Tsukihime Turned Me Into a Visual Novel Fan

While the rest of the world was playing Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, I was playing Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon-.

Obviously, these games are on completely opposite sides of the spectrum. One is this highly involved, hard-as-nails action game. The other is a visual novel, more similar to reading a book than it is playing a video game. Yet, I haven't been this hooked on a game in years. Tsukihime, you convinced me: Visual novels are freakin' awesome.

Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- is a rather obscure title for those unfamiliar with visual novels, but it came to my attention after diving headfirst into the Fate franchise. Tsukihime shares the same universe, so I already had a bit of familiarity with the subject matter, though if you want to go in blind, this is a perfectly fine experience on its own.

Visual Novels Like Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- Might Just Put You in a Trance

This particular version of Tsukihime is a remake that originally released in Japan in 2021, but the West finally received an official English release in June 2024. I admit, I was very apprehensive. My previous foray into visual novels wasn't as enjoyable as I would have wanted, but like any piece of media, sometimes it takes a few tries before you find something that clicks.

And click, Tsukihime did. This visual novel is a treat to the eyes and ears, immersing the player in a narrative filled with magic, vampires, and plenty of emotional twists and turns. And that's the thing: I normally wouldn't attribute "immersive" to a very passive experience like a visual novel, but Tsukihime achieves just that.

Exceptional voice acting with polished character art and backgrounds accompany words on the screen, and this combination creates a clear and cohesive image in my head as I read. Though there's little motion to these images, in my mind I can see this living and breathing world Tsukihime so clearly conveys.

Sound effects and music coalesce with the narrative as you read, putting me in a dream-like trance. These aspects of Tsukihime might sound like any other visual novel, but as someone who has little to no experience with the medium, the psychological aspects of reading took me by surprise.

Find Yourself a Story with a Hook

Of course, Tsukihime's story is what keeps me coming back. You play through the eyes of Shiki Tohno, an anemic high schooler with a very powerful supernatural ability: the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. Shiki can see red lines marked on every object and living thing in the world -- these are lines of death which, when severed, mark a permanent end for whatever it was on.

The player learns more about Mystic Eyes of Death Perception and the effect it has on Shiki and those around him. When Shiki gained these eyes after a horrific accident during his childhood, he was warned it may attract other "strange" things. After being outcast from his insanely rich family's mansion, he is summoned to the mansion a decade later to take up the role as eldest son once more.

Tsukihime takes a bit to ramp up, but the visual novel takes many unexpected turns. Vampires and some of the most bombastic fights in fiction are thrown in the player's face as the combination of voice acting, detailed visuals, and well-written dialogue constantly barrage the player in its latter half.

To dive into more detail on the characters and scenes in Tsukihime, well, we'd be here all day. And look, this is not a short experience -- with three different endings, it'll probably take up to 40 hours to finish everything.

So I'll keep it brief and say, I did not expect to get so emotionally involved in a game, much less a visual novel. In fact, few pieces of media hit me as hard as Tsukihime did. A key character, Arcueid, well, her story was so potent to me, I had to emotionally detach myself from the visual novel so it didn't make me a mess. And that is when I realized, if visual novels can do this to me, what else might there be in store?

Tsukihime Came Equipped With Handy Tools for Beginners

Visual novels are already a bit light on gameplay features, but Tsukihime makes things a breeze if this is your first foray into a the genre. There's the bare minimum you'd expect (a reading log, quick save and quick loads), but also other inclusions that made this much more accessible. It was a misconception of mine to go in expecting visual novels to be clunky, but everything flows very well.

There's a flowchart that allows players to jump around the story with ease, collecting new scenes or, if you have a change of heart or even die in the story, allows for a way to fix your mistakes. Though, if you do die, it'll give you tips on how to change your fate, which is also very appreciated as a newcomer.

Other than that, there are three endings which means three routes, but a decent amount of overlap in the beginning. There's a feature that can automatically skip dialogue you've seen, and you can also adjust the speed in which new dialogue is shown. You can finely tune the timing on these, so developer Type-Moon clearly tried to make this as welcoming an experience as possible.

It was my fault for discounting visual novels as "not for me." If you find yourself in the same shoes, you might just be surprised. Pick up a visual novel with a subject matter that appeals to you -- it doesn't have to be Tsukihime -- and devote yourself to it like it's a great novel. You might just be surprised by how powerful visual novels can be.