The Game Census
The Novelist cover art

The Novelist

Orthogonal Games · 2013-12-10

Steam

AdventureCasualIndie

Modes: Single player

Releases: Dec 10, 2013 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Feb 14, 2014 (Linux), Dec 10, 2013 (Mac)

The Novelist asks one central question: can you achieve your dreams without pushing away the people you love? The game focuses on Dan Kaplan, a novelist struggling to write the most important book of his career while trying to be the best husband and father he can be.

1
playing now
74%
positive of 1.0k reviews
Mostly Positive
steam rating
100,000–200,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
59/100
critic score (4 outlets, IGDB)
71/100
IGDB user rating (15 ratings)
pending
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$4.99
steam price (US)

1 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 05:00 UTC (census sample)

The Novelist is a 2013 independent video game by Kent Hudson through his company Orthogonal Games. The game was first released on 10 December 2013 through Steam. The Novelist can be played in two formats: in stealth or storytelling mode. The game's story line is told through the viewpoint of a spectral figure that oversees the Kaplan family's daily life while on vacation.

Health check

Insufficient data
  • · Not enough review history collected yet to judge health.
  • · Top 30% of 11,450 Adventure games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 42k–83k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 1,038 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Humble Store$0.99-80%

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $0.74 at Steam (2019-12-19) · bundled 3×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $4.99 · on sale 14 of 25 observed days (census price snapshots)

Players online

102026-08-11 17:00 — 0 players2026-08-12 09:00 — 0 players2026-08-13 01:00 — 0 players2026-08-13 17:00 — 0 players2026-08-14 08:00 — 0 players2026-08-15 00:00 — 0 players2026-08-15 16:00 — 0 players2026-08-16 08:00 — 0 players2026-08-17 00:00 — 0 players2026-08-17 16:00 — 0 players2026-08-18 08:00 — 0 players2026-08-18 23:00 — 0 players2026-08-19 15:00 — 0 players2026-08-20 07:00 — 0 players2026-08-20 23:00 — 0 players2026-08-21 14:00 — 0 players2026-08-22 06:00 — 0 players2026-08-22 22:00 — 0 players2026-08-23 14:00 — 0 players2026-08-24 05:00 — 0 players2026-08-24 21:00 — 0 players2026-08-25 13:00 — 0 players2026-08-26 06:00 — 0 players2026-08-26 22:00 — 1 players2026-08-27 14:00 — 1 players2026-08-28 06:00 — 1 players2026-08-28 22:00 — 0 players2026-08-29 13:00 — 0 players2026-08-30 05:00 — 1 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$14.99$0.742015-01-012026-08-172015-01-01 — best price $3.742015-05-12 — best price $5.092015-09-08 — best price $2.242015-12-24 — best price $5.992016-05-07 — best price $5.992016-10-28 — best price $5.092017-01-02 — best price $14.992017-07-03 — best price $2.992017-11-01 — best price $14.992018-01-01 — best price $14.992018-04-13 — best price $9.992018-08-27 — best price $3.292018-11-27 — best price $9.992019-04-15 — best price $3.392019-07-09 — best price $9.992019-11-04 — best price $4.992020-01-23 — best price $0.992020-06-13 — best price $4.992020-11-02 — best price $4.992021-02-11 — best price $0.992021-10-28 — best price $0.992022-02-02 — best price $4.992022-09-06 — best price $4.992023-01-05 — best price $4.992023-07-13 — best price $4.992023-12-18 — best price $4.992024-07-11 — best price $4.992025-01-02 — best price $4.992025-07-10 — best price $4.992025-12-11 — best price $4.992026-03-26 — best price $4.992026-08-15 — best price $0.992026-08-17 — best price $0.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

2822026-05-31 — 11 pageviews2026-06-03 — 8 pageviews2026-06-06 — 17 pageviews2026-06-09 — 7 pageviews2026-06-12 — 12 pageviews2026-06-15 — 3 pageviews2026-06-18 — 8 pageviews2026-06-21 — 4 pageviews2026-06-24 — 13 pageviews2026-06-27 — 8 pageviews2026-06-30 — 8 pageviews2026-07-03 — 11 pageviews2026-07-06 — 14 pageviews2026-07-09 — 6 pageviews2026-07-12 — 4 pageviews2026-07-15 — 6 pageviews2026-07-18 — 5 pageviews2026-07-21 — 5 pageviews2026-07-24 — 3 pageviews2026-07-27 — 3 pageviews2026-07-30 — 3 pageviews2026-08-02 — 5 pageviews2026-08-05 — 6 pageviews2026-08-08 — 5 pageviews2026-08-11 — 5 pageviews2026-08-14 — 5 pageviews2026-08-17 — 4 pageviews2026-08-20 — 28 pageviews2026-08-23 — 12 pageviews2026-08-26 — 8 pageviews2026-08-28 — 7 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxSingle-playerSteam Trading CardsSteam CloudFamily Sharing1 DLC

Player tags

DramaIndieCasualStealthAdventureStory RichAtmosphericExplorationExperimentalFirst-Person

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

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Similarity via IGDB.

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