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Try Umineko no Naku Koro ni, it's a kinetic novel with a heavy emphasis on the interplay of the mystery and fantasy genres. It gets pretty meta but moreover there is a mystery behind it and the narrative challenges you constantly to try and solve it. It's a very indirect form of gameplay but I feel it's relevant (as long as you keep reading the result is the same for all the arcs except the last one).

It definitely covers all the bases that you're looking for (except the true end bit, thematically). MangaGamer is working on a translated rerelease for Steam, but you can check out the demo (which is the entire first arc) here. The same site will also have translation patches for the rest of the games, so long as you have copies of the games from other sources (you can purchase the games from MangaGamer and will need to apply the English patches)

One thing to add, the series as a whole is long and moreover pacing is pretty slow, but it has major payoff moments in every arc and the best OST in gaming IMO.

There are few VNs in English with trap protagonists. I'm somewhat familiar with Otoboku. As far as I recall, that story's main character is only slightly annoyed that his family wants him to cross-dress while attending an elite school. Some of the girls help improve his appearance, and give him advice on how to behave.

I'm habitually not into VNs to have a good laugh but, from the few I've read thus far, Grisaia no Kajitsu and Majikoi have definitely been the ones to make me laugh on a regular basis.

Kira Kira. It's a really under-appreciated VN about a highschool band and due to some things that happen the protagonist ends up in drag for about half of the common route. The protagonist is pissed off at first but gets used to it after a while. His bandmates (who are all girls) do his make-up and such, and are even envious of how good "she" looks.

There are many many many better ones, they just aren't free.

Check out Grisaia no Kajitsu. I always recommend it to people who started with KS or think it's the best VN. The fan translation is really good. There is an all-ages Steam version and an 18+ version will be officially released some time later.

Other than that, if you are more into slice of life and comedy, Majikoi is a must read.

Rewatch Tsukihime again until you give it a 10/10. :-D

Troll comment aside, I think you might like Kazuko Keikaku. I think of it is like an old school version of Majikoi. It has a cast of characters (some are ridiculous and hilarious), has romance that isn't the main purpose of the story, and isn't afraid to tackle sad/emotional issues. There are a few translation issues in there (but I think that sometimes adds to the comedy). It is a bit long and takes a little while to get going, but you should try and stick to it if possible. Hope you enjoy!

The only visual novel I can think of that requires you to keep the Main Character's personality is Fate Stay Night . If you choose the logical solution every time, you'll get bad ends, but if you choose to act in Shirou's personality then the story continues.

However, I don't think that's what you really want so I apologize. I just don't think there's many visual novels that are what you are asking for.

Yuuji doesn't really change, but you'll get more used to his rather direct personality and he'll feel less abrasive as you go on. As for the heroines, they mostly remain the same, but learning their back-story will completely change your perspective on their actions. If you're not already laughing at the GnK scenes then that VN probably isn't for you as you've another 15-20 hours of similar content ahead of you.

If you're looking for other VNs that are similar to Katawa Shoujo with its focus on school life, you might want to try Clannad. The protagonist starts off as a bit of a delinquent and as such can seem a bit of an asshole at first, but he quickly grows beyond that. I've also heard Little Busters is excellent but I haven't read it yet.

There's Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi, which has probably the best Yandere route/events currently. It's not translated, just for your information.

As for other, better rated VNs, I'm not sure whether the heroines can actually be considered Yandere, even though the tags say so, although Cross Channel has some characters with that trait. I haven't read it myself, but some people say it's great while others don't.

> Ever17

- >an emotional level close to clannad after story

What?

I'll second the Muv-Luv triology though, and I'd also recommend:

Little Busters!

