Think of the poor children who have to inhabit a world where people explode from seeing skin.

The following is an excerpt from an op-ed titled "The Recent Rise of TO-Induced Explosions Shows We Need to Ban Handshakes" by Caroline Stuart in the New Terra Times:

"I don't enjoy saying, 'I told you so,' but ever since the Sensible Party refused to follow our advice, more and more people have been injured by that l*wd activity known as handshaking. Imagine: two people secretly meeting in an alley, away from our respectable surveillance cameras and the police, to engage in this egregious activity involving skin-to-skin contact. They must have revolting, despicable, and shameful thoughts!

"I once met a child who shook hands with an adult, and after that, she became a handshaking addict. She was only 38, poor girl. So much to live for, yet she must now spend the rest of her childhood and perhaps a bit of her adulthood in rehab. She told me, 'I can't stop shaking hands. It hurts too much if I don't.' I cry for her soul. Will the Sensible Party listen to her cries and realize that people will lose everything when their hands touch other hands?"

Will you find a better world for the children, or will you let it fall into decay?

Content warning: As sex is the major theme of the game, there are text descriptions of nudity and fetishes like exhibitionism. It also explores trans dysphoria and other gender-related issues.

In a gleaming alternative future, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert hire a quiet orphan to help with the machines at their floating micro-farm outside the megacity of Prince Edward Island. Instead, they get Anne Shirley — a feisty red-haired girl with a rich imagination and an open heart.

Navigate a cyberpunk reimagining of L.M. Montgomery's beloved story of friendship and creative rebellion. Take on a looming corporate conspiracy as Anne remakes her new life at Green Cables*.

(* Cables with a C)

Content warning: Contains bullying, accidental alcohol consumption by a minor, and the death of a loved one.

Life sucks. As the oldest uniformed jester at the Jack of All Fruits smoothie bar, humiliation is the daily special. After one outburst too many, you lose your job, your friends, and your place to crash.

But surprise—your ratty backpack is a portal to medieval times! Armed with everyday wonders from the modern world (like, wow, a laser pointer), your power fantasies might have a new kingdom to call home.

What will you pack (besides anger management issues) to win an audience with the King? Can you make life rule again… or will your selfish instincts lead to very medieval consequences?

Content warning: In-game

If you found this place, you belong here.

Think of someone whose love once meant the world to you.

Take a deep breath, and enter.

---

Play as yourself and share your pain with a Faceless Voice. Let it listen to you. You would be wise to listen to it in turn.

There are 90+ achievements, but unlocking them all is not the point. The point is to play in the way that is personal to you. Only you.

Once you've finished your journey, if you'd like to leave your mark on this place - you'll know what to do. I'll be waiting. Goodluck.

Welcome, job applicant! If you've made it this far, that means you are a prime candidate for Burger Meme™'s Executive Program! All you need to do now is to complete our personality test. Developed in-house right here at Burger Meme™ HQ, the test uses the latest AI technology to reveal everything you're hiding in the dank recesses of your soul. And the best part is that you'll learn a lot about yourself by answering these questions! We, in turn, will learn whether you're the right kind of disruptive team-player with the core competencies to ideate on innovative ways to wrest dollars out of the fists of the proletariat.

This Twine game, which is based on the bonkers personality tests some employers are using to evaluate job candidates (for a taste, see this Reddit thread at https://tinyurl.com/2s489wzc), was made with zero AI input. Still, expect responses to your answers that border on the hallucinatory! Possible endings include cooking up a "Corporate Sellout Burger," a "Dodged That Bullet Burger," a "Ships Passing Burger," or a "Love Connection Burger": if you don't crash and burn beforehand. But you can always reapply!

If you'd like to reach out about anything, please use the contact form on my webpage: https://hernandooney.com/contact/

Content warning: Clown picture (2 total, but one is a graffiti-style clown that is unavoidable).

Bill Swagger needs some sleep AND to get up on time for his BIG presentation at the office in the morning. But a barking dog, as well as all of the junk in his life, is trying to make his life MISERABLE.

Content warning: Comic Violence

You are nobody, owning nothing but your stubborn refusal to die. You overhear whispers of a brutal opportunity — perhaps your last shot at survival.

Content warning: Contains brutality, graphic violence, explicit descriptions, and references to racism.

You’ve come across a totally legitimate ad for an online photography contest. A slim chance of fame and fortune has you written all over it! Armed with your trusty old camera, some questionable Hulk Juice™ protein snacks (with some Alice in Wonderland type effects), and a burning desire to seem cool on the internet, you sneak into an abandoned subway tunnel and instantly find yourself trapped as the door with the giant DO NOT ENTER sign you just waltzed through slams shut behind you.

