Blogathon 7
19 Nov, 2023
Visual novels! People who don't play them love to tell you about how much the medium sucks and is only for perverted straight men or and/or lovesick teenage girls. You can probably tell from my tone that I hate people who talk about shit when they never made any effort to engage with the source material. Still, I understand that if you know nothing of visual novels it can be a bit hard to figure out where to even start, so here's a selection of vns I think are worthy of attention for first-timers. I only picked fairly short vns because I assume people who discover the genre don't particularly want to commit to a 30 hours long mindfuck fest, but if that's what you're looking for you can go ahead and play Fate/Stay Night.
Cute Demon Crashers, a sweet romance vn about a bunch of demons hanging in your house and whether or not you choose to fuck them. It's an erotic game, but it's also the most vanilla/soft one on this list. The characters are touching, the sex is good, it won't blow your tits off but it should give you a good idea as to what romance vns can be like.
The Life We've Chosen, a story about a depressed folk building a friendship with a neighbouring demon. This one is really poetic and melancholic, and brought tears to my eyes at the end. Very much a "theme & symbolism" sorta game.
Wolf's Wool, a surreal tale about living under an uncaring sun when your only shield against it is tearing. Or a tale about being forced to hide your true self under a thick coat to not die from the environment you're forced to live in, your pick. Also very much a theme & symbolism game.
We Know the Devil, still surrealism still themes & symbolism. Three kids at summer camp are being sent to a cabin where they are to meet the devil. This one's a classic but it's also fairly short so I get to reccommend it.
Hatoful Boyfriend, the meme game, the game about a human being sent to a school for pigeons. It's hilarious, it's got good romance, and most importantly, it's got deeply terrifying psychological horror scenes. It's the longest game on this list (about 8 hours) but it IS a classic and it IS damn good. Fair warning though, I was not kidding about the horror.
This blogathon aims to raise money for Pillowfort, a social media that is entirerely user-funded. If you can afford to, it would be very nice of you to donate some money to keep it running. If you do not have a pillowfort account, you can donate by making an account for 5usd. If you do have an account, you can donate through the donation tab. If you do not have a credit card, you can donate to my ko-fi and I will transfer that money to pillowfort on your behalf. If you cannot afford to donate but wish to see pillowfort for yourself, refer to this post for free invite keys.
