Cover art by: DoubleKO (@DoubleKOoOo1 on X)

DWaM

198X.

Long after Adin's discovery. After the Night of the Comets. Sometime after she went away. Three days after you buried the cat.

You stand in your kitchen. And you find yourself out of coffee.

Step into the blizzard. Go through this strange world of talking animals, immortals, fanatics, robots -- and find that shot of caffeine.

Content warning: Non-graphic depictions of violence

Sci-fi, mystery, experimental, world-building • An hour and a half • Parser-based • Web-based

Cover art by: Trivia Fox

Mandy Benanav

You have accepted a mysterious invitation for a weekend away at a stranger's home. You arrive to find a small, dark Victorian house in the middle of the forest. Your host is nowhere in sight.

Something about the house feels odd. There is clearly magic at work here.

Well what are you waiting for? There is much to explore. The House awaits.

PLAY THIS GAME if you want to befriend talking animals, a ghost, and perhaps stranger creatures still???

Fantasy, Humor, Games for Spooky B*tches • Two hours • Choice-based •

Allyson Gray

OPENING HOURS

Monday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Tuesday: 5 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Wednesday: CLOSED

Thursday: 2 a.m. – 10:10 a.m.

Friday: 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.

Saturday: 12:30 p.m. – 3:21 p.m.

Sunday: 12 a.m. – 11:59 p.m.

______________________

This game is meant to be played over a minimum of six sessions of approximately 5 minutes each.

Half an hour • Choice-based •

Cover art by: R.A. Cooper

R.A. Cooper

You are Captain Pitker aboard the S.S. Crusade. You awaken from a deep sleep in your cryo tube. All of the crew has been decimated or vanished mysteriously. The onboard computer instructs you to investigate what happened aboard your ship and to find out who caused this mayhem.

Search the many depths of the ship to uncover the truth, plot, and potential betrayal behind the massacre and destruction of this once great vessel of exploration.

A parser styled adventure game awaits you!

Action-Adventure Sci-Fi • One hour • Parser-based • Glulx

Cover art by: Vivienne Dunstan

Vivienne Dunstan

A tale of dodgy drinks, things that go bump in the night, and stuff from the past that just ain’t right

Content warning: alcohol (the game is set in a British pub selling beer), some spooky stuff and death

Mystery • One hour • Parser-based • Glulx

Chandler Groover

Master Bryce is throwing a party. As his most faithful servant, that means it's your job to make the party run smoothly. But you only have two hands—and far too many duties. You'll have to manage requests from the guests, the master's eccentric demands, and your own composure. All the other staff have quit, unwilling to entertain the master's "moods," but you've served Wyatt Manor for decades; what's one more evening?

A comedy of errors, mild frustrations, and major workplace-safety violations. With limited actions and a limited inventory, juggle hors d'oeuvres, flaming curtains, and radioactive elements—and keep the drinks coming!

Superhero • Two hours • Parser-based • Glulx • Download includes additional content

Binggang Zhuo

The stage is set in a lakeside town from the end of the last century, where the protagonist begins to investigate a murder that occurred a year ago for some reason.

Content warning: Maybe violence, gore, or sexual themes

Crime, detective • Half an hour • Choice-based •

Eric Lathrop

You woke up at 7:30am. It’s Saturday. You were hoping to sleep in more, but you peek out your window to see it’s sunny and nice outside. You feel fairly energetic, so you decide to go to your usual park for some birding.

Half an hour • Choice-based • Web-based

Cover art by: Story text snippet processed by Bing Image Creator

Roberto Ceccarelli - «The Strawberry Field»

It is the mid-1990s. On a Friday evening in the summer, a guy and his girlfriend leave work for a short holiday in the Dolomites.

You play as Francesco, about 30 years old, blond hair. Francesco works as a software engineer, he like photography and hiking in the mountains. Monica is his beautiful girlfriend: tall, slim, with lots of slightly reddish frizzy hair and sparkling green eyes: could he not fall in love with her? She loves strolling around looking in shop windows; a peppy girl, she won't forgive him for anything he does that she doesn't like, but deep down her heart beats for him. What a strange thing love is...

There are no treasures to be found, there are no mysteries to be solved; remember, you are on holiday: have fun!

