A choice-driven interactive graphic novel from Nova-box follows a young dancer chasing the truth about her past through romance, performance, and unsettling visions.
After the Wane will be Nova-box‘s second interactive graphic novel (following The Wane). It appears to follow similar lines in terms of choosing based on your character identity, personal history, and the supernatural tensions that have been successful in prior releases from the developer.
Lena is the main character in After the Wane. She is a young dancer who moves to the capital to pursue a career on stage, however after arriving in the city, she becomes entangled in a long-standing feud between Fernand, director of a community center and Deborah, leader of an elite theatrical troupe.
This provides an immediate social and artistic element to the game; additionally, Nova-box has tied it to a more intimate mystery. Lena is researching the life of a mother she never had; throughout the course of the story, that research is intertwined with romantic relationship development, heartbreak, young adulthood, and increasingly bizarre occurrences surrounding her.
One major draw of the game is the idea that Lena hears a voice inside her head providing constant commentary. This adds a psychological component to the overall premise in addition to the backstage drama that has developed thus far.
According to Nova-box, players can choose to support either an elite dance company, help younger dancers at the community center, or remain independent while exploring an interest in the occult.
This suggests that the game may be less structured along traditional kinetic visual novel lines and more akin to a branching character drama with social circles, priorities, and identities shaping player progress. Multiple story paths and endings are also promised by Nova-box.
In terms of visuals, this could potentially represent Nova-box‘s most ambitious production effort thus far. The Steam page references hundreds of hand-drawn images as part of the visual elements; meanwhile, both the demo and official description highlight several scenes featuring hand-animated dance through rotoscoping.
In a January 2026 newsletter for Nova-box titled “Devlog #1”, the developer stated that After the Wane represented its most ambitious project to-date and that rotoscope animation was implemented specifically to create what the developer referred to as “moving drawings”.
The soundtrack was created and recorded exclusively for After the Wane; furthermore, it indicates that the music composition changes based on player choice and mood in each scene.
As of now, After the Wane represents a story-centric release geared towards players interested in branching narrative design, compelling art direction, and an older and more mature audience.
There’s no release date for After the Wane yet. However, the developer plans to release on PC via Steam and Nintendo Switch. Additionally, a demo for the first chapter is available for download. Below is the announcement trailer.
