Steam Visual Novel Fest is in full swing, featuring some of the best written entirely story-driven games in the market. Read on to learn about some of our recommendations that can be purchased at amazing discounts.
Steam Visual Novel Fest Offers Great Discounts For Memorable Visual Novels
A Celebration Of Visual Novels Worldwide
A total of 1,361 (English) visual novels and story-driven games goes on sale on Steam! Interested players or readers can enjoy discounts of up to 80% on popular or wonderful titles such as AI: The Somnium Files, The Walking Dead, and Danganronpa.
The Steam Visual Novel Fest is held to celebrate the spirit of telling a story through art and interactive fiction. This event will run from August 7 at 1:00 PM EST to August 14 at 1:00 PM EST.
For those of you who aren't sure of what title to pick up, or those who are simply new to the genre, worry not! Game8 has compiled a list of great visual novels for you to look into and try out.
Utawarerumono series
Utawarerumono is one of developer Leaf and publisher Aquaplus' most famous works, and for a good reason; it is a series full of gripping, emotional twists, and lovable characters. Though fans of the original game might still be upset with the fact that Hakuowlo (or Hakuoro for the even older fans) doesn’t make a reappearance in the later games, the entirety of the Utawarerumono series is still an undeniably great read, regardless.
| Title | Price |
|---|---|
 Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen |
$20.99 |
 Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception |
$13.99 |
 Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth |
$13.99 |
Science Adventure series
The Science Adventure series is a set of interconnected science-fiction visual novels mainly created by the developers Mages and Nitroplus. It prominently features one of the most popular visual novels of all time, Steins;Gate. It received worldwide acclaim and rewards, such as Famitsu's Game of Excellence Award in 2009 and a 2015 Golden Joystick Awards nomination for Best Handheld/Mobile Game. It even eventually got a well-received anime adaptation.
The other games in the series are no slouches, either. Some of them even feature distinct gameplay and memorable storytelling features. For example, ChäoS;HEAd's "delusion trigger," system lets players control what kind of delusions the main character experiences. These, in turn, affect how the story will progress and which ending it will lead to.
| Title | Price |
|---|---|
 ChäoS;HEAd NoAH |
$9.99 |
 Steins;Gate |
$11.99 |
 Steins;Gate 0 |
$13.99 |
 Steins;Gate ELITE |
$23.99 |
 Steins;Gate: My Darling's Embrace |
$11.99 |
 Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram |
$23.99 |
 Robotics;Notes ELITE |
$13.99 |
 Robotics;Notes DaSH |
$13.99 |
 ChäoS;Child |
$9.99 |
Visual Arts and Key's Works
Visual Arts and Key are the industry leaders in memorable galgames, a subgenre of visual novel-type games focusing on a target audience of men. They have created some of the best visual novels to hit the market, such as Clannad and Planetarian, primarily due to how emotionally invested the readers become. Fortunately, both of these works and more are on discount!
| Title | Price |
|---|---|
 CLANNAD |
$13.49 |
 CLANNAD Side Stories |
$5.99 |
 Tomoyo After ~It's a Wonderful Life~ |
$5.99 |
 planetarian |
$2.99 |
 Little Busters! |
$20.99 |
 Rewrite+ |
$19.99 |
 Summer Pockets |
$17.99 |
 Harmonia |
$2.49 |
Eden*
"The final love story on a dying planet.."
Steam's Visual Novel Fest has blessed us with the opportunity to highlight developer minori's great work Eden*. It is a short romantic tale between a human and a Felix, genetically-engineered superhumans who boast eternal youth and advanced intelligence. With excellent narration and a backdrop of gorgeous cinematic illustrations, Eden* is a gem worth the purchase - even when it's not on discount.
| Title | Price |
|---|---|
 Eden* |
$9.99 |
Hatoful Boyfriend
The legendary dating sim with pigeons. Yes, literal pigeons. Hatoful Boyfriend is guaranteed to provide hours of great entertainment for anybody with a spirit adventurous enough to try the game out. However, behind all the ridiculous imagery hides a surprisingly deep, meaningful human experience that its readers can enjoy at the end of their somewhat jarring journey.
| Title | Price |
|---|---|
 Hatoful Boyfriend |
$1.99 |
 Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star |
$1.99 |
The House in Fata Morgana
NOVECT's story-rich tale full of tragedies, The House in Fata Morgana, is another gem among Steam's Visual Novel Fest's roster. It is a compelling story of personal growth, the contradictions of human nature, and much more. Players expecting gritty storytelling will not be disappointed and may even receive more than they bargained for.
| Title | Price |
|---|---|
 The House in Fata Morgana |
$16.24 |
 The House in Fata Morgana: A Requiem for Innocence |
$9.74 |
Wonderful Everyday
KeroQ and Frontwing's romantic psychological horror work, Wonderful Everyday, is a time-tested masterpiece. Despite already being over a decade old, it is still a topic of discussion regarding visual novels with particularly disturbing content. However, the way Wonderful Everyday (Subarashiki Hibi for the older readers) presents these topics in their narration translates into one of the most spectacularly memorable experiences in visual novels and perhaps in video gaming as a whole.
