I've just released Narrat, a new open source game engine I've been working on for narrative games. You could make a VN, text-based RPG or even a point n click adventure in it.
Narrat is inspired by games like Disco Elysium where an interactible world is on one side with dialogue on the other side. A lot of the standard visual novel formats are based on a background image with dialog boxes appearing on top for individual dialog lines, but I find it more enjoyable and easier to read the text when it consistently stays in a vertical panel where you can read the context of the previous lines and without it going too wide.
On the practical side, the way games are made with it is inspired by ren'py. Narrat uses a homemade scripting language that has a very similar syntax to it (so anyone used to ren'py should be able to pick up narrat very easily), but deviates to become its own thing.
Narrat is made for the web though and implemented in TypeScript (also uses vue.js for the UI). The games can be built as static websites that you could host anywhere (including itch) or a desktop app with Electron (already included in the template). It also supports responsive layout for desktop/mobile.
It is very new and is currently being used by one game being developped within it. You can also see the website for more info and how to get started using it
Some of the features:
* Flexible dialog writing with branching and conditions
* Multiple script files support with labels and jumps to organise script writing
* Skill check rolls for branching or in choice options (Feature still early, needs a UI for viewing skills and creating characters)
* Multiple speaking characters support with icons and poses
* Custom variables in scripts to create flags or other data the game needs to track
* Seamless saving and reloading
* Visual game UI on the side of the dialog with buttons that can be used to trigger scripts (this effectively allows you to create game maps, or point n click style gameplay
* Sound and music support
* Delays between script lines for effect
* Electron build to turn the game into a pc/mac/linux app (the template already has it setup and ready to use)