Screwball comedy • An hour and a half • Parser-based • Glulx • Download includes additional content

Cover art by: karuzone

Phil Riley

What secrets are concealed in the depths of a crumbling strip mall in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.? How is one supposed to open a desk drawer when the key is locked inside? Are there really such things as lizard people? And what is the mysterious message on the thumb drive found in an ancient root cellar in upstate New York? Join Agent Larch Faraji as they unearth the answers to these questions and more!

BOSH includes:

* A fun help feature for beginners

* Extensive contextual hints

* A Zarfian Forgiveness rating of “merciful”

* Only one use of the word “reification”, which most players won’t even see, we swear.

Comedy investigation • Longer than two hours • Parser-based • Glulx

Cover art by: Amber Oliver

loreKin

A short camping experience for the 2024 IF COMP.

Enjoy a relaxing night in nature. Participate in a few camping activities. Head home. Nothing fancy just a short camping story.

Thank you very much for reading.

Cover Image (CC0): Summer Campfire by Amber Oliver

NOTES:

This is my first piece of completed writing in over 15 years and my first piece of interactive fiction. It's a little rough around the edges but I hope it entertains.

Please, do not take the above into consideration when evaluating my story. And any constructive feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I've run into an issue when in menus containing large amounts of items where the game will not let you scroll. I can't seem to figure out why this happens but I have been able to fix it by adjusting the zoom level of my browser.

Slice of Life • Half an hour • Choice-based •

Cover art by: Helen Liston

Helen L Liston

Some offices attract bad energy - this one has so much that you can see it. But now you’ve joined the team things could be different! Just maybe there’s a way to improve things, to make a difference. If you succeed you’ll get the ultimate reward - a place in the sweetest realm of all! Relief from the painful limbo you've been trapped in! But do you have the right attitude for your new role? Will you save your team from the darkness and win the ultimate promotion? Will your romantic heart get in the way? And what really happened on Team Building Day?

Mystery, experimental, contemporary, dynamic fic • Half an hour • Choice-based •

Cover art by: Maddy (freaky.girl92@hotmail.it)

Rob

Once upon a time. The Curse is an 80's style text adventure ,deeply updated (insertion of images, sounds, etc.) In fact, its very first (italian) version dates back to the mid-80s. In those years the games were characterized by a minimal narrative level plot mainly oriented towards puzzles. The Curse is no exception. It features several puzzles, many of which are timed. To avoid player frustration and consequent abandonment of the game, I have included a hint system that can be called up at any time and in any location with the HELP command. At the first call the system will only provide a suggestion while at the subsequent calls will provide the complete spoiler. Ps: For reasons i don't know ,some antiviruses block the download by reporting malware. Obviously this is a false alarm. The file is absolutely safe. It's necessary to temporarily disable the antivirus real-time protection.

Surreal. Comic(?) • One hour • Parser-based • Windows executable

Cover art by: Merc Fenn Wolfmoor

Stewart C Baker, Phoebe Barton, James Beamon, Kate Heartfield, Isabel J. Kim, Sara S. Messenger, Nacarat, Natalia Theodoridou, M. Darusha Wehm, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor

As an embodied ship Intelligence and fugitive former warship, you’ve faced many challenges.

But when your captain dies suspiciously halfway through a hyperspace transit, you know you're in trouble. Not because you need a captain — you can pilot yourself just fine — but because, as an aficionado of mysteries and detective stories, you know there’s only one explanation: murder most foul.

Investigate your rooms.

Interrogate your crew and passengers.

Solve the mystery.

Will you find your way back to reality — or be stuck in hyperspace forever?

(Game released under a CC-BY-NC-ND license)

Content warning: blinking text; additional content notes listed in game

Science fiction, murder mystery • One hour • Choice-based •

Not-Only But-Also Riley

Your close friend is melting. She doesn't have much time left. How will you be there for her final moments?

Very short. Five possible endings.

Content warning: Brief mention of suicide

Experimental • Choice-based • Web-based

Cover art by: Ben Jackson

Ben Jackson

Vee and Aiden live with Father in the ‘den’ – they have lived there all their lives. Father looks after them and protects them from the outside world. They have never thought about leaving – until something happens that makes them question everything they thought they knew...

• A light-hearted adventure with a darker backstory that's slowly revealed.

• Play as both characters in order to solve the mystery

• Hack computers and discover the secrets that lie at the heart of… the den.