Grisaia no Kajitsu

I'm not going to tell you to spend money you don't have, but you have to consider most VNs' lengths when you look at the price. You see, Grisaia no Kajitsu, for example, is probably about 40-50 of "gameplay". $36,99 may seem like a lot at first glace (one could argue that it is, regardless) but if you divide the price tag by the hours you'll get out of it, it's really not that much. $36,99/45 hours = $0.822/hour. If you can not spare $0.822/hour for one of the best translated VNs out there, then I sincerely hope you'll save up for it.

On top of that, we're actually getting the game for quite a lot cheaper than the Japanese, they have to pay ￥6,345/$51.07. And that's cheap. Newer/high demand VNs are closer to $80; the same if you were to get it in a store instead of off Amazon.

I really enjoyed Kakoku Keikak. It is voice acted (which adds to the charm), has pretty nice music and it's characters range from a little dark to absolutely ridiculous. It is hilarious at times and heartbreaking at others. It starts slow but it really handles the concept of family and what it means in a very unique and thought provoking way. There are 5 potential love interests of varying personalities. If you do read it, I suggest going through the common route (not a ton of romance up to that point) and saving the game and working through each of the 5 love interests (with Aoba being #1 girl by a wide margin). They are each a unique experience but you'll definitely only want to see the common route once. Also, the MC is a bit cold at the beginning but warms up over time. I would give it a solid/10.

Ultimate Boob Wars was one that surprised me. It's a pretty damn good nukige on its own but the comedy is top notch in it too. There are also some very cute moments.

Koihime Musou is another that walks that line. It's not listed as a nukige on VNDB but it has a lot of h in it. It's pretty good though as a regular VN.

Sengoku Rance is pretty good.
Not sure if it counts as an RPG or a turn-based strategy though.

The first playthrough is relatively straightforward, but after that you unlock new difficulty levels and it becomes much more challenging.

I just posted this response in another thread, so I'll just copy it:

>The best otome visual novel I've played so far is The Second Reproduction. Interesting story, good setting, cute heroes, voiced main characters (though not for every scene), and a cool female protagonist that doesn't just sit around waiting for the ~prince~ to save her.

The best otome visual novel I've played so far is The Second Reproduction. Interesting story, good setting, cute heroes, voiced main characters (though not for every scene), and a cool female protagonist that doesn't just sit around waiting for the ~prince~ to save her. I think you'd enjoy it.

Yeah, you seem to be completely new to this, so I think you'll just need the catch-all introduction to VNs: Katawa Shoujo. Just because it's great for beginners doesn't mean it's not great, however. It's completely free and decently long (about 25 hours long for every girl's ending.) If you have an Android phone there is a port for it if you want. This game has a decent following, I think you'll enjoy it.

However, this is not a yuri game, so you gotta not mind playing as a guy. Unfortunately there really aren't any free yuri games out there. Plus, I don't think this has a tsundere character. I'm recommending you this despite that because you seem very very new at this, and also because it's definitely a solid visual novel that I think you'll enjoy, and based on everything else you asked for. Also, this does have sex scenes, but you have the choice to turn them off in the options if you don't want them. Other than that, I can't really recommend much else, I can only tell you best of luck and I hope you enjoy it as much as other beginners loved it.

there are 3 i can think of

Love at first sight

Katawa Shojou

both of these you can find for free on the net

Sunrider is a free vn with turn based strategy elements

https://store.steampowered.com/app/313730/Sunrider_Mask_of_Arcadius/

There are barely any translated visual novels available on PS2. This is it. If you're talking untranslated though, there's a <em>lot</em> more .

The best otome visual novel I've played so far is The Second Reproduction. Interesting story, good setting, cute heroes, voiced main characters (though not for every scene), and a cool female protagonist that doesn't just sit around waiting for the ~prince~ to save her.

I'm not really sure, but I think the algorithm only processes voted VNs, so it doesn't matter whether they're marked as finished, dropped or whatever. This thread on vndb is for that page in particular and apparently the code is quite similar to/based on what /u/The_Bunny_Advocate made back then. If the thread is also still up-to-date, there are no sophisticated features like language distinction.

