Suggestions for more games like this?

[Richard]

Sooo i finished this masterpiece but now i need more novels to fill the void.
Any recomendations? would love something with the trope of time looping(i'm a sucker for time travel stories)

[Kimchi Tea]

I love time loop stories, so here's a few recommendations. Could be considered a spoiler in some cases, so I just threw the whole list under a spoiler tag.

Angels with Scaly Wings
Date Warp
Higurashi/Umineko
Manna for our Malices
SoulSet
Ouroboros

[Richard]

Thanks!!, most of those i already knew though :p but will check the ones i don't know

[KuroOneHalf]

Late to the party but it'll serve as future reference for others at the very least.

Raging Loop is a pure KID lineage game. KID (Kindle Imagine Develop) was an infamous visual novel studio known for creating the Infinity series of games, most notably Ever17 and Remember11, and they created games that have this exact feel. Much like Raging Loop, they all had incredibly deep sci-fi stories with dense mysteries at the core. None of them have time looping, but they make use of the visual novel choice systems to explore alternate universes in order to piece together the stories.

After KID went under, the team split off into a few different places, and key figures went on to create Root Double, and the Zero Escape trilogy (as well as other games like I/O, but they're not in the same style). Recently all the key figures got back together again, along with the people behind Danganronpa, and formed the Too Kyo Games studio.

Anyway, about recommendations:
- Ever17 might be a bit outdated in terms of writing, but it's worth a shot. It was a hugely influential game and at the very least it's an interesting thing to play, even if it's a bit cumbersome to see it through to the end.
- Remember11 is still a great story and my favorite from the KID games, and I strongly recommend it. Like E17, it's never been officially licensed, but there's great fan translations you can find out there.
- Root Double is a masterpiece and the height of this kind of storytelling to date, and it has my highest recommendation. If you loved Raging Loop you will likely love it too.
- I assume you've played the Zero Escape games since they're so popular, but if you haven't I highly recommend you do. I have the slightly controversial opinion of thinking the first game in the trilogy, 999, is abysmal, but worth slogging through to get to the second game, Virtue's Last Reward, which is another masterpiece.

And I think those are all I can think of. Have fun!

[kilicool64]

Not sure I agree with this comparison. I do like most of the titles you listed (with the major exception of the Zero Escape series), but I wouldn't say they really have a whole lot in common with this VN.

I'd argue that most of these titles focus primarily on plot twists, which isn't really the case for RL.

Root Double is the exception in that it revolves much more about its characters and how their stories interact with each other. That's not really how I'd describe RL either, though.

It is true that some of these VNs have time looping, though. Can't say which without spoilers, but if you want to know, the Zero Escape series features looping in a manner rather similar to RL, though I'd argue that the execution is far worse, mainly because the protagonists are nowhere near as intelligent and proactive. The other titles listed feature somewhat similar concepts as well, though they're not focused on as much.

None of these VNs really share the same genre as RL, though. They all have sci-fi settings. If you're looking for something with a setting that's more like RL's, Higurashi would be my recommendation. There's another thing it shares with RL, though it's a spoiler: It also features time looping.

I can go into more detail about any of these titles if you're curious. (Except the ZE series. I'm not the right person to promote it, since I don't get its appeal.)

(Disclaimer: I was part of Root Double's localization team.)

(Minor correction of the post above mine: Unlike R11, E17 was translated officially a very long time ago. But unless you're Jeff Bezos, I wouldn't recommend trying to buy a copy.)

[KuroOneHalf]

@kilicool64 I'm confused you don't find them to be similar.

Okay so first, I don't know why you don't think RL is sci-fi. The concept of gods and superpowers in the story are something I'd consider science fiction. It tries to give a scientific explanation to fantastical phenomena, the same way it does in the other games. The final extra story brings it further into this territory. You had a bunch of crazy scientists breeding a group of superpowered human cattle, and then you have this secret organization trying to hunt them and other superpowered people and keep them from causing mischief like Rikako did.
And the other stories are sci-fi in the following aspects: R11 has the mind teleportation phenomenon, Root Double in the concept of mind communication, and Zero escape inthe dimension travel.