Adventure, Mystery • An hour and a half • Choice-based •

MemoryCanyon

You are a soldier, fleeing a war that you once believed was just. Will you escape? Will you find redemption?

Content warning: While there is not graphic depictions of violence, this is a story about war and some of the content could be emotionally triggering for some readers. The is a work of fiction and any similarities to real persons or events are purely coincidental.

Adventure - War • Longer than two hours • Choice-based •

jkj yuio

Prepare to hide behind the sofa!

You are Doctor Who in this interactive graphic adventure. The Doctor faces his arch-enemies, the Daleks, in a battle of wits and choices. Choose wisely and you may just prevail, choose badly and you'll be swiftly exterminated!

But it's worse! The Daleks have constructed a giant computer "Super-Brain" with a single goal: universal domination. Can you and your assistant, Bex, outwit this formidable foe? Who knows?

Sci-fi retro • Half an hour • Choice-based • Web-based

Cover art by: Mina Davić

Vukasin Davic

You are a novice mage drafted into service by the nearby mine. There was an fire and a cave-in, and the crew will take time to clear the entrance. Armed with just your wits and training spells, you are teleported inside. Help the survivors, figure out what happened, and deal with it.

"fantasy" "adventure" • One hour • Choice-based •

Cover art by: @cymk8

Abigail Corfman

There's a monster made of dreams. It has its teeth in your companions. It builds nightmares out of their worst memories and drinks their pain. One of your companions has a very bad worst memory. Solitary confinement. Locked in a tomb for a year. Vampires can't starve to death. A biological advantage with horrible consequences.

You just spent a month in his nightmare. Telling stories in the dark, keeping him from dying of despair. This game starts on the day you break out.

Content warning: Torture, Slavery, Violence, Abuse, Toxic Relationships, Unhealthy Coping Strategies, Implied Alcoholism, Victim Blaming, Hunting Animals

Fantasy Fan Fiction • One hour • Choice-based •

IkeC

A Western Story

Western • Two hours • Parser-based • Glulx • Download includes additional content

Cover art by: Lauren Reisfeld

Lauren O'Donoghue

You’ve just arrived at the Canteen, ready to take up the role of Community Chef. It’s your job to host regular feasts for the people in the village—and to impress your new employers before your month’s probation is up.

A community kitchen simulator set in a small corner of a strange world. Discover new recipes and ingredients. Go foraging. Plan delicious menus. Help out your neighbours. Plant a garden. Find a place for yourself. Make new friends. Break an ancient curse. Get cooking.

Community Kitchen Simulator/RPG • Two hours • Choice-based •

Cover art by: Daniel Ahlgren

Ola Hansson

Walk around a comic strip starring an egocentric truck driver. But you are not him. You are a jaded cop with a case to solve. Your story unfolds in the captions below as you try to outwit the young trucker and his frighteningly tough uncle.

Very short play-through time, but success will require some replaying.

Click the question mark on the game's title screen for a walkthrough.

Comedic satire with puzzles • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based •

Cover art by: Emily M. Stewart

doq, Emily S,

A thriller-like choose-your-own-adventure twine game where you are a crafty con man whose luck has just run out and one of your schemes has gone too far catching the wrong attention. Your choices hold the key to your escape, choose wisely to right your wrongs or continue down the path of corruption. by Emily Stewart and Zoe Danieli

Content warning: Loud sounds/music, strong language, body horror, blood, graphic imagery, drinking, mentions of alcoholism, gambling, and violence

Thriller, experimental, horror • Choice-based • Web-based

dott. Piergiorgio

Railei, Pennsaran Arcanorum, Year 10.146, First day of the fifth month. A young (47 years..) elf named Etuye Alasne is to enter the hall where the inaugural lesson of her Class, where a fateful meeting is to happen... A meeting with a Daemon and an Angel.

Content warning: depiction of war and its horrors, depiction of breastfeeding

Romance • One hour • Choice-based •

Fred Snyder

All you were supposed to do is sneak into a fintech company and steal some data. You didn't expect the client to use the comm chip jacked into your cybernetic implant as a cattle prod. And you definitely didn't expect a murder to be part of the plan. Good luck hacking your way out of this jam, grid jockey.

Cyberpunk • One hour • Parser-based • Web-based

Alex Crossley

You have recently inherited a large collection of books and artifacts from your late grandfather, who implored you to continue his researches. It was his dying wish that you make some discovery that long eluded him. Of its nature, you know little, except that the old man was preoccupied with the Illuvian Empire and a ruby-adorned princess.

