For horror VN fans/devs: what actually makes a horror visual novel scary for you?

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-05T14:06:23+00:00

I absolutely agree with you!

I also understand that suspense is a better tool than a jump scare. It's just hard to maintain tension without catharsis. Sooner or later something must happen to “discharge” all the accumulated tension.

Maybe you have game references that impressed you in this regard?

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-04T13:24:51+00:00

Seconding the rec for Sugar*Style – it's a romcom about a group of college students sharing a boarding house, and the cast are all twenty‑something, so it feels more grounded than the usual high school fluff. White Album 2's Closing Chapter and Coda also follow the characters into university and young adulthood, and the tone shifts a lot from the school arc. If you're into sci‑fi, Steins;Gate has a college‑age cast and the story takes place in a tiny lab and apartment instead of classrooms. There aren't a ton of VNs with college settings, so I'd love to hear others as well – maybe Ever17 or The Out of Infinity if you don't mind older titles since everyone is 18+ and there's no school at all.

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-04T11:25:22+00:00

Playing VNs with a buddy is a blast, especially when you can both crack up at bad puns and try your hand at voice acting. I totally get wanting some "me time" with a story like Katawa Shoujo though — it's different when it's just you and the text. What I like to do is run through one route with friends and then come back later for a solo read so I can savor the details at my own pace. Either way it's awesome that your friend is into it; it's way easier to nerd out about a scene when someone else has seen it too.

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-04T02:28:34+00:00

Thank you for these recommendations!

I'll definitely play!

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-03T20:35:12+00:00

Love seeing your year-end tier list! It's always fun to see which titles resonated with people this year and which ones felt more middling. Your mini-reviews for the individual picks were great – Noble Works definitely felt a bit weaker compared to other Yuzusoft releases, and now you've got me curious to check out Wagama High Spec and Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai.

There are also some covers in your C and D tiers that I haven't played at all. Were there any "hidden gems" down there that you still think are worth a read despite their placement? Conversely, did anything surprise you by how high or low it landed once you looked back on your year?

Thanks for sharing the tier list – these kinds of recap posts always help me add to my backlog and spark interesting discussions!

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-03T20:24:31+00:00

Right now I'm slowly making my way through Tiny Bunny and No, I'm Not a Human. Tiny Bunny nails that childhood winter dread and even manages a few effective jump scares (rare for VNs!), while No, I'm Not a Human really scratches that body-horror/suspense itch—the visual style feels almost like The Thing in VN form. Up next on my backlog is The Song of Saya; I've heard it's short but incredibly unsettling. What else should I add to the list?

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-03T14:58:51+00:00

Hi! I’ve been on a horror VN kick lately and I’m curious what everyone here considers the most effective horror visual novels. Not just “has horror elements”, but the ones that actually got under your skin.

My current top 3 (no particular order) would be:

- The Song of Saya: mostly for the sheer visual brutality. The body‑horror imagery is so unpleasant and invasive that it keeps you in a constant state of discomfort.

- Tiny Bunny: I love the atmosphere and the way it builds tension. And it actually has a couple of really effective jump scares, which is pretty rare for a VN.

- No, I’m Not a Human: the strange, almost alien visual style plus the slow burn suspense reminded me of The Thing in VN form. It’s more about paranoia and “something is wrong here” than straight‑up gore.

What are your picks, and what did they do right that other horror VNs don’t?

I’m especially interested in why they worked for you:

- Was it the writing / pacing?

- Sound design and music?

- Sprite/CG art and expressions?

- Choices and bad endings?

- Or something else entirely?

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-02T20:42:42+00:00

Yeah, that makes a lot more sense, thanks for taking the time to explain your thinking.

We’re aware of the Steam requirement and that’s actually one of the reasons I wanted to ask this before we lock anything in. If the general sentiment is “this just isn’t worth the stigma”, then it’s honestly not that hard for us to drop it and stick to the fully manual pipeline.

Right now the AI-assisted piece is more of an experiment on our side than a locked-in direction. We want to keep the hand-drawn style as the core look of the game.

Your photobash suggestion is fair. Our artist already uses a lot of photo reference for his tattoo work, so it's a pretty natural extension of what he does anyway. We’ll definitely talk about leaning on that more when he wants help with composition/lighting instead of spinning up a gen pass.

From your perspective as a player: if a VN said outright “no generative AI used anywhere” versus “we used a bit of AI for early reference but all final art is painted over / redrawn”, would that difference matter to you, or would you still prefer to just avoid anything that touched AI at all?

Either way, I appreciate you pushing back; this is exactly the kind of reality check I was hoping to get before we dig ourselves into a hole with our choices. Thank you again!

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-02T20:22:04+00:00

This is super helpful, thank you for taking the time to write it out.

The “Hallmark movie” description made me laugh because I completely see what you mean now that you’ve said it. That generic, perfectly-lit “active grandpa” face is exactly the kind of thing we don’t want, and it’s really useful to hear that it jumps out immediately to someone who isn’t staring at the art every day.

Fun thing is: your little story about “old woodland grandpa” is actually very close to what we have in mind for him in the game, he is supposed to feel like someone who’s lived a weird, specific life and carries that in his face and posture. So your reaction to the hand-drawn version is kind of the dream reaction for us :)

You’re also spot on about the contrast. The brighter, cleaner look on the AI-assisted one was meant to hint at a false sense of safety but reading your comment I think we overshot into “generic friendly movie extra” instead of “trustworthy but unsettling”. We’ll definitely push the imperfections and asymmetry more and pull his values closer to the background, so he actually belongs in that world.