There is no documentation, but there aren't many features either:

• Find VNs liked by users who liked this particular VN:

>Type vnlist.org/#/v{VNID}/r, where {VNID} stands for the numerical ID the VN has on VNDB.

>Example: To find VNs liked by users who liked Umineko, type vnlist.org/#/v2153/r.

• Find VNs based on your votes:

> Type vnlist.org/#/r{USERID}, where {USERID} stands for the numerical ID your user account has on VNDB.

> Example: To find recommendations based on your votes, typevnlist.org/#/r52678.

• Both points above in one go ^(^at ^least ^I ^assume ^that ^is ^what ^it ^does):

> Type vnlist.org/#/v{VNID}/r/{USERID}.

> Example: To find recommendations based on your votes, 'similar' to Rose Guns Days, typevnlist.org/#/v9678/r/52678.

I'll second the recommendation for Umineko (which is a masterpiece), and also add Rose Gun Days and Coμ >Just don't say "Clannad" or anything made by KyoAni please. The Clannad eyes are what nightmares are made of.

KyoAni is an animation studio. Clannad is made by Key, and their VNs tend to be quite popular (and most of the newer ones don't have those eyes)

>G-Senjou no Maou

Just so you know, Sekai Project is releasing an official version of the game this summer, with upgraded art resolution and whatnot.

I'll second some of the other guy's recommendations, namely Sharin no Kuni, Majikoi, and the Muv-Luv trilogy. I'll also add Umineko no Naku Koro ni onto that.

I'm not sure what it is that you're looking for exactly as I haven't played DanganRonpa, but Little Busters! came to mind when I read the title of your post. It's got plenty of both light and dark elements. I personally am a huge fan of it.

Symphonic Rain fits pretty well. It's 100% translated and heavy on the romance. Instead of Grisaia's comedy, it's got drama. The routes are about the heroines and their problems first and foremost.

There are no h-scenes. [nakige/no nakige](#s "It could definitely be considered a nakige.") It's around 20 hours long.

Here's a little write-up I did on it, if you'd like some more information.

I'll throw in Duel Savior and Littlewitch Romanesque.

Littewitch has a pretty fun dice mini-game that you constantly play throughout the game, and duel savior has a side scroller battle system that's pretty fun.

I second the reccomendation for Steins;Gate. Its not a romance VN per se, but its a science fiction story with well written romance .

I also recommend the Umineko franchise :

https://vndb.org/v24

Now...uh Umineko is quite the dense read, and its a unorthodox murder mystery that forces the reader to think, as it doesn't outright give you the answer. Alot of things are hidden behind symbolism, and the VN likes to trick the reader using perspective. That being said, its very well written, the characters are amazing, music is amazing, and the romance is well written as well.

Here's the VNDB tag Heterochromia Heroine, filtered by Language: English.

I haven't spent time reading any of these. I chose to purchase a hard copy of Shuffle! from Mangagamer's booth while at a fan convention, but haven't given it a chance.

If you are looking for something a bit different you could try Rose Gun Days. It's a action/politics mafia deal set in an alternate history post WWII Japan. It's a lot of fun, very well written, has a fantastic cast, and is pretty unique. It's written by Ryukishi07 (Higurashi, Umineko, Higanbana), but is far more lighthearted than his other works (there will be a few heavy moments though). It also has a pretty fun but completely optional minigame system for fight scenes.

This VN is tragically under read and is definitely worth taking a look at.

It's only about 45 minutes long, but I found Shan Gui really nice and relaxing to play. Cherry Tree High Comedy Club is also really cute and fun with no real drama, although you might want to look up a guide for it - I found some of the mechanics confusing at first and had to start again partway through once I realized I was messing everything up.

The Vita has access to much of the PSP library so you can look in there as well for some other options. Here's a list of PSP VNs.

