I don’t know that it really qualifies as a VN (because there’s some RTS - and I guess Adventure - aspects to it), but 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

Ghost Trick Ghost Trick Ghost Trick

technically a puzzle game at the same time but that’s an ace attorney pic so you’re probably cool with it

Zero Escape trilogy:

• 999
• VLR
• ZTD

Infinity series:

• Never7 is very slow and more romance than sci-fi
• Ever 17 is better than Never7 but the pacing is still quite slow
• Remember 11 is the best of the infinity series, it is more sci-fi mystery horror

To anyone who isn’t interested in Japanese-style visual novels, I’d recommend Scarlet Hollow. It’s an “immersive horror-mystery” illustrated by Abby Howard (of The Last Halloween fame). It’s an episodic title (the first episode is free on Steam) and it is not finished yet.

I’m two chapters in to House in Fata Morgana and that has been great so far. Rather dark and moody (to say the least) but a really good read so far.

Probably my favorite VNs come from Love Conquers All Games (Christina Love’s stuff). The best is probably the Hate series: “Analogue: A Hate Story” and its direct sequel “Hate+”, but all her stuff is good. You play a space investigator trying to figure out what happened to a derelict generation colony ship by reading log files and conversing with the still-active onboard AI. It’s way better than it sounds.

Another top favorite is “World End Economica”. Designed by Isuna Hasekura, better known for “Spice and Wolf”, it is a rare example of finance fiction in the VN space (which takes place on the Moon and features Hasekura’s wonderful blend of fantasy, finance, and romance).

I second the Steins;Gate series. Taken together, S;G and S;G0 probably tell one of the best stories ever told… though it requires a great deal of time and thought to figure out what’s really going on behind the scenes. All of Mages stuff is kind of like that, though I think Steins;Gate is the only one where it’s actually worth the effort.

Finally, if you’re just looking for some happy goofy adorkable romance, Pixelfaxe’s VNs are all good. You may as well start with their first VN, “Ace Academy”, which features a bunch of college aged kids at a giant robot fighting academy, but there’s also their fantasy isekai “Crystalline”, their reverse isekai “Ethereal Enigma”, and their upcoming space adventure “Astral Ascension”. The art is beautiful, the girls are gorgeous, and the voice acting is the early work of some people who ended up kind of famous (Amalee, Sydsnap, and others). Really fun stuff.

Va-11 Hall-A

Steins; Gate 1 and 0 Daganronpa series Clannad Ace Attorney Great Ace Attorney

VA-11 Hall-A! One of my favourite VN if my instance url didn’t give it away. It’s not too long, listen to the start telling you to get cozy and then mix drinks and change lives.

I’m two chapters in to House in Fata Morgana and that has been great so far. Rather dark and moody (to say the least) but a really good read so far.

@Ingrid_Skovgard If you like Ace Attorney, then the recently released love letter to the series called “Attorney of the Arcane” is a great, great next target. The characters are captivating and the gameplay offers a few good twists on the standard formula. It gets pretty hard at the end, but not in a way that you can’t solve by just paying close attention to the case. It’s gotten several updates since its launch fixing typos and bugs, so the experience should be top-notch now. If you do try it, do tell how it goes.

Taimanin Asagi

Puzzle/mystery VNs that are my favourite: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 doors; Virtue’s Last Reward; AI Somnium files.

Hatoful Boyfriend is one of my favorites, but be sure to play all the routes to get to the second half of the story!

STEINS;GATE and Higurashi are both great. It really depends on the genre you want though.

https://vndb.org/v is a good resource