10 best visual novels for Android - Android Authority
10 best visual novels for Android - Android Authority |
| 10 best visual novels for Android - Android Authority Posted: 15 Apr 2020 03:31 AM PDT   The visual novel is an interesting genre in gaming. It is, in fact, a game, but visual novels don't play like normal games. The game play mechanics are simplified down to the bare essentials and the game's narrative takes the front seat for the entire game. Some of them do have some mechanics, but they exist almost solely to push the game forward. It's a relaxing genre and it's great for people who just want to hang out and watch a story unfold. It is a Japanese invention so most Android visual novels are Japanese. Still, you have some excellent choices. Here are the best visual novels for Android. We'd also like to give an honorable mention to Joe Dever's Lone Wolf Complete that would totally make this list if its last update wasn't three years ago. More posts about story-driven games!Ace AttorneyPrice: $19.99 each Capcom has four Ace Attorney ports on Android and they're all pretty good. Ace Attorney is a mystery-drama series about Phoenix Wright, a lawyer who solves cases. There are also hidden object and point-and-click adventure elements as well. Basically, you start a case, collect the evidence, interview people, and smash your opponents in court. The pacing is quite good and there are in-game mechanics to make sure you don't forget anything. Each game is rather expensive at $19.99 each, but you get the full game with no additional in-app purchases or advertisements. We have Capcom's developer page linked at the button so you can browse for all four games. FlorencePrice: $2.99 Florence is a delightful visual novel about Florence. Florence feels stuck in her routine when she meets a Krish. You play through the game as you experience the relationship blossom and mature. The game has some light puzzle and point-and-click mechanics but it's otherwise very easy to play. It had a bit of help in its early days since it is from the lead designer of Monument Valley (another excellent game for a list like this). This one runs for $2.99 with no in-app purchases or ads. GrisPrice: $4.99 Gris is a puzzle game with more than enough visual novel elements. You play as Gris, a girl lost in her own world. You help her navigate that world, get in touch with her emotions, and navigate reality. The game has no death or danger so you can play at your own speed. There are some light puzzle mechanics to engage the player as they drift through the game. The art style is good and there is a surprisingly small amount of text as the story is mostly told through visual elements. It runs for $4.99 with no in-app purchases or ads. If My Heart Had WingsPrice: Free to play If My Heart Had Wings is a relatively standard visual novel experience. The game has a lot of good features as well, including full offline support, plenty of stories to play through, and more. There is also a comment feature that lets you leave comments on scenes for others to read later. The game is very much the same as the PC version. You can play the first half for free and you pay for the rest of it later. There is also a central arc with branching side stories about each character. Life is Strange (two games)Price: Free to play Life is Strange is a visual novel style game from Square Enix. You play as Max Caulfield, a high school girl with the ability to rewind time in short bursts. Players make decisions, think better of them, and rewind time to redo specific parts of the game. You use this ability to uncover various things in the game. There is also a prequel to the game, Life is Strange: Before the Storm. Both games are free to download and play for a bit and then you have to pay for the rest of the chapters in the game. These were a little better on game consoles, but they translated to mobile well. More posts about Android gamesMysterious Forum and 7 RumorsPrice: Free / $2.99 Mysterious Forum and 7 Rumors is another fairly typical visual novel. This one is fairly short at about two hours and it's a horror experience. Players make decisions to influence parts of the game and there are several different endings to achieve. The whole thing takes place on a forum run by some local high school kids. There are some stories posted on there that become reality and not in a good way. It is a short title, but it's also cheap at $2.99. This one is an excellent little time killer and the story is cheesy, but fun.  OPUS (three games)Price: Free to play OPUS is a small series of exploration games. Players explore space as they make their way through the game's main narrative plot. The second title returns the player to a dystopian Earth to help a witch find her way. The two games are not thematically linked, so you can play them in any order and each story is completely unique. OPUS: The Day We Found Earth is the first title in the series followed by OPUS: Rocket of Whispers. There is also a third game, the very short (and entirely free) Rocket of Whispers: Prologue that tells of the events before the second game. These are very strong showings in the visual novel space and excellently adds in elements of open world, sandbox, exploration, and adventure. OxenfreePrice: $4.99 Oxenfree is a horror-thriller with adventure, puzzle, and exploration elements. It starts when a bunch of high school kids unwittingly open a ghost rift and mayhem ensues. It takes a lot of its cues from 1980's teenage horror films. The writing is, frankly, outstanding and the game play elements fit the theme of the game very well. This is technically a port of the PC game and both versions have high ratings from players. This one hasn't seen an update for a while so be sure to test it inside of the refund time to make sure you don't waste your money. Telltale Games titles (eight games)Price: Free / Varies Telltale Games was the undisputed champ of the visual novel genre for several years on Google Play. The studio went down, but all of its games are still available on Google Play. The visual novels usually take place in the same universe as already popular properties and there are four The Walking Dead games, two Batman games, and more. There used to be a Minecraft title and a Borderlands title but both of them are gone from the Play Store. In any case, each game plays about the same. You play through the story by making decisions and using point-and-click adventure mechanics. The games are all free to start with optional chapters available as in-app purchases. You can find The Walking Dead games here and the Batman games are available at the button below. To the MoonPrice: $4.99 To the Moon is a touching game with some light adventure and RPG mechanics. It's about two doctors who give people the memories they wish they had, but can only perform the surgery while the patient is on their deathbed. Their patient asks to go to the moon for his final request and the doctors dive in to find out why he wants it. This was one of the best Android games of 2017 and it remains one of the best visual novels to this day. It runs for $4.99 with no in-app purchases or ads. More posts about even more Android games! |
