Visual novel

A story-focused video game that presents narrative through text, character artwork, and backgrounds, often combining music, player choices, and multiple endings.

Branching narrative: A narrative structure in which choices or events lead to different story paths. Player decisions can route a visual novel through distinct scenes and outcomes.
Sound Novel: A Japanese game format that foregrounds written narrative and sound, often with minimal visual presentation. Sound Novel titles helped establish the text-and-image storytelling format.
Dōjin soft: Independently created Japanese computer games, often distributed through fan and creator communities. Small teams and solo creators have produced many visual novels through this scene.
Adventure game: A video game genre centered on exploration, problem-solving, and narrative progression. Adventure games often add spatial exploration and puzzles beyond visual novels’ text-led presentation.
Choice-based game: A game in which player-selected options substantially shape its events or outcomes. Visual novels use this broader format to make some stories interactive.
Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken: A 1983 Japanese adventure game by Yuji Horii, known for its text-based investigation and command interface. Its narrative interface helped shape later Japanese adventure and visual novel games.
Interactive fiction: Digital or textual works in which interaction shapes how a narrative unfolds. Visual novels belong to a wider tradition of interactive storytelling.
Interactive movie: A game or film-like work in which viewer decisions alter or select recorded scenes. Interactive movies use filmed footage, whereas visual novels usually present drawn or static artwork.
Route (fiction): A distinct narrative path through a work, often centered on a particular character or outcome. Character-focused routes organize many visual novels into separate storylines.
The Portopia Serial Murder Case: The English title of Yuji Horii's 1983 Japanese adventure game Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken. Its translation and later releases brought an early influence on Japanese narrative games to wider audiences.

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