Visual novels like 初颜 - The Prototype

Want something that feels mysterious and story-driven the way 初颜 - The Prototype does? These visual novels keep things close enough to feel familiar.

The Chrono Jotter
Ran Ibuki wakes in a derelict forest school where classmates keep getting murdered, and her missing girlfriend Ann Sakura is the reason she has to get out. You die, rewind time with your clues intact, and try again to unmask the killer. A yuri horror visual novel about forbidden love that refuses to stay dead.
Also in Detective · Mysterious, Story-driven, Emotional
94% of 1,976 Steam reviews are positive$11.99
时忆 Memory of Time
This is a science fiction detective themed visual novel game, where players need to play the role of a "detective", connecting seemingly unrelated events and discovering mysterious truths hidden behind them, Please survive, and walk with your head held high towards the 'perfect ending' you expect.
Also in Detective · Mysterious, Story-driven, Emotional
94% of 34 Steam reviews are positiveFree
Rail of Möbius
It is an adventure game with multiple endings. An original script written by a well-known light novelist with a total of 400,000 words. With reasoning, suspense, love, and science fiction elements, it allows players to embark on a highly immersive journey of salvation on the submarine train.
Also in Detective · Mysterious, Story-driven, Emotional
93% of 360 Steam reviews are positivePlayers online now: 1$12.99
Kanna Maze
In an isolated lab beneath the earth, a childhood friend is resurrected. Amidst sealed walls, a spree of killings unfolds. In a godless abyss, parallel worlds entwine like a maze. Where does one find the path to the sole universe of bliss?
Also in Detective · Mysterious, Story-driven, Emotional
88% of 373 Steam reviews are positive$3.99
Complex Loop
Complex Loop is a sci-fi themed visual novel. This is a story of time loops between past and future. Within a time limit of 20 minutes, your mission is to save a mysterious girl died from an explosion accident one year ago. Solve puzzles and reveal the truth behind the tragedy. An adventure awaits!
Mysterious, Story-driven, Emotional
91% of 57 Steam reviews are positive$9.99
AI: The Somnium Files
You are Kaname Date, a detective in near-future Tokyo hunting a serial killer who takes left eyes. You question suspects, pick through crime scenes, and enter dreams for clues. The plot branches into routes and endings until the pieces lock together. Funny, dark, and twisty, it is an easy recommendation for visual novel readers who like mysteries.
Also in Detective · Mysterious, Story-driven, Emotional
91% of 8,939 Steam reviews are positivePlayers online now: 29$3.99
start;again
A BL/yaoi mystery visual novel that follows a man named Sebastian as he’s forced into a game of life-or-death, alongside three strangers. Who put him there, and more importantly… who can he trust?
Mysterious, Story-driven, Emotional
95% of 169 Steam reviews are positivePlayers online now: 1$5.99
マーダーミステリーパラドクスこのひと夏の十五年
"Murder Mystery Paradox: Fifteen Years of Summer" is a text-based adventure game. Enter the remote and sparsely populated island of Shikinejima and attempt to solve the strangely recurring mystery found there.
Mysterious, Story-driven, Tense
85% of 260 Steam reviews are positive$8.99
BUSTAFELLOWS
A new visual novel from the legendary eXtend! Mixing dangerous romance with murder mystery, BUSTAFELLOWS is a steamy noir mystery that will make you shiver but ask for more!
Mysterious, Story-driven, Emotional
86% of 973 Steam reviews are positivePlayers online now: 8$39.99
The Posthumous Investigation
A dead man hired you to solve his own murder. You have one day. Fourteen suspects. And as many attempts as it takes. A hand-drawn noir mystery set in 1937 Rio de Janeiro, where every suspect has a life, a schedule, and something to hide.
Also in Detective · Mysterious, Story-driven, Emotional
93% of 581 Steam reviews are positivePlayers online now: 4$19.99
旧手表 - Old Watch
This is an Visual Novel game. It's a story about time leap.
Mysterious, Story-driven, Emotional
83% of 569 Steam reviews are positive$9.99
Misty Judgment
A live-action mystery where you play Qi Yi, an amnesiac mystery writer caught in four murder cases. Search scenes for evidence, poke holes in suspects' stories, and name the killer hiding among familiar faces. Good for visual novel readers who want their reading interrupted by an accusation.
Also in Detective · Mysterious, Story-driven, Emotional
92% of 1,167 Steam reviews are positive$6.29

