Top 10 English Yaoi Games

The world of yaoi and BL games is a niche and shadowy place, rarely accessible to an English-speaking audience. However, underneath the genre cliches and audacious story lines, there are still enjoyable visual novels available to play in English, if you’re dedicated enough and know where to look.

 

Here’s a list of 10 of the best yaoi games in English. Some of these have professional English versions that are available for purchase, others rely on dedicated fan patches, but none of them are for the faint of heart (or anyone under 18). A lot of these games are very divisive, and enjoyment largely comes down to personal taste.

 

10. Silver Chaos

Top 10 English Yaoi Games Silver Chaos

Orphaned during a terrible war with the demonic entity Hadeus, Might dreams of becoming a solider in the Royal Army. During his training one day, he falls off cliff and is severely injured. Might’s childhood friend, Adonis, uses a dark spell to save his life, but, when Might awakes, Adonis is nowhere to be found. On his quest to find Adonis, Might encounters an array of beautiful strangers – some willing to join him and others who oppose him.

 

Silver Chaos is a more typically fantasy title, which is unusual in the yaoi genre, and makes for a great change of pace. Silver Chaos is quite an old title now, and you can sort of tell from looking at it, but the art is still really pretty. An English patch is available for this game.

 

9. Sukisho! First Limit

Top 10 English Yaoi Games Sukisho

Suki na Mono wa Suki Dakara Shouganai!!, commonly known as Sukisho!, is a popular BL series that many people are familiar with from the anime adaptation in 2005. First Limit is the first of the four games that expand on the characters and storyline introduced in the anime, bringing further depth and drama to balance out the light moments seen in the show.

 

The story follows Sora and his mysterious roommate Sunao, who he allegedly knows from childhood but doesn’t remember. Seems simple, right? However, Sora and Sunao both have alternate personalities, who will possess them whenever they feel like, and also happen to be lovers… Sukisho! First Limit is available to play in English using a patch, however, none of the other games have been translated at this point.

 

8. Enzai – Falsely Accused

Top 10 English Yaoi Games Enzai

Guys is a petty thief in early 19th century France, who finds himself sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a man he has never met. While undergoing every kind of torment in prison, he tries to find evidence and information around the case that will help prove his innocence.

 

The art style is definitely not for everyone, and neither are the brutal themes. Enzai is famous for being one of the most twisted yaoi games there is. Amazingly, it was the first yaoi game to ever see commercial release in the US, and there haven’t been many to follow. As such, it is available for purchase from JAST USA, or otherwise, depending where you look.

 

7. Absolute Obedience

Top 10 English Yaoi Games Absolute Obedience

From the same developers as Enzai, Absolute Obedience doesn’t take itself as seriously when it comes to the story, but it’s still pretty hardcore. It’s a dual narrative where you alternate playing as Kia and Louise, two men who run an agency dedicated to breaking in troublesome young men for their clients.

 

Absolute Obedience has an interesting format where the player must take on different agency requests which function as individual stories. Once you’ve been through the requests and achieved an ‘A’ rank on all of them, you can unlock two extra endings that give more backstory to the main characters. It’s an interesting take on the usual visual novel format. Absolute Obedience is available for purchase stand alone or in a bundle with Enzai.

 

6. Bacchikoi!

Top 10 English Yaoi Games - Bacchikoi!

Transfer student Toshu Kanada finds himself recruited into a baseball club that is falling apart, and you as the player direct his choices to further his progress as part of the team and in his relationships with teammates, Ichiru and Masaru. The art for Bacchikoi! is really nice, and reminds me a lot of the style often used in sporting anime, which is great because it’s pretty much the yaoi visual novel version.

 

One of the really cool things about Bacchikoi! is that, along with the standard visual novel gameplay, it also has a baseball mini game. It’s a simple little timing-based game where you have to click or tap the screen when the ball aligns with the target, but I think it’s a great addition. Endings in the game also tell you how many points you had, so you have something to go off for trying to get different endings. Bacchikoi! and its expansion back are both available in English from creator BlackMonkey Pro’s website.

