Archive for January 2025
Best Visual Novel Releases – January 2025
Now the haze of new year has passed, we can look forward to another
great year for visual novels and January is keen to start us off with
a strong selection of them. We have some really special titles this
month from an intense mystery thriller to supernatural slice of life
with everything in-between. Let’s dive in and find out what new
releases are worth your time.
Official Releases
The Shell Part III: Paradiso
As
the third entry in the bleak mystery series, formally known as Kara
No Shoujo and now called The Shell, Paradiso has some big shoes to
fill and a ten year wait since the original release of second game in
English compounds these expectations. This series was developed over
a long period of time with many other unrelated projects between
releases and each entry reflects changes in the studio’s creative
direction. In many ways Paradiso more closely resembles the style
developed for the Flowers games than the tone found in either of the
other The Shell games. Your enjoyment of Paradiso is going to hinge
on your willingness to accept this change and embrace what it is now rather than what it was before. With all this said, it is still more directly darker
than the Flowers games and grapples with some of the topic The Shell series
is known for. The Flowers influence is in the how the scenes are
presented rather than their content. Overall this is another
memorable title from Innocent Grey and should be a must play for fans
of their previous work.
Gensou Manège
Ever
wanted to be at amusement park in France surrounded by handsome men?
Well if you have this oddly specific desire then Gensou Manege has
you covered with its magically infused take on this concept. The
story follows Emma a young witch who has lost her powers as she
interacts with the employees of a travelling amusement park and must
find a way to free them from their magical incarceration within it. To
do so she must reawaken the magic within herself and confront the
suppressed memories which hold her back from her full potential. Such
is the set up for a journey of self discovery and romance with a good
helping of character drama to keep the player on the edge of their
seats. Its magical elements are well integrated into the plot where
they work to heighten the emotional stakes and put just the right
amount of emphasis where it is needed. If you are looking for a
solidly built otome title to play then Gensou Manege will scratch
that itch and lead you on a colourful and intimate romance.
Angelic☆Chaos RE-BOOT!
JAST USA [18+] VNDB Genre
– Fantasy, Slice of Life, Romance Play Time – 50 hours
Here
we have another well put together slice of life and romance visual
novel with a splash for fantasy from Yuzusoft. This style is their
bread and butter and Angelic Chaos does exactly what it needs to feel
slightly different from their previous work and nothing more. Based on these
statements alone you should probably know if this title is for you
since Yuzusoft understand their audience and caters to these
expectations. Its unique twist on the formula is the protagonist
being the reincarnation of the demon lord from another world and he
now finds himself surrounded by various demons and angels from that
world who have all taken an interest in him. Having a hidden side from
the process of reincarnation is played with quite extensively and the
game gets a lot of narrative value out of using this as a source of
drama and comedy. This is the high quality and polished title that
you would expect from Yuzusoft and is something you will want to pick
up if you are its target audience.
Nagi no Koi
Weaving
two separate narratives into one another to create a powerful love story
set in historical Japan is the core ambition of Nagi no Koi. Yet its
undeniable low budget nature of does somewhat hamper the execution. This manifest as a level of jank which sits behind
every moment of the playtime through a general lack of polish to
transitions or animations and only the female characters being
voiced. If you can manage to push past the flawed presentation then
there is genuine passion for the period setting and an intimate human
tale of love. The Japanese setting and the ground level view from the
lives of people from a variety of social strata gives the game feeling
of life lacking in many other stories set in this time period.
Nagi no Koi is something a little out of the ordinary for the romance
genre and for that alone it is worth trying out if you can look
passed the obvious constraints of its development.
S4U: CITYPUNK 2011 AND LOVE PUNCH
S4U
is the strangest title on this list as it merges visual novel and
adventure game elements through a mock operating system which leans
heavily into the use of the keyboard. It is focused around the
interactions the protagonist, Miki, makes through online chats in
Cyber-Life and it is here where the game’s choices can all be found.
