I define emotional engagement as being made to laugh a lot, be anxious in a good way, or straight up bawl my eyes out. If it makes me think about the narrative years later, than it is in my top VN.
- Mystic Messenger did all three multiple times. <3 Unknown bad ends made me sob for an hour in the base game. Then I bought the after story, got a bad end, and sobbed for another hour. How can I keep failing you my love? v_v XD
- Cinderella Phenomenon: pushed all my difficult parental relationship buttons and literally made me reach out to reconnect with my dad. <3 Rod, I cried so hard at his bad end, oh my gosh.
- Gilded Shadows: I cried once but it was a good happy cry of relief. <3 Quill, Jack, Lance & Ari. One route hasn’t been released yet of the 9.
- Akash: Path of the Five. Only VA work I’ve ever bothered listening to. <3 Nate, Rocco, and Lux.
- Changeling: I just liked the lore of the world. It’s already so long and I wish it was longer on some routes. <3 William
- Oathbreaker 1/2: The continuity and mature themes really touched and impressed me. Having moving scenes where a lover cries in your arms is beautiful. <3 Virion
- Animal Lover: This had interesting concepts that were best exhibited by the hamster-turned-man I romanced, Edmund. What is it like to live forever, to lose yourself, to find yourself again, and find what’s important about the self. Warning: Character suicide I didn’t see coming at all that left me dealing with some emotions for about an hour.
- Arcade Spirits: depression, finding a passion, finding somewhere you fit in, and fighting for it. The sexy dancer, Teo, was a bonus.
- Royal Alchemist: I liked that I could pick the femme looking boy and skip the frilly dress and still keep she/her pronouns. I was invested and the story took turns I didn’t expect. <3 Aurelius for making me want to so badly best him at sword fighting.
- Crimson Spires: The MC is an FBI agent that is pulled into a retrieval mission for a prisoner that was being transported to trial. And then they were like, interesting idea. Let’s destroy it with mysterious alien towers and vampires and let you romance the bad guys. <3 August for making me do the impossible and root for a serial killer.
- Ebon Light: The amount of self expression as well as affection levels with the love interests were great. I told a guy I needed to think about whether or not we should be romantic. They accepted it and brought it up later- asked whether I had made up my mind. <3Haron & Vadeyn
- Love Ritual: This seemed pretty standard but then Dom/Sub moving explicit sex scenes and the plot twist toward the end got me. Woof. <3 Shanrae
- Love Spell: Written in the Stars- Sometimes immature, but I adored the mascot best friend there were some very actiony routes that kept me on the edge of my seat. <3 Florian and Enix
- Veil of Dust: Focus is actually on your sibling and farming, with LIs being optional side content. Can play as brother or sister. I was obsessed with Stardew for a long time right when they came out, so I was fond of the farming mechanic. And I wouldn’t give up hugging the brother. <3 Laan
- Steam Prison: Couldn’t put the game down because I found the world lore fascinating. <3 Ulrik
- Silhouette: So short (<3 hours) but I was giggling a lot, and then I got downright teary eyed thinking I’d gotten a bad ending that turned round at the last second. <3 Derrick
Unfinished but author has recent content updates:
The Survival of Sarah Rose 18+ content is constant but avoidable. It’s a dark dark world and Sarah can rise above it or wallow in it. So many branches, like, wow. <3 Atilla the orc and wins all around for female representation of healthy masturbation habits.
Happy to elaborate if my blurbs aren’t enough in the comments. :) I’ve read over 100, but these are the ones that made me get attached.
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