Break into prohibited spaces, appease the demands of bizarre tunnel dwellers, and most importantly, snap “forbidden” photos to uncover hidden clues and attempt to win the contest!

Someone's supposed to die tonight.

You're sitting across from a man in an unfamiliar place. It's dark. You don't know his name.

A choice-based interactive story that happens mostly in one room.

(& my first submission to IF!!! happy to be here)

Content warning: violence, light gore

You wake on a boat in the midst of a vast, ruined ocean. You have no memories. You have no belongings. Your only companions are five fragments of your missing self.

A powerful urge draws you southward towards what you know is your destiny, but before you can grasp it you must reclaim your identity. Follow your fragments through your own past and discover what happened to the world—and to you alongside it.

Memories are mutable. The future is unwritten. But can you ever truly change who you are?

Content warning: some scenes contain depictions of death, a pandemic, suicidal thoughts, terminal illness, and violence

You're a poor devil, clumsy and lazy (Chuck Wagon), just like any other common immortal punching the clock to make a living. Your job is to torment souls. Crushed by an irate and irascible boss (Hank ThunderPants) and messed up by your jack-of-all-trades assistant (Wally Snivels), you daydream of a vacation in an earthly paradise between one torture session and the next!

You wake up in the Necropolis, hoping to find a way out — but the first thing you need to do is make an iced soda? The story of an outsider who stirs the fate of the Dead Sea... or perhaps just the final chapter of another's tale.

Lost in deep space, a manned cargo vessel has experienced a catastrophic hull failure. The crew are missing, the engines are offline, the AI is MIA, and you…? You're seeing ghosts.

Search through the detritus to find items you can use.

Recycle. Fabricate. Survive.

There are two modes of play: 'easy' and 'normal'. The game also contains optional hints and a complete walkthrough.

Now, at the edge of the desert, the light of the image withers away. “The man who cannot visualize a horse galloping on a tomato is an idiot," they used to say, but the tomato, that brilliant Object, is sand these days, and nothing can be said about horses that won't fall like dry hissing to the listener's ears. Nevertheless, you walk through the sands.

˖ choose your path for the sheer joy of it as everything has been said and made and sold ˖ make words make love to one another, like that time in days of yore, before they were sand, when a sewing machine and an umbrella had their rendez-vous on an operating table ˖ they also used to say to "believe in the future resolution of these two states, dream and reality, which are seemingly so contradictory, into a kind of absolute reality, a surreality, if one may so speak" if that's of any consolation?

It's that time of week again; head on over to your local supermarket and stock up on some much-needed goods. Careful, though—you've only got $20 to spare.

For optimal gameplay, please run on desktop using Google Chrome!

Content warning: Material may not be suitable for children; please note strong language, as well as allusions to death and violence

Your village was burned by the Cossacks. Your brother and sister killed. You barely escaped with 500 kopecks and your trusty cart. Now you must buy goods and sell them in other cities, saving carefully, to buy yourself a ticket to... anywhere you will be safe.

Your papers say you cannot leave the Pale of Settlement.

Content warning: Content may be upsetting to some audiences; crimes against humanity are described in a non-graphic fashion

You are not the First to Know. But you know it all the same: Ronan Fairchild has returned.

For optimal gameplay, please run on desktop using Google Chrome!

Content warning: Material may not be suitable for children; please note strong language

Teatro della Fantasia is the premier opera house in the fantastical city of Lyra. The artists are hard at work preparing for opening night of the season. This annual event marks the beginning of Carnival, a time of masquerades — and, invariably, mischief.

You're a private investigator who has been hired to ensure the show goes off without a hitch. Will you uncover the devious plot that threatens opening night? You must, or you won't get the chance to dance with someone special at the masquerade ball!

This humorous, character-driven roleplaying game illustrated with pastel drawings evokes the atmosphere of 17th century Venice in an original cozy fantasy setting populated by elves, tieflings, bugbears, and gnomes.

fascism (fæʃɪzəm)

uncountable noun

a set of right-wing political beliefs that includes strong control of society and the economy by the state, a powerful role for the armed forces, and the stopping of political opposition

Content warning: language

Enough is enough! Your job sucked, your boss was a crooked prick, someone stole your poster, and now you've been sacked too.

Grab your belongings and get out of there. If only you didn't have that old Talking Heads song stuck in your ear all the time...