There is something immensely humanising while at the same time
distant about text conversations over the internet and S4U does a
wonderful job of capturing how people deal with the restrictions of
this form of communication. What comes from this tight set of
presentational ideas is an experience where the core themes are
clearly framed and the narrative structure is open enough for a
feeling of player expression. Those looking for something a bit
different from their visual novels will not be disappointed with S4U.
Joke Endings – An Anatomy Of Visual Novels
Injecting Humour
When
a visual novel reaches an ending the general practice make it a
serious conclusion to the narrative stakes, but what if instead it
took all of the build up and made a joke about it? Such is the
purpose of the Joke Ending which aims to add levity to an otherwise
serious game. This is distinct from humorous endings in a visual
novel focused exclusively on comedy since the power of the Joke
Ending is in its contrast with what surrounds it. Through breaking
the tension of an earnest story, they can provide it with some much
needed levity and prevent it from becoming too self serious if that
is not what the developers are aiming for. Should the visual novel
have a more free-form structure which allows exploration then these
Joke Ending can be a type of fun reward for the curious. In isolation
they can act as a light punishment for the player when they fail to
commit to which route they want to follow by abruptly ending the game
in a silly fashion. There is a great deal of flexibility to how these
endings can be integrated. Let’s have a good laugh and look at the
complexities of the Joke Ending.
Breaking Tension
Not
every visual novel wants to be taken seriously all the time and some want to give themselves some much need levity while still holding on to a sense of
weight when it really matters. Joke Endings offer a way to add the
needed humour and keep it mostly isolated from the ongoing plot.
Since they are effectively dead ends in the narrative it is easy to
communicate to the player how they should think about them and set
their expectations for the importance of what is happening. Once this
distance from the main story is established the Joke Ending can be as
far from the original tone as it likes and fully take advantage of
any inherent absurdities present in the game. All stories rely on
some sort of contrivance for dramatic effect, be it magical or
mundane in nature, and the player accepts them as necessary for
events to move forward smoothly. However, a tension still exists
between the story and the player’s understanding of the real world
which is more pronounced in titles aims for fantastical narratives. A Joke
Ending can lean into this tension and acts a valve to relieve the
pressure. Through highlighting the silly elements of the game it can
get a laugh at its own expense in order to level the ground between
it and the player so they become more willing to engage with future
content in good faith.
 |
| Jin's obsession with his brother has gone a little far... |
One of most prolific users of the Joke Ending
is the Blazblue series and it works well with its character
orientated humour. The overarching plot of these titles take its seriously as their heroes fight through mortal danger and
yet it sits right next to the over the top antics of its fight game
half. In order to balance out the contradiction between these two
parts, Blazblue leans into a good helping of comedy and creates a
common silliness between them. Obviously this includes Joke Endings
but there are also dedicated comedy characters like Taokaka and Bang
who are humorous even outside of those endings. The role of Joke
Endings here is as a cathartic outlet for player’s who picks the
silly options the games present and relieve the tension
between the silly and serious elements of the title. Each one takes the
serious setting and characters surrounding it and completely
undermines them through various means, such as having characters
pretend to be other ones like the whole things was a poorly put
together school play. They pop up just enough to be memorable yet
understand they are not the main attraction so stay out of important
plot moments.
Rewards For The Curious
There
is a good degree of adaptability to how different types of endings
can be implemented when a visual novel adopts a free-form style of
narrative structure. Here the various endings aim to reward the
player who is willing to properly explore what the game has to offer.
Of course if everything is serious all the time then this exploration
might become somewhat monotonous and this is where the Joke Ending
can come in. It gives a means of adding something to snap the player
wake if they had just been mindlessly clicking through the story and
readjusts their expectations for what sort of ride they are in for.
In keeping things fresh it can work to complement the parts of the
story which direct the overall flow of the experience as it
encourages people to poke in all the nooks available and so have a
complete understanding of the plot before it moves into its ending.