Then, when you say they focus on plot twists, what you're really saying is they're mystery stories. A mystery that's not surprising when its mechanics are revealed is not much of a mystery. And in that sense, Raging Loop is absolutely a mystery story like them. There's a few powerful twists: the Miguruma surveillance system, the mastermind behind the looping, Chiemi's memories remaining through looping, Mitsuji's identity, Meiko's identity, the identity of old wolf guy, Haruaki's lying tic, etc. Moment to moment it's more about just observing the live strategy and chemical reactions between the characters (a point in which it's very much like Zero Escape), but it's still huge on the mystery/twist factor.

So yeah, I think my suggestions make perfect sense. Plus stylistically I think they have other similarities, like how self-serious they are, how much depth most characters have, how deep they go in their lore/sci-fi, and the generally great writing quality (with the exception of 999, like I mentioned).

It's too bad you didn't enjoy Zero Escape. I hate 999 too, I think it's a mess, but VLR was some of the most fun I've had with a mystery game to date. I love the dialog and I think the plot is brilliantly written, with some of the coolest twists around. It's like it was made by a completely different team.

PS: I'd forgotten E17 had been officially licensed because yeah, it was never sold online and the physical copies have long since been unobtainable.

[kilicool64]

I have yet to read four of the five extra stories, so if there's anything more explicitly sci-fi there, I wouldn't know about it. What I did read didn't really strike me as belonging to the sci-fi genre for the most part.

I will agree that RL's finale has a strong focus on mystery elements, but they're largely in the background before that. The first three routes focus more on the Werewolf game than on uncovering what's going on.

That isn't even really what I was talking about, though. What I actually meant was that I'd argue that E17, R11 and the ZE series focus primarily on twists, with the stories primarily serving to complement them, rather than the other way around. I don't think this is particularly extreme in E17 and R11, though, which still have some legitimate effort put into their other aspects (which is more than I can say about the ZE series).

Don't get me wrong, though. I don't think this is an inherently bad thing. E17 has one of the most impressive twists I've ever seen, and it was an unforgettable experience going through R11 while constantly being prepared to have the nature of everything I thought I knew turned on its head in the most outlandish way possible.

I just don't really see RL as being like this. It has some occasional twists, but they largely serve to complement the story. Screwing with your mind isn't really its main objective.

As for writing, that's a rather ambiguous word. Some use it to refer specifically to prose while others use it when talking about storytelling in general. Which do you mean?

[KuroOneHalf]

You can skip all of the side stories except the final one. That's the one that's most important, and specifically addresses Meiko's identity and the superpowers people used throughout the story.

About the writing thing, I guess I mean storytelling in general, but if I were to break it down I'd say it's mainly about:
1) How natural the dialog sounds - You expect people to use natural expressions and react to each other's responses in a fluid conversational way. It's not just about getting out the minimal amount of lines for exposition and moving onto the next plot point, or talking in quips like you've been thinking about what to say for 30 minutes (both problems are huge in hollywood script writing in particular), but actually talking in a nuanced way like normal people would.
2) How rational people's behavior is - A common example of irrational behavior is the horror trope of people vehemently denying what's going on around them, even as it's painfully obvious to the viewer that it's real. "Oh hey look, is that a person with a knife? I must be really tired, huh." Instead of being like "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ what the ♥♥♥♥, is that a person with a knife? What the hell is going on?!" Or people splitting off when the best course of action is obviously to stay together. Or people constantly getting caught in petty nonsense like misunderstandings, or hiding important information, and other contrived plot devices. In good writing it should feel like every character is always thinking and doing the thing that makes most sense to them. They're not just doing random things for random reasons. There's things going on in their head that are congruent with their personality, and that shapes their behavior on a moment to moment basis. You should be able to tell the story from any character's point of view and have it always make sense.

