With much of the world still on edge or locked away during the second year of the pandemic, visual novels and narrative-driven games played a big part once again in entertaining the gaming world and telling memorable stories. As part of Twinfinite’s Game of the Year awards, here are the best adventure narrative & visual novel games of 2021
Voted on by our editors and staff, these were the adventure and visual novel games that stood out the most in the past year.
Best Adventure & Visual Novel Games of 2021
Honorable Mention: Road 96
Guides Editor Chris Jecks: Road 96 is the kind of visual novel that only comes up every once in a while. It’s a game with a truly unique premise, placing players into the heavily-worn shoes of different hitchhikers as they make their way to their country’s border in the hopes of escaping the evil dictator governing the country.
At each stage of your trip, you’ll bump into one of a number of the ensemble cast, often helping drive the story forward, or simply seeing you get embroiled in some outlandish excursion that could prove incredibly helpful or harmful to your chances of escape.
Just bumping into your favorite criminals Stan and Mitch, or learning more about the creepy cab driver is reason enough to start another run to the border, but the overarching story will keep you coming back until you’ve reached the very end.
There are skills to learn to open up new options, different ways of navigating the many obstacles that lie in your path, and that sense of adventure you only get with a road trip. If you haven’t already, you absolutely owe it to yourself to check out Road 96.
Best Adventure & Visual Novel Games of 2021
Honorable Mention: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Reviews Editor Zhiqing Wan: It might have taken literal years for the Great Ace Attorney games to get localized, but the wait was definitely worth it. Originally released on the 3DS in Japan, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is a duology that’s been remastered and touched up for the Nintendo Switch in English-speaking territories, and it’s easily the best looking pair of games we’ve seen in the series thus far.
The over-the-top animations from the wonderful Herlock Sholmes and protagonist Ryunosuke Naruhodo breathe life and excitement into the various cases you investigate, and let me tell ya, these cases are also some of the best in the series.
For a long time, Trials and Tribulations was regarded as the pinnacle of the Ace Attorney franchise and no other entry even came close to it, but The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is definitely a serious contender for the throne. Set in Meiji-era Japan, these games deal with various themes that the series usually shies away from, including xenophobia and very overt racism, as well as the cultural clashes between eastern and western sentimentalities.
These are big themes that serve as the throughline for all of the cases in both games, resulting in an overall narrative arc that feels stronger than any we’ve seen in the rest of the series. Thanks to the games’ commitment to exploring these themes as much as possible, none of the cases feel like filler content – an issue that has been prevalent in the series for years. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles marks a new high for the series, and we’re definitely excited to see where it goes from here.
Best Adventure & Visual Novel Games of 2021
Second Runner-Up: Doki Doki Literature Club Plus
Editor-in-Chief Ed McGlone: There was no way that Doki Doki Literature Club was going to fly under our radar for a second time. While we may have caught on too late when it first stealth released on PC late in 2017, the Plus version of the classic horror game definitely drew our attention, but for a different reason than the original game.
While the original game (packaged in of course into this edition) was known for its shocking psychological horror, the new Plus content showed off Dan Salvato and his team’s writing chops instead. There is no horror to be found in the side stories featured in Doki Doki Literature Club Plus.
Instead, all you get is wholesome and emotional interactions between each of the Dokis. Not only are the character’s backstories (which are set to take place before the events of the main story) far more fleshed out, but they will also make you feel some deep emotions, as they touch on very common problems that many of us have to face in our lives, and handles these tough issues with grace and care.
Combined with the neat new PC desktop presentation that allows console users to get in on the fun of playing with files in the original game, Doki Doki Literature Club Plus is an excellent console port, and certainly one of the best visual novel experiences for 2021.
Best Adventure & Visual Novel Games of 2021
First Runner-Up: The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes
Editor-in-Chief Ed McGlone: The Dark Pictures Anthology is now on its third game. It’s hard to believe! It feels like Man of Medan just came out yesterday, and yet, here we are. While last year Little Hope leaned into tropey horror more and earned an honorable mention from us, this year’s House of Ashes is a far better game and earned our first runner-up spot.
Why is that? Well, instead of relying on jump scares and spooky faces, House of Ashes leans more into drama, tenseness, mystery, and real horror. In fact, there are hardly any jump scares at all in House of Ashes, which is a welcome development if you ask me.
The story of House of Ashes follows American and Iraqi soldiers during the early stages of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Under an immense amount of pressure, relationships between the American soldiers start to crack; and this is before the ground underneath their feet literally cracks open and swallows up a number of American and Iraqi soldiers. They are then put in a situation where they must compromise in order to combat an ancient and very angry threat that will kill each and every last one of them if they can’t find a way to put aside their differences.
It’s high drama all the time in House of Ashes. There is a love triangle, acts of betrayal, unlikely allies, and a mysterious overarching threat that slowly starts to be understood culminating into a satisfying conclusion. House of Ashes is by far the sharpest and most entertaining game that Supermassive has put together since Until Dawn.
Best Adventure & Visual Novel Games of 2021
Winner: Life Is Strange: True Colors
Guides Editor Chris Jecks: When the first episode of the very first Life Is Strange game was released, I don’t think anyone imagined the series would end up becoming so beloved to so many. While the series has certainly had its ups and downs, Life Is Strange: True Colors is a true return to form, and yet another smash-hit from developer Deck Nine (of Before the Storm fame).
True Colors feels like the culmination of many learned lessons and feedback from the past entries in the series. It really hits that edgy, indie nail on the head with a fantastically-curated soundtrack that perfectly punctuates the typically dramatic narrative.
Alex, a young girl goes to live with her brother in Haven Springs, Colorado, only for him to die in very mysterious circumstances. This then sets up the rest of the game, as Alex continues to settle into the Haven Springs community, helping its various citizens and uncovering exactly who or what was responsible for her brother Gabe’s untimely demise.
With this being a Life Is Strange game, there’s an emphasis on the player making tough choices to drive the story forward and change the outcome of some minor storylines. There are ample collectibles to be found, some great set-pieces, and a cozy sense of familiarity about it all that makes True Colors feel like a perfect game to nestle up on the sofa, kick back and relax with.
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