As a trick it must be used sparingly and with a proper distribution
throughout the game or it will quickly irritate the player as it
overstay its welcome. Clear signposting can help with this issue,
if the choices obviously indicate the presence of a Joke Ending then
everyone knows where they stand when entering one, but this weakens
the surprise and impact many of them rely on. It is ultimately a
situational dilemma that can only be solved through careful
consideration of the context around the Joke Ending.
 |
| There is a mix of serious and silly in the wide space of Kagetsu Tohya |
Kagetsu Tohya is
a visual novel with an open and winding structure and it loves to take
advantage of the Joke Ending. It tries to tread the line between the
serious elements of its setting with its magical antagonists and the
goofier character interactions which play up their individual
personalities to their extremes. The various endings are broadly
divided into these two camps and the Joke Endings take the role of
representing the silly qualities for the cast. Some are sudden where
the player’s choice is immediacy met with a quick and punchy gag
before being send back to the start while others are expansive and
lead to a roller-coaster ride of references and funny situations.
Through varying the lengths of the endings, Kagetsu Tohya can use the
Joke Endings as a surprise factor for the player to keep the engaged
in a way a more rigid and serious ending could never manage. Being a
fandisc helps the game avoid the pitfall of the Joke Endings feeling
out of place since it can rely on the player’s existing knowledge
of the characters and their quirks to leverage its humour rather than
having to build it up itself.
Light Slap On The Wrist
Perhaps
the simplest application of the Joke Ending is as a sort of light
punishment for the player. Commonly this is done if they have failed
to score enough points with any of the heroines to end up in a
route and it a clean indication of this fact while keeping the tone
somewhat light. Rather than a direct and mechanical notice of the
player’s failure, it instead turned into an in-joke between game
and player so they are not drawn out of the experience by organically
merging the signpost into the narrative. They are also generally of a
simple construction being a joke main character death or a poke at
how they will be alone forever. It just needs to be snappy and have a
direct punch to its joke so the player can move on as fast as
possible back to selecting their desired route. Katawa Shoujo is a
good example of this practice as it kills of its protagonist in
a darkly humorous fashion. Here the reason for this outcome is
clearly communicated as the player’s lack of commitment to any
heroine and presents it within the brand of humour which runs
throughout the title. Many modern titles now simply have a default
route they put the player on if they have not committed to any
specific other route rather than a Joke Ending. However, this can lead to confusion on the part
of the player who is expecting an entirely different route to what they got and it
does communicate the cause of this outcome in the clean way a Joke
Ending is able to achieve.
 |
| Better make the right choices if you don't want to die a silly death |
Conclusion
Humour
is an important part of any visual novel and Joke Endings offer a
flexible and fun way to integrate it. They allow a game to break the
tension of a serious story and prevent it from becoming overbearing while
synergising with the tone of other gameplay elements. It can be a
light and funny punishment for the player’s indecisiveness which
clearly communicates how they can avoid this fate in future.
Alongside other types of routes it can be a contrasting part of a
rewards package for a curious player who want to explore the
narrative space of a more free-form visual novel. Overall, the Joke
Ending is something worth considering if you plan on add some humour
to your visual novel.
Nakige – Genre Deep Dive
Shedding Tears
Playing
on the heart strings is a tricky technique to make the centre piece
of genre, yet that is exactly what Nakige set out to achieve. At their
heart all visual novels aim for some kind of emotional resonance while
Nakige make it their only sole source of engagement. Other genres
choose to mix in their own distinctive elements in order to add
additional flavour to the player’s experience. Nakige does not have
this luxury and instead leverages the intensity behind the emotions of
its characters to their full effect. It aims for big and hard hitting
moments where the game lands a gut punch on the player in either a
surprising way or one built up through a tragic dread. Core to this
approach is the idea of a memorable scene crafted in such a way
as to stick in the mind long after the game is over. An important
drawback to the Nakige is the way it tends towards a formulaic
construction to its narratives causing it to potential lose its
intended effect when repeated for multiple over the course of a game
or a developer’s portfolio. Let’s have a good cry and examine how
this genre comes together in practice.
