I've probably played more Interactive Fiction than all my friends have, but that isn't actually saying much because this genre is so niche that if you've played, like, three games in it, you've already played more than most people have even heard of.
Which is shame! Because there are so much varieties and creativity in this field. Interactive Fiction has created some of the best relationships between story and gameplay, along with just some of the best stories in general. There are stories here you just can never experience in any other medium (along with stories that you can, just differently).
This is a list of Interactive Fictions that I've personally played and enjoyed and would recommend. I realise this isn't the most, uhh, accessible of genres, so I've also wrote quick explainer for the genre in general and also for each game. Even if you've never played an Interactive Fiction before, any of the pieces here are worth a look!
What's Interactive Fiction?
Interactive fiction, or IF for short, or also called text adventure, can either be seen as a) a video game consisting mainly of text, or b) a book whose content can change depending on how you read it. Some lean more on the former, and some lean on the latter, but basically an IF has lots of text and has some form of interactivity.
Some IF consists of text and just text. Others have pictures, music, and sound to illustrate and set the mood. At some point an IF piece stop being IF and just become a normal video game. Like anyone who ever have to decide whether a game belong to which genre, I just go with my guts to decide where the line is.
Some IF is parser-based. These are the OG variety and might be difficult to get into at first. You play by typing commands into the game, like "look around" or "examine ring" or "take the knife". Parser-based IF tend to stick to basic text with no accompanying image whatsoever. Despite the arcane interface, parser-based IF are closer to other forms of video games, as they think in terms of space instead of story beats.
Other kinds IF are lumped together as choice-based, where you interact with the game by clicking buttons. Most of the time this is like answering a multiple-choice question to determine where the story goes, but there can be a lot of variations to this formula. These kinds of IF also often have more graphical presentation, telling its stories not just through prose, but through the interface itself.
Quite a lot of IF I've played have a linear story. Doesn't mean they're just straight story-with-bits-of-links, though. Not all IF has stories with clear branches: sometimes the "branches" is just how you personally navigate through them.
The Recommendation List
This list is ordered roughly by how good I think it would be for beginners to experience. Those at the top tend to be more popular, and at the bottom more obscure. Absolutely ignore the ordering and just go with whatever feels more interesting for you, though! Also these are probably very biased to my taste.
All the games here are playable on browser without having to download, unless otherwise specified. Most of the games are generally better played on a desktop than on mobile, but might be playable in either.
I'm constantly updating this post. Feel free to talk to me through Twitter if you want to recommend me a new game. I'm always up for that.
9:05
9:05 is the first parser-based game I will always recommend to any IF beginner. It's short and starts off very simple; so simple, in fact, that it reads at first like a tutorial course in How To Write Your First Parser Game. But there's more than meets the eye.
About 30 minutes in a single playthrough. Two major endings.
The author of this story, Adam Cadre, is a well-known name in the IF scene and has been making parser-based IF since the 90s. You can look here to see his other works. The most popular of them, and also one of my favourite, is Photopia.
16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds
This is a choice-based IF, but designed like a parser-based game. The story is exactly what it says on the tin: there are 16 endings i.e. ways to kill the vampire who just happens to be at a McDonalds. There also a couple more endings where the vampire kills you. It's a funny game.
About, like, five minutes to get an ending, maybe less. You can probably get them all in about an hour. The endings you've collected are recorded in-game and there's hints to help you get the ones you don't have. The game automatically saves even when you closer the browser. Playable on mobile, although it might look a bit janky there.
Another game by the same author you might like is Open Sorcery. You might also like her other works.
my father's long, long legs
A short, linear, horror story, that utilizes its medium surprisingly well. It's spooky, but there's no jumpscares or anything visually disturbing.
About 20 minutes of reading. Only one ending (I think). Not playable on mobile. Get comfortable and make sure your sound is on.
Another well-known game by the author is the uncle who works for nintendo, also a horror IF.
American Election
Here let me just put in the game's own description: A dark political nightmare game about Abigail Thoreau, a campaign assistant working to elect her candidate. / In this game, you will make choices. / Choices will appear in coloured text. / You are an American. / It is 2016. / And you are being followed.
About 1-2 hours. Not mobile-compatible as far as I'm aware. It's a horror story of the real-world horrors kind, so make sure you're ready for that.
Three-Card Trick
A somewhat surreal parser-based game about being a magician ("magician") who is trying to outsmart their opponent. Some say it's horror but more in a weird, comic sort of way. As a parser game, it's pretty easy to figure out.
About half an hour of playthrough.
The author of this one, Chandler Groover, is my absolute favorite IF author, and he's written quite a lot of them, of both the choice-based and the parser variety. Three-Card Trick is one of his most accessible IFs, but do also check out Eat Me, Bring Me a Head, Mirror and Queen, and just about everything else really.
Galatea
A parser-based game that's interesting in that for the entire game you're just talking to a single NPC, the living marble statue made by Pygmalion of Cyprus. The statue remembers the topic you've brought up and the conversation can go a lot of different ways.
About a few minutes to get an "ending", but there's a lot of possible paths. Maybe about an hour or two for satisfying play. Occasionally frustrating if you've never played parser-based game before. Be patient.
The creator of this piece, Emily Short, is a (very) well-known name in the Interative Fiction scene and within narrative design in general. Her blog often contains interesting bits about the game industry. Her other game I can recommend is First Draft of the Revolution, a choice-based game.
Will Not Let Me Go
A story about a man with Alzheimer, told through prose, choices, stutters, backtracking, heartbreak, and the occasional images. Hmm. Bit wordier than most of the stories I've recommended in this list.
