Gaiman to Try His Hand at a Video Game

Bookworm gamers can appreciate when their favorite writers lend their brilliant minds to video games. Like books, games with invigorating stories and characters can whisk you away to new worlds and inspirations. Writer Neil Gaiman has been working with game studio The Odd Gentleman and publisher Moon Shark to develop Wayward Manor.  You know him for his Sandman comics, American Gods, Neverwhere, Coraline, more recently The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and for being married to singer/all-around-cool-crazy-person Amanda Palmer. 

According to Mashable, the premise of the game draws from Gaiman’s “love of both supernatural and slapstick genres” and “follows the misadventures of a ghost who wants nothing more than a peaceful afterlife, and to kick out the motley crew living in the house he once called home.” Wayward Manor will be set in a “gothic New England estate” where the story runs from the 1920s to not far in the future. 

Rightly so, writers with a fantastical or even quirky affinity play well to the realm of video games. For example, R.A. Salvatore has written myriad high fantasy books as well as contributed to larger video game franchises. Salvatore also played an integral part to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. 

One of my personal favorite writers is Clive Barker. Clive Barker’s Jericho was released more than a few years ago, but Barker’s style is present from the get-go. You think The Conjuring or Paranormal Activity is scary? Take a look at this man’s literature, or even just a few screens of Jericho, and you’ll see just what frightening is supposed to mean. 

As for The Odd Gentlemen, they released an oddball gem called The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom. It’s silent film, early Tim Burton-style reflects The Odd Gentlemen’s ability to interpret strange stories and execute them fittingly. 

We should be excited to see what Wayward Manor has in store. It will release on PC, Mac, and mobile platforms later this year.