Both of these things sound rather obvious when I type them out, but they're actually very hard to find in fiction. It seems to be something that's both hard to write, and something that requires a great sense of the language and human behavior and storytelling to do well.

One of my favorite things about Virtue's Last Reward is how a lot of plot progression is derived from normal conversation. People will logically conclude that the best course of action is to stop and get together and talk out what they should do, and sometimes they don't find much new, but other times they reach critical realizations that heavily impact the flow of the story. It's what you expect intelligent people to do, but so few stories do this and resort to contrived devices to progress the plot. Raging Loop passes this with flying colors.

Also, critically, in mystery stories protagonists should be asking the same questions that the readers will be asking. If you hear a scenario and immediately have a burning question and the characters do not address it (out of incompetence) - especially if they're supposed to be smart - then that's bad writing. Ideally the characters should be asking all of your questions, and if they're smart, they should also ask questions you hadn't even thought of yet. This is another aspect in which these games are great and alike, and Raging Loop in particular is excellent at it.

Hopefully this clarifies what I meant.

[Aurian]

I'm shocked no one has mentioned Steins;Gate - the ultimative timetravel VN - though since it's so well-known the OP might already know about it. Apart from that, my other suggestions were already mentioned by others.

Or check out the sequel(s) if you haven't already. I enjoyed Zero even more than the original.

[Aurian]

Originally posted by Aurian:

I'm shocked no one has mentioned Steins;Gate - the ultimative timetravel VN - though since it's so well-known the OP might already know about it. Apart from that, my other suggestions were already mentioned by others.

Or check out the sequel(s) if you haven't already. I enjoyed Steins;Gate Zero even more than the original.

[kilicool64]

S;G has time travel, sure, but not really time looping. You don't actually re-experience the past in it, except for a few spots.

[Aurian]

There IS time looping in one of the girl endings... that said, the OP loves timetravel, so it's worth mentioning.

[Soundchaser]

- Baldr Sky - VR cyberpank novel with singularities and strong explanation of some sort of loops/memory losses/routes. And it will suprise you more and more with each new route until the true end route.

- Umineko no naku koro ni - masterpiece (suggest ps3 remake with better sprites and full voice acting)
- Kara no shoujo 1-3 (it has noo loops, but has dark gore detective story)
- Never 7 worth a try (maybe "riven12" too, from creators of ever17/remember11/never7, don't know if it has eng translation)
- Cross Channel (also had some sort of loops) but have a lot of ecchi staff

- Muv Luv alternative have some sort of loops too, but before you should spend time reading casual Muv-Luv (extra + unlimited). 150 hours total.

-I/O from creators of "infinity series" and root double.


just use vndb.org too find those games and something similar with tags (also it shows if the game has official and unofficial/fanmade english translation and were to find)

[GLORIOUS STYLE]

A game called Gnosia will be making its way to Steam eventually. It's sci-fi Werewolf with time-loops. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1608290/GNOSIA/

It's already available on switch. I found Raging Loop by asking the Gnosia community what I should play next. Does this make some sort of loop?

[IE-Kevin]

Very Complex mystery with a lot of time loops being intertwined shenanigans

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1432500/The_Sekimeiya_Spun_Glass/

and I heard
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1720470/The_VII_Enigma/
is good but haven't played it myself yet.

both involve heavy time loop

edit: another one I love are death games and this would also be a good one but definitely more indie and more similar to zero escape games, but less puzzle solving is involved compared to them.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1338940/Head_AS_Code/

[sii_kei]

Not a VN, but The Forgotten City is a time loop mystery set in Ancient Rome. Each time a citizen sins, the city gets destroyed, and you loop back to the beginning. The gameplay is focused on you talking to people and finding clues on time to prevent them from sinning. There's a bigger underlying mystery as to why the loops happen in the first place and how you can escape them.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/874260/The_Forgotten_City/