| Posted: 15 Apr 2020 10:03 AM PDT I wanted my daughter to go to college, to discover her passion and make her mark in the world. But it turns out she knew where she was needed. She works at Target. Normally, she's stationed in the beauty section, keeping the shelves stocked and dispensing advice. Lately, she's been selling a lot of hair color and nail care products for people who can't get out to the salons. While the coronavirus has made shut-ins of most of us, she ventures out nearly every day into an environment we've been told to fear, where one careless sneeze in her proximity could imperil her health or make her a danger to all those she loves. She still comes to dinner on her days off. Given our history, I forgive the wary look in her eyes as she greets me, uncertain if the night will end with a thinly veiled lecture about life choices. In normal times, she can deflect these efforts with anecdotes from work. Most are stories about obnoxious customer behavior that she collects like currency to dish out over spaghetti and garlic bread. Now, the store she described sounds familiar, but altered in ways reminiscent of the dystopian young adult novels she grew up with, like "Hunger Games." Her stories remind me of the grizzled veteran in war movies who frightens new arrivals with tales from the front. I half expect her to say, "You can't know what it's like unless you've been there." Instead, what she said was: "It feels like Christmas, but everyone is terrified." Signs and messages broadcast through the store's public address system gently remind customers about the need for social distancing. Cashiers wipe the credit card machine with a disinfectant after every transaction. Two people do nothing but clean shopping carts. Another staff member circulates through the store wiping down anything a customer might touch.  "The first week we were flooded with people," my daughter recalled. "Groups of 30 to 40 people waiting outside when the store opened at 8 a.m. They rushed in to grab all the toilet paper, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, frozen food, water, milk, eggs, butter and meat. "Now there's a limit on many things you can buy." Customers seemed panicked but understanding, at least at first. "There were rude people, but they could still see hope at that point," my daughter said. "After two weeks of hearing 'maybe tomorrow' — people start to get more exhausted. More desperate." She recalled the experience of a friend, a young woman of Asian descent who worked the self-checkout line the day the store put purchase limits in place. When my daughter asked how her day went, the woman's eyes started watering. "I've been having to take things away from people," her friend explained. "People have been calling me names." Hoping to elicit a smile, my daughter said, "Who's been calling you names? I'll go beat them up." Her friend shrugged. "People just don't like Asians right now." My daughter, blond and about as white as bed linen, is spared the animus of racial prejudice, yet it's hard enough to get through most days without the customer-service smile wearing thin. Once, a fashionably dressed older woman stood directly over her while she restocked shelves. After my daughter moved 6 feet away, the woman apologized for getting in her way. "No, you're fine," my daughter said. "I just don't want to get too close." The woman's face pinched with indignity, as if she'd been accused of casting an odor. "It's not anything against you," my daughter hastened to add. "I work with the public all day. No telling what I've been around." She managed to keep the smile in place until the woman moved on. Such incidents normally would set off my daughter, not in the moment, but later, when she unloaded her frustrations over tacos and guacamole. Now, showing new depths of empathy, she demonstrated a responsibility to put the actions in context. "People are more irritated in general," she told me. "A lot of people are losing their jobs. They're having to be cooped up in their homes, a lot of them with their families, who they don't want to be cooped up with. Then the overall anxiety of a pandemic and a lack of supplies. Finding the supplies you need but being limited to buying only one or two. I understand that would be frustrating." Before my daughter finished her shift that day, a woman in her late 50s came into her area. My daughter looked up and smiled. "She gave me a little wave and said, 'Thank you for working.' I said, 'Of course.' I didn't know what else to say to that." Over years of reporting, I've met many first responders whose work I admired. They are here for us on our worst days, offering aid when we need it most. If we're lucky, most of us won't need to call on one of these heroes. But as we brace for weeks, if not months, of social distancing and self-isolating, how many of us can manage without a grocery store or pharmacy? Their low-wage workers are redefining what it means to be a hero to our communities. "I'm not running into a burning building or saving a kid from under a car," my daughter said after I made the analogy. "But I understand that it's important to have workers at these places because people have very limited options for feeding their families and getting medicine. " It's just my job. I wake up and I have to go. `OK, there's a pandemic. Let's do what we have to do and just keep showing up on time.'" I looked at her across the table as if seeing her for the first time in weeks. It's easy to forget how quickly the world has flipped upside down. Even with the extraordinary precautions the store is taking, the daughter I've spent two decades feeling a need to protect from the world is putting herself out there every day to provide aid to the people in her community. The greatest risk my wife and I have faced are the occasions when we open our door to her and share a meal from across the table. After dinner, my daughter retrieved her keys and readied to leave. She had a morning shift the next day and wanted to get to bed early. An awkward moment passed as we looked at each other, neither moving forward for the usual farewell embrace. She knew after she left that I would be wiping down door handles, light switches and anything else she had touched, but we did not speak of it while we made plans to see each other again and said goodnight. My 20-year-old daughter works at Target. I couldn't be prouder.  |
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