I can't personally recommend anything on there as I haven't played anything on there myself yet. It's a good starting point at least. Based on hearsay alone, consider Hakuoki, Sweet Fuse, Corpse Party and BlazBlue. Do your homework in case you can't get them on Vita, but you should be able to.

I did play Hakuoki for 3DS and enjoyed it thoroughly, think it's the same story.

What comes to mind first is Fate/Stay Night, but Tispai already mentioned that. If you want to give it a try, you might want to get the newer realta nua version which has an improved fanmade patch for it with added voices. The PC version is sadly nowhere available for digital download anymore, so you would have to resort to other means - but at least the PSVita version is still being sold if you want to support Type-Moon and have a hardcopy of any sort.

A possible candidate which might fit would be An Octave Higher. The story is told alternatively from three different perspectives and you only reach the true route if you don't choose choices that are (too) out of character. I normally wouldn't have mentioned AoH as it only fits somewhat for you're looking for, but the true route is roughly half of the VN and so it is kind of a weighty reward. It's also not clear how to get to the true route if you don't already know it, so there's no "I'll go after this and that to keep to the story going".

As for your second question: Maybe it's not exactly what you're looking for, but Aloners has a kind of interesting concept regarding choices. While there's only one romanceable hero and a completely linear plot, there are still a lot of choices, which really only influence the relationship between the two of them. This makes the relationship dynamic, from being only acquaintances (on more or less neutral terms) to a romantic one with possible H-scene.
I enjoyed being able to pick the choices which felt the most natural to me, so I could experience the story/relationship the way I saw it the most suitable without having to worry about missing any story bits or getting onto a specific route.

I'm going to second the recommendation for Higurashi and Umineko, especially Umineko.

However I'm also going to reccomend Higanbana no Saku Yoru Ni, as well as Rose Gun Days. All of these works are written by Ryukishi07, but are all fairly different from each other and pretty unique experiences.

Higurashi and Umineko are both mystery/horror works with some supernatural elements, but they are very different in overall tone, feel, and message. Umineko in particular is a true masterpiece of literature and excels at nearly everything it does. Higanbana is a pretty dark and serious work that tackles some very serious issues through the lens of the fantastical. Rose Gun Days is a fun and mostly lighthearted politics/mafia action series that takes place in an intricately constructed alternate history.

Symphonic Rain sounds like the game for you.

>school

Yes.

>college

No.

>academy

Yep.

>MC is studying music.

Checks out.

>many of the possible routes would focus on classic musicians pianists, violinists, cellists.

Hmmm. The main instrument in the game, the Fortell, is fictional. It's basically a piano though. The routes focus on the Fortell and singing.

>Bonus points if the MC and or conquests have dark pasts that they must overcome.

[](#s "This fits as well.")

Symphonic Rain even includes an addicting Fortell-playing mini-game. It's used at appropriate times and not that much that you would get sick of it. And if you do, you can just put it on auto-play.

Sekien no Inganock is a great steampunk/fantasy. While romance isn't the main focus, it definitely has some really interesting romance in it. As for the art, it's very stylistic, but I personally think it's fantastic. It's split into 12 chapters, each being ~1-2 hopurs long. 18+

Katahane is a very lighthearted VN with a good splash of drama and intrigue in the form of an excellent side story (of sorts). The art is decent and there is plenty of romance scattered throughout the VN. It's ~20 hours long and 18+.

VNs which have dark elements/turn dark from the top of my head

G-senjou no Maou

> You play the role of Azai Kyousuke, the son of a legendary gangster infamous in the underworld. You spend your time listening to Bach, playing God at school and covertly working for your stepfather, a ruthless financial heavyweight. This idyllic existence is broken when two individuals appear in the city - a beautiful girl named Usami Haru with hair you could get lost in for days, and a powerful international gangster known only as "Maou". Almost without delay, the two begin a deadly cat-and-mouse game, bringing you and your friends into the crossfire. Plotting, political intrigue and layer upon layer of interlocking traps are the weapons in this epic battle of wits.