Parser-based • TADS

Cover art by: nsjndd1

C.E.J. Pacian

THIS GAME CONTAINS SCENES OF IMPLICIT VIOLENCE AND GORE.

* * *

(A text-only survival horror.)

Longer than two hours • Parser-based • Z-code • Download includes additional content

Cover art by: AM Ruf

AM Ruf

On a dark and ominous night, two workers drive to the lake to do a job. It's a dirty and difficult job, but somebody has to do it. It's probably best not to think too much about it, or about the strange feeling that something horrible is lurking in the shadows...

A short horror story/game about a tanker truck operator, and the small possibility that he might live to see another day.

Horror • Half an hour • Web-based

Cover art by: @kyeterna on instagram

Marina Diagourta

Your anniversary celebration takes a dark turn when the Titan Kronos strikes Mount Olympus, threatening the very existence of the Olympian gods! Embark on a journey through ancient Greece, where you'll solve puzzles, rescue your divine family, and confront the mighty Titan. Can you restore balance and seal the Titans back in Tartaros once and for all? The fate of Olympus rests in your hands!

Puzzle, Adventure, Fantasy • An hour and a half • Parser-based • Glulx

J. Michael

You are Hildy, a twenty-year-old apprentice enchantress who is seriously considering a change of vocation. And who can blame you? The Guild Masters don’t understand you, the other apprentices think you’re a kripping weirdo and to top it off, you're currently covered in exploded cave troll.

It’s been a rough semester.

But just as you’re about to call it quits, a chance encounter with a spectral canine leads you to a harrowing adventure in what was once the most popular attraction in The Great Underground Empire.

So take a bath, grab your whip and swing into a new adventure in the fabulous world of Zork, where you’ll encounter mysterious machines, creepy ghouls, green slime, garlic pizza, and more. And who knows? You just might rid the world of a horrifying, megalomaniacal evil while you’re at it.

Zorkian Fantasy • Longer than two hours • Parser-based • Glulx

Cover art by: MangoAzalea

Shruti Deo

Wake up. Work. Eat. Dream. Bear it all again, over and over.

How can a human live in the House of Wolves?

Content warning: abuse, bigotry, coercion

Psychological horror • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based •

Cover art by: Alina Constantin

Elizabeth Ballou

Imprimatura (It.): the first layer of paint on a canvas.

Imagine that you are an artist. Imagine that you are in mourning. A painter – your relative, and your former mentor – has died. In their will, they have left you seven paintings of your choosing from their collection. But which seven? What matters to you as both an artist and an inheritor of your mentor’s legacy? And what memories will these paintings stir up?

Imprimatura is a nonlinear work of interactive fiction that makes light use of procedural generation and heavy use of a multilayered painting that changes based on your choices.

Credits: Writing/design/scripting by Elizabeth Ballou, visual design and art by Alina Constantin, art by Anna Link, music/SFX by Rachel Wang.

Content warning: Brief verbal descriptions of a loved one dying of cancer; some descriptions of anxiety, depression, and emotional abuse. Light cursing.

Meditative, slice-of-life artgame (literally!) • Half an hour • Choice-based • Web-based

Cover art by: Bing Image Creator (DALL-E 3)

Steve Kollmansberger

There's a killer on the loose! As a fresh graduate of the FBI Academy, you have been called to a small town struck by a series of suspicious deaths. Can you solve the mystery before the clock runs out?

Featuring elements of chance, multiple paths, and multiple endings.

Content warning: contains brief descriptions of sexual assault, murder, and suicide.

Crime Detective Mystery • One hour • Choice-based •

MACHINES UNDERNEATH

CAPTURE SUNBEAMS. KILL SPARROWS. BURY THE MOON.

You are the king of Xanadu. The role comes with certain responsibilities. It is your prerogative and duty to manage the palace estate, ensure the respectability of the legion, and, above all, bless the yearly harvest. It is said that the kings of Xanadu go on to rule in heaven after their death. After your rule is over, how will it be remembered?

You can play this game either by downloading and unzipping the file, or online through this link: https://machines-underneath.itch.io/king-of-xanadu The password is 'XANADU'.

Content warning: Contains depictions of hunger, despotism, and mass human suffering.

