Visual Novels

[Dincrest]

I had a chance to try out the Heileen demo.  Suffice to say, thumbs down.  I thought the dialogue was dry, the characters were thin, and plot/situations were contrived.  I will not be buying this one.  The artwork was nice, though. 

[(Tunnels)]

Anyone has played Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni, I have heard that they both have great plot and are very interesting and engaging murder mystery visual novels.
I believe they are not eroge, if they are I apologize...

As far as I know the games haven't been translated yet, although there's fan translations in progress.  Fan translations of games are typically slow and unreliable though, so they could be finished in anywhere from 6 months to never.

This is definitely true, but I know of one group that has translated the first game in the Higurashi series: Onikakushi-hen. If I'm correct, 07th Expansion, the makers of Higurashi and Umineko, offer Onikakushi-hen for free download as well. But you're right, outside of a few notable exceptions, most fan translations don't move anywhere.

[magusgs]

Ah, so Onikakushi-hen is actually a self-contained game in itself.  I'd mistaken it for merely being a chapter of a larger game, sort of like a single route in Fate/Stay Night.