Edelweiss

> Four young high school students--Kazushi, Appo, Pierre and Daigo--grow sick of their less-than-average, sensually-depraved youth. With nothing but poor grades to show for their transient existence, the band of buffoons seek to spice up their lives. Once word of an exchange student program to an all-girls school reaches Kazushi's ears, he and his friends set out to improve their grades. Eventually, their hard work pays off, and they find themselves on a boat to Eiden Island, which is home to Eiden Academy, their new school.

>However, upon arriving, the boys learn of a secret that causes them to question the intelligence of their decision to jump at this "opportunity": the school deals in the dark arts of alchemy, and endeavors to teach its students its various facets. Kazushi and his friends quickly find themselves biting off more female drama than they can chew.

Though there's lots of comedy in Edelweiss, depending on the choices some routes can turn pretty dark

If you want to laugh at something made just to be laughed at, like a parody game then you can try My Magical Cosplay Cafe. It's probably the best parody I've played; it's very short and makes fun of the common average-dude-with-a-harem formula.

How about Saku Saku: Love Blooms with Cherry Blossoms?

18+ Patch Available, 5 Routes and one of them is the true one... I think...

It was in the Sekai Humble Bundle so you can find it quite cheap on other sites or as giveaways.

"Don't take it personally babe, This just ain't your story" is pretty good. As someone else mentioned Brass Restoration is cool too. They're at least actually free!

http://scoutshonour.com/donttakeitpersonallybabeitjustaintyourstory/

https://vndb.org/v167 I can't seem to find the link for Brass Restoration any more though!

Ouuu I get to be the first one, I'm so stoked!!!

Tsukihime is what you're looking for. This is an EPIC dark fantasy filled with everything you could possibly want out of a dark VN. To entice you, a badass (lil bit of spoilers) picture of my #1 girl.

Also, if you wanna discuss anything on it I'd suggest joining /r/tsukihime. It's a really deep VN that builds on each story arc, slowly revealing more and more until you get to the end and have your mind blown.

Cheers! <3

Hmm... so Katawa Shoujo is not an Otome but definitely a pretty good starter VN. If you are stuck on the Otome genre I don't have much to add. If you'll consider a pretty interesting story about family and what it means to be a family (it is hilarious but also deep and sometimes sad) you'd probably like Kazoku Keikaku. It isn't overly sexualized (not sure if that's your thing or not) and the story is really compelling on a level outside of typical male/female relationships. It is voice acted (the translation has a few issues but if you can look past it I'd recommend it). Cheers! <3

I second Kamidori. One of my favourite SRPG's full stop.

Bunny Black is an interesting take on the adventurers versus the Monster Lord setting with you playing as a grunt on the demons side, rising your way through the ranks while fighting parties of adventurers.

Yumina the Ethereal is another great SRPG. It has an annoying dungeon crawling section but the combat is excellent.

This one's certainly not very well known. Train of Afterlife. Has elements of mystery, horror, but also, family, loss, life, and death. It's beautiful and definitely made me cry by the end of it. Definitely also has some unexpected twists in it as well.

There's the Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side series. 1+2 are translated for DS while 3 is for PSP with a DS translation in the works. I only played number 1 for a few hours and it was pretty interesting. It has a good rating on vndb too.

There have already been some great recommendations from the other guys here, so I'll just mention True Remembrance. I wouldn't strictly call it a mystery VN, but it has some mystery elements that's worth checking out.

>Mascot: No real opinions here, but how about bringing it to a vote (maybe on the main sub to get more attention)

Added a survey link to the post here.

>General Look and Feel: Looks good to me. One issue I'm having is that I can't seem to edit my flair text so it's stuck as the default.

You need to click on a flair before the edit box pops up. It's a pain that it doesn't seem to be visible by default. I'll see if there's a fix I can do with the css.

