Mystery VNs recommendations

[Gazza]

As a lover of everything that is mysterious and grotesque, i was thinking of playing some VNs that adhere to these particular genres.

My pet-peeve is the romantic aspect, it doesn't really interest me, unless it's REALLY pertaining to the story

Do you guys knows some interesting games?

[Wudgeous]

I swore to jeez I just played a mystery VN... turns out I was thinking about the movie Knives Out, which I watched yesterday lmao.

It may help if you rattled off some VNs you have played in the past, Wanda. The only games I can think off the top of my head right now are old DS games like Hotel Dusk and Ghost Trick. I've also heard good things about The Letter on steam, though that steers more into ghost horror territory.

[Kinjo]

I would recommend my own game Detective Butler as well as Gosatsu's SHINRAI. Both games were heavily inspired by the When They Cry series, particularly Higurashi and Umineko, so you might want to check those out too.

[Imperf3kt]

Personally, although it is listed as a science fiction novel, I must recommend Steins;Gate. (I recommend it a lot, it's probably all I do recommend lol)
Also, please note I recommend Steins;Gate, not Steins;Gate Elite, as Elite is actually a cheaper remake with a different feel entirely (tacky)

First off, let me be clear:
The game itself is not a mystery game.
But its story does encompass a rather deep mystery that unravels as the plot unfolds... Only to bury itself again under yet more mysteries until you finally reach the end, which brings forth the final mysterious event which gets answered in the epilogue and suddenly everything makes a bit more sense.

Romance is very sparse, being intentionally avoided (though it is still present, but not in an in-your-face way) and the game plays out very linearly, with only a few choices actually affecting the story (but reaching 100% completion will take a lot of work)

[Gazza]

it never sent me the notifications *cries*

I swore to jeez I just played a mystery VN... turns out I was thinking about the movie Knives Out, which I watched yesterday lmao.

It may help if you rattled off some VNs you have played in the past, Wanda. The only games I can think off the top of my head right now are old DS games like Hotel Dusk and Ghost Trick. I've also heard good things about The Letter on steam, though that steers more into ghost horror territory.

Ah yes! I need to check out Hotel Dusk for real! I've never heard of Ghost Trick, i think, but i know The Letter, i've played the demo and i found it super interesting

I would recommend my own game Detective Butler as well as Gosatsu's SHINRAI. Both games were heavily inspired by the When They Cry series, particularly Higurashi and Umineko, so you might want to check those out too.

Heard very good things about Umineko, i was checking it the other day actually, i'll make sure to play all the game you listed : )

Personally, although it is listed as a science fiction novel, I must recommend Steins;Gate. (I recommend it a lot, it's probably all I do recommend lol)

First off, let me be clear:
The game itself is not a mystery game.
But its story does encompass a rather deep mystery that unravels as the plot unfolds... Only to bury itself again under yet more mysteries until you finally reach the end, which brings forth the final mysterious event which gets answered in the epilogue and suddenly everything makes a bit more sense.

Romance is very sparse, being intentionally avoided (though it is still present, but not in an in-your-face way) and the game plays out very linearly, with only a few choices actually affecting the story (but reaching 100% completion will take a lot of work)

I was scrolling trough Netflix and i started watching the anime, but it seems i'll have to drop it and pick up the game, seems way more intriguing!

Also really deep intricated plot are my stuff (as long as the ending make sense), and i appreciate the linearity and the low romance level of it, so thank you : )

[sake-bento]

Self-promotion ahoy: I'm currently writing a series of murder mysteries that may be your flavor?

https://itch.io/c/377513/jisei-series-m ... ual-novels

[Katy133]

I'm working on a detective VN called The Butler Detective. It's not released yet as of the time of this post, but you can follow me on social media to watch its progress.

[earthpow]

Anything from When They Cry series is a safe bet, if you can handle the massive info dumps the game throws at you.

[Zelan]

I have a lot of recommendations that all are at least a little bit mysterious and/or grotesque, but besides that a lot of them are pretty different from one another, so they may not all appeal to you. I've tried to give a good description of them so you can pick which ones you would like the best. (:

CUPID - Supernatural sort of murder mystery that jumps back and forth through time as the protagonist struggles with the murder of her best friend. Has 18+ content but can be turned off in the settings menu. There is romance but not in a dating sim sort of way; it's very dark romance and it is 100% a part of the story. A longer game, took me I think 4ish hours to get one ending and if I remember right there are 5 or 6 endings. This was the first one to come to mind when I read your post so it might be the best fit for what you're looking for (I don't know exactly what your taste is though so I can't say for sure).

Doll - Creepy little game about a doll trying to return home before it's too late. Very short game, about 10 minutes to get an ending and there are 5 endings.

Funeral - Short existential horror game about a funeral. Has choices but they don't affect the outcome, about 20 minutes of playtime.

Occult Crime Police - Least grotesque/existential of all the ones on this list, but it is a pure mystery game and a really fun one at that. Has some gameplay elements that tie in with the mystery aspect. Kind of wacky but a great story. Longer game, took me 3 or 4 hours to complete. One of my personal favorites on this list.

Order A Pizza - Honestly, I kind of don't know how to explain this one but you have to order the pizza or everything goes horribly wrong. Point-and-click elements. Short-ish game, took me maybe half an hour? Another one of my favorites on the list.

Palette Swap - A little less mystery and maybe not exactly "grotesque" but it is surreal/existential. Dark comedy, so it's good if you like laughter on the side. I don't remember how long it took me to get one ending but it was a few hours to get all of them. Also has optional point-and-click elements that expand upon the story but they aren't necessary to achieve any of the endings.

RE:BURN - Short horror game about deleting emails. I would guess maybe 20 or 30 minutes for one ending, and there are two endings total.

Sylvan Disappearance - Fantasy/supernatural/mystery VN. There are no choices, but you can read letters from the other characters and choose whether or not to read and respond to them; I'm not sure how much this affects the ending as I just chose to respond to every letter. This one does have some romance elements that are unrelated to the mystery, but I didn't think they were too obtrusive and the mystery is still the main focus. Longer game, I think it took me around 6 hours to complete? Probably my #1 favorite of this list (although that's a pretty hard decision so if I think about it too much I might delete this sentence haha).

Who Is Mike? - Same developer as CUPID, so if you like one or both of these, maybe check out their other work? I haven't played any of their other stuff so I can't recommend it for sure but I do like both of these. This one is a short, high-stakes mystery about a man and his doppelganger. Doesn't take too long to get one ending but it can take quite a while to get all the endings (there are a lot).