Genre cliches in Erotic Visual Novels — Can We Do Without Them?
Anyone who’s ever played an erotic visual novel has run into them.
Clichés. Sweet, silly, sometimes annoying — but oh-so-familiar.
The virgin who instantly turns into a sex goddess.
“Oops, I accidentally walked into the bathroom while you were there!”
The teacher who suddenly starts flirting out of nowhere.
The neighbor who “forgot” to wear underwear.
The heroine who says “no,” but her eyes scream “yes.”
The husband who notices absolutely nothing.
And, of course, the blushing protagonist who has no idea how to handle a woman’s chest.
❓ Here’s the question for you, friends:
Can a real erotic visual novel exist without these clichés?
And should it? Maybe we love them for exactly what they are?
We want to hear from you:
👉 Which clichés in erotic VNs do you actually enjoy?
👉 Which ones drive you up the wall?
👉 Are there any clichés you can’t imagine the genre without?
🎯 In our game, we’re trying to strike a balance between the familiar and the fresh — and it’d be awesome to know what our audience is craving.
Drop your thoughts in the comments! Who knows, maybe your opinion will shape the next plot twist… 😉
Жанровые клише в эротических визуальных новеллах — без них никак?
Каждый, кто хоть раз запускал эротическую визуальную новеллу, сталкивался с ними. Клише. Сладкие, глупые, местами раздражающие — но такие знакомые.
Девственница, мгновенно становящаяся богиней секса.
«Ой, я случайно вошёл в ванную, когда ты там была!»
Учительница, которая внезапно начинает заигрывать.
Соседка, которая забыла надеть бельё.
Героиня, которая говорит «нет», но её глаза «да».
Муж, который ничего не замечает.
И, конечно, багровеющий главный герой, не знающий, как реагировать на женскую грудь.
Вопрос к вам, друзья: Можно ли создать настоящую эротическую новеллу без этих клише? А нужно ли? Может, именно за это мы их и любим?
Мы хотим услышать вас: Какие клише в эротических VN вам нравятся?
А какие — раздражают?
Есть ли клише, без которых вы просто не представляете себе жанр?
Мы в своей игре стараемся балансировать — и будет здорово узнать, чего ждёт аудитория. Пишите в комменты! Кто знает, может, именно ваше мнение повлияет на следующий поворот сюжета... 😉
Comments (10)
The thing that I will add is that in this game there are many of what you are asking about - the PLUMBER, the Boss who asks something no boss would to a person in an interview, and the tattooed neighbor that is the BAD BOY. What would be nice to see is a story that limits these. The biggest one I have is the BOSS - its takes you out of the flow of the game and suspends the disbelief in the game
I'd say, that if there is any cliché to avoid, it is the transparent cliff hanger. Captain midnight has been shot 5 times and fallen off the top of a ten story building, so tune in next week when we hear Captain Midnight say, OWWWich.
Hi, the Steam algorithm recommended your game to me because I bought something similar, it says release date expected in Q3 (July-August-September) 2025. Very interesting, added to my wishlist 👀. Want to know more clichés? * We always call the mother "landlady" to avoid problems. * The father is always dead, missing or left home a long time ago. * "Help me, I'm stuck stepbro" (sister with her head stuck in the washing machine). * College games have become trendy. * If the main character is female, you always have the ugly bastard (very popular in Japan), the old rich guy and the very young guy of dubious age. * You will be asked a million times if the game has NTR or not. Congratulations on your game, before I go I would like to tell you that on the Steam page in the recommended requirements you made a mistake and put that the game only takes up 6 MB of disk space. Great proyect 😎🍸!
Hi there! Thanks so much for your interest in Boundaries of Morality! We're thrilled that the Steam algorithm recommended our game to you, and it’s awesome to see it added to your wishlist! 👀 Loved hearing your thoughts on clichés! Thanks for the heads-up about the Steam page! Cheers, Novel
For me, what separates a good AVN from a bad one are natural interactions and dialog between characters and a reasonably slow progression through the stages of the relationship. That requires a strong and interesting plot to drive the story between the erotic scenes, and lot more renders than a porn-focused story. It doesn't take as much effort to string together a bunch of sex animations involving characters with little depth to them. The more relationships in the game, the worse the problem. I'm not sure if that's a cliche or not, but what I consider quality AVNs are few in number. Beyond that, all women with F cups? MC packing a traffic bollard for a dick? Not a hint of public hair on anyone? Either no underwear or impractical lacy stuff all the time? Those are standard cliches I could definitely do without. That said, good writing goes a long way. I recently played and greatly enjoyed Eternum, an in-progress AVN by Caribdis, and it probably has every cliche in the book. But the character interactions are very well done with just the right amount of humor throughout. So cliches and realism do not make or break a game for me.
Yes, creating sex scenes is much easier than crafting any other type of content. And honestly, the easiest route would be to just pile on erotic scenes with no story at all—but that simply doesn't work. At least, not for me. There are several red flags that instantly tell me I’ll never play a game, even just from a single screenshot. One of them is overly exaggerated character expressions—when the preset for smiling, sadness, or rage is cranked to the max without any subtlety or thought. Another is hyper-exaggerated body proportions—no comment needed there. I’m all for aesthetic appeal. And of course… absurdly gigantic penises. In my own game, yes, the sizes are slightly exaggerated too—it adds a bit of flavor to the art—but they’re still within the realm of reality.
The only thing that seems to be necessary for an erotic visual novel is a sufficient number of attractive characters who are potentially romanceable and a situation where they can engage in romance. It's the story/premise that makes it enjoyable, from the 20+ characters in stories like Come Home, Fetish Locator, and Grandma's House, or the smaller circle in Between Worlds, Acting Lessons, or the EMI series. If there's anything that seems to be required, it's that either the MC or the LIs are challenged in their current comfort zone, so that someone in any relationship should be a form of escape for the player.
For us, the emotional core is what makes an erotic visual novel memorable. It’s not just about attractive characters, but about why and how those relationships matter.
Generally, the clichés act as plot shortcuts for less talented writers. And in some cases ego boosts for players who need that. I would say, give me a well developed story, ohh, please, pretty please, won't you, why don't you?
Do you know any games that have dispensed with such cliches?