Scope out some new stories, try a few demos, in Steam's visual novel fest

I'm sure that many of you who love to find a precious perfect baby character and learn ever-more about them are occupied with Baldur's Gate 3 right now, but Steam's rolling out a distracting sale and accompanying event on its visual novels category.

Less correct are games like Coffee Talk, where you barista your way through others' lives, or Monster Prom, a powerful little dating game that takes the absolutely absurd and amazing tack of being multiplayer.

Those of you who enjoyed the recent Pentiment might also be interested in the visual novelization of Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth, which uses a delightfully shadow-heavy visual style to create a small town in 12th century England trying to build a cathedral to make their town prosper amid wars and disease. (There's also Tangle Tower, for those who'd like a less serious mystery.)

As with most of these events on Steam there'll be a slew of demos to check out, giving you a look at the upcoming year or so of visual novel releases. Those are always a treat and a way to find prospective hits for your wishlist.

You'll be able to find the Steam Visual Novel Fest from August 7 at 10AM PT on the visual novel category on Steam.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.