Cheaper than 初颜 - The Prototype

Kanna Maze

In an isolated lab beneath the earth, a childhood friend is resurrected. Amidst sealed walls, a spree of killings unfolds.

$3.99

Complex Loop

Complex Loop is a sci-fi themed visual novel. This is a story of time loops between past and future.

$9.99

start;again

A BL/yaoi mystery visual novel that follows a man named Sebastian as he’s forced into a game of life-or-death, alongside three strangers.

$5.99

マーダーミステリーパラドクスこのひと夏の十五年

"Murder Mystery Paradox: Fifteen Years of Summer" is a text-based adventure game.

$8.99

旧手表 - Old Watch

This is an Visual Novel game. It's a story about time leap.

$9.99

Misty Judgment

A live-action mystery where you play Qi Yi, an amnesiac mystery writer caught in four murder cases.

$6.29

√Letter - Root Letter -

When a letter is delivered 15 years late - you discover an old pen-friend was involved in a murder, before she disappeared.

$1.99

7 Years From Now

A slice of life story-driven adventure game with a distinctive 3D pixel art.

$9.99

No Case Should Remain Unsolved

Twelve years after a girl vanished from a playground, retired detective Jeon Gyeong reopens the case.

$6.99

蓝宝石般的被害妄想少女/Damsel with persecutory delusion

A 17-year-old shut inside depression and delusion gets a strange letter about a robbery and murder in Qinshan Port City over a decade ago.

$4.99

Suicide Countdown: 7 Days

Only 7 days remain until death embraces you -- the everyday life of a young boy begins to distort little by little, unfolding into a bizarre and…

$1.99

Return to Shironagasu Island

A New York detective and his assistant travel to solitary Shironagasu Island on a dead millionaire's invitation, then murders start.

$4.99

Hidden gems like 初颜 - The Prototype

The Posthumous Investigation

A dead man hired you to solve his own murder. You have one day. Fourteen suspects. And as many attempts as it takes.

$19.99

Gensokyo：Presumption of Guilt~Pansies Before Dawn

Explore the intertwined fates of humans and youkai in this interactive fiction.

$14.99

Misty Judgment

A live-action mystery where you play Qi Yi, an amnesiac mystery writer caught in four murder cases.

$6.29

The Incident at Galley House

In 1936, locals walked into empty Galley House and found something bloody.

$19.99

Yet Another Killing Game

You wake up in a house, alone with two beautiful girls... But no one is allowed to leave until one of you DIES. Why is this happening?

$16.99

子归 - Blossom

Early spring, 1999, Taoyuan Village. In just several days, a series of drowning incidents occurred in the same quaint village.

$7.99

Kanna Maze

In an isolated lab beneath the earth, a childhood friend is resurrected. Amidst sealed walls, a spree of killings unfolds.

$3.99

SHUTEN ORDER

You wake up murdered with four days to live, and your killer is one of five ministers.

$24.99

Shanghai Summer

Shanghai Summer is an adventure game set in the millennium. Our protagonist, Baichuan, goes through a series of "anomalies" over the length of…

$12.99

Ever 17 - The Out of Infinity

To the promise we once made and the place we must return

$20.99

London: Echoes of the Past

A mysterious woman comes back from the dead, and the dusty past surfaces.

$6.99

Mandemon

Crumbling school buildings in Japan. A string of bizarre incidents. The eerie legend of Mandemon. Lies and truth intertwine.

$2.99

Newest visual novels like 初颜 - The Prototype