We hope you love the products we recommend! Just so you know, Ranker may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. Oh, and FYI — prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication.
This is a list of the best visual novel games of all time for any console or system, including cover art pictures when available. These highly rated visual novel games are ordered by popularity, so only the greatest visual novel games are at the top of the list.
Visual novel games are easy to play and are great for people that prefer to read rather than shoot enemies. Many visual novels have adult themes, though a few visual novel games such as Phoenix Wright are meant for players of all ages.
Spanning the entire history of the genre, these visual novel games are considered the best in the genre. This list includes all challenging visual novel games that have ever hit the shelves, so it doesn't necessarily have all the more obscure or new visual novel games.
This list below has everything from Katawa Shoujo to DNA Media Comics. This list answers the questions, "What are the best visual novel games?" and "What is the greatest visual novel game of all time?"
list ordered by
1
1,184 247
remplamKai added Steins;GateDecember 10, 2015 Steins;Gate is a Japanese visual novel developed by 5pb. and Nitroplus and released for the Xbox 360 on October 15, 2009. It is the second game in 5pb. and Nitroplus' Science Adventure series ...more
2
1,938 647
Katawa Shoujo2012 Katawa Shoujo is a bishōjo-style visual novel by Four Leaf Studios that tells a story of a young man and five young women living with varying disabilities. The game uses a traditional text and ...more
3
827 268
G Senjō no Maō2008 G Senjō no Maō is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Akabeisoft2 and first released for the PC as a DVD on May 29, 2008, in limited and regular editions after many delays. The gameplay ...more
4
1,206 326
Fate/stay night2004 Fate/stay night is a Japanese visual novel developed by Type-Moon, which was originally released as an adult game for Windows. A version of Fate/stay night rated for ages 15 and up titled ...more
5
572 207
Rewrite2011 Rewrite is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key, a brand of VisualArt's. It was released on June 24, 2011 for Windows PCs and is rated for all ages. Rewrite is Key's ninth game, along with ...more
6
670 161
999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors2010 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is a graphic adventure game/visual novel developed by Chunsoft for Nintendo DS. It was first released in Japan on December 10, 2009, and then in North ...more
7
742 190
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney2001 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, released in Japan as Gyakuten Saiban Yomigaeru Gyakuten, is a visual novel/adventure legal drama video game published and developed by Capcom in Japan, North ...more
Yūji Kazami transfers to Mihama Academy, a school with only five female students and prison-like features. Every student in the school have their own "circumstances" for being there, but Yūji is not required to do anything about their situation as he asked for a normal student life
The Fruit of Grisaia is a Japanese adult visual novel. A 13-episode anime television series animated by 8-Bit and produced by NBCUniversal aired in Japan between October and December 2014. The ...more
11
422 118
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations2004 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations, released in Japan as Gyakuten Saiban 3, is a visual novel adventure video game developed by Capcom. It was originally released for the Game ...more
12
481 114
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward2012 Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward, also known as simply Virtue's Last Reward in Europe and Australia, is a 2012 Japanese visual novel adventure video game developed by Chunsoft for the Nintendo ...more
13
360 123
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All2002 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All, released in Japan as Gyakuten Saiban 2, is a visual novel adventure video game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo DS video game ...more
14
263 110
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney2007 Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, released in Japan as Gyakuten Saiban 4, is a visual novel adventure video game developed by Capcom for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It is the fourth video ...more
15
369 117
Umineko: When They Cry2007 Umineko: When They Cry is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft visual novel series produced by 07th Expansion. The first game in the series, Legend of the Golden Witch, was first released at ...more
16
265 121
DNA Media Comics Clannad is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key and released on April 28, 2004 for Windows PCs. While both of Key's first two previous works, Kanon and Air, had been released first as adult ...more
17
353 63
taklung31 added Muv-Luv Alternative In the year 1973, alien species known as BETA (Beings of Extra Terrestrial origin which is Adversary of human race) came to invade earth. During the next 30 years, they have conquered most of ...more
18
257 68
bmmitchell98 added If My Heart Had Wings If My Heart Had Wings is a Japanese 18+ Visual Novel produced by Pulltop. It was released on 25 May 2012 and an English localization that was given a Teen rating was released by MoeNovel on 28 ...more
19
474 150
Little Busters!2007 Little Busters! is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key. It was released on July 27, 2007 for Windows PCs and is rated for all ages. Little Busters! is Key's sixth game, along with other ...more
20
319 139
Ever 17: The Out of Infinity2002 Ever 17: The Out of Infinity is a Japanese science fiction visual novel produced by KID. It was originally released on August 29, 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast. A Windows version, ...more
21
356 125
Saya no Uta2003 Saya no Uta is a Lovecraftian horror visual novel by Nitroplus with erotic content. The original plot is written by Gen Urobuchi. In 2009, an English fan translation patch was released. Later, ...more
22
349 43
MartinHünermund added Doki Doki Literature Club
22 Sep, 2017
23
303 111
Tsukihime2000 Tsukihime is a Japanese adult dōjin visual novel created by Type-Moon, who first released it at the Winter Comiket in December 2000. It was adapted in 2003 into an anime series, Shingetsutan ...more
24
188 93
Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life2005 Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Key released on November 25, 2005 for Windows PCs. Key later released versions of Tomoyo After without the ...more
25
136 84
Narcissu2005 Narcissu is a free visual novel by the dōjin group stage-nana, telling the story of a terminally ill young man and woman. It was made with the NScripter engine. The work was originally written ...more