 

5. SleepOver

 

Top 10 English Yaoi Games - SleepOver

The next title on the list is another BlackMonkey Pro game called SleepOver. It’s a simple premise: Kano has been in love with his best friend Aki for a long time, but hasn’t been able to find the courage to tell him how he feels. One rainy night, he gets his chance to be alone with Aki and confess his true feelings.

 

SleepOver is interesting because there is only one love interest. There are still multiple endings, however, depending on the choices you make. With the same cute art style as Bacchikoi!, SleepOver is one of the more light-hearted titles on the list, and is available to purchase in English from the BlackMonkey Pro website.

 

4. Lamento – BEYOND THE VOID –

Top 10 English Yaoi Games - Lamento - BEYOND THE VOID -

From the famous BL developers, Nitro+CHiRAL, Lamento – BEYOND THE VOID – takes place on the island of Sisa, inhabited by the cat-like humans, Ribika. Sisa is afflicted by a sickness that has killed off a large percentage of the female Ribika, and also The Void, which is spreading throughout the land and making plants and animals impossible for the Ribika to touch. Konoe awakes one morning to find himself covered in marks of a legendary curse. Fleeing death at the hands of his village, he embarks on a quest to find a cure.

 

As expected from Nitro+CHiRAL, the soundtrack and the character designs are beautiful and the plot is dark and very weird. An English patch is available for this game.

 

3. DRAMAtical Murder

Top 10 English Yaoi Games - DRAMAtical Murder

DRAMAtical Murder is the most recent and probably most popular of Nitro+CHiRAL’s games.  Aoba Seragaki is living a peaceful life when he gets dragged into the world of Rhyme – a cyber battle system where combatants use AI pets called All-Mates to fight each other in virtual reality. As events unfold, Aoba ends up on a quest to infiltrate the privatised resort, Platinum Jail, in order to unlock the secrets of the strange goings on around him. It’s sort of hard to describe – everything about DRAMAtical Murder is bizarre, but it makes for a very interesting game.

 

An anime adaptation aired back in 2014, which is pretty much unanimously seen as terrible in every way – go play the game instead. English patches are available for both the original DRAMAtical Murder and its less explicit Vita remake, DRAMAtical Murder re:code, which also gives Mizuki a route.

 

2. No, Thank You!!!

Top 10 English Yaoi Games - No, Thank You!!!

Haru gets hit by a car trying to save someone, and has lost his memory when he wakes up. The man he rescued, Kouichi Inui, takes Haru in, letting him work in his bar, which also functions as a detective agency. Probably the most recent English yaoi release, No, Thank You!!! is notable for its more masculine character design and fully uncensored English release, as well as the unique ability to change the amount of body hair on a per-character basis.

 

As well as the usual decision-making options characteristic of visual novels, No, Thank You!!! also has an ‘intuition’ choice. At certain moments in the game, you have the option to just go ahead and say ‘no, thank you’, without even necessarily knowing what you’re saying it to. The most interesting thing about this feature is that it pretty much separates decisions that affect the story and ones that affect Haru’s relationship with the other main characters into two individual processes. No, Thank You!!! is available comercially worldwide.

 

1. Togainu no Chi

Top 10 English Yaoi Games - Togainu no Chi

Nitro+CHiRAL’s first title, and my personal favourite, Togainu no Chi is a yaoi take on the survival game genre. Arrested for a crime he didn’t commit, Akira is offered the choice to stay in prison or go the abandoned city of Toshima to participate in the street battle game Igura. The aim is to conquer opponents and collect enough dogtags to challenge the champion Il Re, and then take over his drug empire upon defeating him. Despite his talent at fighting, Akira isn’t interested in any of that, he just doesn’t want to stay in prison, so he agrees, and from then on he enters a world of mystery and danger.

 

The designs and setting may not be as inventive as some of Nitro+CHiRAL’s other works, but the characters and story of the game are still captivating. The music is great, the art is incredible, and the secrets surrounding the characters make the routes distinctive and interesting both alone and as part of the overall plot. Togainu no Chi is truly a classic of the yaoi genre, and it deserves to be. An English patch is available for this game.

 

 

So that’s the list! This is just one take on the best yaoi games in English, by no means covering all that are available. Is there something you think should have made the list? Let me know in the comments!

Spread the love!

Related post

This will close in 0 seconds