Rekindle

[kyrt]

I have been a user on the forums for quite some time and you can tell who I am often by my posts as they usually go on for far longer than is necessary. That said as much as I used to love visual novels I've been having difficulty getting back into the medium. I've been playing regular video games far more often and I haven't finished a visual novel in quite some time. I am looking for a visual novel to rekindle my love for the medium. Now I've read a lot of visual novels so I would like to limit the games to the last two years. I want to know that the medium is not stagnant and that it can still surprise me with quality, meaningful and/or fun experiences. I do not mind the genre so anything goes. I am unfortunately rather bad at even basic japanese so please limit the games to english translated games released (via legitimate or fan-translation) within the last two years (2015-2016). I plan to try Da Capo III come end of January but in the mean time I would like to try something else. Please help me try to rekindle my love for visual novels. Thank you in advance for any suggestions you give me. 

 

[Silvz]

Kindred Spirits on the Roof - http://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/402620/

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate - https://vndb.org/v4028

Enigma - https://fuwanovel.net/reviews/2016/11/16/enigma/

The ones I can think of so early in the morning

[Funyarinpa]

The House In Fata Morgana is exactly what you're looking for. I've also been in a major slump in terms of interesting VN releases in the last year, and Fata Morgana was the game that made the whole medium feel potentially incredible again. It is my favorite VN now. Fata Morgana is one of the very few VNs I have seen that completely discards the regular VN conventions and Japanese culture. There is no slice of life, there is no main heroine used as a marketing push. No slapstick humor. An art style that COMPLETELY deviates from anime art (perhaps you can make a case for exeggerated eyes, but the sprites are, on the whole, far more realistic, detailed and expressive than I am used to). 60 or so BGMs, at least half of them vocalized. A subject matter that majorly deviates from any common genre to become its own thing. 30 hours or so to boot. Its only flaws are no voice acting (though this one's open to discussion, I think it contributed to the game's atmosphere) and the 4:3 aspect ratio (the game was released in Japanese in 2012, though the translation was released this year). It's nigh-incredible on every front. Can't recommend it enough.

[littleshogun]

Maybe Tokyo Babel and 11eyes if you interested in chuuni. Or maybe Yoake and Dracu Riot if you want some lighter stuff. Have fun.

[kyrt]

12 hours ago, Funyarinpa said:

The House In Fata Morgana is exactly what you're looking for. 

I would have to say as of the moment you were exactly right. I decided to randomly buy a vn from the suggested ones here and this one happened to be on sale so I decided to try it. I've spent the last 8 or so hours straight slowly reading to Chapter 4 which is not something I can say has happened in quite some time. I've heard a lot of good things about it but for whatever reason never got around to trying it. Now that I finally have as it's quite enjoyable so far.

Thanks all for the recommendations; I might get to some of the others after, as this one will likely be done with soon. I think Fata Morgana has indeed rekindled my interest in the medium though so thanks.