Code: Veronica

Resident Evil #6

by S.D. Perry

Everything they feared... and more Claire Redfield's desperate search for her missing brother leads her to a remote island, where a mad genius has unleashed every grotesque creature at his disposal to stop her from interfering with his horrific agenda. Catapulted to the bottom of the world, Claire is at last reunited with the man she came to find. Chris Redfield has been fighting a one-man war against Umbrella's most terrifying creations... and is now on a collision course with the man who betrayed the S.T.A.R.S. in Raccoon City. A man who should be dead.

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Fiction, Science Fiction, Video Games, Action, Novels

259 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2001

About the author

SD Perry (Stephani Danelle, by the way, though she prefers SD or Danelle) has been writing novelizations and tie-ins for most of her adult life. Best known for her work in the shared multiverses of Resident Evil, Star Trek, and Aliens, SD is a horror nerd and an introvert. Her father is acclaimed science fiction author Steve Perry. SD lives with her family in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Peter Topside · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this entire series a few years ago. I am a huge fan of the games and the books are more or less just written adaptations of each video game. The writing is good, but for those not familiar with the video games, these may or may not peak your interest.

[Misty Marie Harms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 6 finds us on a remote island with Claire Redfield searching for her brother, Chris Redfield. She feels time is running out and needs to locate him quickly. However a mad genius is using the island for his own private experiments creating unholy creatures straight out of Stephen King's worst nightmare. He knows Claire is there and he is ready to unleash his pets. Meanwhile Chris Redfield is battling his own war against Umbrella's creations. This is the second longest book in the series. The fun part of this one you get to see Steve, Alfred, Alexia, and Wesker point of view as well. Another great installment to the series.

🐱🐱🐱🐱

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was probably my least favorite book in the series mostly because this felt more like a young leaning YA book than any of the other books in the series and the fact that I didn't really care for either the main protagonists or antagonists.

[Courtney Key · Rating 5 out of 5]

Code Veronica held my attention starting with the opening line all the way to the final sentence. This book follows the game fairly close, with a few variances that help to push the story along and not bog the reader down with countless puzzle solving.

Claire Redfield has been captured by Umbrella and transported to the mysterious Rockfort Facility where she runs into the usual scenario: a viral outbreak. She is helped along the way by Steve Burnside, a former prisoner on the island. As they explore the island, they run into the former 'master' of the facility, a nutcase who goes by the name of Alfred Ashford. They eventually make an escape only to end up at the Arctic facility and where the nightmare only truly begins.

The book follows the gameplay path with Claire and Steve searching the island, avoiding Alfred, and fighting to survive from zombies, dogs, and the Bandersnatches. Their escape from Rockfort is a lot easier than in the game (envious!) and Chris' rescue occurs in the last chapters, a lot more downplayed in my opinion. Wesker makes his grand appearance, but the ending is different than in the game (so no, he didn't kidnap Steve's dead body).

The ending leaves a few questions which will sadly be left unanswered since Capcom no longer allows publishing rights. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this series. I hope Capcom brings it back and Mrs. Perry can continue to delight us readers by writing more for Resident Evil.

[Mileena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Resident Evil: Code Veronica
4.5/5 stars
Okay so I just wrote a long review of this book already and goodreads deleted it. So here we go again.

I always loved the creepy but insanely original tale that was crafted in CVX with the Ashford twins. And Claire looking for Chris. And the fucking dreamboat that is Steve Burnside.

Now I haven't played it myself. But I did play the mode of the game that was included in The Darkside Chronicles. And seen many gameplays of the original, and I can honestly say that this book did the game justice. Although in third person, it gave this beautiful, personal insight into the minds and thoughts of the characters that I already knew and loved. And it filled in the gaps in the storyline beautifully and overall, I would really recommend it to any true fan of the games.

[Mac Dubista Keso The Bibliobibuli v(=∩_∩=) · Rating 2 out of 5]

MEH!!! (-_-)
SERIOUSLY?! IS THIS REALLY THE LAST BOOK?! LIKE WTF?!

I just gave f*cking 2 stars because Claire and Chris met.

