fate/stay night game better communicates the mythos and worldbuilding of the Fate/stay universe than the 2006 anime. Although, that is a low bar to pass. However, there's one visual novel franchise that I cannot stop thinking about that I desperately wish got some love. That series is 100% Tokimeki Memorial.

Other Games I Feel Like Mentioning But Not Talking About Exhaustively

Full Metal Daemon Muramasa got an official translation in 2021, but the team behind the localization effort, JAST USA, has only released the eroge version of the game. I have nothing against those who have no issue with this point of controversy, but I'm not interested. I understand the game itself is considered a seminal work by Nitroplus, but I'll wait until there's a version of the game without pornographic sex scenes. Buried Stars, a South Korean visual novel, provides a Corpse Party horror-based journey without most of the pitfalls of Corpse Party. That said, it is a long and often laborious affair that goes on far longer than it should. Finally, I almost thought about discussing Cupid Parasite, just because I wanted to tell Idea Factory, they can make good games that are not the most pandering anime bullshit. However, Cupid Parasite just is not good enough to talk about other than in passing.

Nonetheless, feel free to share any games you think I am missing. Were there any visual novels from 2021 you enjoyed playing? I'm always down for a fun visual novel romp in-between the more prominent games I'm playing.