This is another game that is definitely worth a buy, regardless of whether it is on sale or not.
| Title | Price |
|---|---|
 Wonderful Everyday |
$17.99 |
Island
Here is another experience of Frontwing's machinations that readers will likely not forget; Island is a romantic mystery visual novel that aims to subvert people's expectations of what it means to play a visual novel. It is chock full of bad endings that seem absolutely unavoidable due to the main character's blatant disregard for reasonable decisions. There is almost no way for players to play as themselves in this work, breaking a lot of the immersion that most visual novels rely on. However, the result is a beautiful read about the precarious lives of others through a viewpoint that doesn’t allow the exertion of the player's will.
| Title | Price |
|---|---|
 Island |
$23.99 |
Lucy ~The Eternity She Wished For~
Lucy ~The Eternity She Wished For~ is Modern Visual Arts Laboratory's attempt at forcing an existential crisis on its readers, and they’ve more than succeeded. Rarely does a game ever affect its readers so much that they are kept from a good night's rest due to the lingering questions the game presents.
Can machines ever advance enough to harbor real feelings?
If chemical levels control emotions, how is it different from a machine which can have something similar?
Lucy ~The Eternity She Wished For~ presents these questions and more to its players in a compelling romance, shared between a boy and an android girl who can dream. It's one of Steam Visual Novel Fest's shining gems for players who are eager to tackle such philosophical questions. Let this opportunity pass and you’ll regret missing out on it.
| Title | Price |
|---|---|
 Lucy ~The Eternity She Wished For~ |
$3.99 |
Lay A Beauty To Rest
In a medium dominated by Japanese developers comes a surprising Chinese entry: Zero Creation Games' dark and excellent work, Lay A Beauty To Rest. It is a compelling and awe-inspiring visual novel with gorgeous artwork, almost fully voice-acted narration, and a gripping story that culminates into a mind-blowing ending that deserves applause. Players who doubt Chinese visual novels can cast their worries aside, as Lay A Beauty To Rest is one of the best games in Steam's ever-expanding list of visual novels.
| Title | Price |
|---|---|
 Lay a Beauty to Rest: The Darkness Peach Blossom Spring |
$8.39 |
 Lay a Beauty to Rest: A Butterfly Dream |
$2.39 |
The Song of Saya
Finally, what kind of recommended visual novels list does not include perhaps the greatest of its kind from the 2000s, The Song of Saya? It is one of the creepiest, most disturbing visual novels ever written, filled with explicit depictions of body horror, gore, and death. This game is definitely not one for minors. However, behind all the bloodied walls and scattered organs hides a profound story of everything a human being can be: loving, forgiving, loyal, passionate, lonely, insane, vengeful, and all else in between.
The Song of Saya is a gripping romance that embraces, and even celebrates, human beings' mad, contradictory nature. As such, it is a title deserving of the highest of praises - and your money.
| Title | Price |
|---|---|
 The Song of Saya |
$7.49 |
What's a Visual Novel?
An Interactive Novel in Game Form
Visual Novels, otherwise known as VNs, are essentially games where the vast majority of your "playtime" is spent reading text on the screen. In a way, it's just the literal idea of combining "visuals" with a "novel," hence the name. To be a bit more accurate, one can imagine it as the medium between novels and a typical console or PC game.
There was one major factor sets visual novels apart from most other games back in its infancy. While most old games and even some in the current era games follow linear stories, visual novels have featured multiple endings as part of their main attractions since the 1983 work "The Portopia Serial Murder Case." Since then, multiple endings have become a staple feature of the vast majority of visual novels ever made.
Most visual novels have no "actual" gameplay. However, without the need to expend many resources into mind-blowing graphics or 3d models, etc., writers and artists can fully invest themselves into simply weaving a story that can yank at people's heartstrings. Hence, some of the best stories ever written in video game history have come from this medium.
