The Big Rec List (WIP)
I've been meaning to do this for a while, so here it is. Every game (VN/IF) I've played that sticks out in my memory as being something worth recommending, not in any particular order. (This post will likely end up being very long, so under a cut/read-more it goes.)
Just to see if tastes align, here's a (non-comprehensive) likes/dislikes list:
+ Horror/thriller elements, supernatural elements, MCs with set appearances/personalities (or that have a choice of personality), questionable relationships, yandere/obsessive LIs, good banter, enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers, slow burn, more plot than romance, tragedies
- Regular slice of life, self-insert/blank slate MCs, useless MCs, things being too "perfect" (without a twist), everyone being too sweet/good, physically abusive LIs, voice acting in indie VNs
Note: For almost any indie VN with voice acting, I give it an honest try but overwhelmingly end up turning voices off because they're making my experience actively worse. I'll note any exceptions below.
Key: VN, IF
Early Access/Demos
Obscura (ch1 free/$15): Obscura is a beautiful, well-written game I've been keeping up with since its first demo (IIRC). The world it's set in is interesting, the love interests are all great, and the mask thing means that the game's MC (Vesper, name changeable) actually gets a sprite while still being kind of customizable in a way! Vesper also feels like their own character, which is a huge plus, especially since they're a really good one IMO. Beyond the mask thing being a unique part of the game, it also has a "safeword" mechanic that seems like it's specifically meant for one of the love interests in particular (but can be used on any route). This seems like a decent compromise between blasting all of the warnings for a game in your face as you load it up, which seems to be a recent trend that I can't say I'm fond of. My favourites so far (other than Vesper) are Keir and Francesco; Keir and Cirrus just had their second chapters released very recently!
Scarlet Hollow (ch1 free/$25): Scarlet Hollow is a VN that's made me excited for what OELVNs could be, because it does so many interesting things and it's just a beautiful piece of work on its own. It's an incredibly ambitious project and I feel like it'll take the creators quite a lot of time to actually finish it, but I'm so glad I gave in and played it early because I loved every second of it. Scarlet Hollow is also one of the few VNs I own on Steam; I hunted down all 141 of its achievements because I enjoyed playing it just that much. It's got horror! It's got humour! It does it all and it does it well. (Also, there are two different monster love interests that are actually monstrous, which is always a plus.) A nice little fun thing about this one is that you get to pick two almost RPG-like traits at the start that unlock special options as you play, which definitely adds to replayability (and the game has plenty of replayability even without that).
Mirage Noir (free demo): Inspired by games like Ace Attorney and Bu$tafellows, Mirage Noir follows protagonist Yunie as she meets a colourful cast of characters and tries to figure out the meaning behind a weird vision she got at the start of the game. The influences are noticeable in a good way, IMO, and I'm looking forward to supporting this on on Kickstarter once its campaign goes up! It's also getting an updated demo (which I helped beta test!) for that Kickstarter, so it may be worth waiting for it to go up. I believe it should be going up ~10/22 or so (and hopefully I remember to update this post once it does). Yunie is a fun protagonist and as someone that likes detective and crime solving stuff (+ supernatural elements), I'm interested in seeing where this one goes!
Herotome (free demo): I'm not incredibly into the superhero genre, but it can be fun, and Herotome seems like an ambitious attempt at it. It also has the best approach to pronouns that I've seen in a VN so far: If you wear a nametag at the start with your pronouns on it, some people will know if they're not she/her, and you can tell a specific team member about your pronouns and they'll let everyone else on the team know about it. If your pronouns don't match what people will assume they are, you can be misgendered (which has been corrected so far by other characters), which could be triggering to some but which is something I genuinely like. Well, "like". I think it's a nice realistic touch as someone that gets bothered by characters magically knowing which pronouns you use, basically. Pronouns aside, though, this game seems like it'll be a fun one overall once it's done!
Made Marion ($30): Made Marion is another ambitious game on this list; I backed it on Kickstarter and have been eagerly waiting the release of every route. Right now only Robin's route is fully available, but the plan is for all of the Sherwood boys to get their routes released one by one and then the Nottingham LIs will get their turn (which is a bit of a shame for me, because I was more interested in the Nottingham LIs haha). Regardless! It's a fun game with great art, world-building, and writing; Marion is a set protagonist, but there are two different "paths" you can take for each route, and so far each path has felt consistent with Marion's personality while also being different enough to be interesting. Definitely one to keep an eye on, IMO.
Incubus (ch1 free/$1 per chapter after that): Incubus is a bit of an odd one, because it's an IF but it's made in Ren'py and the parts don't directly carry over into one another (you have to set up your MC/past decisions anew with every new chapter). I think it works for it, though, and sonnet009's writing is always a treat. There's only one LI in the game (Flea), and that's all the game needs; his relationship with the Detective (the MC, nameable) is something I've loved following the progress of as new chapters come out. There are currently four chapters available, with the fifth releasing some time in October IIRC!
Symptoms of Deceit (free demo): This one's interesting because it takes place in a universe where people have animal traits, but the animals they have traits of are all sea creatures! The creator is clearly passionate about the world and characters that she's created; the yandere love interests are both great, even in the early stage that the game is in. This one is for the true pathetic man lovers out there. 😤Note that this is a yandere otome game, so both love interests are yandere with all that entails; the demo is fairly short right now, but I'm looking forward to seeing the story continue.
Complete Games
Aloners (free/$5): Aloners was the first OELVN I played that made me genuinely interested in the potential of indie VNs. I praised Sonnet's writing in the Incubus section a bit; her older games definitely hold up, with Aloners being the best of them IMO. (Sadly, though I also think that Wilder was a great series (and Ran's game in particular was good), only two games got completed before its cancellation.) Like with Incubus, Aloners only has one LI and a somewhat customizable protagonist; it's something that really works for Sonnet's games and makes it easier to focus on the relationship between the MC and the LI, no matter what kind of relationship you decide to make it.
Slay the Princess ($18): Made by the same people that made Scarlet Hollow, Slay the Princess is a beautiful and interesting game with a ton of different paths to explore. IMO it's best played exactly once or until you can see everything, which might seem weirdly contradictory but it makes sense to me. Unfortunately, I really don't like the voice acting for the Princess (she sounds like a bored teen doing required in-class reading at the best of times), so I find this one hard to recommend to people despite thinking that the game itself is excellent. (The other voice actor is great; I attempted to politely ask about the possibility for separate voice sliders once, like most Japanese VNs have, but people immediately got offended by it. (In fairness, that was probably my fault for asking on the Steam forums of all places, but I wasn't sure where else to ask back then.))
A Date With Death (free/paid DLC): This is one of the many chat program-based VNs that popped up after the success of Mystic Messenger, but this is one of the few to handle it well. It's not great for replays IMO, but the Grim Reaper love interest is very cute and easily flustered, and I can't complain about that.
Love Limit (free/PWYW): Short but sweet, Love Limit is a game about the MC getting set up on a blind date with... an alien conqueror. (Thanks, Sis.) There's a surprising amount of choices, and some fun/silly "bad ends" that you can get; it was by far one of my favourite entries for Otome Jam 2024 and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the creators do next if this was them on a time limit. Definitely worth a play if you like more light-hearted games and have some time!
(last updated: 10/03/2024, definitely unfinished but I want to post/pin it now! Also, please give me recs if you have them, I'm always looking for new things to play!)
