Best Interactive Fiction
80 Days is an interactive fiction game created by Inkle, initially launched in 2014 across multiple platforms including iOS, Android, Windows and macOS. The game utilizes a branching narrative structure where player decisions directly influence the unfolding story and progression. It was released wi...
The Stanley Parable is a narrative-driven video game where players control Stanley alongside an omniscient narrator. The gameplay involves navigating branching storylines and responding to the Narrator's instructions. Player choices lead to varied outcomes and subsequent game restarts, exploring the...
Twine is an open-source tool enabling creators to design and develop interactive narratives without coding experience. It’s notable for its accessible browser-based platform ideal for crafting branching stories and games. It’s particularly useful for writers, educators, and designers interested in...
The Longest Journey is a 1999 Swedish fantasy adventure game developed by Funcom. It’s notable for its complex, interwoven narrative and pioneering inclusion of an LGBTQ+ character within a major video game story. Players navigate multiple realms through a point-and-click interface, solving puzzles...
A Mind Forever Voyaging is an interactive fiction game from 1985 created by Steve Meretzky for Infocom. The game simulates a future United States where an AI observes the consequences of conservative policies on a South Dakota town, culminating in societal collapse. Retrospective reviews highlight i...
Colossal Cave Adventure, created in 1976, is a text-based game where players navigate a cave system seeking treasure. Utilizing a natural language input system, users interact with locations and objects by typing commands to receive descriptive narration from the program. It’s recognized as the firs...
Little Big Adventure is a 1994 action-adventure game developed by Adeline Software International. Initially released on CD-ROM with full-motion video and music, it was later adapted for various platforms including PC-98, FM Towns, PlayStation, and mobile devices. The game’s distribution spanned Euro...
Twine is a free, open-source tool used to create non-linear, interactive stories (choose-your-own-adventure style). It requires no coding knowledge, allowing writers to focus purely on narrative structure and branching paths. It's perfect for writers, educators, or game designers wanting to prototyp...
Survive the Century is a 2021 interactive branching narrative game that explores the impacts of climate change policies from the present day to the year 2100. Co-authored by writer Sam Beckbessinger in collaboration with climate scientists, the game challenges players to navigate geopolitical, envir...
Her Story presents players with a collection of fragmented video interviews concerning the disappearance of a man. The game involves searching and analyzing these clips, primarily featuring recordings of Hannah Smith’s statements to police. This interactive experience centers around piecing together...
Chaos;Child is a visual novel developed by Mages as part of the Science Adventure series. It follows events connected to Chaos;Head Noah and was initially released across multiple platforms including Xbox One, PlayStation consoles, mobile devices, and Nintendo Switch. An English localization was sub...
Ren'Py is a free and open-source visual novel engine written in Python. It simplifies the creation of interactive stories with branching narratives and rich visuals. While primarily focused on visual novels, Ren'Py's flexibility allows for experimentation with other interactive storytelling formats....
Kerkerkruip is an interactive fiction game developed by Victor Gijsbers, blending traditional text adventure mechanics with the procedural generation and permadeath of a roguelike. Released in 2011, the game challenges players to escape a heavily fortified dungeon by engaging in detailed, turn-based...
NovelAI distinguishes itself with its unique blend of AI writing and image generation, particularly excelling in creating stories with an anime-inspired aesthetic. It allows users to generate text and accompanying visuals, fostering a truly immersive storytelling experience. Its character generatio...
Katawa Shoujo is a Japanese visual novel where players assume the role of a student at a rehabilitation school. The game’s notable aspect lies in its realistic portrayal of characters with various physical and mental disabilities, offering an interactive experience focused on building relationships...
Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two is a two-part visual novel series developed for Windows and PlayStation 2. The initial installment, Ef: The First Tale, debuted in 2006, followed by Ef: The Latter Tale in 2008. Character design was handled by Naru Nanao and 2C Galore, with music production led by Tenmon,...
King’s Quest V, released in 1990 by Sierra On-Line, marked a shift in the series with its point-and-click interface. This installment featured enhanced graphics and utilized a new narrative structure based on a familiar proverb. It was the first King's Quest game to adopt this interactive design ele...
Inkle Studios is a British video game developer founded in 2011, notable for creating critically acclaimed narrative games like 80 Days and Heaven's Vault.
Koboldcpp is a minimalist C++ application designed for interactive fiction and roleplaying experiences. It provides an offline LLM runner based on llama.cpp, offering a streamlined interface suitable for single-file projects. This tool is particularly useful for writers, game developers, and individ...
StorySpark AI is a dedicated narrative generation tool focused on creating interactive stories and immersive worlds. It utilizes a sophisticated GPT-4 model trained on a vast collection of literature and storytelling techniques. StorySpark AI allows users to collaboratively shape narratives, develop...
Lure of the Temptress is a point-and-click adventure game created by Revolution Software in 1992. The title features Diermot, a peasant tasked with defeating an evil sorceress using the Virtual Theatre engine. It was initially released for Atari ST, MS-DOS, and Amiga before being made available as f...
Choice of Games is an independent publishing company that specializes in text-based, multiple-choice interactive fiction games. Founded by Dan Fabulich and Adam Strong-Morse, the company publishes titles written using its proprietary scripting language, ChoiceScript. These narrative-heavy games, whi...
Amerzone is a first-person fantasy graphic adventure game derived from Benoît Sokal’s 1986 comic strip, L'Amerzone. Initially launched in 1999 for Windows, Mac OS, and PlayStation, it was later ported to iOS and Android by Anuman Interactive following Microïds acquisition. A remake of the title debu...
NationStates is a multiplayer government simulation browser game developed by Max Barry, initially launched to promote his novel *Jennifer Government*. The game features user-created nations and has grown into a large online community with an associated forum board. As of 2026, over nine million nat...
StorySpark is a unique platform for creating interactive stories and narratives. It allows users to build branching stories with rich media elements, creating immersive and engaging experiences for readers and viewers. Its intuitive interface and collaborative features make it ideal for writers, ed...
Da Capo is a Japanese visual novel developed by Circus Northern, initially released in 2002 for Windows CD-ROM. Subsequent versions expanded the game’s content and availability across Windows and PlayStation 2 platforms. The title centers around pre-determined scenarios featuring seven female protag...
Twelve Minutes is an adventure game created by Luís António and published by Annapurna Interactive. The initial release occurred in August 2021 across multiple platforms including Windows, Xbox One/Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, and mobile devices via Netflix in December 2022. The gam...
The Interactive Fiction Database is a community-driven website that catalogs, reviews, and organizes text-based interactive fiction games and competitions.
Choices: Stories You Play is a mobile interactive fiction app by Pixelberry Studios offering branching romance and drama narratives across multiple genres with a gem-based monetization model.
Princess Lover! is a visual novel developed by Ricotta, initially released for Windows in 2008 and later ported to PlayStation 2 in 2010. The game presents a linear narrative centered around interactions with four female protagonists, offering pre-determined scenarios within its story. It was origin...
