A type of Visual Novel which averts the long-standing tradition of Multiple Endings. Instead of branching plots which can end in multiple ways, a novel of this type has only one ending and one story to tell.
A variation of this is having an obvious true ending and multiple bad endings when certain conditions are met. A way of telling if this is a Linear Visual Novel is if the other endings are obviously marked as bad/dead ends which are not canon. These kinds of stories do have some form of interactivity, but the way they change the plot is more cosmetic than the regular Visual Novel.
A subtype of this is the Kinetic Novel, where there is absolutely no interactivity involved. Examples of these novels should go on that page and not here.
Examples of visual novels with linear plots:
Subtype:
- Ace Attorney
- Acquittal: Induction
- Adastra (2018)
- Arches
- Corpse Party
- Cryptid Crush
- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
- Far Beyond the World
- Fate/hollow ataraxia
- Fleuret Blanc
- Harvest December
- Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
- Heart of the Woods
- Hexepta: Mayor Attack
- Invisible Apartment
- Kindred Spirits on the Roof
- Kira-Kira ~ Curtain Call
- Lands of Fire (though a multichoice version is apparently going to be the end product)
- Liar! Uncover the Truth
- Lovestruck
- Muv-Luv Alternative
- Nerus
- A Normal Lost Phone
- Nuign Specter
- Paramedium
- Process of Elimination
- Remember11
- Sharin no Kuni
- Shikkoku no Sharnoth
- Shinrai: Broken Beyond Despair
- Serre
- Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher
- Tears to Tiara
- Tears to Tiara 2
- Time Hollow
- Voices from the Sea
- When Aster Falls
