Visual Novels are an interesting yet underappreciated medium, I wonder if they will get a huge resurgence one day
Unlike movies, they are not limited to 1.5 to 3 hours and can have lengthy prose. only TV miniseries come close to that scale. Unlike conventional novels, they can include sounds and visuals that let them tell stories books can't. The murder cases in Danganronpa/Ace Attorney work because of their cartoony style (try imagining those same cases novelized). Unlike comics or TV, they have complete stories instead of getting dragged out forever. And unlike most games, they are free to tell the story they want without needing constant action to hold the player's attention, though interactivity, when used well, can still add something
Mostly, I like how they combine everything, cool character design, nice music, sometimes voice acting, beautiful CGs, into good, pulpy entertainment, and every so often you get one that's truly outstanding. Reading a VN is a different kind of immersion than reading books, which I also love
VNs are also pretty much the only medium with real intimacy scenes, which gives readers a deeper connection to characters than other media allow. That's also why I almost never touch all ages VNs, they lose that advantage
Starting with Ace Attorney trilogy, I consider it a masterpiece and one of the best things I have played. Almost every character is loveable. The OST is incredible. The craft on display is excellent too. The plot twists, characters, cases, trials, everything is meticulously crafted. Though it does have some bad or pretty mid cases.
Doki Doki Literature Club is one of the games that made me weep like a fucking child. It hit me in so many places. Beautiful and depressing game, I still think about DDLC even months after completing it. And I think Natsuki is the best girl.
Umineko and Higurashi belong to the same franchise but are very loosely connected and you don't need to play one to understand the other. Higurashi is VERY long but much better than the anime. Pretty scary and very compelling story. The same goes for Umineko (though Umineko is not scary in the traditional sense, it is kinda weirder, with mystery over fear, but still very thrilling).
Steins;Gate is also great. But it has the worst pacing of any game I have played, it will be ~20 hours before you make a meaningful choice. There are a lot of anime stereotypes in the game too. But still, the character depth and progression are off the charts.
And Katawa Shoujo, made by a bunch of amateur 4channers, also turned out to be fantastic. It really surprised me as it explored many themes across its 5 routes. The story was solid. It felt refreshing, with interesting characters, soundtrack, and backgrounds.
Steam links to games if you want to give them a try:
-
Katawa Shoujo (The Steam version of Katawa Shoujo has no adult content.)
Katawa Shoujo from itch.io (Uncensored)
To re-add adult content into the Steam version, download the R18 patch from its itch.io page, navigate to your Steam folder and copy the downloaded file "r18.rpa" to the folder "Katawa Shoujo/game/". Both versions are free
(none of these are gooner games btw)