BUT the story?! For the last book?! Boring. Meh! :/

How about the cover?! Damn! Looks like interesting. BUT NO! So disappointing.

I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS ONE.

[Jawairia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

S.D. Perry is so good at writing characters that you either root for or despise. I think that she's especially good at writing deranged villains. All of the villains so far have been insane in their own unique way and I've hated them all ❤️

I didn't care for the weird romance subplot between Steve and Claire, it just felt so out of place.

The weird mutant moths that laid sticky eggs on Steve upset me so much on a visceral level. I could barely stand to read those parts. Like that boy has already been through enough and then a giant moth lays an egg on him?

[Dide · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was somewhat different from the others. It had about three endings and each one leading to an unexpected continuation. To top it, the nightmare in this book becomes transient, holy moses!

[Callum Woodward · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a well written zombie book with likeable characters and motives. The video game setting lends itself to some suspension of disbelief in moments (like the existence of zombies, for example) but I really like how Perry addresses the character’s thoughts and emotions in this book where in a video game you’d simply get a line of dialogue with no reason or thought behind it. It lends itself to far more weight in book form.

You’ll get more from this if you’re familiar with the characters but you can still enjoy it if it’s you’re first step into the Resident Evil universe. Perhaps more a 3 star if that’s you but you won’t know until you try it.

Also there’s a part on the plane mid way through the book that calls back to RE2 and I god damn loved it so no spoilers but hot damn that callback put a smile on my face.

[David Griffith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started off pretty good. I love the characters and plot and the author did good, if not great on all the other novels sans some continuity fails between books, but since they were written when the games were released it couldn't be helped. However, as this book goes on it gets quicker and cuts out more and more from the game along with environmental details and such. After about halfway through it feels like she's speed running the game. This one must have been written on a tight deadline because by the ending it shows painfully. I'd still recommend reading this one because the beginning is enjoyable enough, and it gets the plot across even if it just feels like cliff notes by the end. Worth reading mainly because it's the last in the series, but ended up being my least favorite over all.

[Jo Springer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Resident Evil video game series with a passion I've shown for little else, and when I learned there were books of the franchise, I sought them out immediately. Some of these books have been far better than others, especially Nemesis. Code: Veronica, however, was difficult for me to trudge through. Perhaps it could have been better if the author had had a readily available thesaurus, as the same adjectives seem to be used relentlessly in succession. Nonetheless, I can't bring myself to dislike the series, as they've given me a chance to delve into games I may never get the chance to play. Despite the minor annoyances that may accompany the reading of these books, I without a doubt would refer them to any Resident Evil fan.

[AndrewP · Rating 2 out of 5]

Final book of the original 6. In this one we switch back to Claire Redfield and her escape from an Umbrella Corp prison/research island. After that it's a final showdown with the resurrected Albert Wesker from the first book. As this is the final book I was expecting some kind of conclusion, even though there are additional games after this point. Kind of disappointing that there wasn't and I suspect that the original intent was to write further novels based on the games. As these were published several years ago I guess that never happened. Oh well, I still have the prequel to read.

[A.J. Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. I guess it was because I'm a huge Resident Evil fan and Claire Redfield is one of my favorite characters from the franchise. It's tough to make readers scared from written words, when they are coming from the video game experience, but SD Perry did an amazing job with setting the tone. It was fun to read the inner monologues experienced by Claire rather than transferring my own emotions to her when playing the video game.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

●Resident Evil Code Veronica by S.D. Perry●

Book six in the Resident Evil book series was enjoyable, but probably my least favourite one written. I haven't played Code: Veronica so all of the story was new to me, but regardless I understood it well and liked how it all played into the universe of the franchise.

I loved Claire as a character in the book, I felt like her personality was pretty similar to how she is in the games, but other characters did feel a little off such as Wesker who's randomly thrown in at the end. Claire's only 19 but can handle herself well and is intelligent as well as compassionate. Her brief friendship with Steve was kind of odd, I didn't really like him but I've heard he's much more tolerable in this book than in the game.

The villains, Alfred and Alexia were really dark and kinda twisted, they're probably some of my favourites in the books only because of how weird they are. There's a shocking (well shocking to me) revelation at the end which I didn't expect.