>Also as an aside could I possibly trouble you to let me have my fancy flair text here as well? Just so I can look awesome while recommending Umineko in every applicable thread.

Done (:

I don't see Rose Gun Days on that queue you listed, so I'm gonna go ahead and recommend it.

>There are few VNs I dropped but didn't score since I don't feel like I went through enough of the VN to score it fairly

If you link to the list page instead of the votes page the dropped VNs will show up. People can still sort by score. In fact you can even link to it sorted by score

I always recommend Tsukihime to anyone it might even kind of interest because it's so good. It definitely has a darker side and the romances tend to be on an epic level (not the main driver of the story but definitely extremely important). IMO it captures everything you'd want from a romance with an epic story built in.

>I'd also very much like to stay away from rape scenes.

Hmm... I might have to say nevermind. As I said, this is fairly dark. Then again, nothing rapey unless you specifically make those kinds of choices.

Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni has two parts which can each be comfortably finished in an afternoon. Additionally since it's just a series of short stories you're not missing anything if you decide to end it early. It's a pretty solid read if you want something dark with horror and some feels.

That's a tough one. A lot of VNs write protagonists as blank slates so that they can progress with hero(ines) of different personality types without clashing.

> I'm not sure if there are any visual novels in which most or all of the choices accurately reflect the main character's personality.

I think you might like Kazoku Keikaku. The protaganist is fairly cold and distant and keeps that personality for a vast majority of the story. Usually the choice options almost always reflect his personality and I found myself wishing for a "more kind" answer (since I'm generally not cold and distant by nature). There is some of the whole "heronie you help picks you" but for the most part how you act dictates which of the heronies attaches to you. It is actually fun as you can run it naturally and see which heronie is attracted to your personality.

Also, Tsukihime is another REALLY good VN where the protaganist is fairly consistent. There are a LOT of ways to get bad endings, and usually sticking with how the protaganist would think (or learning from events in the story) will allow you to sidestep the endings.

Kazuko Kekakai is actually REALLY funny at times, romantic at times, heartbreaking at times... basically it is an awesome story. What's funny is that not only is it funny, but some of the translation issues actually make it more funny. I think all around this VN is worth your time.

I don't know if people will agree with me here. I haven't seen anyone else post about this game so it's probably not well recieved or known, but anyway here goes.

Loren The Amazon Princess Is a VN/Adventure game/RPG mix. It doesn't have voice acting iirc, but I think the basic plot and the characters were decent enough, for me it was strangely enjoyable despite its 'flaws' though, it has a certain charm to it. It was also the game that basically introduced me to VN's, mostly because I was looking for games like Mass Effect but I didn't necessarily need amazing gameplay. That lead me to Loren, and Loren lead me to Katawa Shoujo, which lead to more standard VNs.

Now I won't say the writing is phenomenal, but it is not bad. The general "stand-out" thing that people mention is that you play as the "Heroine's sidekick", which was what sparked my initial interest. I played the demo and liked it despite the eyeroll-worthy fan service so I decided to play through it all.

Heartache 101 is a freeware game for Windows. It doesn't have much story, and the opening scenes can be skipped entirely. The graphics and music are nothing special. However, if you're looking for an upbeat and worksafe simulation game, this is a good start. The main character has a few months to improve his relationships with several girls. This is done through stats, time management, and using money well. One last reason to consider it: the player is given some tools to design custom content.

Roommates is an indie game for computers and mobile devices. It includes two protagonists with four potential love interests each. The PC version costs $15 to $25 US, depending on whether you want both protagonists, and whether you want MP3s and wallpapers. It's a mostly humorous college life story with a major emphasis on complex gameplay. The content rating would probably be PG13 or Teen.

Kazoku Keikaku has mediocre written all over its common route. It is hilarious and heartwarming at times, with some funny translation errors that add to the charm. Save Aoba for last cause I don't know about anyone else but she was the last route I could do before I was completely satisfied with the ending.

