About Nepenthe Play

If AI changes how much time we spend working, what will we want to do with the time it gives us?

We hope some of it goes toward play. Getting friends together. Following a strange idea. Finding something so funny, surprising or absorbing that nobody is checking the time.

We’re interested in AI as part of the game: something that can understand a question nobody anticipated or respond when a player tries a different approach. The test is whether that flexibility makes the game more enjoyable.

Nepenthe takes its name from Homer’s Odyssey, a word associated with forgetfulness of sorrow. We chose it for the kind of place we want to build: somewhere to put the day’s worries aside, get caught up in a game or a story, and enjoy being there.

Here is a future we would love to make possible. You’re at a party. Someone says, “What if we played a game where…?” A few people add ideas, and you make something everyone can start playing while the idea is still fresh.

That is a long-term ambition, not a feature announcement. Our path starts with making games ourselves, learning from players, and opening up creation so people can take it in directions we would never have thought of. Their ideas, humor and understanding of each other are the point.

General, press and partnership enquiries: office@nepentheplay.com. Media contact: Cassie, Nepenthe Play. Find approved assets on the press page, or get help with an account or experience through Support & Contact.