To be honest, it's not really about the genre not being actual videogames. It's just that the very thing defining a game is being able to get any sort of lose condition and win condition (they can be defined by being high on score boards, getting a satisfying from an array of ending and so on). There's like no sort of really altering anything. I may not be familiar with visual novels but I did expect to have my actions to have any sort of effect. I suppose it's just my view. Either way, I did give this entry an overall moreso positive rating.