Overview
In The Novelist, the player takes control of an ethereal being who inhabits an isolated vacation home being occupied by a novelist, Dan Kaplan, and his family. Dan is struggling from severe writer's block, and rents the vacation home in the hopes of inspiring creativity while he is away with his family. The family has more problems than just Dan's inability to put pen to paper, however, and it is these issues that the player must help in resolving by whatever means they see fit.
Gameplay
The Novelist has two game-play modes: Stealth mode, in which the Kaplan family can notice the spectre and become afraid, hindering the player's ability to persuade their actions, and Story-telling mode which allows the player to unravel the story without having to worry about those mechanics.
The player wanders the vacation home finding clues about the problems the Kaplan family faces, and diving into the family's memories to discover their individual desires. Once these are collected on any given day, the player must decide which character's desires should be fulfilled. Favouring one character will lead to the disappointment of the others, so a careful balancing act must be performed to keep the family content.
Other than standard traversal by walking, the player can possess light fixtures in order to zoom about the house expediently and invisibly. The player can also cause lights to flicker, distracting anyone in the room and allowing for the stealthy collection of documents, or allowing for the player to get behind the characters in order to enter their memories.
The days pass in this manner, and the consequence of the player's influence on Dan - achieved by whispering advice to him while he sleeps in the middle of night - become apparent as the story progresses, for better or for worse.
System Requirements
PC
Minimum
- OS: Windows XP SP2 or higher
- Processor: 1.8 GHz
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: 256 MB VRAM video card
- Hard Drive: 800 MB available space
Recommended
- OS: Windows 7
- Processor: 2 GHz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: 512 MB VRAM video card
Mac
Minimum
- OS: OS X Lion (10.7) or higher
- Processor: 1.8 GHz
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: 256 MB VRAM video card
- Hard Drive: 800 MB available space
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