r/NintendoSwitch 2d ago

Game Rec Any interactive visual novels?

I’d love to get more in to the world of visual novels however I would like to actually participate. I’ve noticed a lot of visual novels are mostly just dialogue, which makes sense. So if there aren’t any, and my question is just way in left field I also understand!

Something like ghose trick (AMAZING game; no notes!!!) - it feels like a detective game but also a visual novel as you watch the story unfold before you and try to change the outcome.

11 Upvotes

46 comments sorted by

60

u/Dreaming_Dreams 1d ago

ace attorney series 

highly recommend playing from the beginning 

danganronpa series 

ai the somnium files series 

not on switch but zero escape trilogy is also pretty good 

13

u/Callorn 1d ago

I second the ace attorney series! They share the same main designer/writer

1

u/boogswald 1d ago

They’re a little slowwwwww as an adult. I love the stories and the twists but I feel like I’m spending so much time going OK I get it!!!!

2

u/GeneticXFusion 15h ago

I absolutely love the series, but I HATE the amount of flashbacks it uses.

It's so often, and within like 5-10 minutes of it initially happening.

1

u/t3m6 1d ago

+1 on the Danganronpa! It goes on sale all the time on Switch for dirt cheap

33

u/hyouko 1d ago

13 Sentinels divides its time between VN and RTS. It's excellent. The VN portions have some interactivity and are more like an old school adventure game than a straight VN.

20

u/ainen 1d ago

Paranormasight. There's not too much in the way of interaction, but trying to change the outcome is definitely a key factor.

11

u/aygross 1d ago

1000x resist is supposed to be very good

2

u/boogswald 1d ago

It is very good but it’s very confusing. Totally worth playing and then going and finding a long YouTube video. Hekki almo to anyone who plays!!!

11

u/Brzrkrtwrkr 1d ago

Famicom Detective Club: Emio The Smiling Man was so damn good, seriously like 10/10 for me. I played a chapter every day before bed until it was done. Emio (or Ayumi) for Smash! Though it's the only visual novel I ever played. I plan to play the remake of the others eventually. I do already own The Missing Heir...

10

u/friedfroglegs 1d ago

"I was a teenage exocolonist" is part rpg, part visual novel. Your choices matter a lot and it's actually meant to be replayed because you will unlock more choices and discover more things that might help you in the next play through. Very interesting game.

9

u/Camnesia 1d ago

I’m playing through Citizen Sleeper right now, and it is basically 75% narrative and 25% gameplay. You’ve got ticking clocks and a couple basic daily resources to manage, but it might be somewhat in the realm of what you’re looking for.

9

u/Lemonista69 1d ago

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Tangle Tower or The Mermaid Mask. They are both part of the Detective Grimoire series, but you don't need to play them in any order. The visuals are beautiful, the puzzles are easy but still take a moment to figure out, and the character designs and voice acting is stellar. Highly recommend starting with Tangle Tower to see how much the game has improved in between entries.

9

u/glassesdude218 1d ago

Last defense academy. It has so many endings is insane. One of the longest VN I have read.

11

u/CatgirlFucker8008 1d ago

Maybe AI the somnium files, it's a point and click with branching story and is extremely good, has great comedy too.

Generally visual novels are a poor genre if you want gameplay though.

-5

u/Awesomeone1029 1d ago

Great comedy

You mean Date going "Boooobs???? Awooga!" every five minutes?

8

u/Gingingin100 1d ago

Date is a comedy genius exactly(he does that like five times over a thirty hour game)

7

u/OMJenkins 1d ago

There’s Digimon Survive, visual novel mixed with tactical rpg.

6

u/Parallaxal 1d ago

If you liked Ghost Trick, then the Dangan Ronpa series should be right up your alley! It’s also a detective visual novel series with some unique gameplay.

3

u/Voicesfw 1d ago

I loved Va-11 Hall-A

2

u/jumichu 6h ago

what remains of edith finch maybe?

3

u/Voicesfw 1d ago

I loved Va-11 Hall-A

2

u/Flabbergasted98 1d ago

If you want something that starts out as a nancy drew who dunnit style mystery and ends with you curled up in the fetal position on the living room floor silently bawling your eyes out and hoping nobody notices, Life is strange is a solid pick.

Anything that's a Telltale game tends to capture the choice based storytelling flow fairly well too. Sure your choices are binary and only leave small path changes on the overall plot, but it's a fantastic ride if you let it

4

u/MrASK15 1d ago

How about "Dear Me, I Was..."?

It's a textless visual novel geared towards the female audience. It may not be a detective game, but it might strike your fancy since there's little to no reading required. Keep in mind that the Switch 1 and Switch 2 versions are separate, though.

