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- Best Visual Novel Releases – January 2025
Sunday, January 26, 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.