Dr. Frankenstein has been up to no good. Local villagers have quietly been disappearing for weeks, taken in the night by the Doctor’s evil assistant Igor and harvested for parts by the Doctor himself, ingredients in his mad scheme. You are one of the disappeared. Ambushed on your way home, you somehow regain consciousness in a most unexpected state – brought back to life somehow, but only in a single hand. You have no memory of how you got here. But a tiny spark in the back of your mind tells you that there’s someone out there worth returning to.

“Frankenfingers” is an homage to gothic horror. A standard text-adventure, it is unique in that it is a parser game written mainly in verse. There is some implied violence and very mild (brief) gore. No AI was used in any way in the writing or packaging of the game but several online rhyming dictionaries and thesauri were left in tatters.

Content warning: Mild implied violence and brief gore

Nothing comes from nothing. The grove gives, but it also takes away.

There is a village, isolated and buried deep within the foothills of the mountain's shadow. A place where there is no hunger or sickness. But such bounty comes at a cost. A cost that everyone knows, but fears to speak aloud.

Content warning: Dark themes and death: may not be suitable for young children.

If you know what I mean.

Content warning: crude language, crude violence, sex references, medical trauma, discrimination

Yancy's abusive, piece-of-shit mother is dead. That's left them feeling more confused & conflicted than ever. Guide them through their grief and help them reach out to their support network.

A sequel to Yancy At The End Of The World. Knowledge of that game isn't required to understand this one.

NOTE: DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME ON CHROME. THE AUDIO FILES WILL NOT PLAY CORRECTLY.

Content warning: Drug use; discussion of trauma & child abuse; dead parent; funeral scene; homophobia; misgendering; existentialism; self-harm mention; & brief scene where Rainer misgenders & deadnames their past self (quoting their anti-queer parents)

Note: To play the game unzip the file and launch index.html. The game is not yet optimised for mobiles!

Inspired by the famous ZX Spectrum text adventure "The Hobbit", Hobbiton Recall is a retro-inspired point-and-click adventure that fuses the mind-bending sci-fi of Total Recall with the whimsical fantasy of The Hobbit, all wrapped in the pixelated charm of the text adventures of yester-year.

Play as Dave Crowe, an ordinary factory worker with an extraordinary dream—to live the life of a Hobbit. When he visits Rekall, a company specializing in memory implants, things quickly spiral out of control. Soon finding himself in the mythical land of Hobbiton (after a run in with his wife), Dave is greeted by the enigmatic wizard Randalf, who thrusts him into an epic quest filled with goblins, elves, dark riders, cryptic riddles, and a lingering question: Is this real, or just the dream he paid for?

Navigate treacherous landscapes, solve intricate puzzles, and uncover the truth behind Dave’s unexpected adventure in a world where reality and fantasy collide.

Yes - it's every bit as terrible as it sounds!

The story being quite linear, I've made it possible to achieve different scores based on choices. You can let certain characters suffer unspeakable fates, or work out how to save them - and there are multiple ways of approaching different puzzles.

I've bug tested it as much as I can - but I'm sure I have probably missed a whole bunch of bugs - (bug testing your own game is exhausting! You begin to go 'bug blind' and sick of the whole damn thing!). The game is completable, but if you notice anything that isn't quite right (which is easier said than done due to my warped sense of humour) - then give me a poke!

A big shout out to Robin Johnson - who devised the "Gruescript" engine I used to create this game. Without his brilliant work, this game wouldn't have been possible. I recommended searching out Gruescript - it's free to use, but I encourage you to tip Robin generously!

Overall, enjoy! This game is not meant to offend any purists - it's just meant to be a good laugh. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

- All images created using Sora on chatgpt.com -

You are the Horse Whisperer, a person gifted with the ability to talk to horses. You work for the mafia and they want you to rig this weekend's big race, the Preakness Derby World Cup. Can you socially manipulate the horses and make the mafia some money?

This is a social manipulation game, written in a strange and silly style in emulation of 12 Oz. Mouse, Achewood, and hard boiled crime novels.

BE FOREWARENED! As of 8/28, this release is the untested alpha build. If you can wait until 9/1 to play it, that would be swell but I expect no favors! This is my first IF game and the scope got away from me. And plus I moved across the country this month lol.

Anyway, I am excited to share this game with you and grateful for any and all feedback or time spent playing it.

