Bobok

Bobok is a kinetic visual novel based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s short story of the same name. Set in St. Petersburg in 1873, it follows a writer whom newspapers have called a madman because of his unusually symmetrical, lively warts. Hoping to distract himself from the stupidity around him, he enters a funeral and begins hearing the voices of the dead, wondering whether they might be wiser than the living.

Dostoyevsky’s story

The game presents the original text of one of Dostoyevsky’s more atypical works. Its short story brings together black humor, satire and grotesque elements, with fantastic madness alongside documented reality.

Reading tools

A glossary provides hints about terms and fills in missing context, offering information in place of book footnotes. Community-made localizations are available through the Localization Workshop, including Simplified Chinese and pre-revolutionary Russian.