There is some debate as to whether Visual Novels are actually 'video games' or not. Nevertheless, Visual Novels do tend to have some great music which is sad since many people tend to overlook visual novels for other media.
(Note: If you come across any examples that belong to suspended/terminated YouTube channels, please remove them and if possible replace them.)
Series with their own pages:
- Ace Attorney
- Blooming Panic
- CLANNAD
- Danganronpa
- Demonbane
- The Devil on G-String
- Dies Irae
- DRAMAtical Murder
- Eiyuu Senki: The World Conquest
- Fate/stay night
- Katawa Shoujo
- Lamento - beyond the void
- Mr. Love: Queen's Choice
- Muv-Luv
- Princess Evangile
- Princess Waltz
- Slow Damage
- Tokimeki Memorial
- When They Cry
- Your Turn to Die
- Yumina the Ethereal
- Zero Escape
Other examples:
- To The West
from a very unknown VN Aka is very soothing and beautiful. - Da Capo's Small Cherry Promised Bell is used at the tension points to great effect.
- Noisy Sweet Home from Deardrops is the perfectly energetic way to end the main route.
- From Demonbane, Those who Will Challenge the Divine Will make you feel urge to punching Cthulhu out. Even better with the vocal version.
- Metatron's theme The Convictor, truly befitting of an angel of justice.
- Deus Machina! Demonbane! is incredibly fitting for an OP theme, raising the question of why the anime adaption switched it.
- And on the villains' side, we have Master Therion's theme, I Am Laughing At the Beasts, and Anticross's "evil stuff is happening" theme, Seven Points on Ten.
- Final Movement of the Space Rhapsody and The Last Song of the World, the themes for the final battle which decides the fate of the universe. It's very appropriate considering the sheer, absolute power both sides are wielding by that point.
- Metatron's theme The Convictor
- Masaaki Endoh did some music for Dengeki Stryker. The opening Burst Dream is a pretty good rock song, but insert song BREAKING! (a collaboration with Ai Ri) is incredibly catchy. He did it again in the Updated Re-release OP and of course it's awesome too.
- From a real unknown AMERICAN one: Digital: A Love Story, composer 4mat composed the AWESOME rockin' chiptune Paper Dolls that has about 20-30 seconds of nice buildup before literally rocking out.
- The DDLC mod Doki Doki Blue Skies is extensive enough to have its own soundtrack, which can be listened to in the menu. It can also be listened to on the mod's website.
- For starters, the main menu screen music changes depending on whose route you're following, and the girls each have their own Leitmotif. Yuri's themes have a mellow flute, Natsuki's themes have a cheery bell, and Sayori's themes have an upbeat guitar and flute.
- "Festival!" is an exciting, victorious tune that plays during the festival, but as the festival starts to go awry, that track is replaced by "Festival?", a distorted, off-key reprise.
- "Rose Tinted Glasses" is a cheery, nostalgic melody that accompanies flashbacks to MC and Sayori's childhood.
- "Sparks Ignite" is a soft piano theme that highlights romantic moments between MC and his love interest.
- "Out of Reach" is a melancholic theme during sad moments that involve Sayori. It even has the sound of rain in it.
- Doki Doki Literature Club!:
- Despite being the kind of music you'd expect from a visual novel of this nature (or at least the kind of visual novel it's presenting itself as), some tracks like the main theme, the poetry composition theme, and a couple of other ones are pretty well composed and even surprisingly catchy.
- The two unique tracks from Act 3, when Monika deletes all the other characters which fit the respective eeriness and tragedy of their accompanying scenes perfectly.
- Despite being the kind of music you'd expect from a visual novel of this nature (or at least the kind of visual novel it's presenting itself as), some tracks like the main theme
- Ever17:
- The Opening Song sets the dark and mysterious mood of the VN while still being pretty catchy.
- Karma is quite popular among the fanbase for being an emotional piano piece that definitely plays at the right parts of the VN.
- The Opening Song
- First Day, from High School Story, by Shigihara, plays every time you level up, and it makes it feel even more satisfying.
- While Hoshizora no Memoria has many, one that might come to mind for those that have played it would be the arranged version of the opening, "Eternal Recurrence". It is played in the most emotional scenes in the games, typically near the end of the various routes, be they heartwarming or tearjerking.
- From the free VN Juniper's Knot, the track Bleeding plays in Act 2 when the Fiend reveals what happened to her friend/lover and is a hauntingly beautiful piece that truly sells the sorrow and pain in her heart. It is considered the VN's most iconic track.
- From Kanon:
- Mai's Theme Girl's Prison, is strong, mysterious, and elegant, and perfect for Mai. Then there's the arrangement from the anime, Shoujo no ran. And then there's this piano arrangement from the album Re-Feel, which managed to make her theme even more elegant, bittersweet and mysterious than before.