May the horse be with you,

Content warning: fatal violence, guns, drug use, organized crime, blackmail, manipulation, psychological animal abuse

It is an inauspicious time to have become emperor. There have been many reverses of late, severely testing the morale of your subjects. The army in the northeastern province of Kohlus has been routed by a minor kingdom, probably due to the poor leadership of its commander, General Maretus. Many of the legions are in desperate need of troops and there is precious little revenue to pay for them. What's more, recent harvests have not been good, leaving the poor to go hungry. Throughout the realm, ancient traditions are being abandoned and people are beginning to fear the empire has lost the favor of the gods.

On the making of your very own artificial general intelligence, and how to live — or not live — with it.

(A formative sapphic relationship and a whole lot of ambition; what could go wrong?)

Many explorers have visited the island of Rhynin. None have returned.

You will be armed with only one tool: a spear, a hatchet, or a pistol. With that, you must survive the island's dangers and uncover its secrets.

Every choice you make will have a lasting effect. Thus, your fate lies solely in your hands.

Will you make it?

When the alarm clock throws you back into the world of the living, the first thing that strikes you is how dark everything is. The electricity seems to have gone out, and police sirens and army trucks fill the streets while groups of people whisper in alarm. And above is that terrifying sky, like an abyss threatening to swallow the city. Something very strange is happening in Tel Aviv.

“Just Two Wishes” is a politically themed short story in three parts.

Content warning: Confinement, war, genocide, violence against children, racism, misogyny

A Docufabulation About the Life and Work of Kenji Eno

Former gentlewoman thief Lady Thalia has given up her life of crime to join the detective agency of her greatest rival, Margaret “Melpomene” Williams. The life of a private detective turns out to be quite dull—until a new thief turns up on the scene. Our heroine will need all her old tricks to track down this new enemy, plus some new ones to conquer her greatest challenge yet: falling in love!

Welcome to "Two Strangers In An Elevator". The play's about to begin! Choose away to your heart's content! Except... maybe you can't?

A wealthy businessman, dead in his study. Eight suspects, harbouring secrets and twisted truths.

"There's always more to it than meets the eye..." To others, a tired cliché. To you, the cardinal principle that has successfully guided you in all your cases as The Sleuth.

And you, Detective Pearce, are not about to let this one go cold.

Ever since our reunion during the Great War, I have been known as the primary associate of the detective who is still by my assessment the most famous in Europe, if not the entire world. A quaint, dandified little man—with queer habits and a certain harmless vanity—and a marvellous brain, which he has applied with great success to the pursuit of countless criminals!

The case I am writing of today, however, is not of a criminal nature, and this account will not be sent out for mass publication as my past ones have been. Instead I endeavoured to give trusted acquaintances such as yourself a glimpse into the daily lives of myself and my dear friend—an exercise in reminiscence which has brought me no small amount of joy, and which I hope will also entertain the reader.

That could have been bad.

A whole day lost in the jungle! You’re bruised, dirty, and thirsty. But now you’re out. Finally! You’ve found your Jeep and you’re ready to leave this whole experience behind you. Except… Are those monkeys climbing through your car?

And where are your car keys?

An old-school, parser-based puzzler, set deep in the jungle. Here, you explore the overgrown edges of a lost, ancient city while trying to recover your keys from a troop of mischievous primates. Includes intermediate level puzzles with a built-in hint system for beginners.

From the ZROK: The Great Underground Impaler game blurb:

Experience the latest in Artificial Incompetence technology right in your browser! This game has it all: treasure, monsters to attack or bargain with, items to pick up or drop, and doors to open as you enter abandoned properties at your leisure.

The game features our latest UI technology! Experience fully automated customization of font shapes and sizes. No more fiddling with game settings, the game takes care of it all! Now, you only need to get to the treasure before our advanced Mobile Support kicks in.

NOTE: My game uses a canvas element to draw the "parser game input/output" on the screen. It also makes use of timed text to emulate the "terminal I/O" and occasionally for dramatic effect. All of this won't work with screen readers. If you rely on screen reader technology, you may want to look at other IFComp entries instead.

I do try to be inclusive and I have therefore added a screen reader support toggle (currently in beta) in the options dialog reachable from the main menu. When screen reader support is enabled, the parser game text will be merged with the commentary by Roger and Wilco, and all timers will be disabled, thus producing a single page which can be read out by a screen reader. Feel free to try it out, and let me know how it works out for you.

You are one of the pre-eminent heroes of this world, working directly under The Tempest Council. You fight to prevent the end of the world by any means necessary. You are either the best at what you do, or only an actual member of The Council has a credible claim to be better. The world is your oyster.