Story wise, everything is pretty action packed and straightforward, despite not knowing the game I got the gist of the story and was interested in everything that was happening, but at times it did feel rushed. Alongside this, the descriptions were brief and you kind of have to know the monsters, characters and places to be able to visualise it.

The book wraps up well, but there's a hint of a bigger and final fight to come, but there isn't another book written after this one so I guess we'll never find out, unless you play the games, watch the movies and consume the rest of the Resident Evil content.

3/5 🌟

[Kira · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, this was my least favorite read of the series. I’ll start by saying Claire isn’t in my top 5 favorite characters from the franchise and this book did push or drop her in my rankings. There were, in true resident evil fashion, safe rooms with calming ambiance, an umbrella facility blowing up, and a divine titan fight.

There also was a lot of gross misogyny, some passing remarks made from men about wanting to defile girls, and a very mean and not accurate representation of either mental illness or being transgender. Sometimes horror does some fucked up stuff and not in a fun way.


Ignoring that for the time being, this book also included Chris Redfield rolling up in the last hour to save the day. Aka my least favorite plot device this franchise loves to slather us in. Whatever. Some good gross gore. The worst character development I’ve seen of Weskar ugh.

[Joe Currie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Im bored and I like all horror stuff, games books films it all good. So good I wrote a poetic book review (ps, there's no actual mentions of key lime pie in the book, I just, I dunno, I'm lazy I guess) -

Virus zombies,
naughty Umbrella,
old mansions,
oppressive weather,
both Redfields,
random new guy,
crackpot Ashford
... key lime pie.

[Jesús Pérez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fue bueno, lamentablemente el final queda abierto y ya no le siguieron. Bueno en novela

[Bree · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good. I didn't enjoy it as much as the others, but I still liked it. I didn't like the romance between Claire and Steven. That felt really rushed and sorta just thrown in there, but with that aside, I enjoyed it.

[L𐂂 · Rating 5 out of 5]

بعدی مال تو...

[Will Meeks · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sixth installment, and final book in the series, takes place during the video game of the same name. Claire Redfield, brother of former S.T.A.R.S. member Chris Redfield of RE 1/Umbrella Conspiracy, is now on the hunt for clues as to where Chris Redfield is. After the events of RE 2, she finds out that Chris has gone to Europe to take on the umbrella Corporation directly with other former S.T.A.R.S. members. During her investigation, in Paris, Claire is captured and sent to Rockfort Island. Claire gets knocked out, and finally comes to after realizing that a T-Virus outbreak has occurred on the island. While dealing with more creatures, which have apparently been sent by a rogue organization, she runs into a fellow prisoner named Steve Burnside. They work together to try and escape the island, while dealing the psychotic Alfred Ashford, who cross dresses as his sister Alexia Ashford, and finally defeat him. Before dying, Alfred is able to awaken his sister from her 15 year hyper sleep. Injected with the T-Veronica Virus, counter virus to the affects of the T-Virus, she causes Claire and Steve to crash land in Antarctica. The story then shifts to that of Chris Redfield, notified about Claire's absence by Leon S. Kennedy from RE 2/City of The Dead, and Underworld. Along the way, Chris comes into conflict with Albert Wesker. A man whom was thought to have died during the events of RE 1/Umbrella Conspiracy, who is somehow alive and transformed by some virus that gives him superhuman abilities. As Chris finds Claire, things get worse with the loss of Steve infected by the T-Veronica Virus. Though he does fight against it in order to save Claire. The book ends with Chris and Claire watching Wesker take the body of Steve, after they have defeated a mutated Alexia Ashford, and leaving the facility.

The problem with video game to book adaptations is that the video games can change something just like that. So a major story deviation in the games takes place, and the reader can easily get lost. During the course of RE 1 Albert Wesker died in two ways, depending upon the character choices in the game. Either he gets killed by the Tyrant, or he dies from the chimera creatures found in the pump room. Those were the creatures that liked to hang on the ceiling, and swipe at you from above. Umbrella Conspiracy went mostly by the pump room ending. Barry Burton beats him in the head with his magnum, Wesker stumbles into the pump room and gets mauled by chimera. Looking for Wesker in the pump room lead to only seeing a headless body, in the video game. RE does not sugar coat violence.

