What is a "visual novel"?

Chances are a lot of you don't know the answer to that question, and that's perfectly alright. There are probably millions of people out there who don't know what a visual novel is and never will.

A visual novel is a unique experience; some consider it literature, some consider it a video game. (I am personally placing it under a "video game" simply due to the fact that it is played on a PC.) It is an interactive fiction story with limited choices throughout and a general focus on story rather than gameplay. The visuals tend to be of still images, typically in an anime or live action style. (Song of Saya goes with the anime style.)

The running time of these "games" can go from a couple of hours to 50+ hour long experiences. Most also contain multiple endings one can achieve based on the limited choices they make throughout the story, encouraging replaying/rereading.

Song of Saya is a visual novel about a medical student named Fumimori whose path in life suddenly becomes horribly twisted after he is involved in a car accident which kills his parents and which he barely lives through with an experimental brain surgery.

However, there is a dangerous side effect to this brain surgery that only Fumimori sees; his senses have been somehow altered to see the world around him as a living hell. People look like disgusting beasts. The world around him is covered in rotted flesh. The only scent that passes through his nose is of blood and decay.

That is until Fumimori meets Saya in the hospital, a beautiful young girl who is seemingly the only thing Fumimori can see normally. The girl comes to him in search for her father, and desperate for any form of happiness, Fumimori asks her to move in with him.

However, as Fumimori's friends begin to investigate what's going on with him, they begin to turn up missing - or even dead. No one knows why, but somehow it all seems to connect back to Saya. Is Saya really the beautiful girl that Fumimori sees?

Song of Saya is not for the faint of heart - it contains shockingly grotesque visuals and isn't afraid to pull any punches. But for those who are willing to go beyond their comfort zone and hit "Play", it's a unique masterpiece of horror which will leave you breathless for a good couple of hours and in the end wishing you had more. It deserves a special spot on the shelf of anyone who considers themselves a fan of Lovecraftian horror or Japanese culture.