The Novelist is what happens when Ghost Trick and Majora's Mask have a baby
Think The Shining with less murder.
Indie developer Kent Hudson's dilemma-heavy supernatural drama The Novelist may sound a lot like Stephen King's The Shining at first glance. An author brings his wife and young son to a remote estate where he can work on his masterpiece, but little does he know that there's a ghost in the house. Unlike King's cult-classic, the disembodied spirit in the Novelist is a benevolent ghost controlled by the player with the goal being to help protagonist Dan Kaplan finish his book while still retaining a deep, meaningful connection with his family.
To do this, the disembodied player must eavesdrop on people, read their thoughts, explore their memories and intervene in their lives. Even though your incorporeal, the Kaplans can still sense your presence, so you have to stay out of sight (or something), or the jig is up because apparently upper middle class suburban families aren't all that into the whole haunted estate thing.
Hudson, who previously worked on BioShock 2 and Deus Ex: The Invisible War, explained on The Novelist's Steam Greenlight page that "there are no easy answers, and every choice has a cost," and "The Novelist gives life to a unique experience each time you play."
The Novelist is due this summer on PC and Mac. It will cost $19.99, but pre-orders from its official site will be 25 per cent off at $14.99.
Take a look at The Novelist's debut trailer below.