SD Perry was able to make books based on RE 1-3. Code Veronica was published in 2001, the RE Code Veronica game came out in 2000. Within universe of the book series, Albert Wesker died after the events of Umbrella Conspiracy.

RE 1 had been released in 1996. Albert Wesker's death, as seen in the RE 1 and graphic novels based on RE 1, was considered cannon via the Tyrant killing him. So Perry went by that cannon for the longest time. Upon the re release, RE 1 for the Gamecube, things changed a tad. Originally, in the first RE 1, Albert Wesker just gets killed by the Tyrant. In the Nintendo Gamecube version, a scene was added since Albert Wesker appeared in RE Code Veronica. The remake of RE 1 showed Wesker injecting himself with a virus, and then dying by the hands of the Tyrant. With his "death" the virus took hold and transformed Wesker into the super human we see during the events of RE Code Veronica/Code Veronica.

So of course this book was not in sync with the game. Perry was still going by the original RE 1 cannon death of Albert Wesker. It didn't help matters with the RE 1 remake adding back story that wasn't present in the original RE 1. That was my main concern with this book. Other parts were solid.

[Chris The Lizard from Planet X · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't ask for a better survival/horror/thriller! I found myself completely enveloped in the book from beginning to end. And the heroine, Claire Redfield, is amiable, well-developed, believable and interesting to those of the opposite sex ;) For those who follow the Resident Evil series, whether in video games or by books, you will remember Claire Redfield from Resident Evil 2 or "City of the Dead." The young, 19 year old, has gotten herself in even deeper than her first adventure in Raccoon City ("City of the Dead") after she travels half way across the world to Paris in search of her brother, Chris Redfield, a missing S.T.A.R.S police member whose last known whereabouts were in France. Claire finds herself at a dead end once she reaches Paris, only to find Chris is not there. Instead, after infiltrating a head intelligence agency, Claire finds a gun to her head and herself in a VERY bad situation. The girl is roughly apprehended and taken to an extremely secluded military base located in the middle of the ocean, Rockfort. A mysterious facility in which secret experiments have been conducted to create dangerous creatures to be used in war, is filled with gruesome images of death and horror that make the gut cringe. The things Claire sees would scar just about anyone for life, but will have the reader constantly turning the page. Our heroine, Claire, is thrown deep into the middle, when, just with her arrival to Rockfort, a special forces team, attacks the island, destroying many of the buildings and causing a toxic spill, which infects the island inhabitants, turning them into the blood-craving undead. But the undead are the least of the girl's problems as the master of Rockfort, Alfred Ashford, a descendant of the rich-blooded Ashford family, believes Claire is a threat to his family and to his beloved sister, Alexia. He unleashes a hord of terror-envoking creatures to dispose of Claire in hopes to allow him time to unfold his master plan involving his mysterious and never-seen sister Alexia. The book experiments with views of all the characters. You dive deep into the mind of the often humurous and constantly calculating Claire Redfield, experience the pains of a fellow prisoner and friend Steve Burnside, and cringe with the thoughts of the sadistic Alfred Ashford. Amazing fast paced action and red-herrings were around EVERY corner of this book that I found myself struggle to close it. Your mind is constantly working to solve the puzzles and cope with the struggles of all the characters. And for those who have been primarily connected to the video games, the books dive deeper into the characters themselves as you find out much more about Chris, Claire, Leon, Steve and maybe a little too much about the derranged brother and sister, Alred and Alexia Ashford. This is truly one of the best science fiction novels I have read and I was truly sad when I had finished it, but I will not give away the new experimental creatures or the ending.

[Alyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this has definitely been the weakest of the books by far. Pacing is a bit of a problem as the island section far outweighs the events taking place in Antarctica. So much so that both Chris and Wesker are kind of shoehorned in last minute almost as if in afterthought.

