Playing Kafka takes you into the world of the infamously dour writer

• Playing Kafka is an upcoming puzzle game based on the famous author
• Explore the world of his stories and solve complex puzzles in Playing Kafka
• The game releases for free on the 21st of May

Have you ever wanted to live in a Franz Kafka novel? No? Well, too bad, because in Playing Kafka from award-winning indie studio Charles Games, you can! This totally free game, releasing on the 21st of May, will take you into the world of famous literary author Franz Kafka and his infamously grim and dour novels The Trial, The Castle and Letter to His Father.

And in case you're not familiar, Franz Kafka is perhaps one of the most famous German authors of all time. Well-known for writing grim and often disturbing novels, he is also the source of the term 'Kafkaesque', meaning an absurd and menacingly complex situation. So, yes, this is clearly the man to base a thrilling, high-octane video game adventure on.

Subscribe to Pocket Gamer on

The description of the game certainly doesn't let up either:

"Although you did nothing wrong, you were arrested one morning. You arrived for work, but you don’t recognize your assistants. And your upbringing left you with a pervasive sense of guilt. Welcome to Playing Kafka, an adventure about the alienation of modern society as well as unresolved family issues."

But, in all seriousness, it's very interesting if not downright inspiring to see an author like Kafka get his own game. With the release of puzzlers like Please Touch the Artwork 2 which aimed to educate players about the artist James Ensor, it's heartening to see other developers put out free games to interest a wider audience about the works of an author.

Promising a branching story, atmospheric puzzles, a complex story and a 1.5-hour length of gameplay, Playing Kafka releases for iOS, Android and PC on the 21st of May.

Not interested in a Kafkaesque tale? No worries! Check out our ongoing regular feature of the top 5 new mobile games to try this week!