Kiwi Farms

Since it comes out fairly regularly in anime/manga discussion, and it also starts with Visual Novels we might as well have a Ryukishi07 thread. Base rules are that only very recent releases get spoilered (so basically Gou as of me writing this). So if you didn't read any of the visual novels/manga then you should better do it.

For those who only heard about it in passing, Ryukishi07 is the guy who's responsible for When They Cry series and some other spinoffs, pretty much all of them are recommended. I'll may add short descriptions of the different games later, but it's hard to do it without spoilering. It's basically all horror/mystery except Rose Guns Days which is alternate History with gang drama and politics.

Edit: Fuck it, I'll make more of an effort posting. Ryukishi07's more talked about posts are (partial spoilers for the first episodes of each game):

Higurashi When They Cry
The Visual Novel follows a group of friends in a rural town and their repeating cycle of madness and death that is caused in part by the village's history. Every episode in the Visual Novel is an iteration where small changes create wildly different outcomes, and slowly the reader learns about the village, it's people and what's causing everything. It's overall great for its disturbing events and creepy tone it has. The Visual Novel spawned a two season anime (first season is average, the second is better recieved) with brutal violence that probably got a lot of people here following the anime. Currently has an alternate universe(?) story that, from other farmers here, is a complete trainwreck.

Umineko When They Cry
The Visual Novel has a very wealthy family gathering in an abandoned island to discuss their current affairs, specifically the sickly family patriarch whose massive fortune can help the various family members with their failing businesses, and the patriarch's riddle which is rumoured to lead to a massive fortune hidden in the island. Obviously it doesn't take long for bodies to hit the floor without a clear culprit in sight. In the following episodes we see different iterations of the events on the islands with new characters joining the investigation and revelations about the truth of what happened on that islands. There's a lot of discussions about the subjects of truth and reality and it's overall recommended. There is an anime about the first half of the show which isn't very recommended but has an.... interesting ending song:

Higanbana No Saku Yoru Ni
A Visual Novel about youkai in a japanese school. More straightforward than the previous works since there is no time loop and it is more of a horror anthology. It's overall good and discusses the ideas of how schools and education are structured to give children a taste of social life, with the various dangers that result. The visual novel still has disturbing moments despite the more local tone of a single school, but some episodes are legit heart warming. Also has one story end with a psycho kid who enjoys killing rabbits get turned into one to be fucked until he dies.

Rose Guns Days
Probably the most standard work here. Rose Guns Days is a Visual Novel set in alternate history where Japan gets wrecked by an earthquake mid world war, leading to its early surrender and occupance by Chinese and American forces who try to hog all the power. The story follows a brothel that tries to protect itself from the Mafia trying to take over it, but the scope expands later on (only to shrink back again and rise afterwards). It's fucking awesome with great action scenes (with "gameplay" that gets the point across) and it isn't aftaid to kick you in the balls, especially later on.

Ciconia When They Cry
The newest game, with only one chapter available. The plot is set after WW3, where the world barely hangs on through the use of technology to keep pretty much everything in the environment working. There are no real countries and instead nation blocs a' la 1984 who are somewhat at peace. The plot follows a group of teenagers from different country blocs who are the new users of what is essentially super power armour. They teenagers vow to keep the peace, but stronger forces want to bring it to a swift end. Hopefully will have its second episode soon so we'll know what the fucking plot is.