to expand on lagg_3's comment, visual novels can have variable amounts of gameplay. some people consider things like ace attorney or 999 visual novels and those have elaborate puzzles you need to solve to advance the story. on the opposite end of the spectrum there's something like umineko (probably my personal favorite visual novel) where there's nothing. not even any choices, just words and pictures and music.

if you're curious about visual novels as a medium my recommendation is we know the devil, which is short enough you can finish it in like 2 hours. it's about a group of queer teens at a christian summer camp and it's incredible. standard gameplay, where at set points you make choices that determine what the next scene looks like, and these choices add up to determine which of 4 endings you get. very simple, easy to see everything, doesn't take any time at all. it's 6.66$ on steam but is often on sale for like 1$