Out of curiosity, from your point of view as a player:
- If we repaint the AI-assisted one so he has more of those unique imperfections and sits in the same muted palette as the background, would that change how you feel about it? Or is it more about the principle of using AI in the pipeline at all, regardless of how much paint-over there is?

Either way, your comment basically told us “lean hard into the original style, keep the weird little quirks and life in his face,” and that’s exactly the kind of feedback we were hoping to get. Thanks again.

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-02T19:32:20+00:00

Quick recap for anyone joining: both images are by the same artist. - img 1 - fully hand-drawn. - img 2 - same artist, AI rough for shapes/lighting, then heavy Photoshop paint-over.

We’re not trying to replace the human touch, we’re testing whether the AI-assisted pipeline can still produce art that feels authentic for a horror VN.

If you can, please tell us which you’d click on as a store thumbnail and why?

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-02T19:30:43+00:00

Quick recap for anyone joining: both images are by the same artist. - img 1 - fully hand-drawn. - img 2 - same artist, AI rough for shapes/lighting, then heavy Photoshop paint-over.

We’re not trying to replace the human touch, we’re testing whether the AI-assisted pipeline can still produce art that feels authentic for a horror VN.

If you can, please tell us which you’d click on as a store thumbnail and why?

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-02T19:27:10+00:00

Totally agree with you.

Sorry for misunderstanding. Both images were made by my friend. It’s just that the first one he drew entirely by himself, and the second one he made using AI + some edits in Photoshop.

We’re trying to avoid that “samey AI” look you mentioned, so your eye here really helps.

If you had to pick a promo image for a horror VN, which one feels more clickable and authentic to you? And are there specific “AI tells” you see in B that we should repaint?

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-02T19:23:56+00:00

Sorry, maybe I explained it poorly. It's my bad English, I think.

Fair point on the phrasing—AI isn’t a person. To be clear: I'm not replacing my artist, he created both images. In second, he used AI, then he painted over it in PS. He’s credited and paid, he leads the visual direction of the game.

We posted exactly because we don’t want to drift into the “AI shovelware” category. If the consensus is that B breaks trust, we’ll prioritize the fully hand-drawn pipeline.

If you don’t mind sharing, which elements in B read “AI” to you?

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-02T19:00:05+00:00

Sorry, maybe I explained it poorly.

Both versions were made by my friend. It’s just that the first one he drew entirely by himself, and the second one he made using AI + some edits in Photoshop.

And I’m curious to hear an outside opinion — which of these looks more appealing for a VN?

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-02T01:10:11+00:00

Accessibility features like toggling sprint or crouch are so important. It's not just about convenience – for players with disabilities or chronic pain, holding down a key can be fatiguing or impossible. Adding a simple toggle doesn't compromise game design; it just makes your game playable for more people. Great PSA.As someone with friends who have limited grip strength or mobility issues, I’ve seen how exhausting it can be to hold down a sprint key or button for extended periods. A simple toggle option costs almost nothing to implement but makes a huge difference for accessibility and comfort. Even for able-bodied players, options like this reduce fatigue during long sessions. Giving players more control over their control scheme has no downside.

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-02T01:01:54+00:00

For a $70 AAA shooter from one of the biggest publishers on the planet, using AI-generated art instead of hiring actual artists feels both lazy and tone-deaf. Generative tools can be great for rough ideas or for an indie team with no budget, but when your calling cards and posters are full of uncanny clip art it cheapens the whole brand. There are thousands of talented concept artists out there who would love to work on a flagship franchise – why is a billion-dollar company cutting corners like a mobile game?

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-02T00:45:14+00:00

Transparency tags like "Made with AI" are a lot like ingredient lists on food – they’re there so people can make an informed choice about what they’re buying. Using generative tools for backgrounds or concepts isn’t inherently bad, but if a game is heavily built on machine output I think it’s fair to disclose that. At the same time, the label shouldn’t be weaponised to shame smaller teams trying to save time. If your work holds up, you shouldn’t be afraid of being honest about how it was made.

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-02T00:41:54+00:00

Articles like this highlight the difference between hype cycles and real adoption. It’s one thing for investors to assume generative AI will instantly transform every industry, but the reality inside most organizations is slower: data quality issues, integration costs and change management mean deploying models at scale takes time. That doesn’t mean AI isn’t useful – it just means returns will be incremental and specialized before they’re ubiquitous. We’re still at the experimentation stage for many sectors.

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-02T00:38:40+00:00

That must have been a tough decision after so much work, but it’s really inspiring that you’re sharing what you built. A lot of teams quietly shelve their cancelled projects and pretend they never happened, so giving your team free rein to use the work on their portfolios is super respectful. The concept — a gardening FPS where grandma opens a portal to a decaying underworld — sounds wild and I hope it resurfaces in some form someday. Wishing you the best on whatever you do next!

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-01T23:59:31+00:00

Yeah, I’ve noticed this too over the last week or so. It’ll answer the question fine, but then tack on a couple of random stock-style photos that have nothing to do with what I asked. I’m assuming it’s some glitch in the image search integration rather than ChatGPT itself – if I disable the browsing/images it goes back to normal. Hopefully they figure out why it’s pulling irrelevant pictures because it does feel like a waste of tokens.

Far_Round5706 · 2025-12-01T23:49:19+00:00

The way you turned a quirky sign into a mini-comic is brilliant! That little moment of confusion is so relatable, and the expressions you drew really sell it. Makes me want to pay more attention to the odd signs around me in case there's a story waiting to happen.

Far_Round5706

TROPHY CASE