Anyone have any VN recomendations?
Played: Higurashi ch.1/ch.2
Root Letter
Doki Doki Literature Club
Zero Escape Series (all)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Ah, an oxymoron thread. Clever.

These are also classics :

Steins;Gate
Umineko
Clannad

I also liked World End Economica and heard good reviews about Muv-Luv (especially if you read through the first one then alternative)

Steins Gate (even DRM free on JAST's store)
Steins Gate 0
Katawa Shoujo (free)
Chaos Child
Clannad
Muv Luv
Grisaia


There are a lot more like:

G-Senjou no Maou
Fate Stay Night
Ever 17
Comyu
Ayakashibito
Majikoi
Chaos Head
Hoshizora no Memoria

I'm not sure which of those are translated though.

I know, 'visual' and 'novel' may sound contradictory at first glance, but visual novels are basically stories told with pictures (and words) instead of just words. Like comics, but in this case we are talking about computer games in exactly that style, where you can even interact with the story.

I don't think they're on PC, but the Ace Attorney series is very good. Similar to Zero Escape/DanganRonpa, they mix puzzles and investigation elements in with the VN sections.

Here are a couple transgender themed VN's that I am aware of:

Secret Little Haven: A game about a teenager that discovers that she's transgender with the help of the early Internet; this game takes place in a virtual OS. I recommend not checking John's messages until you are ready (John is the protagonist's abusive father, an these segments are the reason for the content warnings on the game). $5 at itch.io

One Night, Hot Spring: A game about a transgender woman who wants to go to a hot spring. The game takes place in Japan, and the thng is that the hot sprints are segregated by gender. Supposedly, this short game (~30 minutes) has something like 7different endings. Free on itch.io

One kinetic novel that happens to have LGBT characters, bt is more lighthearted in tone (a kinetic novel is like a visual novel, but there are no choices or branching paths; the "game" (if that's even the right term at this point) is linear and lacks gameplay):

My Guild Leader Is A Demon: A kinetic novel about demons who play video games, basically. Well, there are human characters, but there are also demons. Note that, if you are conservative, you probably won't get much of the game's humor. There are currently 2 episodes available. Free on itch.io and youtube

They're comic books. Honestly, I don't get whey people feel the need to obscure what they're reading. If you're that insecure, perhaps, you shouldn't be reading them at all.

Personally, I've been considering getting a copy of the Maxx lately.

Analogue - A Hate Story and Hate Plus

As was I. I just jumped on your sarcasm wagon to ride along.
;) Where did you get the idea that someone deliberately chose the term visual novel to obscure anything? Is this projection on your part? Are you insecure about reading comics or playing visual novels? Are you insecure about others reading comics or playing visual novels?

Here are some suggestions from me for visual novels that I enjoyed:

Cinders
Heileen 1
Heileen 2
Heileen 3

And if you don't mind a bit more RPG in your visual novels:

Loren the Amazon Princess
Planet Stronghold
Seasons of the Wolf

Because they are comic books and are commonly known as such. Apart from offering an opportunity to roll eyes sarcastically while stating that it is a graphic novel, not a comic book, there's little point in using a different term for something that has a commonly accepted term.

This has nothing to do with me, the cartoonists I've known weren't able to come up with any method by which one can distinguish between a "graphic novel" and a comic book. The closest thing I can find is that the former tends to be a single volume for the entire story arc and the latter isn't but that's a pretty ridiculous reason to create a term.

We're talking about visual novels here. You know, the ones you play on your computer like games. Not graphic novels, which is indeed just a fancy name for a comic book.

I thought we were talking about "visual novels", a term used for certain kinds of video games (that, admittedly, share a huge similarity with comics in their visual presentation)? I am not that much into comics (or graphic novels) to make an intelligent comment on whether there are differences to these terms in regards to the products they are used for. However, to my ear graphic novel sounds more classy than the term comic, so I would guess that some artists might choose this term to evoke a certain kind of expectation in their audience that their work is more classy than the average comic. Is that what you meant by insecurity? Might be true in some cases, but I guess I would be careful to use such a broad brush for any artist that uses the term graphic novel. And if both mean basically the same (as you claim), then why shouldn't people use both terms? I am not entirely sure what you are trying to get at here? Tell people which words they are allowed to use and which not? (Which reminds me of the people obsessing about the usage of the term roguelike.)

But that is just me spouting the thoughts that came to my mind on this thing right now.

Edit: Breja bet me to it :)