Or, at least it was, until yesterday.

For centuries, The Tempest Council has watched helplessly as the threads of fate coalesced into a portent of destruction. Even with all their wit and might bent against it, they failed to rewrite the course of history. And now, the final strands have fallen into place. There are no other possible futures - this world is doomed, and the end is upon them all.

The scope of their failure fractured their alliance - for why keep working together when it has all been for nothing in the end? Each of the four Winds cast off their title, took up a new moniker, and retreated to their strongholds to devise a plan. For, even if this world is doomed, there still might be something to do about it.

And now, we come back to you. The alliance that you fought tooth-and-nail to join has dissolved, and you are left with only one decision to make. What are you going to do about the end of everything?

---

THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE Mooncrash! PLAYTESTERS:

3 Anonymous individuals

Bodhi M-K

R. P. Thompson

Dryhavich

Anya Logan

Alex

Yerba

Nathan Showell

ProfessorG

Special thanks to the Portland State University Interactive Fiction class members and instructors!

Content warning: Detailed discussions of nihilism, graphic descriptions of death and violence (no images), light body horror, strong language, and all the other things that come with an end-of-the-world story.

The mysterious shopkeeper Mr. Beaver has disappeared! Was he the victim of a crime? The brave postman sets out to solve the mystery! Here you can dive into a mystery story full of surprising twists and turns. On the way to solving the mystery, you'll encounter places full of junk, unpaid bills—and, of course, Crusty the Crab.

A short piece where you play as a crow, part of a large murder. Live a day in the life of a crow as you protect members of your murder, pick up trinkets and food, and solve little day to day mysteries.

Murder’s the game and a team of superheroes are about to discover what they won. Tired from a Friday night battle with killer robots, the X-Men return home to find their home in ruin. Distracted and dreaming of the weekend they’d rather have, they scatter. Teamwork is the only thing that will save them on an involuntary trip to… Murderworld.

Content warning: Comic book action and danger. Child superheroes imperiled. Some references to adult alcohol consumption.

There’s nobody. Nobody who will come and help you. The window is rattling. It has been rattling since you got here. In this strange room, in this strange empty house that is nothing but a tall, rickety staircase, a dingy little bathroom and a bedroom. The bedroom is fine. It has to be fine because you have to spend all your time here. It’s all fine. It’s just dandy. No sarcasm in front of the baby, George. But the baby won't stop crying.

Content warning: mentions of medical procedures

No good deed goes unpunished. You invented a simple adventure game for the kids in the town, where they had to solve simple puzzles and look for chocolate eggs. They solved nothing, they found nothing, and three of them got lost somewhere.

[To play, you need to download and install a ZX Spectrum emulator such as FUSE or ZX Spin.]

This is not a text adventure. Or ,at least, not a traditional one. The Olive Tree is a small game that frames a short story, freely inspired by articles, tales, and poems that address the Palestinian question.

NOTES:

- Vorple requires a web server to run offline. It's simpler to play online!

- For the best gaming experience, play on a device with a keyboard!

At first, you only ask for help with a simple task. Then you find how smart and considerate it is, so you let it suggest, summarize, correct, decide... Until one day it replaces you.

A trailer about how human agency fades and freedom of choice erodes; choice is a muscle, when unused, it weakens — actually, it happens every moment.

Content warning: Slight jumpscares, psychological distress, themes of identity loss.

Stay on your toes, Operative Nine. You'll need all (or nearly all) of your wits to infiltrate the Agency and get the job done. Fortunately, you'll be assisted by your PQ-807, possibly the most advanced microcomputer available in 1981.

Journey through forest glen and over windswept moor to an ancient stone circle, where a goddess will grant blessings during the total solar eclipse.

Overcome natural hazards and mischievous pixies in your path. Form bonds of friendship or pursue a slow-burn romance with a traveling party of four diverse travel companions — two half-orcs, a halfling, and an elf — each with their own stories to tell.

Play as a pilgrim, adventurer, or astronomer in this cozy fantasy adventure inspired by the landscapes and folklore of the Dartmoor and the Southwest of England.

Content warning: Topics referenced (but not depicted) in this game include loss of a parent; chronic illness; woodworking injury; hunting; and magical gender transition.

Penny Nichols, Troubleshooter is a game that attempts to use an AI as a Games Master to facilitate a mystery plot. The action mimics a typical "Away Mission" in shows like Star Trek. Our intrepid investigators arrive with only a vague idea of what is wrong, and have to interview the witnesses, probe the evidence, and draw a conclusion.

