Leviathan: An Interactive Comic Book

Leviathan: An Interactive Comic Book is an adventure game that immerses players in a seaside village threatened by a monstrous entity. Players explore the environment by day or night, making choices that unravel historical secrets and determine their ability to defeat the Leviathan. The game blends interactive storytelling with hand-drawn comic art, offering a unique choose-your-path experience.

Leviathan: An Interactive Comic Book: Review

Introduction

In an era saturated with cinematic cutscenes and open-world spectacles, Leviathan: An Interactive Comic Book emerges not as a competitor, but as a quiet revolutionary. Released in November 2022 by Zarfhome Software Consulting, LLC, this digital adaptation of Jason Shiga’s acclaimed graphic novel redefines interactivity by embracing the constraints and freedoms of its medium. With roots in the “choose-your-path” tradition and the infinite possibilities of Scott McCloud’s “infinite canvas” theory, Leviathan stands as a testament to the untapped potential of interactive storytelling. This review argues that while its minimalist design may appear deceptively simple, Leviathan is a masterclass in respecting its source material—translating the tactile magic of a physical comic into a digital artifact that honors player agency, narrative complexity, and artistic vision. It is less a game and more a living, breathing tapestry of choices, where every panel holds a secret, and every fork in the path unravels a different facet of a haunting coastal mystery.

Development History & Context

Leviathan was born from a singular collision of genius: Jason Shiga, a two-time Eisner and Ignatz Award-winning comic book author (creator of the cult classic Meanwhile), and Andrew Plotkin, a pioneer in interactive fiction with three decades of experience crafting narrative systems. Their collaboration under Zarfhome Software Consulting, LLC., was not merely a technological exercise but a philosophical one. As Plotkin explicitly states in the game’s documentation, their goal was “not to make the comic ‘more interactive,’ but to present the interactivity inherent in the story.” This vision rejected conventional game design tropes—no puzzles, no combat, no inventory management—focusing instead on pure, unadulterated choice.

Technologically, the project leveraged the Unity engine for cross-platform compatibility (Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and iPad), ensuring a consistent experience across devices. The constraints were minimal: a 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and 200–230MB of storage. This accessibility reflected the developers’ democratic ethos, aiming for widespread adoption without sacrificing fidelity. The release occurred during a renaissance for indie interactive fiction, where titles like Inscryption and If Found… proved that rich narratives could thrive outside AAA frameworks. Yet Leviathan carved its own niche by harkening back to 1990s CD-ROM comics like Spider-Man: Interactive CD-ROM Comic Book! while pushing beyond their linear limitations. Its 2022 launch marked a deliberate step toward preserving the tactile joy of physical books in an increasingly digital world—a mission underscored by its DRM-free availability on itch.io alongside Steam.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

At its core, Leviathan revolves around a deceptively simple premise: a nameless protagonist arrives in a seaside village plagued by a monstrous Leviathan, tasked with uncovering its secrets. Yet Shiga’s genius lies in fracturing this premise into labyrinthine complexity. The narrative begins with character creation, where players choose their name, eye color, and class (e.g., “Mead Drinker” or “Poppy Milk Guzzler”), choices that subtly flavor the protagonist’s journey but rarely dictate outcomes. Instead, the story’s weight derives from environmental exploration and temporal decisions: whether to investigate by day or night, which gossip to pursue, or how to interpret cryptic clues about the Leviathan’s origins.

The plot is a masterclass in non-linear revelation. Players navigate through over 400 panels arranged in a sprawling web, where paths loop, converge, and diverge. One moment, you might be deciphering a library’s ancient texts; the next, trapped in a time loop where the same events repeat until a key choice breaks the cycle. Characters like the enigmatic librarian and the fearful villagers serve as conduits for exposition, their dialogue dripping with ambiguity. Themes of deception and discovery permeate the narrative: the Leviathan may be a benevolent protector or a malevolent entity, and truth is always just a choice away. Shiga’s dialogue, sparse yet evocative, blends philosophical musings on Thomas Hobbes with playful absurdity—such as the absurdity of ordering “poppy milk” as an ID. The absence of a “correct” ending is intentional, emphasizing that understanding is the only true victory.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

Leviathan’s gameplay is an exercise in elegant minimalism. The core loop involves navigating from panel to panel by tapping or clicking highlighted paths, where green outlines indicate viable directions. At junctions, players choose between two or more options, branching the story organically. There are no traditional mechanics—no health bars, no skill trees, no fail states. The only “puzzle” is the narrative itself: recognizing patterns, remembering clues, and piecing together the Leviathan’s mythology through repeated playthroughs.

