I know you get this, but it feels like I want to comment on this because I've seen some people really not understand what a kinetic novel is lately. Or not, I just saw some where people were complaining about kinetic and the post is 3 years old.
KINETIC NOVELS FOR THOSE CONFUSED: Have NO choices. It's not "any visual novel lacking sandbox element". None. You're reading a pretty picture book and clicking through it to a singular ending and outcome.
Visual novels (normally): Has differen't routes/choose your own adventure style elements. They may not be a lot. They might even be "illusion of choice", but as long as it has more than one outcome (including game over), and the player makes some sort of influence on the path of the game, it no longer qualifies as a kinetic novel. This is also why I am against kinetic novels being allowed in the game section.