In the era of the rockstar superhero, where superhero media is dominated by Marvel movies and images of playboys, career heroes and literal pagan gods, it’s hard to find superhero media with the themes that have always drawn me into the genre. For me, superhumans are compelling when they’re miserable. The necessary double life and juggling of identities, the isolation that comes with being “different” and hiding in plain sight is what makes a “hero” compelling. Essentially, I hate an out and proud superhero. 

“Fallen Hero: Rebirth” is the first in a planned trilogy of interactive novels by Malin Ryden, with the sequel, “Fallen Hero: Retribution,” due to release any day now. After the number of anticipated games I’ve watched fall into development hell, I don’t usually let myself get excited for sequels. This one, though, occupies my every waking thought. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve played the alpha demo that’s been released online, and I check the Steam page daily, hoping that the “coming soon” turns into a price tag.

The game follows Sidestep, a telepath who used to work with a Los Angeles’ superhero team, the Rangers, until a traumatic incident forced them to abandon their old life. Now, years later, Sidestep returns as a villain, and has to deal with balancing old friends, older enemies and their new role working against the Rangers, rather than with them. My favorite thing about Sidestep is that they are far from a rockstar — they’re a paranoid, compulsive liar, they’re pathetic and they’re utterly incapable of emotional closeness with anyone around them without suffering a panic attack.

Though it’s called an interactive novel, the fact that your character’s stats are recorded and that these affect the outcome of the choices you make makes it more akin to a text-based, choose-your-own-adventure game.

“Fallen Hero” manages what a lot of choose-your-own-adventure games can’t: It never once makes your choices feel irrelevant and constricted. It’s something that’s difficult for every interactive media — more choices make for more paths which makes for a lot more writing. Most get around this problem by presenting false choices, or having all paths diverge briefly only to eventually merge onto the “main” story. This is especially important for games with planned sequels, as, in order for one sequel to apply to all characters, the first game must end in relatively the same position. “Fallen Hero” is no exception to this rule, yet unless I consciously remind myself of the fact that all characters follow the basic path I’m taking, I’ll play through the entire game feeling that I could do anything. 

This is not only due to Ryden’s masterful writing, but due to the fact that “Fallen Hero” does offer an incredible glut of choices. The game showcases the greatest advantage of text-based games; as the need for visual and aural assets are cut down, more resources are freed up for development of the writing. And trust me, there’s an incredible amount of writing that goes into each game. As of last year, “Fallen Hero: Retribution” was said to be 1.3 million words. To put that into perspective, so far, the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series totals 1.77 million words.

Further, the fact that the happenings of the game don’t have to be illustrated allows for a larger portion of the game to be dedicated to introspection and character development, as well as visual descriptions of scenes that may not be nearly as impactful if my imagination wasn’t free to embellish.

It’s why no one is ever going to shoot a good Lovecraftian horror movie. There is nothing that can match the simultaneous detail and grandeur the human imagination can cook up.

The story particularly shines when it comes to its characters, whose emotional lives and interactions with Sidestep really make the game shine. Every character in the game seems to have their own fanbase, and it is perhaps due to this popularity that Ryden has worked so hard to let Sidestep cultivate a variety of relationships with each. Every character can become your friend, your nemesis and yes, even your lover. I’m not going to kid myself, a large portion of the fanbase seems to sustain itself on the joy of working through the many romance routes available to Sidestep. However, it’s far from the tacky and pathetic harems of visual novels. Factors like Sidestep’s double life — something that means you could even end up dating your nemesis — and Sidestep’s telepathy affords an incredible amount of depth to every interaction, resulting in character development that I, frankly, haven’t seen in many fully-completed book series.

“Fallen Hero: Rebirth” makes for an incredible novel, and an even better game. And for only $3.99 on Steam, it’s cheaper than most examples of either. For less than the price of a coffee, you could develop a new years-long obsession, and join me in obsessively refreshing the page, hoping the sequel is out.