Quite long but still less than two hours, I'm sure. One ending.
You Are Jeff Bezos
Right. That's a lot of depressing and spooky games in this list so here's something funny and possibly cathartic. In this game you suddenly woke up as noted billionaire Jeff Bezos with a kazillion dollars to spend. Spend them.
About half an hour of playthrough. I think there's multiple ending depending on how much of his money you manage to spend.
Hell of a Marriage
And here we go back to being sad again. This is for all the gothic fans out there: You are a demon trying to deal with your dumb wizard husband, who lost all his memories and now does not trust you, his beautiful husband with many claws and mouths, at all. I'm a sucker for tragic monsters and especially tragic monster I can smooch/who does the smooching, so.
20 minutes should get you all 3 endings. I played it on mobile, so I know that it's totally playable there.
Heretic's Hope
This game has the loveliest presentation out of all the Interactive Fiction I've played. That font and those borders and how the choices are framed, mmm! Delicious! You're the last human on an island of giant bugs and was employed ("employed") to become their priest. Some remarkable worldbuilding here, although you might be wanting for more at the end.
This one's a bit wordier than the others. Also very definitely linear with only minor branches, as far as I'm aware. About two to three hours to finish, with multiple save slots if you so need it. Might want to avoid this if you have a phobia with bugs.
The author of this one has made other fancy-looking games, do give them a look.
Draw Nine
On this journey you are given nine cards that you can cast magic from, randomly chosen. There will be obstacles on your journey, each can be solved, or made worse, with the card you pick to handle it. Pick a good card now but you might risk needing it later. A simple but interesting resource-management game.
About half an hour to get to the end. Getting (and using) different cards will have different result for each obstacle, and since the cards you have are randomly chosen, you will likely have a very different run the second time through.
if not us
A "demo" containing 2/5 of the game can be played here. The full game is $7. The game was also available in 2020's Itch Bundle for Racial Justice, so if you bought that, you already have the game!
This has got to be my favorite IF of all time but I'm putting this at the bottom of the list because it's obtuse as hell (i.e. really hard to have a handle of what's happening). It's five stories about five "heroes", told five different ways, through five divergent timelines, around the same major events (presumably). It has five parts, with no distinct order but that won't even matter because you'll have to play them multiple times for a full understanding, and each part plays very differently. Some has multiple endings. Some, I assume but I might assume wrong, doesn't. All are tragic.
For a less obtuse IF by the same author, you can check out Academic Pursuits.
Some Edge Cases
I think these can be considered interactive fiction as well, but they rely more on visual, animation, sound, and generally more game-y feel.
Fallen London
Alright, okay, Fallen London is definitely an IF, but it feels sort of strange admitting it because it feels so big, it's like a massive open-world RPG that just happen to rely on text. There's a reason IFDB lists specific questlines in this game in addition to the whole game.
Anyway, if you're into Victoriana and eldritch horror and all that and you haven't heard of this game, how have you not heard of this game already.
80 Days
Available for purchase on Android, Apple, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Here's the official site.
An adaptation of the novel Around the World in 80 Days where you try to do exactly what it says on the title. Starting from London you travel eastwards using a variety of trains/carriages/ships/airships/more exotic transport methods while also managing your finance, meeting all sorts of people, and having general adventures in this fascinating steampunk alt-1872.
I highly suggest getting the mobile or Switch version. Really good game to play while on the go or just chilling out on your front porch while having tea.
Digital: A Love Story
This is the kind of game that can fit as either an Interactive Fiction or Visual Novel; I think it was designed as the latter, but it sure look and play like the former. Digital is, in its own words, "a mystery/romance set five minutes into the future of 1988". I quite enjoy it despite not being alive in 1988, but I imagine someone who were alive and online during that time period will feel very nostalgic for this interface.
About an hour of playthrough. You might need some knowledge of old internet, in a way that if you were born in the 2000s the interface might feel too archaic for you.
Subserial Network
You can buy it here for $7.99. Desktop only. This one was also available in the 2020 Itch's Bundle for Racial Justice.
Similar to Digital in that it has the interface of old internet, although this one is more like internet of the 1990s or early 2000s. Except this one actually takes place far in the future after humans went extinct. You play by browsing the internet and following links and exchanging e-mails and, ah, "downloading" files. A very interesting take on the medium. The medium being your computer, in general.
About two hours of playthrough. Ah. Make sure your desktop screen is not too cluttered, and I suggest not having any other app on while playing this one.
Suberial Network is made by Aether Interactive, who dabbles a lot in this sort of thing. You may also like another game of theirs, LOCALHOST.
Visual Novels
I consider visual novel a distinct genre/medium to IF, but they have a lot of overlapping elements (such as: plenty of reading). Here's my recommendation list of (original English-language) visual novels!
More?
Check out IFComp, the annual Interactive Fiction competition! All the entries are playable under or around two-hours and are free-to-play, and the quality you can see there is absolutely bananas. IFComp has been going on for over two decades now, so that's like over twenty 1st place games already. Just the idea of that many game scare me!
There's also IFDB's Top 50 of All Time (2019). I haven't even played all of them. So many games!
Speaking of IFDB, it's an excellent resource for everything to do with Interactive Fiction. Other communities wish they can have a central database as good as this.
Making this list made me realise that I have specific taste when it comes to interactive fiction. There are so many other games beyond the ones I've listed here, though. Do browse around, try new games, find some new experience. Maybe you'll like this niche medium as much as I do.
