VNs without romance/very little or without H-content?

[Endless Nine]

Sorry for missing an introduction. I don't really intend to post on this forum except for this topic, because I have been desperate in finding a good visual novel without romance and without hentai content, I have asked everywhere I know and all the other threads I have found so far here were quite old and I couldn't find anything that suited me.

I am currently playing Steins;Gate, though I have heard there's only a little romance, that won't bother me that much, the main issue is that I really get annoyed from romance because they're very repetitive whether they're forced or not.

 

So far I have completed almost every 07th Expansion VN (both Higurashi and Umineko, including Rose Guns Days which I'm waiting to finish).

I can get used to the H-content but I can't really stand romance, as I began to hate Umineko during the final episodes, but i kept myself away from spoilers, that's why I never knew the whole story was based on romance.

 

Getting straight to the point, are there any decent VNs without or with very little romance in it that I should know about? By "decent" I mean I dislike VNs which are focused on the slice of life/comedy genre, that doesn't mean it has to be totally gloomy and serious though. 

Thanks.

[Deep Blue]

chaos;head

corpse party (if you can call this a vn)

planetarian

narcissu

swan song (this one has romance but not a lot really and it's not the focus of the vn either)

 

it's really hard to find a vn without romance at all.

[Mugi]

Danganronpa? 

[Getsuya]

999 and VLR

Secret Game: Killer Queen wasn't very romance-esque, though I played the all-ages PSP version so I don't know about the original one.

Symphonic Rain might also be up your alley. I'm not sure I'd call anything that happens in it romance...

[Permagate]

Most NDS/3DS VNs. 999, VLR, Phoenix Wright series (my favorite), Hotel Dusk, etc2.

 

Muv-Luv Alternative has romance, but it's miniscule compared with its lengthy story.

 

And Phenomeno.

[Getsuya]

Ooo ooo Suikogaiden! Suikogaiden 1 and 2!

 

Play Suikoden 1 and 2 first so you know what's going on and then read these. I think there's a full translation floating around somewhere. Just... just look at the OP!

 

[fapaczer]

My all-time favorite - Higurashi no naku koro ni, mystery/horror vn

i wont spoil it but the harem story-like begining has nothing to do with later events in the story :>

[BookwormOtaku]

The BlazBlue games if you don't mind that it's a fighting game/VN hybrid

[Endless Nine]

My all-time favorite - Higurashi no naku koro ni, mystery/horror vn

i wont spoil it but the harem story-like begining has nothing to do with later events in the story :>

As I said before I have already completed both Higurashi and Umineko.

The BlazBlue games if you don't mind that it's a fighting game/VN hybrid

I don't really mind because I'm really fond of fighters, though I don't like BB's gameplay.

Another thing I forgot to mention, I have already completed half of Chaos;Head but unfortunately the English patch corrupted my save files and I can't load from chapter 6 anymore.

[Nyanko]

I/O Revision II - high mystery, some mind fuck, close to 0 romance, no h-content.

[Wonderfullyevil]

I'll mention Remember 11 for the same reasons mentioned for I/O above.

[himeragi]

infinity series like ever17, never7, and remember11

[BobJones2]

It's almost impossible to find a VN without romance, let alone a "good one." Pretty much all the ones mentioned here have romance in them, whether or not romance is a siginficant focus is debatable on a case by case basis. If you're looking fro VN where romance is not the primary focus than there a lots. In fact, the far majority of the most popular VN fit in this category, as there are lots of other important things going on besides just the romance between the MC and the heroine.

 

Take the top 15 highest rated VN on vndb, only "Clannad," "White Album 2", maybe "Little Busters!", and maybe, just maybe "Rewrite" are VN where romance is the primary focus. All of them though, undoubtedly have romance and arguably to significant degrees.

[Clephas]

H-content and romance are near-constant in all VNs, but there are VNs that tune down the romance until it is basically a side-effect... unfortunately, most of those aren't translated. 

 

For untranslated...

 

Namima no Kuni no Faust

Bradyon Veda

Futagoza no Paradox

Sinclient

Soukou Akki Muramasa

Tokyo Babel (no H)

[Getsuya]

I'm pretty sure the To Aru Kagaku no Railgun VN for the PSP didn't have any H content or romance, mostly because nothing in the To Aru franchise has romance.

 

The Hayarigami series for PS2/PSP/Vita/PS3 have 0 romance in them, they're all horror mysteries. Untranslated of course, as is the above. Dunno if you're only looking for translated stuff. Actually if we're looking at untranslated stuff there is an absolute boatload of mystery VNs all over the place with no H or romance. A famous one is 428, and Machi and Time Travelers in the same series are the same. If you've ever seen or heard of the anime Canaan, that was a spinoff of 428.

[krill]

no romance, no H-scenes, this is a challenge, if you are ok with OELVN's  try the phantom ice cream truck, its a mystery/horror vn with a lovecraftian mood its pretty decent and short but a fun read.  lovecraft :beyond the wall of sleep is a kinetic novelization of one of H.P. Lovecrafts most popular story's, its a mix of fantasy and psychological drama. steins;gate 8-bit is a side story crossover of steins;gate and chaos;head thats very good, kinda short and very fun to play i made a walk through for it under the walk through section on fuwa.

[Decay]

Cross Channel has h-scenes but actually not a whole lot of romance, the MC never really falls in love with anyone. But based on your other tastes you may not like it anyways.

[LiquidShu]

 

swan song (this one has romance but not a lot really and it's not the focus of the vn either)

 

 

[Endless Nine]

It's almost impossible to find a VN without romance, let alone a "good one." Pretty much all the ones mentioned here have romance in them, whether or not romance is a siginficant focus is debatable on a case by case basis. If you're looking fro VN where romance is not the primary focus than there a lots. In fact, the far majority of the most popular VN fit in this category, as there are lots of other important things going on besides just the romance between the MC and the heroine.

 

Take the top 15 highest rated VN on vndb, only "Clannad," "White Album 2", maybe "Little Busters!", and maybe, just maybe "Rewrite" are VN where romance is the primary focus. All of them though, undoubtedly have romance and arguably to significant degrees.

Maybe that's because that's what the main target wants? I don't know if I'm being ignorant here, but I don't think I'll ever find a better VN than Umineko. It surely had romance only through the end, but Ryukishi ended it in the worst way possible, which I could accept somehow, it's also my favorite VN because of its atmosphere, BGMs, and character development.

 

I'm at chapter 7 of Steins;Gate, but up until now the game doesn't really hold a candle to what I have read in Umineko, not that I don't like it, it's just that IMO it's a good visual novel which talks about time travels, it surely is cool, but it doesn't have many characters and the BGMs are repetitive so I barely notice them.

 

I'm going to try these suggestions, but I might leave the genre after finishing them or probably I'm going to finish those Umineko/Higurashi extra arcs since they're very short.

 

And yeah, unfortunately I'm still waiting for Witch Hunt to release Rose Guns Days' final season's translation. But I think rather than waiting more years for a single episode I'd better learn Japanese somehow.

[Quark]

I would highly recommend the Zero Escape series. First game relies a bit on romance, but very little, more of an emotional attachment than a romance, and the sequel has generally none at all.