This adventure has been fine tuned and optimized to permit a player to paste the prompt into either the free version of Claude.Ai or ChatGPT and have a play and entire adventure.

Instead of pre-selected "choices", players tell the GM "Investigate the smoking cabinet" or "Consult the legal department on ...". The GM, within the well known limitations of AI, will improvise a response and move the story along.

To play: past the contents of the attached file into either Claude.ai or ChatGPT. Feel free to try it out on other LLM platforms, but your mileage will vary.

Your husband is a very important man, he tells you; many would like to see his head on a silver platter.

For optimal gameplay, please run on desktop using Google Chrome!

Content warning: Material may not be suitable for children; please note strong language, as well as allusions to death, sexual themes, and violence

When Layla finds herself at the police station to explain the destruction of a national treasure, she will have to recount exactly how she and Herbert Tapioca, the intrepid archaeologist, managed to escape.

A romantic island getaway.

CW: graphic violence, sexually suggestive content, toxic academia, denial of agency, hunger, death.

The Sirius Syndicate has nearly completed turning Phobos into a giant missile with which to wipe out all life on Mars. Can Galaxy Jones infiltrate the alien base and stop the dastardly plan? Can she prevent the destruction of all life on Mars?

Not a sequel, but a side-story of the original Galaxy Jones from Spring Thing 2023.

NOTE: This story is not screen-reader-friendly.

When the heat became unbearable, humanity constructed gigantic machines to cleanse the air. Then they fled underground.

Years later, you emerge from your bunker to investigate the ailing Substation Arcadia, ascertain the whereabouts of its crew and restart its purification reactor. Succeed, and humanity may still fulfil the promises of Mars.

Content warning: mild gore, dread and post-apocalyptic themes.

You know what you are. The creeping stain that soils the edge of an unblemished linen. An imperfection that makes the mother pull the world from its table, and when, swearing, cannot remove you, leaves everything you’ve tarnished folded and forgotten in some dark cabinet. The dirt tread under the masses's footfalls is a dream to you. To pass the eons unnoticed by their turning. To be compounded into clay or worked into soil, so you might at least be made into something useful.

Content warning: Violence, gore, sexual themes

This summer my partner and I rented a room with self check-in for one night. The instructions to get in were wild: we had to find a key taped behind a railing outside the building, guess the right staircase in a secondary building in the yard, and then retrieve the home key from a wall safe hidden behind an umbrella stand. This experience convinced me to write a game about self check-in. It’s inspired by several check-ins I’ve had since 2018 up to nowadays, even if the story is completely fictional.

Features:

This parser-based interactive fiction uses standard commands (you can find a list in the HELP menu). If you get stuck, there’s an integrated hints menu, or you can read the walkthrough. The walkthrough also includes six artworks and a guide to all the footnotes. The game has multiple endings: two game overs, one main ending, an alternative path to the main ending, and one side ending.

AI:

As you may know, English isn’t my native language, and in my previous works that was sometimes a drawback. For this project I focused on a smaller location and used ChatGPT as a writing assistant. I ran almost every sentence through it several times to correct grammar, smooth out phrasing, and find the most context-appropriate terms. It often suggested multiple options, and that really helped me tell my story the way I meant it, even in a language I’m not yet fluent in.

That’s it! I hope you enjoy playing this game and, to quote ChatGPT punning me: ‘Break a lock—uh, leg!’ ⛈️

Zeno August 2025.

A semi-abandoned village. An ancient monastery of which traces have been lost. The obsession of your father, who went in search of an ancient artifact and disappeared into thin air. Based on the true history of the ancient monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno in Italy, 'The Reliquary of Epiphanius' is a text adventure in which reality and fiction intertwine, putting the player in the role of an improvised archaeologist who will have to try his hand at the search for an ancient lost artifact.

NOTES:

- Vorple requires a web server to run offline. It's simpler to play online!

- For the best gaming experience, play on a device with a keyboard!

Your name is Ioanna Arcensis and you work in "Waste Management." It isn't something you are particularly proud of, nor is it something you particularly care about.

At least, not until you receive an absolutely nasty mission. A celebrity bomber? A renegade Corpodarling?

What could possibly go wrong?

Content warning: Violence, flashing images, religious psychosis

You have no clue who you are, where you are or how you got there. The only thing you are absolutely certain of is that you are a rock. To unravel the mysteries of this strange land, the relationships between villagers and (most importantly?) your own fate, you need to do what rocks do best: help people!

