Visual novel

You can play through a story on a screen.

These are called visual novels. They started in Japan.

Most of these games use pretty art. You will see characters and backgrounds. You will also hear music and sounds.

Reading is a big part of the game. You click a button to read more. You can also pick choices from a list.

Your choices can change the story. Some games have many different endings. This makes the story feel special.

People all over the world play them. They are fun ways to see a tale.

You can play through a story on a screen. These are called visual novels. They started in Japan. In Japan, people often call them noberugēmu.

These games use art to tell a tale. You see drawings of characters and backgrounds. You also hear music and sound effects.

Reading is a big part of the play. Most stories appear in text boxes. Some boxes are small. We call this ADV format. Other boxes fill the whole screen. This is called NVL format.

You can often pick choices from a menu. These choices can change the story. Some games have many different endings. For example, a game called 428: Shibuya Scramble can have 85 endings!

Some people wonder if these are real games. They say there is not much to do. But these games let you impact the world. They are a special way to share stories.

A visual novel is a special kind of video game that focuses on telling a story.

These games are very popular in Japan. People there often call them "noberugēmu," which is short for visual novel game. While they look like books, they are different because you can influence the plot. You can change how the story moves or how the world works. This makes the experience feel personal and exciting. Many people love them because they feel like living stories.

Playing a visual novel is a very sensory experience. You will see static images of characters and beautiful background art.

You will also hear soundtracks and sound effects that give you feedback. The story moves forward when you click, tap, or press a button. Most of the words appear in text boxes on your screen. Some boxes are small and only take up part of the screen; these are called ADV or "Adventure" format. Other boxes fill almost the whole screen; these are called NVL or "Novel" format.

These games have a long and interesting history. They grew out of adventure games from the 1980s. In 1988, a game called "Novelware" appeared on Japanese home computers. Later, the company Chunsoft used the name "Sound Novel" for their games in the early 1990s. The first game actually called a "visual novel" was Shizuku, released in 1996 by a company named Leaf. Other famous early games include Otogirisō from 1992 and YU-NO from 1996.

These titles helped set the rules for how visual novels look today.

Visual novels are unique because of how they use choices. In some games, you pick options from a menu to decide what a character says or does.

These choices can lead to many different endings. For example, the game 428: Shibuya Scramble can have 85 different endings! Some games, like Steins;Gate 0, have many branches in their stories. Other games are "linear," which means they follow one single path without any branches. This includes titles like the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy. Because they are cheaper and faster to make, many are produced for PCs in Japan.

Today, visual novels are known all over the world. They became more famous in the West during the 2000s as anime became popular. Now, developers from many countries make them using tools like Ren'Py software. You can find games like Butterfly Soup from America or The Invisible Guardian from China. Some newer games even use virtual reality or artificial intelligence to tell stories. While some people debate if they are "true" games because you read so much, they remain a huge part of digital culture. They are a wonderful way to combine art, music, and reading.

A visual novel is a digitally-based, narrative-focused video game genre. While many people in the West associate the term with Japanese aesthetics and large amounts of text, academics define them more specifically. They describe visual novels as games that require players to impact the story's progression or the game world.

This genre is deeply rooted in Japanese culture, where they are often called "noberugēmu," a shortened version of "visual novel game." Because they focus on storytelling rather than complex mechanics, they are often produced at a lower cost and in shorter timeframes than other genres. This efficiency has allowed them to represent the majority of PC video games produced and sold in Japan.

The experience of playing a visual novel is highly sensory and relies on specific presentation methods. Players interact with the story by clicking, tapping, or pressing a button to progress the narrative. The visual elements usually consist of static images of characters and background art. These are paired with soundtracks and sound effects that provide feedback to the player.

Most interactions and dialogue are presented through text boxes. There are two primary formats for these boxes. The first is the ADV, or "Adventure" format, where the text box occupies only a portion of the screen. The second is the NVL, or "Novel" format, where the text box fills most or all of the screen.

Gameplay in visual novels often centers on player agency through menu-based choices. These menus allow players to control their character's actions or select specific dialogue to represent their thoughts and speech. These choices can lead to branching narratives, where the story splits into different paths. For example, the game Steins;Gate 0 features two main story branches and six different endings. The scale of these branches can be even larger; the game 428: Shibuya Scramble can result in as many as 85 different endings.

However, not all visual novels use branching paths. Some are completely linear, meaning they follow a single path without player-driven changes. About 18% of studied games were found to be linear, including titles like the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy and Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. Some choices may not change the immediate plot but instead build complex relationships that resolve at the end of a playthrough.

The history of the genre involves several evolutionary stages and different naming conventions. In the late 1980s, some games in the Japanese PC market were marketed as "Novelware." In 1988, a game by this name appeared for the Japanese home computer market. By the early 1990s, the company Chunsoft used the registered trademark "Sound Novel" for titles like Otogirisō (1992) and Banshee's Last Cry (1994). The first commercial game to be explicitly called a "visual novel" was Shizuku, released by the company Leaf in 1996. This release was part of their "Visual Novel Series." By 1997, the term was being used during the development of games like Tactics's Moon. Many researchers believe companies like Leaf, Tactics, and Key helped spread the common usage of the term.

There is a significant distinction between how the term is used in Japan versus the West. In Japan, visual novels are viewed as a sub-genre of adventure games. Japanese gamers often distinguish between "command-based" adventure games, like The Portopia Serial Murder Case (1983), and the novel-like format. This novel-like format often features bishōjo games, which are titles focused on many anime-styled female characters.

In Western contexts, the term is often applied more broadly to any game with Japanese-style art and heavy text. This can sometimes lead to confusion regarding whether a title is a "true" visual novel or simply a Japanese adventure game. Some developers, like Kazutaka Kodaka, suggest there are two originating paths: one rooted in classic adventure games and another rooted in the bishōjo style.

The genre has seen significant growth and shifts in global popularity over several decades. While it has always maintained a strong presence in Japan's otaku culture, it gained Western attention more recently. The release of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney in 2005 coincided with the rising popularity of anime in the West. This led many players to discover visual novels through their anime adaptations. In the 2010s, Western developers began producing more of these games. The availability of free, open-source software like Ren'Py allowed creators outside of Japan to build their own titles. Examples include the American game Butterfly Soup (2017) and the Chinese game The Invisible Guardian (2019).

Today, visual novels continue to evolve and spark academic discussion. Some developers are now adapting the genre to use newer technologies, such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality headsets. There remains a debate in the West about whether these titles qualify as "games" due to their limited interactivity. Some compare them to digital versions of the Choose Your Own Adventure book series. However, researchers note that visual novels include mechanical constraints and gameplay that impact the story's progression. Despite these debates, the genre remains a vital part of the industry. Experts suggest that the "Japanese-ness" of the genre is increasingly seen as a selling point rather than a cultural obstacle for Western audiences.