LEVIATHAN

A clever story requiring investigation, diligence, and the ability to think outside the box.

This “choose your own adventure”–style graphic novel uses a unique navigation system that invites readers to decide between panels as well as pages to find clues to several endings. An introductory page explains how to navigate, and the opening scene’s basic decision tree acts as a tutorial before the real exploration begins. Cartoon illustrations in a gray and blue palette are spare yet highlight crucial details such as the difference between day and night (players can navigate in daytime and nighttime modes, resulting in different interactions in the same places). The story, involving a legendary sea creature that enforces morality among a medieval island community, is the catalyst for meeting the island’s residents and learning their history. Plot progression will depend on the reader, including their scruples toward reading multiple paths at once, though the reveals and lore in this analog video game of a book are most rewarding when explored one panel at a time. The puzzles are designed to challenge and delight; let them. The protagonist—and reader stand-in—has skin the white of the page and is female; other characters have skin that is either white or gray.

Gamers and puzzlers will lose themselves for hours flipping back and forth through this book’s crafty charms.