• Discover lighthearted, sometimes insightful conversation.

• Interact with a diverse cast of characters connected in various ways.

• Delve into a mysterious throughline. Can you decipher your fate?

• 20 different endings. Which ones will you choose?

A crew of three. A lost city, far in the north. A thousand miles of toxic ice.

Plot your course, manage supplies, study apocalypse biota, and don't lose your mind. You'll find out why the world was ruined, or die trying.

Content warning: This is a work of horror; it gets grim. Specific content warnings are available in the game's ABOUT page.

When you find yourself sleepwalking in the lush ornamental gardens of the Sylvan Villa, you must discover how to break the thrall of a mysterious trance.

You will be aided in your journey by the gardens' keepers: a gardener, a botanist, a librarian, and an enigmatic hermit. Form bonds of friendship or pursue a slow-burn romance as you roleplay, helping these companions with quests that draw you deeper into their individual stories.

Illustrated with original watercolor paintings and fully scored by an award-winning classical composer, The Secrets of Sylvan Gardens will transport you into a cozy fantasy setting inspired by Italian Renaissance gardens and Greek mythology.

Content warning: Depictions of memory loss. Characters grieving loss of family/spouse. References to genocide against fantasy species.

You're standing in the spotlight, darkness all around you, with no idea how you got there and nothing to see but a magician's top hat.

As job applications go, it's still better than writing another cover letter.

All you wanted was a Slurpee™, and somehow you have found yourself haunted by a relentless marinara pasta demon. With a mysterious checklist discovered in your back pocket, what else is there to do but wander museums of memories and perform some arcane ritual to rid yourself of the haunting specter?

Play as yourself, play as me, play as spaghetti, play as sauce. Find closure in the end. Or don't.

Anastasia the Power Pony - the rainbow-maned kung fu superheroine - has a knack for finding crime in unlikely places. This time, it's bad customer service at a cheap buffet that puts her on the trail of a sinister criminal operation with mysterious connections to her past...

Dive into a delectable noir-tinted parser adventure featuring a smooth blend of situational comedy, amazing multimedia effects, and intense fights with culinary llamas.

Download the feelies here: https://intfiction.org/uploads/short-url/45lJfz934H9eQ7YHj5ulhiqRxvC.zip

In the near future, in a solar system that is actually quite close to us, a prominent space industry mogul has set up a new Space Pioneer program that is sending the first colonization mission to Mars. You have been selected as one of America's finest to brave the final frontier. What could possibly go wrong?

Note: No artificial intelligence was used to create the text or art in this game. Be aware, nonetheless, that this game will use generative artificial intelligence if you play it. See readme.

You are Kel Shem, a Lieutenant in the Terran Fleet. Though you trained as an exolinguist, you have a feeling your new assignment will take you far out of your comfort zone. Whether you defeat your enemy, translate a mysterious alien language, or join the resistance, is your choice. The Tempest of Baraqiel is a choice-based homage to 70's science fiction featuring dozens of unique story paths and an interactive score that creates itself as you play. It is built in cirqueSaw's own Story Engine platform, and compatible with all major browsers.

One summer, as evening falls, you arrive in a village you've never been to before.

An IF adaptation of a Franz Kafka short story.

It was a chilly evening in the late autumn of 1895, and my cab was carrying me to Blackwood Manor on the outskirts of the city. An urgent call had been made to an old man, Mr. Silas Blackwood, who had died suddenly. As a doctor, I had to pronounce him dead.

A mystical Eco-Adventure about a scientist looking to unlock the mystery of eels.

You know what? Fine. This time everybody wins.

Your Aunt Rickie-Ann has passed away. She willed you a mine, but only if you follow her lawyers' instructions first.

Here you are again, walking the North Road in a rare moment alone before another day of your seven years promised to the village blacksmith. Seven years until you may leave the valley; seven years until you may reunite with your love, the Black Bull of Norroway. Wrap your borrowed coat tight around you and walk where you wish, down roads as real as you are and the ones that only remain in memory.

Order an obscure old computer game off the internet and spend a cold night alone with it.

Content warning: disturbing cartoonish imagery, unreal gory description, violence against children

An alien applies for SNAP benefits in New York City in order to better understand human society.

You've spent four years of study in the Department of Poetry and War, at the prestigious University of Mourdrascus. It's time for you to graduate and begin your career of adventure as a true Warrior Poet, but there is a complication...

