Ladykiller in a Bind is a visual novel by Christine Love. It’s about affection, sex, consent, manipulation, and expression. Video games can often be a vector for experimentation and escapism. Playing Ladykiller in a Bind has taught me a surprising amount about myself.
If you were on the Internet in 2000, you may remember John Titor, a message board poster who said he had traveled back through time from a post-apocalyptic 2036, ravaged by World War III and the collapse of federal government. Titor, as it turned out, wasn’t real. But he stuck in people’s heads, and he makes a central…
Starfighter: Eclipse may sound like a title for a run-of-the-mill sci-fi game involving spaceships, but don’t let the name fool you. It’s actually way steamier than that.
Last year’s two Danganronpa games sold a combined 200,000 copies in the west, according to publisher NIS America. That’s not only remarkable because they’re niche visual novels—it’s remarkable because they were only on Vita. Pay attention, game publishers!
When you think of the term "visual novel," you probably think of dating simulators stuffed full of anime tropes and hentai scenes. I am here to convince you that this is wrong.
Maybe you haven't heard of lewd visual novel Sakura Spirit, which is currently available on Steam. That's OK, because Sakura Spirit's Steam reviews are here to help.
When the fine folks at 8-bit Cinema remade a movie as an 8 or 16-bit game, they never really left side scroller or adventure game territory—until now. Here's Mean Girls, the now ten-year-old Lindsay Lohan movie which keeps reminding us of how old we are, as a Japanese visual novel.
To Heart is a landmark in Japanese adult PC gaming. Released in 1997, the game is a visual novel and showed how adult themes could be woven into a moving story. It influenced a generation of visual novels.
