It is a visual novel only in the sense that it is a story focused game and the gameplay loop consists of characters speaking and you (the player) choosing dialog responses and choices that drive the game forward. It is not in any way like the visual novels that are anime relationship simulators which most people think of when they hear the term visual novel.

It’s a very thoughtful indie game that sets a narrow scope for itself and then thoroughly explores that space with a bunch of crazy ideas. And the voice actors do a great job bringing life to those ideas with a very dynamic performance that’s really the star of the show.

You can get a very good sense of what the game is going for in about 1-3 hours and you can see the whole game in about ten (not including the new stuff, I haven’t played any of that yet).