Also was Wesker always uncomfortably aggressively rapey? I don't recall that at all in the games. To me he always came across as detached-almost asexual in that he only seemed interested in someone for their use in furthering his own agenda. I don't know if that is just my personal headcannon getting in the way, but this wasn't the only time he's portayed as such in S.D. Perry's books- but I have to say that this is the most... cringe worthy.

The kinda sorta budding romance between Steve Burnside and Claire was also a bit awful as Steve feels woefully underaged here (despite being only slightly younger) in addition to the pretty consistent reminders of how close Claire and Leon were getting prior to the story- just made it feel as if we were edging into cheating territory.

On the flipside, I do have to applaud the authors ability to make Steve marginally less annoying than he was in the games. Claire is awesome and i really enjoy how the twins were written, even if Alfred's dual personality got kind of confusing in parts. Was it multiple personalities, his delusional imagination, or Alexia using her telepathic abilities? It's a bit unclear and by that I mean not really addressed at all.

Something else that amused me was S.D. Perry's continual shade throwing at the games many puzzles. Oh there is a case able to move metal undetected? That's cool, too bad I already shot the metal detectors with my gun- Which you know, also works.

For the final book in the series this is a bit of a disappointment and the non-ending in particular feels more like a set up to a final battle, one we will never get to see.

The author could do and has done better-this is one book I probably won't be re-reading anytime soon.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

S. D. Perry, Code: Veronica (Pocket, 2001)

Perry's series of novels based (often loosely) on the Resident Evil games reaches its penultimate volume and rounds in on itself; for the first time in a while, we have a book focusing on Claire and Chris Redfield and getting back to game mechanics and puzzles (though the puzzles are quite glossed-over here, and whether or not you find that a good thing is something only you can decide).

In this episode, Claire's been kidnapped and taken to a small Umbrella-controlled island in the south Pacific, run by a reclusive mad scientist and his even more reclusive sister. As we open, there's been a recent accident on the island, turning most of its inhabitants into shamblers and letting some of the nastier biologically-engineered weapons loose. She manages to escape her prison cell with the help of a sympathetic, though dying, guard and get a message to Chris in Paris, at which point he decides to head down there and find her. While she's waiting, she discovers another prison escapee who's trying to find a way off the island, so despite not liking each other much, they team up and try to figure it out.

The pleasant surprise here (aside from the glossing-over of the puzzles, but your mileage may vary here) was the complexity of Steve Burnside, the male lead in this one. Now, understand that “complexity” is a relative term where these books are concerned; a cardboard character looks three-dimensional when compared to those cut out of paper. But still, it was nice to see the effort made. Other than that, it's your basic Resident Evil-series book, fast-paced, young-adult-oriented beachy reads that you can burn through in about two hours. A guilty pleasure, but no less a pleasure for being such. ***

[Alpha · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Code: Veronica is S.D. Perry's novelization of the video game Resident Evil: Code Veronica and is based off the incidents that occur on the island with Claire Redfield as she searches for her missing brother Chris Redfield.

This novel, as well as the video game itself, is a very special filler or should I say a walk down memory lane through the history of the Umbrella Corporation. I myself actually need to finish this game before I can continue on since I haven't finished this game but the novel is giving me some vital information on what to expect. Anyways, the history of the Umbrella Corporation and how it began and how it is being run now through the Ashcroft family is very interesting. To most people who play the games, this is the best game in the entire series prior to Resident Evil 4 and I have to agree.

The only thing I can think of that makes this novel more worthwhile than the others or should I dare say stands out is its historical roots. Just like the game, this novel takes some time because of the understanding and history of why Umbrella is what it is is shown in this novel. I personally hope to finish the game to fully see what this game is all about but right now I am more than happy with the novelization of the game."