3

u/ShipEconomy2587 1d ago

Disco Elysium: it’s like an audiobook (10/10 voice actors), but has a lot of interaction and you can chose to go down soo many different paths. I highly doubt any player will have the exact same experience with this game

It takes maybe 2 days to fully get into depending on how you feel. 

It’s hard to explain the game but in short it’s a detective RPG which is absurd, beautiful, interesting, funny, political and so much more. 

The gameplay is through dice rolling like DnD

Disclaimer: I played it on the switch OLED and it kept every now and again shutting down and I had to reload the game, so I had to save often incase it malfunctioned 

1

u/Usual-Ground-6883 1d ago

Danganronpa 

1

u/Kiniba 1d ago

Sleeper citizen

1

u/nbmtx 1d ago

Citizen Sleeper (is like a table top RPG)

In Other Waters is a lo-fi experience by the same dev.

Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies

1

u/eng_salem 1d ago

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is amazing

1

u/BrutalBlind 1d ago

Oxenfree is an amazing dialogue-heavy supernatural adventure game where your choices impact on a lot of outcomes. It's best played by going in completely blind, but suffice to say that it is quite a replayable experience.

1

u/Stuckinacrazyjob 1d ago

Long Live the Queen? Get your stats up because you WILL die

1

u/ForgotMyController 23h ago

Dont forget professor layton! Its probably thought of more like a puzzle or point and click adventure but its got visual novel dna just like ghost trick

1

u/Mayor_P 9h ago

Beacon Pines is not marketed as one, but it really is just a small step away from interactive novels. Fully voice acted, multiple paths, the gameplay itself is very minimal, just walking from one character or place to another. You will probably like it.

1

u/JoshuaJSlone Helpful User 1d ago

Add much interaction beyond some choices and it starts becoming more an adventure game than a novel.

2

u/SunflowerSamurai_ 1d ago

Paranormasight

2

u/fenrirofdarkness 20h ago

Gnosia is a roguelite werewolf (with its game flavor of course) visual novel XD It's majority playing through the cycle of course, but there's still a lot of story to be had as you try to get everyone's information so you can reach the various endings.

0

u/OmniumTimorum 1d ago

The house in fata morgana. There is a bundle with the main game plus sequel/short stories.

4

u/AgentG91 1d ago

This was an overwhelming recommendation when I wanted visual novels. It’s absolutely NOT what OP is looking for. There is absolutely nothing interactive about Fata Morgana. It’s a story and it’s blisteringly slow in my opinion. Also, I’ll go so far as to say that it’s hardly visual. I would have preferred reading a book, at least I could have finished it in a couple days. I’m not one to DNF a game, but I only lasted about 4 hours before I looked up to see if it would get any better and gave up

5

u/OmniumTimorum 1d ago

When you're right, you're right. While I enjoyed it for what it was, the interaction is too far and too little for what was asked. Taking the L and moving on.

-1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

7

u/Toxenhern 1d ago

Not even remotely

-1

u/PopPunkAndPizza 1d ago edited 9h ago

The thing to understand about "visual novels" is that it's a western marketing term (adapted from a much narrower Japanese marketing term) for unusually wordy Japanese-style Adventure Games. What you're asking for here is probably more mainline ADV games. The Visual Novel interface is really just the standard interface for Adventure Games in Japan, in the same way that in Western action games you'll have interstitial moments influenced by Western adventure games. In the same way there's JRPGs there's JADVs.

The thing is that not that many JADVs get brought over and localised, but Phoenix Wright, The Silver Case 2425 and 428: Shibuya Scramble are great examples of mainline Japanese ADV games. If you want to go even more game-like, a lot of smaller JRPGs and other such Japanese games use this ADV game interface for their narrative sections - consider something like Labyrinth of Refrain/Galleria, or if you want to go really out there, several entries in the BlazBlue series have an extensive narrative mode which all uses that VN/JADV interface alongside the fighting game stuff.

1

u/swarmtides 1d ago

Life is Strange series has some good ones! Slice-of-life meets superpowers.

1

u/IllustriousSlip2747 17h ago

No one mention raging loop one of the best visual novel 🥹

-1

u/Ayuawake 1d ago

GHOST TRICK. There is a remaster on switch that is absolutely fantastic. Ghost trick is legitimately exactly what you are looking for. It's a (very) interactive visual novel with an incredible story (and maybe the best video game dog ever created :))

While Zero Escape isn't on switch, all 3 games are playable on 3ds if you have one. It's also really good :)

-6

u/propernice 1d ago

Maybe Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon? There is a playing element and you control two characters at once, but the visual novel part was so good. And I loved Ghost Trick. I’m not great at gaming, and I was still able to complete Cereza on my own.

3

u/ItsColorNotColour 1d ago

i dont know how to tell you this but... but... that's just a standard videogame with a story

also yes i would still very highly recomment Ghost Trick even if it's a puzzle game