The Best Horror Visual Novels According To VNDB

Visual Novels have been celebrating a renaissance of sorts over the past year with many gamers realizing their format allows them to tell intense stories that regular games can't always manage. This is especially true when looking at horror games.

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Without having to rely on cheap tactics like jump scares, visual novels can craft some truly terrifying stories designed to perfectly unsettle anyone that plays through them. Some are particularly horrifying and even seasoned fans of the genre know to not play through them all alone.

Updated February 17th, 2024, by Mara Cowley: Visual novels delve into many different genres, with romance likely being the one that mostly comes into mind when thinking about this type of game. However, many visual novels delve into horror, using their art and text to spin a truly terrifying tale to scare their readers. This article already contains a multitude of the best horror visual novels, but there are so many more that deserve the attention of avid VN fans. As such, this article of horror visual novels has been updated to include more entries.

21 Doki Doki Literature Club

6.98

At first glance, and for the first few hours of gameplay, Doki Doki Literature Club seems like another adorable visual novel dating sim, despite the trigger warning at the beginning. Four adorable girls embodying different anime stereotypes are all part of a literature club that is close to closing down due to a lack of members, until the player is talked into joining. The player will spend a short while getting to know the girls and writing poetry before things take a turn.

The horror quickly sets in, with strange twists to the music, glitching text, and gory, horrifying visuals as the other girls are systematically deleted, quite literally, until only one remains: just Monika. Thanks to the shocking twist, this visual novel gained a lot of notoriety on the internet. The developers went on to make an expanded paid version for fans.

20 The Letter

7.07

The Letter might be one of the longest and most in-depth horror visual novels, following the tale of seven very different people that all fall prey to a curse originating from a letter in an old house scheduled for re-opening.

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With many different branching paths depending on the player's choices, no one run is the same as the next, as even the smallest of choices can take the game in a completely different direction, offering great replayability. With fantastic voice acting, incredible visuals, and drawing inpsiration from asian horror moves such as Ju-On, it's hard not to get hooked on this game, though players will need the courage to face what scare might come next.

19 Spirit Hunter: Death Mark 2

7.42

Death Mark 2 takes place in a Tokyo suburb, specifically the Konoehara Academy, where gruesome events occur each decade, leaving the police scrambling to explain the incidents. Rumors begin swirling that spirits are to blame, but these rumors might not just be idle chatter.

The rumors gain enough notoriety for the Principal to hire Kazuo Yashiki, who is known as a Spirit Doctor, to investigate the Academy and find out the true cause behind these incidents. The impressive visuals of this game help to set a suspenseful atmosphere, with effective scares that are sure to leave players terrified of what the next page might hold.

18 Song Of Saya

8.01

Song of Saya is a uniquely disturbing and unsettling visual novel that follows the tragedy of Fuminori, whose perception of the world changes following an accident that causes brain damage. Normal food tastes and smells disgusting, and he sees everyone around him as grotesque lumps of flesh and organs--other than Saya, whom he sees as a beautiful girl in a dress.

In reality though, Saya is the true monster, but due to Fuminori's perception, the two begin a peculiar yet touching love story. Multiple story beats touch on difficult subjects unabashedly that will undoubtedly shock players, and there are two different endings, with neither offering any true happiness. Only those brave and strong-willed players should dare enter the world of Song of Saya.

17 Flowers - Le Volume Sur Automne

8.10

The months of flowers flourishing, and sunny afternoons come to a close as Flowers begins the third chapter in its story of Saint Angraecum Academy and continues Suoh Shirahane’s investigation into the current whereabouts of her former Amitie partner and lover, who vanished from the school without a trace nor parting word.

To unlock the next piece of the puzzle, Suoh takes on a challenge from Yuzuriha Yatsushiro, who tells the shy girl that she must take Yuzuriha’s place as the school’s Council of Nicaea president if she wishes to learn what she knows.

16 Super Danganronpa 2: Sayonara Zetsubou Gakuen

8.16

Danganronpa’s sequel entry takes its predecessor’s literal murder game mystery premise and flies it out to a tropical island destination. Similar to the previous game, a group of Hope's Peak Academy students is trapped in a remote location and informed that their only means to escape is to kill another classmate and evade the remaining classmates’ suspicions of their identity as the killer.

Bursting with unexpected twists, charming characters, and a surprising amount of heart given its gruesome narrative, Super Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair distinguishes itself sharply from other horror visual novels and places itself on many's best visual horror novel lists.

15 Tsukihime

8.17

In the fictional city Misaki, second year high school student Shiki Tohno has a very close brush with death which allows him to see the death lines of others, which break upon death. These sights make him endure crippling headaches, fear of seeing death, and exile at the hands of his father. Eventually, he comes face to face with supernatural beings, taking the visual novel in a horrifying direction.

Tsukihime is filled with classic horror tropes like vampires, magic, and a dash of romance. The game's graphics are a little dated by today's standard but the fantastic atmosphere Tsukihime offers still makes it worth checking out today. It was also eventually adapted into an anime showing just how excellent its story is.

14 Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

8.25

Wanna play a game? No, not that kind of game but it's still a game of life and death. This is a sequel to the original Zero Escape and has a similar story where nine people must escape a warehouse or potentially die.

Many fans have said the game takes a bit longer to get into the story than the original and is a bit too over the top for most. Still, fans of the first game should certainly give it a try as they'll find a similar experience to enjoy.

13 Zero Escape: 9 Hours 9 People 9 Doors

8.29

Nine players have nine hours to pass through the door matching the number on their bracelet. If they don't, they'll sink alongside the ship. This simple premise goes far deeper than players could imagine, creating a game that can be played many times over before the true ending is found.

The version on the Nintendo DS introduced many players to the game making it one of the more recognizable and effective horror visual novels out there.

12 Chaos;Child - 8.33

Chaos;Child and Steins;Gate share the same director and it shows. Sure fans can point to some of the side routes in the game being iffy but the characters and story more than make up for it.

This murder mystery surrounded by the events of a massive earthquake is the epitome of psychological horror while still stirring players emotionally to their core. Make sure to be braced for impact when playing this one