A text RPG with real d20 rolls, a map, and meters that show a goal getting closer and danger closing in. Good ideas, but not many new ones. Its memory is the problem: it lost a companion and let a locked door open itself.

NovelFarer is a text RPG that runs in a browser. Its own line is “A novel you play yourself”. You pick a world, make a character, and type what you do. An AI storyteller writes the scene, and underneath it runs a ruleset kept by plain code: you roll a d20 for risky actions, and the game keeps your health, gear, money, level and quests.

There are seven genres (fantasy, science fiction, mystery, horror, cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic and pirates), dozens of ready-made starting points, and the option to describe your own world in one sentence. You choose one of five roles, write your own past, and level up to 10. It tracks jobs and a main goal for each story, how much each person trusts you, a map that grows as you explore, and a danger clock that fills as time passes and when you fail. Mysteries have a fixed solution, and you can accuse someone once. You can play in English or Dutch, and the game paints pictures of your scenes in a choice of art styles.

It is made by Xquissive AI, a company in Maassluis, in the Netherlands, trading as NovelFarer. You must be 16 or older. Love scenes are not described, and explicit content is not allowed. It can be installed to the home screen from the browser, and we found no App Store or Google Play listing linked from the site. A free account is enough to start, and it needs no card.

What It Scores

NovelFarer scores 2.5 out of 5, twenty-fourth of the thirty-one platforms on our benchmark. We gave it our Standard test, on the Legend plan, the most expensive one.

Memory & Continuity — 1.5. Only two platforms on our board score lower. All twelve of the prompt-only games we score have a better memory, and NovelFarer has an engine. We lost a travelling companion between one place and the next, and a character behind a door let a stranger in without opening it.

Player Agency — 3. Almost no puppeting. There is some railroading: the game pulls you back to its path, and a new character can be hard to get rid of.

NPC Fidelity — 2. About six characters in nearly 50 turns, and they all sounded alike.

Mechanical Depth — 3. A map, danger and progress meters, and d20 checks. Solid, and in line with the industry standard.

Signature Design — 3. Well designed, and little of it is new. We liked choosing the look of the art, and seeing progress on a goal and danger rising on meters.

Determinism & Fairness — 2.5. Hard to judge with a memory that makes turns wobble. Slightly above average, because its rules stop you inventing a weapon.

Longevity — 2.5. Short stories with a clear shape, held back by the memory.

Pricing

Free to start, with no card. Prices are from NovelFarer’s own pricing page on 20 October 2026, shown in euros. Its terms say prices are in US dollars outside Europe, and include tax.

Plan	Price	Turns	Pictures
Wanderer	Free	10 a day	None included; pictures can be bought with Waymarks
Adventurer	€6.99 a month	1,500 a month	75 Waymarks a month (15 pictures) and 10 new places painted
Legend	€14.99 a month	3,000 a month	150 Waymarks a month (30 pictures) and 12 new places painted

A turn is every time you do or say something and the story continues, and starting a new story counts as three turns. Waymarks are the credit for pictures: a picture on request costs 5, and 50 Waymarks cost €2.99. Bought Waymarks never expire. New accounts play their first three days as an Adventurer, with pictures.

Plans renew monthly and can be cancelled at any time; the plan runs to the end of the paid month. At checkout you agree to immediate access and give up the 14-day right of withdrawal; the terms say they look fairly at every request if something is wrong. Your text is sent to a language model from OpenAI and scene descriptions to KIE.ai. The terms say your stories are yours, and are not sold or used for advertising.

Verdict

NovelFarer has the right parts: dice, a map, a clock and a clear goal. It does not remember well enough to use them. At 2.5 it is a short, structured game for players who can live with a story that drops people and forgets doors, and a team that is still learning what its competitors already do.

Product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Arcanum is not affiliated with NovelFarer or Xquissive AI.