As is tradition every Halloween, I get kidnapped and stuck in a windowless room with only a computer already loaded up with indie Halloween & horror-themed visual novels and forced to play said games before I can escape. It’s a daunting task, not because my life is on the line, but because, well, that’s a lot of visual novels! And so much time and heart went into them, but now I have to be judge, jury, and executioner??
The annual Spooktober Visual Novel Jam has wrapped, along with our judging period for the entries. This year we implemented a new system, a judge pass, which not only allows us to fund some of the event with the small fee for games wanting to be judged, but also significantly cuts down on the workload for us judges. In prior years, the number of entries we had to read kept going up almost exponentially and was ultimately unsustainable at the level we were operating with, as each judge had to read 80+ visual novels within 3-4 weeks (one year, it was closer to 110). Suffice to say, the judge pass has worked well at allowing us to keep the event judged with prizes as well as keep the event afloat.
But, today I don’t want to talk about the logistics of the event—I want to recap it, including some looks at my favorite entries and some trends I’ve noticed.
If you want to see my advice from previous years, you can read my wrap-up posts from 2023 and 2024.
Continue reading “I played 40+ more visual novels for Halloween”