- Opening Theme Last Regrets makes you feel like you've lost something and you're trying to find it. Perfect for a game where that is the main theme.
- Mai's Theme Girl's Prison
- By brand Liarsoft, and the artist Rita:
- Shikkoku no Sharnoth's Opening Song: DORCHADAS is a pretty catchy song with nice vocals and accordion action.
- Masked Sanghai's opening Netsujou, starting with awesome guitar intro.
- Shikkoku no Sharnoth's Opening Song: DORCHADAS
- From Little Busters!:
- Even though it's not in the music gallery of the game, the song that plays when you decide to "Play with Masato" is incredibly fun and catchy, even you can't resist the Muscle Sensation!
- Let's Return for moments when you can look forward to a brighter day.
- On the flip side A world where nothing happened, you hear this music playing and the static in the song starts to set in, and you know that mysterious, creepy, and possibly disturbing things await you.
- Little Melody, a feeling of a small but meaningful triumph.
- There is a feeling of subtle magic and wondrous feelings in Just One Magic World.
- The Ending Themes need recognition.
- You know that there are fun and exciting things awaiting you with Alicemagic.
- Song for Friends is a bit sad but you feel you know that there is a ray of hope shining in front of you. Until you read the Tear Jerker lyrics: "Even if you are there, or even if you're not, I'll call out to you." and "Even if you are there, or even if everyone has left, I'll sing". This is the song to say goodbye to our friends who have moved on.
- You found a closed world where only Regret and depression await you, sorry.
- Final Ending is Little Busters!~Little Jumper ver.~, almost the same song as the opening, but with a change in lyrics and some musical instruments that make it feel nostalgic, hopeful, and there is a brand new exiting world out there for you to jump into.
- You know that there are fun and exciting things awaiting you with Alicemagic
- Even though it's not in the music gallery of the game, the song that plays when you decide to "Play with Masato"
- To celebrate the finished translation of Majikoi! Love Me Seriously!, here's the most awesome of the character Leitmotifs, Sword Dance.
- Only for you by Kahiena and barbarian on the groove is a good song even for dark-themed eroge, Manzoku Injou.
- Melty Blood opening, Tribreath. MintJam's version is an awesome rock song, even if you never play the game.
- Omerta: Chinmoku No Okite:
- King Cesar's Theme sounds like waltzy ballroom music.
- The love scene music is absolutely beautiful, romantic, and hypnotizing. The game has I Love You And I Hated You, and On a Stormy Night.
- King Cesar's Theme
- Gentle Jena, the title screen from the very short VN Planetarian. Planetarian was made by KEY, most notable for making Air, Kanon, and Clannad so listening to this (peaceful) song can help you guess what kind of plot stuff will happen since it IS a KEY work. The extended version is even more beautiful.
- From Rewrite:
- The second opening Rewrite, completely animated by White Fox studio.
- The first opening, Philosophyz, is not bad either. The music box version, Philosophy of Yours, is also a pretty nice piece.
- Carnation, Shizuru's theme, is an extremely relaxing piece of music. The vocal version Love Letter also acts as a heartwarming way to finish her route.
- YO-SHI-NO is one of the most hilarious songs ever. There's really no other way to describe it.
- The second opening Rewrite,
- Secret Game -Killer Queen- has Calling, The Dead' Blessing and Tears. That last song does exactly what it says.
- Seven Bridge's opening is an awesome guitar track.
- Sharin no Kuni:
- The Song of Saya:
- Soul Link's opening Not Accepted sets the tone for the novel well.
- Steins;Gate:
- Skyclad Observer. They even used it as the ending theme for the penultimate episode of the anime adaptation and as background music to one of the most awesome scenes in the true end of the visual novel. Playing on the game's retro-futurist themes, the music incorporates loud mechanical keyboard clacks to the opening parts.
- There's also the main theme of the novel, Gate of Steiner, which conveys both a sinister conspiracy like tone and a sense of hope.
- The song that only plays in the True Ending, Operation Skuld. Continuing the retro-futurist tone, the song ties its beat drop to a dial-tone.
- Skyclad Observer
- Symphonic Rain:
- Fay, one of the happiest songs in the novel and basically the finale song.
- Secret is a great melancholic song and the lyrics become an absolute tearjerker after Torta's route.
- I'm Always Close To You is another tearjerker song. In fact, most songs are either heartwarming or tearjerking in some fashion.
- Fay
- Tenshi no Tamago's opening Lilith, which sung by Rita, complete with Design Student's Orgasm.
- Most of Tsukihime's soundtrack is rather understated, due to it being a doujin work. But there is one crowning piece of music in its soundtrack, the melancholy Homesickness.
- Utawarerumono's music for the last level, The End of Legends perfectly portrays how tragic the final boss is.
- Yoru no Himawari from Wonderful Everyday is widely recognized as the game's signature track, since it's a beautiful and melancholic piano piece.
