The Novelist
Narrative adventure about influencing a family's future as a ghost
Orthogonal Games · Released Dec 10, 2013
- Reviews
- Mostly Positive
- 78% of 589
- Recent reviews
- Not enough recent
- Players
- 0
- daily peak, Oct 31, 2026
- Steam Deck
- Untested
- Last update on Steam
- 7 years ago
- Sep 29, 2019
Metacritic: 66/100 (critic reviews)
What is The Novelist?
You play a ghost in a first-person narrative adventure set in a remote coastal summer house, where novelist Dan Kaplan struggles to balance work and family. You explore rooms, read thoughts, and enter memories while staying out of sight. Each playthrough follows a different sequence of events as your decisions shape Dan's career and his relationships with his wife and son.
For you if...
- +you like weighing family priorities without an obvious right answer
Not for you if...
- −you want action-driven stories rather than everyday domestic conflicts
What players say
78% of 589 reviews are positive
Players praise the writing and its attention to everyday relationships. Common complaints concern repetitive exploration of the same house; some players also find the characters stereotyped and the story predictable.
Screenshots and trailer
The Novelist system requirements
Minimum: 256 MB VRAM, 2 GB RAM, 0.8 GB of disk space.
As published by the developer.
Can my PC run The Novelist?
Tell us your graphics card once and every game page will answer this for you.
Set up my PC →Minimum
- OS
- Windows XP SP2 or higher
- Processor
- 1.8 GHz
- Graphics
- 256 MB VRAM video card
- Memory
- 2 GB RAM
- Storage
- 800 MB available space
Recommended
- OS
- Windows 7
- Processor
- 2 GHz
- Graphics
- 512 MB VRAM video card
- Memory
- 4 GB RAM
Does The Novelist have co-op or multiplayer?
No: single-player only, no multiplayer modes declared.
Does The Novelist run on Steam Deck?
Untested Not yet tested by Valve on Steam Deck.
PC version details
- DRM
- None declared on Steam
- Controller
- Keyboard and mouse
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- Steam features
- Cloud saves, Family Sharing, Trading cards
- Languages
- Full audio: English.
Does The Novelist use AI-generated content?
No AI-generated content is disclosed on the game's Steam page.
Self-reported by the developer under Steam rules: it covers AI content that ships in the game, not tools used to make it. Steam page checked on Oct 27, 2026. How to filter AI games on Steam
Tags
- Story Rich
- Choices Matter
- Atmospheric
- Stealth
- Indie
- First-Person
- Interactive Fiction
- Multiple Endings
- Singleplayer
- Replay Value
- Experimental
- Adventure
- Casual
- Exploration
- Walking Simulator
- Short
Recent updates
- Dec 14, 2016 · The Novelist 1.13
- Apr 7, 2014 · New Update! 50% Off!
- Apr 7, 2014 · New Update! 50% Off!
- Jan 4, 2014 · Patch 1.01 + 2014 Plans
- Jan 4, 2014 · Patch 1.01 + 2014 Plans
1 DLC available.
