ビジュアルノベルbijuaru noberu
Quick definition:A visual novel is an interactive story game that mostly presents text over illustrated backgrounds and character art, with readers making occasional choices that change how the story unfolds.
Meaning
Visual novels are games built around reading. The screen shows artwork of characters and settings, with text boxes, voice acting and music, and the player advances the story by clicking. Many include choice points where the player's selections lead to different scenes or different endings, so the same story can be experienced in several ways.
Genres range widely, from romance and mystery to horror and science fiction. Many are written as long stories with large casts, and some take dozens of hours to finish. Romance titles usually let the player aim at a particular character's route, while kinetic novels have no choices at all and are read like a book.
Several famous anime began as visual novels, and fan translations helped spread many of them overseas. Some are available on computers and consoles, and a few have grown into huge franchises.
Origin:Visual novel is an English translation of Japanese terms such as bijuaru noberu and novel game, both used for these story-driven games. They developed in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s on personal computers, drawing on text adventure games, and became a large genre there before spreading overseas through translations.
Example:Steins;Gate is a famous example: players read through a story about a group of friends who discover a way to send messages to the past, making choices that decide which ending they reach. The visual novel was later adapted into a popular anime. Its tense plot rewards careful reading and attention to early details.
Did you know?Fate/stay night, a visual novel, is the starting point of a huge franchise that includes anime, manga, mobile games and films. It shows how a story that begins as a game can grow into a major multimedia series.
