Home / Games / Himawari - The Sunflower -
Himawari - The Sunflower -
After jointly founding the so-called Space Club, Youichi and his friend Amamiya Ginga, the son of Amamiya Daigo, spent their school days building a rocket -- until one fateful night, a mysterious young girl called Aries crash-lands near them, her memories also lost from the shock of the landing.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-27 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-15.
What reviewers agree on
41 of the 61 reviews raise this.
“Himawari is likely the best, most touching visual novel on Steam, and perhaps the best I'll ever have chance to read. Make no mistake, this is no mindless, feel-good title filled with cute girls. Quite the opposite, as…”
“TL;DR: the best visual novel on steam Note: this review is a modified version of my review post on r/visualnovels' December 14th "What Are You Reading" discussion thread I had a variety of expectations going into…”
“This been pretty much the best visual novel I've played to date and hands down the best VN I've read on Steam ( I own pretty much all ), while it's not perfect mostly because a somewhat slow start and the last route not…”
5 of the 61 reviews raise this.
“This been pretty much the best visual novel I've played to date and hands down the best VN I've read on Steam ( I own pretty much all ), while it's not perfect mostly because a somewhat slow start and the last route not…”
“Easily one of the best visual novels I read so far! Funny interactions, interesting story and a good amount of content - What more could you want?”
“Much deeper than it looks, this game offers tons more gameplay than I was expecting, and succeeded at going far beyond the surface level that is present in lots of modern anime or standard dating sim visual novels. To…”
4 of the 61 reviews raise this.
“best tsundere archetype best pure archetype very good osananajimi archetype very good imouto archetype voice acting is peerless, story might be confusing at first like all sci-fi VNs out there. SPACE LOLI BEST LOLI”
“I've made a very, very extensive review for this VN that I'll link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1564638159. Read at your own risk. Himawari is not the happy-go-lucky slice-of-life VN it…”
“This is a wonderful VN for those who like histories that bases on mysteries and space. Throughout my playtrough I was able to empathise with the characters and their feelings mainly because the characters are realy deep…”
16 of the 61 reviews raise this · 12 of them still recommend the game.
“This been pretty much the best visual novel I've played to date and hands down the best VN I've read on Steam ( I own pretty much all ), while it's not perfect mostly because a somewhat slow start and the last route not…”
“Himawari’s most pressing issue is that it tries to be a story oriented visual novel while being a character driven novel. I heard many referring to the huge plot twists ending every route, especially after the epilogue…”
“I'm conflicted, I really wanted to give this novel a positive review as i find that half of this VN to be masterfully written and that it has a perfectly managed atmosphere, but the rest was just boring. The protagonist…”
8 of the 61 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“This been pretty much the best visual novel I've played to date and hands down the best VN I've read on Steam ( I own pretty much all ), while it's not perfect mostly because a somewhat slow start and the last route not…”
“Himawari’s most pressing issue is that it tries to be a story oriented visual novel while being a character driven novel. I heard many referring to the huge plot twists ending every route, especially after the epilogue…”
“A bit of a slow start, but the payoff is worth it! You're going to get some major feelings from this game, guys.”
3 of the 61 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“Surprisingly deep and bittersweet, but has a relatively weak first route that might scare off many readers. I had many of my assumptions about the characters, the setting, and the plot overturned more than once, which…”
“Bought this just yesterday in the Steam sale. Was a bit concerned about it even working, but seems to be working perfectly out of the box on Windows 11. Videos playing just fine. Haven't noticed any audio loop bugs,…”
“does not work on steam deck after trying everything, very sad about refunding this”
Counted across 61 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 89.7% positive rating · as of 2026-05-15
“Disclaimer: I have read the doujin JP version of Himawari. This is my first time playing the remake in either language. Himawari is a Sci-Fi VN from the mind of Goo. Originally a doujin game, it went on to achieve cult hit status and pave its way for a remake, the translation of…”
— a player, Steam review · 39 hrs played“Emotions & time Himawari-The Sunflower started bad, the beginning of the VN is a little bit slow and even if a lot of things happen, you may fear the worst (the main character, the "event" which will launch the story...) but don't be, the first part of the VN is just a starter…”
— a player, Steam review · 48 hrs played“I ended up with this game in my library one night after imbibing a tiny bit too much alcohol, evidently having decided that these heroines were too cute to not throw 35 bucks at, as I knew nothing else about the game. I wish all my inebrieated decisions ended this well. Do not…”
— a player, Steam review · 87 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2022-09 via SteamCharts.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-08-13. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-28). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-15.
| Genres | Adventure |
| Player tags | Adventure · Visual Novel · Anime · Story Rich · Sci-fi · Cute · Philosophical · Dating Sim · Romance · Psychological Horror · Illuminati · Emotional (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Trading Cards · Steam Cloud · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English, Simplified Chinese |
| Official site | http://mangagamer.org/himawari/ |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS: Vista Processor: 1Ghz Memory: 1 GB RAM DirectX: Version 9.0c Storage: 3 GB available space