Emotional Impact
In
order to create those powerful emotional moments, a visual novel has
to go through a lot of complicated hoops. Just
slapping some vague empathetic characters in a tragic situation is
not good enough and can feel hollow or lacking in sincerity. People
generally do not like to be openly emotional manipulated so tend to
resist it leading to a weaker overall experience. As
such a Nakige has to take the slow path to its big moments with a lot
of time dedicated to naturally helping the player get to know the
characters. The emotional scenes are often proceeded by a long period
of build up or foreshadowing structured
in a way where the scenes do not come out of nowhere. Yet the build
up never provides enough information to spoil the exact way events
will play out and instead leaning into a loose feeling of dread about
the outcome. This
is always present in the background and only comes to the front when
the climatic moment needs its impact. Through the careful
choreographing of the overall experience, a Nakige can avoid the
pitfalls of open emotional manipulation to carve a personal and
cohesive tale.
 |
| Crying transcends mediums |
Key
are perhaps the masters of the Nakige genre and so looking at one of
their titles, Clannad, is a good way to see this method in
action. Nagisa’s
illness quietly
hangs over her story with
her gentle and positive nature carrying a greater weight through what
she has had to endure in her life. When it finally does come to the
front and threatens to harm the happiness Nagisa has built, there is
an understanding of what this means for all the characters involved and
it feels like a natural climax to the established emotions.
By
keeping the illness
as an organic part of the
ongoing
narrative, it can give the heightened emotional scenes a
feeling of belonging to Nagisa’s character arc rather than a
contrivance to increase the stakes.
The
principles of Nakige are not unique to visual novels, Plastic
Memories is an anime which uses similar key emotional moments and
build up to
great effect.
What
is interesting about this anime is the fact it received a visual
novel adaptation which expanded upon the original’s story and makes
for good comparison case-study. Both
versions follow what is essentially a story about terminal illness
and
they focus in on this as their central dramatic element. Where the
visual novel separates itself from the anime is in the time given to
how secondary characters are dealing with events. This allows the
game to make more effective use of its longer time frame to enhance
the tragedy which the narrative is utilising as its main pillar and
show a more complete picture of the realities of its subject matter.
Setting the story up in this way furthers the sense of natural lead
into the dramatic climax in a way the anime could never achieve in
its shorter runtime and demonstrates the way visual novels can push
this technique into territory unique to its structure.
Remaining In The Memory
All
these emotional moments are ultimately in service to making the title a
memorable experience in both the short and long term. For a Nakige
not only wants the player to keep progressing it also aims to leave
such a strong impression that they come back time and time again. The
framing and intensity of these key scenes is important and allows for
the player’s impressions of a scene to be directed to ignore any
possible inconsistencies needed to make it powerful. What this means
in practice is all elements of the visual novel are solely focused on
that one moment. The music swells and the visuals jump out at the
player, nothing else seems to matter except the drama on screen. It
is absolutely critical for a Nakige to get this memorable quality
right since they often have nothing else to fall back on. These
scenes are inherently contrived for dramatic effect so there is
always a delicate balance to be maintained so the game does not push
to far into the absurd while still presenting something compelling.
 |
| I'm sure you won't just to whatever the plot demands right? |
Kunado Chronicles plays heavily into these big moments throughout
each of its routes and can sometimes go to somewhat silly lengths to
make them happen. This ranges for the convenient presence or absence
of enemies beyond where they logically should be to another character
taking control of the protagonist to have them say something designed
to create conflict. As things are occurring the atmosphere and drama
prevent the player from spending too much time thinking about these
flaws and it keeps moving forward to try and prevent them sticking in
the memory. Kunado Chronicles might well overuse this trick and
the more contrivances it brings to the table, the more likely it is
the player is going to lose patience with the way the game has to
bend over backwards for its drama. However, the game appears
comfortable in this construction and takes the bet that more people
will be okay with letting this distraction go for the sake of
enjoyment.