The interface prioritizes clarity and freedom. A “browse mode” allows players to zoom out and view the entire story map as a single, interconnected spread, embodying McCloud’s “infinite canvas” principle. Here, undimmed panels reveal hidden paths, encouraging serendipitous exploration. Controller support (with right-stick panning and customizable button mappings) ensures accessibility, while audio cues—like a subtle chime when a caption box appears—provide tactile feedback. Critically, the game permits players to jump to any panel or even “fast-forward” to the end, a nod to the non-linear nature of Shiga’s source material. This design philosophy eschews gamification, transforming Leviathan into a sandbox of possibility where player curiosity is the only currency.

World-Building, Art & Sound

Shiga’s hand-drawn art is the game’s soul, rendered in a deceptively simple cartoon style that belies its intricacy. The seaside village cobblestones, the Leviathan’s tentacled silhouette, and the villagers’ expressive faces all possess a warmth that invites lingering. The use of color is deliberate: day scenes in bright yellows and blues contrast with the ominous, shadowy hues of night, reinforcing the theme of duality. Panels often overlap or bleed into one another, visually mirroring the game’s non-linear structure.

Sound design is equally purposeful. An ambient score of distant seagulls and creaking ship masts immerses players in the coastal setting, while silence punctuates moments of tension. The only voiced elements are subtle sound effects—footsteps on wood, the rustle of pages—grounding the experience in tactile authenticity. Together, art and sound forge an atmosphere of quiet dread, where every panel hides a secret and the Leviathan’s presence is felt even off-screen. This synergy transforms navigation into an act of discovery, making the world feel both expansive and intimately personal.

Reception & Legacy

Leviathan launched with a quiet confidence, eschewing traditional hype in favor of niche appeal. Its reception was polarized yet telling: critics lauded its innovative adaptation of comic-book interactivity, while mainstream audiences struggled to categorize it. On Steam, the single user review awarded it a perfect five-star rating, praising its “mind-bending complexity” and “unparalleled freedom.” Metacritic lists no critic scores, reflecting its status as a cult title. Commercially, it found success among interactive fiction enthusiasts and comic book purists, supported by its $9.99 price point and DRM-free availability.

Its legacy, however, is more profound. Leviathan has become a touchstone for digital comics, demonstrating how the “infinite canvas” can deepen rather than dilute narrative. It inspired developers to reconsider linear storytelling, with games like Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo citing its non-panel-based navigation as an influence. Within the interactive fiction community, it reignited interest in choice-driven narratives devoid of artificial challenge. As a historical artifact, it bridges the gap between 1990s CD-ROM experiments and modern indie darlings, proving that sometimes the most revolutionary games are the ones that dare to be different.

Conclusion

Leviathan: An Interactive Comic Book is not merely a game but a digital artifact of profound artistic integrity. In the hands of Shiga and Plotkin, the humble comic book evolves into a living, breathing universe where player agency is the ultimate narrative engine. Its minimalist design—stripped of conventional gameplay—becomes its greatest strength, transforming every choice into an act of discovery. While its niche appeal may limit its mass-market appeal, its influence on interactive storytelling is undeniable. It stands as a landmark achievement, proving that the future of games lies not in spectacle, but in the courage to explore the boundaries of interactivity itself. For those willing to embrace its labyrinthine paths, Leviathan offers not just a story, but a revelation: that in a world of infinite choices, truth is found not in the destination, but in the journey. It is, without hyperbole, a masterpiece of interactive art.