I would actually recommend against diving into VNDB according to a certain tag. There are a lot of visual novels out there and quality varies very, very dramatically.
Most aren't even translated into English, and of those that are they're not all good.

If you absolutely insist on a yandere heroine, I think School Days might be appropriate. Keep in mind that despite it being fully animated (pretty rare for visual novels), it's not actually considered a very good read. It should be easy to get into and have some yandere heroines, but it's pretty weak on writing and characterization.

If the yandere preference is not a hard requirement, I think G-Senjou no Maou is a great introduction to the medium. It's probably a bit deeper and darker than what you're used to, but it's still very accessible. It's not massively long, the choice structure is very simple, and there's a good amount of suspense and humor.

All other things being equal, GSnM should be superior to School Days.

Hmm... so, this isn't exactly what you asked for, but there's a2 ~a due~ where MC is a punk rock who must attend every rehearsal of her late father's orchestra to get his inheritance money. She instead ends up tangled with the orchestra's new conductor, her father's star student, who wants the orchestra to be great. It's entirely about music and how that helps them bond and understand each other.

There's also G-senjou no Maou that has some (albeit very minor) musical elements that I can personally recommend. Its OST is almost exclusively inspired by classical music. It's also more of a thriller though, but is probably heaps better than Kira Kira and Deardrops.

So it sounds like you want VNs with non-self insert MCs. If you want something that follows the basic character routes for relationships formula, then I would suggest Majikoi. If you want something that you can get very emotionally invested in in general, but without "getting the girl" as the main focus, then I cannot recommend Umineko enough.

Is Ishara good? It's on my backlog as it looks nice and has some gameplay, but apart from that I don't know much about it. Yes, I read Juniper's Knot and it's definitely from high quality, but I thought that the story regrettably stayed a little bit shallow.

Hmm, based on your username maybe Adrift is something for you? It has a similar setting to Ever17 and is also a multiple route mystery with a lot of sci-fi - minus the deus ex machina.

Understandable. Well, take your time and don't release it if you don't feel like it or aren't sure about it :). I had a quick look at your WIP thread and it sounds like it could become a short little fun story, good luck!

> In fact, you could say it's a kind of hobby of mine to search for quality free vns.

I have a feeling that we could become good friends...

As for OP's question: Experiment Pleasure comes to mind. It's NSFW and mediocre looking, but its dry humour made me actually laugh a few times. However, it's mostly a parody on conventional Eroge, so having played a few ones before wouldn't be a bad thing.

Some may disagree, but I still maintain Katawa Shoujo does a fantastic job of portraying realistic relationships. Both the MC and the heroines have goals that sometimes conflict, and they work past their issues in a believable way.

Another one to look into is The Fruit of Grisaia, especially the Sachi and Yumiko routes. I'd personally recommend waiting for the 18+ version coming from Denpasoft sometime next month, as this is one example where I feel the H-scenes actually add depth to the characters.

There are the Toushin Toshi and Toushin Toshi 2 by Alicesoft, who was so kind to re-release them for free a few years ago. They're translated and seem to offer what you're looking for regarding the gameplay, at least there is a lot of solo grinding.

I thought they're okay. They do contain a lot of rape, but they're more like a "parody" of old RPGs containing rape. Nearly everything is overdrawn and it often breaks the fourth wall, but parody in quotes because it's not always fun and sometimes questions the ethics of the player.

They're quite similar and part two is definitely better than part one, so if you're going to play only one title, choose the latter. The stories aren't connected, so you won't miss out on anything.

Normally I'd recommend Tsukihime, since it sure has a "slice" of life aspect (pardon the excellent pun) but it is a little darker and more mature. It is an EXCELLENT VN and one that I think most people should read but I can't honestly say it fits your criteria.

I think that Kazoku Keikaku is a hidden gem. It is a hilarious slice of life that does have quite a bit of drama. The characters are all drastically different and the VN explores the concept of family and what it means to be a family. I'll be honest, the translation can get a little rough at times and there are a few spots the story is ridiculous, but all in all I'd rate it a solid/10.

