Bsasds

Hanachirasu, maybe? It's also by Nitroplus, has an English translation, a tenebrous and gritty aesthetic, has an "anti-hero" MC (though notably more sadistic than Kikokugai's MC), and he is very competent in combat to boot. I will admit that I personally preferred Kikokugai, but it's a worthwhile read.

I've only played a few VNs that could be even nominally associated with horror so don't exactly have the most intricate knowledge of this theme. Saya no Uta, Muv-Luv Alternative (you know the scene), I Walk Among Zombies, and Sakuranomori Dreamers probably come the closest to this from the VNs I've read, though often they only contain single instances of it that might not actually classify as horror. That said, Saya no Uta wasn't particularly unnerving at any point since nondescript gorelands and violence, while visceral, isn't exactly that disturbing to me. The zombies in IWAZ aren't all that unnerving either, despite me finding the concept of zombies themselves somewhat offputting. Only Sakuranomori Dreamers really came close to unsettling me at different points, some of the CGs display that fairly well, really morbid expressions, faces and mutilations that contrast very clearly with the rest of the VN.

Is it really a scene type that people need to adapt to? I would think a change in the environment or tone would be par for the course, sort of like how I never really feel distracted by more severe scenes in moege like fighting or the introduction of darker themes. As far as comic relief in G-Senjou was concerned, while my memory is pretty short-term, I remember the amount of comedic scenes gradually fizzling out towards the end, only Eiichi really pointed a scene in that direction past that point.

The upside of less people reading visual novels is that the community and fanbase surrounding them maintains its integrity instead of being compromised by the same mindless hordes that have managed to worm their way into anime and manga. This does mean there are less translations than there would otherwise be with more traffic and money pouring into the medium, but I think it's a fair trade-off for the medium not ending up infested with virtue signalling, censorship, complaining about niche themes and subjects which are much more present in visual novels than in animanga, attempted deplatforming/"cancel culture" and other forms of online drama that only harm the medium. Some people seem to be attracted to certain mediums like anime and manga only to use them as a pretext for posting memes, creating drama, worshipping online celebrities and generally not bothering to integrate. Unfortunately, traffic and popularity seems to be inversely correlated with quality of consumer base as far as media is concerned.

Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours. Only around 25 or so missions into the CS mode (campaign, more or less) but I'm definitely being entertained throughout. I never actually played a shmup before this and was attracted to it simply because the OST was so phenomenal, so I'm really feeling the difficulty, especially since I'm coming off playing multiple RPGs instead of faster paced genres. I'm still relatively young at twenty years old so want to capitalise on my reflexes being optimal enough that I can perform decently at shooters. Still, trial-and-error and pattern memorisation are key to beating most of the more difficult bosses here, especially when it begins stripping your shields and offering you less lives in missions. It's also an unpretentious, genuine experience in regards to story, gameplay and aesthetics. In retrospect I probably should've installed and finished Darius Gaiden and G-Darius just to feel the series progression over time (and recognise obvious references to previous games in the music, ships and bosses) though.

"Style" as in themes or artstyle? Iizuki Tasuku did the character design if you mean artstyle. As far as longer, more mild-toned moege is concerned, maybe Maitetsu or Koirizo would suffice.

Difficult to comprehend the question, but I download any translated visual novel that catches my interest. I may read it immediately or save it for future reading. This does mean that I have 200+GB of visual novels clogging up my C drive, but if I feel that's excessive I can delete a few VNs I don't plan on rereading.

Nothing groundbreaking but looks like a decent time-killer. Shame about the lack of an Aoba route, though I've grown to expect that from modern VN releases, particularly from NekoNyan.

Sakura no Mori † Dreamers might fit the bill, I read it recently too. It involves the main cast solving separate murder cases by more direct means than conventional mystery narratives, but for the most part working out who did it, why they did it, and how to access them is key to each chapter (it even has a detective agency in-universe). MC isn't disintegrating everyone in his path but doesn't have chronic jobber syndrome either, so he's more or less on par with the rest of the combat orientated heroines as far as power is concerned.

Last one I read was High School of the Dead. I have a morbid curiosity for zombie apocalypse scenarios, not so much that I actively seek them out, but I investigate them if I see them. I found out that not only was it on what I assume was an extended hiatus since 2013, but the author actually died in 2017, and I've seen nothing from the manga since.

I definitely wouldn't strictly adhere to them, or use them to guide my own perception of the VN, but extreme positive or negative average ratings aren't always entirely unjustified, depending on the reasoning. My only real issue is any score from 1-6 tends to be monolithically perceived as "atrocious" to the voter rather than ranging from atrocious to slightly above average.