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading arguably my favorite book of the series(#5, Nemesis), this one severely disappoints. I never finished this game, so I do not have full direct knowledge of the story, but it was horrible in this book. There’s like two different books crammed into one, and you can feel that in author’s writing. Real danger seemed few and far between, lot of filler danger to pass time, or at least that’s how it came off to me. The timing of the story is a huge problem, people travel large distances in a short amount of time and people develop real close personal relationships in like the span of a couple hours. There is too much coincidental good luck(aka plot armor), which I know this series is known for, but this book went above and beyond with it. I wish the author was allowed more freedom to deviate from the video game story, in order to deliver a somewhat believable and impactful ending. Oh yea, this is the last book of the series and it leaves readers with the understanding that there’s still a lot for the characters to do, so why aren’t there more books then? —-a positive take away from this, is that the author did a good job keeping multiple character stories distinct from each other.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final book written by S.D Perry in the Resident Evil series. While the series has continued on in game format it seems no more books will be hitting shelves as these have only just returned to print after a time of being quite hard to find.

The opening was dog awful. For the longest time no real explanation was given as to how the characters you were following had gotten into the situation they found themselves and I found myself struggling to keep an interest.
Eventually things settle down and it read like a typical Resident Evil novel. You got more insight into the characters than (I'm assuming) you got from the game and you got to see what the villains were doing while you were playing.
As there have been more games since Code: Veronica there isn't a real conclusion. This also furthers my belief that more books were planned. At least one storyline with a shady character who had his own agenda is hinted at but never gone back to. This is a real shame but understandable.

[Lewis Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a trashy little horror/sci-fi based on the game of the same name and I genuinely found myself enjoying it for the most part. When it tackles claustrophobic, lonely isolation in a foreign place it's a really fun read. Perry describes the walking dead with such disgusting detail that you can really feel the terror the characters are facing and I'd certainly like to read one of the Resident Evil novels that aren't based on a game because I can imagine Perry spending more time on building a sense of loneliness and dread. Unfortunately what with this being based on a video game, the end spirals wildly out of control and starts to deal with crazy Japanese mutant flesh beasts that are so powerful they seem God-like and it just becomes a little too silly for its own good. Again, I had a fun time with this, just don't expect it to showcase any substance outside of being a OTT slab of action fantasy.

[Erikson Ribeiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Resident Evil é e será minha série favorita de jogos, independente se os últimos jogos (que ainda não joguei) não foram tão bons. Enfim...

Residente Evil Código Verônica foi o único jogo que não "zerei" da sequência tradicional (RE 1, 2, 3 e Code Verônica), muito difícil e pouco munição, então não sei todos os detalhes da história.
Partindo deste principio o livro é muito bom, ação a todo tempo e isso faz com que a leitura flua muito bem e rápido. Neste livro não foram abordados muitos puzzle que possui no jogo, o primeiro do sensor de metal por exemplo é comentado, porém foi descartado de um forma simples (pensando em vida real, seria a forma mais fácil de resolve-lo). Neste universo é inserido novos tipos de monstros (armas biológicas) como as mariposas, os bandersnatches, e o hunter venenoso; nosso querido amigo Albert Wesker reaparece.
Um fato muito interessante é que os poderes da Alexia pode ser comparado aos poderia da Alice (personagem principal dos filmes RE).

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though I usually steer away from comparing adaptations in reviews, I assume that any potential audience has played the game or at least know the story, and I will therefore compare the book to the corresponding game.

Of all Resident Evil novelizations I’ve read, this one is the most different from its corresponding game. Several scenes are omitted or merged, which does neither story nor pacing any favors. The Ashford residence, one of the truly iconic locations of not only code Veronica but in all of Resident Evil, was all but done in one chapter. Much of the rich lore is sacrificed in favor of multiple POV’s, where, a tedious number of pages towards the end is spent on dwelling into Alexia’s twisted mind and, like often is the case for Perry’s RE novels, it soon became the same repetitive self-entitled crazy talk all the RE antagonists seem to employ but this time with added supernatural mind-reading.

[Kay Botha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming into this as a fan of the video games, I was not surprised to find it thoroughly interesting. The characters were spot-on, and the little added details to the story kept things enjoyable without feeling like gaming deja vu. However, if you haven't touched a Resident Evil game before, I wouldn't suggest reading this as a standalone. The antogonists may come off as clunky, and the memories of their past will leave you scratching your head. Give the games, or previous books, a once-over before you pick up Code: Veronica. On a last note, kudos to the portrayal of the light romance. It made the male protagonist quite likable in the novel, which the game failed to do.