WATT is your name, and you have one shot. Spat onto a desolate island, you and everyone you love face a terrifying doom, unless you take your place as the Chosen One. Obtain seven keys from seven houses to unlock your final mission at the island’s lighthouse— a simple enough recipe for salvation, right?

This is your life. Don't let them down.

(Content warning: Body horror, Gore, Derealization)

Content warning: Body horror, Gore, Derealization

Jimmy Piñata swings from a noose down at the infamous docks of Sugar City, apparently bludgeoned to death. Is this the result of some drug deal gone bad? Or is somebody trying to pin the tale on the donkey? Only one bubblegum broad has the smarts to break this case wide open and unwrap the mystery of...

...who whacked Jimmy Piñata?

Thanks to Zed Lopez for reviewing the game's code, and Robert Eggleston, Gamefic, kirihearts, Tabitha, and WindySilver for playtesting.

Content warning: Contains violence, sex and drug use, all involving colourful candy characters.

WHOAMI(1)

NAME

whoami -- display effective user id

SYNOPSIS

whoami

DESCRIPTION

The whoami utility displays your effective user ID as a name.

~Your job depends on you completing Willy's Test~

You're a producer for the TV show Celebrity Houses. You want to get Willy, the founder of a world famous novelty company, to agree to be in an episode. He agrees to let the show feature his extravagant manor if one person comes and completes his "test." Not knowing what it entails, you are sent alone with a map and a lamp to his house.

Experience this puzzling parser adventure in a bizarre house, where not everything is as it seems.

It's a sunny winter morning and you're walking along the beach.

A few months ago, after your check-up, your doctor told you: «We need to keep your blood pressure under control. I'm prescribing a medication for you to take every morning, but I also recommend exercising and taking a nice walk every day if you can. Start gradually and try to build up to about ten thousand steps a day, but don't overdo it.»

You are fortunate to live in a coastal city. The beach, especially out of season, is an excellent place to enjoy a free and easy walk and breathe in the fresh air.

Anatolia, 1280 BCE: the last swan song of the Hittite Empire. The Great King abandons the capital in the face of barbarian raids; moving south, he declares that his new city will be even greater than the last, building it into a place of splendor. Paris of Troy swears fealty in exchange for military support as Greek ships converge on his city. Pharaoh Ramesses II saber-rattles down in Egypt, eyeing his former territories in Canaan that have fallen under Hittite control. The King’s younger brother forces the barbarians back and secures the former capital, and his soldiers start to consider if he might make a better heir than his young and inexperienced nephew. Artisans across Anatolia forge royal weapons out of rare, precious iron, and wonder if one day it will be possible to extract it directly from the rock. The technology seems only a generation away...if only the Empire will last long enough to see it.

And in the small farming village of Nahhanta, one very clever dog tries its best to save its human from a life-threatening curse.

This is a piece of historical fantasy set in the late Bronze Age, featuring canine antics, footnotes on the actual culture and history involved, and reconstructed Bronze Age music performed by Michael Levy. Can the hunter find his runaway puppy? Can the village’s taxes get paid before Imperial soldiers get involved? Can the copper merchant get his comeuppance for lying about the quality of his goods? And when the village wise-woman is laid low by sorcery, can her familiar find a way to save her? It will take luck, ingenuity, and more than a bit of magic...but it just might work.

Content warning: Contains mentions of period-typical (2000s BCE) racism, sexism, war, slavery, and violence, but they are not dwelt upon or heavily featured; this is a "cozy" game

A boyfriend was all you ever wanted, or thought you wanted, at least. But when your love spell goes wrong, you find yourself face-to-face with soulless husks, perfect parasites and jellyfish that grow teeth.

Content warning: The Witch Girls contains references to or implications of underage sex, incest, pregnancy, abortion, homophobic attitudes, body horror and violence.

When the emperor himself summons you to write a poem about the state of things, who are you to refuse? Torn between two factions, led by the emperor's half-sister and his most loyal general, you have the unenviable job of unpicking the complex threads of political conspiracies and absurdist ideologies.

Write a poem, compete to become the official court poet, possibly uncover a plot to usurp the throne, and try not to offend anyone... unless?

Content warning: Brief and vague mentions of suicide, torture, and death

The prologue to a science-fiction story about lack.

Live the last ten minutes in the life of Juan Fuentes, who has been given the chance to choose his very last words before death. Captured by Victoriano Huerta's army after the Ten Tragic Days, Juan will have a brief while to think about his life, death, family, relationships, fights and existence.

(Previously released in 2023 only in Spanish, the game is submitted in English as a new work.)