Just made an account to recommend you Cho dengeki Stryker https://vndb.org/v2375. Here is the opening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oESHcXd53RU and i forgot to mention it has a pretty good OST that doesn't get old. Its a fantastic VN and its my all time favorite and i think you would like it if you like the action/Emotional( though in this one its a bit heavy) stuff in Majiko. Also Like other said Little busters is always good read(the baseball game has no real meaning outside of fluff, i had wasted too much time in that mini game).

The Zero Escape series has gameplay elements, like puzzle solving. 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors and its sequel Virtue's Last Reward. It's also a mystery/horror(kinda?) visual novel.

I really like Kazoku Keikaku. It is really light-hearted (don't get me wrong it has some deep moments) but they don't get too heavy and it is really funny at times. The common route is a bit long and can feel a little slow but the endings make it worth it. There hasn't been another VN where I almost fell out of bed laughing like this, lol. Enjoy!

Adding to the ones already mentioned, I quite liked Deardrops and it wasn't that long really. 20hrs for the true route (which is obviously the best) is very much possible and it's a really good read.

Since other people have recommended some good DS VNs, I hope you have a DS since I will too. The Jake Hunter games are fairly unknown and really good, especially if you like that classic/cliche hardboiled detective style.

Higanbana is a really nice short one if you like horror with lots of feels. There are two parts, both composed of several short stories. I would estimate 5-10 hours for the whole thing.

Oh and I forgot to recommend this one (after I told myself I'd recommend it to everyone and anyone until the day I die... can you believe I still forgot?) Cinders. It's based on Cinderella, but instead of waiting for her prince to come save her, Cinders is a badass woman who takes charge of her own life. I know in another comment I said Auralee from Autumn's Journey was my favorite protag but scratch that, Cinders is. (I still love Auralee though). So, in this game you don't HAVE to end up with a guy. It's not specifically a girl-pursues-guy game, but you most certainly CAN end up with one. And it doesn't have to be the prince. Basically there are several ways in which Cinders can break free and they don't all include another man. Also, no character is simply "good" or "bad". I actually grew rather fond of one of the stepsisters. All of the characters are really well developed and you can actually grow to understand them, including the stepmother. This doesn't mean they justify the abuse she puts Cinders through, but it isn't just like "evil stepmother is evil".

Give Deardrops or KiraKira a try. I don't know if you've heard about them or not but they're about a group of people that get together and form a band. They're not really connected but Deardrops has some KiraKira references.

Not necessarily hidden since it's in the chart, but my personal recommendation would be Coμ. There are only a handful of people that have read it over at /r/visualnovels, and I think it's fantastic. My second favorite VN after MLA.

Eien no Aselia is a particularly good recommendation at the moment considering this bundle: https://groupees.com/vn1

It's a bit old, and it definitely shows in the music & art (resolution is pretty bad) but the gameplay is kinda neat and the story&characters are top-notch

Katawa Shoujo. It does have a few H-Scenes and every girl has 3 endings and there's also a "secret ending". There are 5 girls to pick from, and the best part is that it's free. Also the sub for it r/katawashoujo is pretty active.

You can check it out and download it here. It takes 7-9 hours on average to complete any route, some routes have more choices than others. But it's a really great VN and it's still pretty popular for a game that was released in 2012.

What have you already read?

In any case, Katawa Shoujo is free, originally written in English, and has multiple routes focused on different girls.

Available for free download here.

Ren'Py has limited Raspberry Pi support, so there's a decent chance of any game made in it working, especially older/less intensive games. I can't tell you any specifics beyond that.

Lucy - The Eternity She Wished For

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Here's a link to a Steam version, if you would like to check out user reviews.

Closest I've found was this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ibongcreative.thekingoflove&amp;hl=en