Kotaku - When I first heard that a visual novel centered around dating girls with physical disabilities was being made, my first thought was "only in Japan." Of course, I was completely wrong. While made in the style of a typical Japanese visual novel—and even based on a Japanese sketch—Katawa Shoujo was created by a group of fans from all over the world who met on the message board 4chan. In case you are unaware of who and what one might encounter on 4chan, be forewarned as you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy on the internet than in the bowels of 4chan. So heading in, I was sure this would be at best a satire of visual novels and at worst a horribly insensitive, offensive, racist, sexist pile of irreverent hate. I never expected it to be the best visual novel I have ever played.
KeenGamer: "We have the best visual novels to suggest to you, but we do recognize that many gamers don’t consider visual novels as games. Sluggishly leafing through dialogues, from time to time making choices. Additionally, many don’t like the anime style of the genre. Maybe we can change your mind."
Most games today are safe to play with colleagues and family, however, some games still have that “nope, I don’t want my mom to see me playing this”-feel to them. Christian has played most of this genre, and has made a list of his top 10 NSFW games.
“Most of the game is safe to play with family, but you can be unlucky and have your parents walk in on the scene that features dildo’s and the characters’ parents having sex.”
I think you mean kids walking in on dad fapping. Pretty sure the age group of South Park fans makes it the parents playing the game. Maybe I was supposed to quit gaming when I had kids though...
Disabilities aren't common in video games. But when they do appear, their portrayals are more realistic than one would at first believe.
I'm fairly certain that the limitations of the game engine prevented Joker from being even more realistic, but yea, BioWare is pretty awesome.
Japan developers make the weirdest games
Katawa Shoujo is an excellent visual novel. Everyone should give it a shot! It is free after all.
Catherine 2.0?? Im up for that!
This is a really good game and believe it or not, it's very respectable. You almost find it hard to believe it came from 4chan users.
This game is amazing, simply put. The characters are so well-written and unique, and even though you can see the hint of various stereotypes, their individuality- and the script- makes it seem like it's not even there.
If only my computer hadn't died and destroyed my saves...