Summary
Fantasy worlds have captured the imaginations of readers and creators for centuries, and the advent of video games as an interactive medium has only seen the variety of worlds on display grow further. Whether playersare JRPG fanaticsor fans of immersive first-person RPGs, there’s a universe’s worth of fantasy worlds to explore.
While many games canoffer immersive experiencesin these worlds, there’s nothing quite like a visual novel that takes players into the finer details of a world where magic and impossibilities become reality. In particular, these visual novels make excellent starts into the genre thanks to their cohesive stories, high-quality writing, and high amounts of choice and consequence, which really showcase what visual novels are capable of producing.
6The Life And Suffering Of Sir Brante
An Excellent Character-Driven Visual Novel
An excellentchoose-your-own-adventure game,The Life and Suffering of Sir Branteis one of those phenomenal text-heavy games that few titles can manage to replicate. Brante’s youth and origins, his profession, and his path in this fantasy world are all subject to the choices of the player, who can guide Brante into the role of a magistrate, knight, or cunning thief, among other paths.
The gritty, low magic world thatSir Branteshowcases to the player will enthrall and entrance, and repeat playthroughs are a must - if only to see other areas of this world explored. This is an excellently written and illustrated visual novel with an emotional, compelling story.
It’s best to go into this one as blind as possible, but suffice it to say thatSlay the Princessis a masterwork of subversive horror, set within a fantasy world where the player has one, very simple goal (hint: it’s in the title!). Playing on a sense of morality and mortality, this game will keep players feeling uneasy and conflicted throughout the breadth of its runtime.
This dark, humorous, psychological game has many endings, begging for multiple run-throughs, many of which can end quite suddenly if the right (or wrong?) choice is made.
Set on a beautifully illustrated watercolor map, this fantasy visual novel is an excellent, engaging romp througha LOTR-inspired worldthat holds a plethora of choices for players to shape their experience through. Players' main tools as they guide their character through Steve Jackson’s classic world are their reliable sword and a myriad of often bizarre spells that can turn battles or encounters on their heads.
The first game in this four-part series combines the first two installments into one game, letting players experience this world in an utterly unique way - and also seeing the sheer number of choices from the first game that helps color the second. Of course, players must actually survive the first part ofSorcery!- and that’s easier said than done.
The world inRoadwardenis beautiful - but it’s also hostile to a tee. Thistext-heavy RPGhas players exploring a lush, untamed peninsula as a stranger in an even stranger land, making difficult choices, crafting a personality as the game goes on, and all-around sinking into around 30 hours of content. The style of writing is very hands-off and economical with its language, so players aren’t going to be lost in paragraphs of imagery trying to figure out what’s happening.
It’s a subtle, reserved kind of story thatRoadwardenis trying to tell, but it’s also one with an incredibly expansive amount of choices for the player to make. An exceptional game by any standard, this game explores a world as unique and uncanny asMorrowind’s, but in an entirely singular way.
Taking a step back from pure high fantasy to create a world of historical fantasy, Obsidian brings the world a dazzling,startlingly realized worldwithPentiment.Pentimenthas players take on the role of a master artist in 16th-century Europe as they create manuscripts that frame the world around them. It’s an exploration of art and how people use it to create meaning, but it’s also a time capsule for this tumultuous period in history.
Beyond these two things, it’s an excellent visual novel with plenty of choices and consequences and a character that can be designed in a myriad of ways as the player sees fit. Its take on European history is a little less grounded than something likeKingdom Come, but fans of the RPG will still find plenty to love here.
1Umineko When They Cry - Question Arcs
A Great Urban Fantasy Mystery
There are many cult classics among visual novels - many titles that have devoted followings but were otherwise missed by the public eye.Umineko When They Cryis one such title, deserving of far more love than it currently receives.
The ultimate ambiguity with this title is whether the string of terrible crimes occurring can be attributed to a simple, mortal criminal, or a bona fide witch. Exploring the difference between magic and theatrics makes this title an incredible urban fantasy mystery, and is definitely going to be enjoyed by fans of anime, manga, or visual novels as a whole.
