Visual novel games come in all shapes and sizes and while none of the options on the market are bad, you can’t really deny that they’re very romance-focused. I won’t pretend to know the stats on otome visual novels versus other genres, but I’d bet it’s disproportionate.
In fact, I’d wager that it’s so disproportionate that games without a heavy focus on romance don’t really cross your notice. I know that most of the visual novels that come across my feed are basically harem games where you get to date a pool of potential love interests and choose one (or more) from the line-up.
So, if you love visual novels, but you’re not feeling the lovey-dovey vibe, you may be interested in this list! None of them have romance at their core in the least. One of them is taking on the role of a supernatural therapist, another is about navigating life as the Grim Reaper’s daughter, and the last is about trying to find a home out in space.
All of these games got high scores from us and I honestly can’t recommend these enough. In fact, if you’re not usually a visual novel lover, I think these are great places to start dipping your toes into the water.
Visual novel games that we highly recommend!
Universe for Sale
Universe for Sale takes you on an adventure as someone known as the ‘Master’. Who you are is a mystery that we unravel as we talk to people around town and help. Every so often, we’ll get to slide into the shoes of ‘Lila’, a girl who runs a stall where she can create universes for sale. Her goal is to get enough money to buy a ticket to Mars. Their stories don’t seem to overlap at first, but as you play both characters, you’ll learn more about each other and unravel a key component that connects you. I had a lot of fun playing through this story and even made a guide for an achievement! – Our Review | Our Guide
Prim
Prim puts you in the role of a young girl who learns she’s the daughter of the Grim Reaper after her mother’s untimely passing. Now, she has to go live in the Underworld under her father’s care and figure out a way to get back to her best friend topside, but it’ll require exploring the Underworld in order to do so. Honestly, I really enjoyed playing as Prim, I really thought the story worked well and the design choice to make everything black and white actually worked amazingly. – Our Review
Vampire Therapist
Vampire Therapist drops you into the cowboy boots of Sam, a cowboy vampire with designs on helping people with therapy. Hey, the dead need mental healthcare too, maybe more so with the eons that stretch in front of them. You’ll learn under the tutelage of Andromachos. Andy will teach Sam — and you — important skills to recognize and navigate “cognitive distortions.” You’ll help a wide clientele of vampires from different backgrounds throughout history and you’ll do it with funny dialogue and fully voice-acted roles! – Our Review
In terms of visual novels, these are three of the best ones we’ve played while running Comfy Cozy Gaming. They have great stories, excellent visuals, amazing music, and where there is voice acting, it’s outstanding.
If you want to see some of the other lists we’ve done, you can check out the one we did for fetch quests or organization games.
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