A Rigid Formula?
By
far the greatest problem Nakige have to contend with is the
predictable nature of their standard narrative formula. Of course all
stories rub up against this to some extent due to expectation for
certain structural traits in good storytelling, but Nakige has to
rely on its rigid nature more due to its reliance on big
moments to carry the game. This formula can be boiled down to
following basics: an opening first half focused around comedy between
the cast, a romantic tone when moving into the individual routes and
finally an emotionally intense climax where the previous happiness is
threatened. Each individual title might have its own slight quirks
yet all will weave in and around this common outline. In particular
the output of a single developer can suffer from this issue since not
only do their works have the formulaic nature from Nakige, but
they also have repeated quirks from their own specific narrative
style. The way many of them attempt to circumvent the problem is
through constantly shifting the setting and themes in order to try
and keep things fresh. For many players these changes are enough so
the formula does not become overly apparent and yet it is always a
spectre developers have to keep in the back of their minds when
dealing with this genre.
 |
| Is something sad going to happen to you by any chance? |
To properly see this formula in action, it is
time to once again look at Key. Their primary output is almost
exclusively Nakige to the point it is what players have come to
expect out of a new game from them and it is something they have
completely embraced. For our first example lets consider Little
Busters for it is in many ways an attempt to embrace the
formulaic nature of Nakige as part of a game’s intentional
structure. It treats its routes in a modular fashion with none of
them being particularly important for overall plot outside of some
small nod to it and they are instead formed of a self contained
romantic build up followed by the expected emotional climax. Outside
of the final true route, there is practically no division from rigid
outline which does lead to a feeling of repetition and making the
plot of each route easy to predict. On the other hand, it allowed for
new routes to be introduced seamlessly into the existing game with
each new version of the game and they not feel out of place since they
are just as self contained as the existing ones. These additions
where made multiple times and could theoretically be continued should
Key have chosen to do so without needed to rearrange anything
substantial.
For a less extreme example of the issues with this
formula in Key’s work we can take a look at Summer Pockets. As an
isolated visual novel there is nothing wrong with Summer Pockets, it
follows the expected formula of a Nakige but not the point of being
distracting or weakening its emotional impact. Instead the issues
with it stem from how it fits into the portfolio of Key’s other
works. It follows the pattern set up by so many of their other
titles, such as Kanon, Clannad and Little Busters, where it is a predomiently modern day setting for a slice of life story with a vague and
narratively flexible supernatural force which is more interested in
being dramatic than in making sense. This outline has proven to be
strong for Key and it has been present in some of their most
successful titles. However, it is the overuse of the outline in
combination with the already rigid and predictable nature of Nakige
which causes a sense of deja vu as the player is constantly bomarded
by the feeling that they have seen all the game has to offer
somewhere else before. The less Key games you have played, the
stronger Summer Pockets is as a Nakige making it prime example of how
this issue can harm a developer in the long term.
Conclusion
There
is a lot of set up involved in creating a compelling Nakige and
developers who follow this genre have to carefully think about how
all the moving parts fit together. The emotional impact of the key
scenes any Nakige is remembered for have to be foreshadowed and
constructed to avoid the feeling of the player’s emotions being
cheaply manipulated. A rigid formula can emerge from this need to
balance the sentiments of the player and if not mitigated through
distractions such as engaging themes can make the game feel
predictable. It also relies on these emotional moments to create
short and long term engagement and will often focus every part of its
resources to make it as all consuming as possible. Overall this is a
genre that does one thing and does it very well and if it is what you
want out of your visual novel then it is worth considering.