Fantasy • 15 minutes or less • Web-based

THE BODY & THE BLOOD

TRANS*GRESSIVE MATURE "COMEDY"

TWO ENDINGS

Content warning: See in-game list under "PERVERSIONS"; 18+

Two hours • Choice-based • Web-based

Alejandro Ruiz del Sol

All artists deserve to be free. Don't you agree?

This is a narrative driven game made to simulate the experience of being a successful detective solving a strange case. An artist has lost her way, and it's your job to figure out what happened.

Simply the prologue. What would you do with a whole story?

Detective Fiction • Half an hour • Choice-based •

Stefan Hoffmann

Versions for Windows and Android. A Mac version will hopefully follow in time.

Fantasy • Two hours •

Cryptic Conservatory, including: Paxton, Rachel Aubertin, Chrys Pine, Ed Lu, Toni Owen-Blue, Christi Kerr, Sean Song, Joshua Campbell, Dawn Sueoka, Randy Hayes, Allyson Gray, Shana E. Hadi, IFcoltransG, Dominique Nelson, Orane Defiolle, An Artist's Ode, Sisi Peng, Kazu Lupo, divineshadow777, Robin Scott, Sarah Barker, TavernKeep, Alex Parker, Mia Parker, J Isaac Gadient, Charm Cochran and Ghost Clown

The Maze Gallery was created over the course of 6 months by 34 contributors, 27 of them authors. It is a choice-based interactive fiction game about a surreal art museum that is intent on keeping its patrons forever.

"You have been transported to a bizarre museum whose strangeness only grows the longer you remain, and you grow strange with it. Find your way out of the twisting halls, past the impossible paintings, and try to retain some sense of self for when you return to the real world."

Content warning: Some disturbing content, explicit language, mention of suicide, animal gore, violence, clowns

Literary nonsense • Longer than two hours • Choice-based •

Cover art by: Dain Kaplan https://www.instagram.com/dainkaplan/

Riaz Moola

Wake from uneasy dreams. Float within the mist created by the low flow shower head in the bathroom of your inter system capable Personal Space Vehicle. Tend to the Japanese greens in the hydroponics array. You have everything you need to sustain you. Look into the mirror and tell me who you see.

An atmosphere focused science fiction journey with elements of esotericism.

No wrong choices, no way to fail.

An hour and a half • Choice-based •

Felicity_Banks

The thing about being seventeen years old and newly infested with magic is that you are no longer a child to be protected, but a problem to be solved.

There’s a solid chance you’ll get shot or stabbed or magically disintegrated, but you definitely won’t get in trouble for hanging with a bad crowd. You are the bad crowd, now and forever, no matter what you do next.

Sure, a lot of people want you exterminated, but that’s true of most teenagers anyway. And like all toxins, you have your uses to the right kinds of people.

If you survive.

Content warning: A minor character is a rapist (off-screen but he is creepy on-screen); there is some minor violence; player can choose to attempt to neglect an animal.

Fantasy • An hour and a half • Choice-based •

Daniel M. Stelzer

“We are saddened to report that Miss Winifred Gosling of Marswich Green met her untimely demise this morning in a heartbreaking canine mishap. Miss Gosling, 76, was well-known for her long and illustrious history of crime-solving, and her loss will be keenly felt...”

What utter drivel! It wasn’t “a heartbreaking canine mishap”, it was arsenious oxide poisoning, and a basic Marsh test would have demonstrated that beyond a shadow of a doubt. But alas. Once again, it seems, you must take it upon yourself to do the constables’ job for them, armed only with your wits and your loyal collie—and solve the case of your own murder.

Content warning: Genre-typical depiction of dead bodies and discussion of murder, but no violence or gore

Mystery • Two hours • Z-code • Download includes additional content

Damon L. Wakes

A shadow grows in the frozen north, and dark forces assemble in the wilds and on the roads. Fortunately, you run a small tearoom in a quant forest village and so it is not your job to deal with any of that. Unfortunately, your favourite teacup has suddenly and mysteriously gone missing.

It shouldn't be too hard to track it down, though...right?

Content warning: Infrequent, mild profanity; Actual, Literal Satan

Comedy, Fantasy • Half an hour • Choice-based • Web-based

Cover art by: Photograph by Gorup de Besanez, Edited by Anna Webster, licensed under CC

Anna C. Webster

Rosco Jeppson has to die.

But a man like that: a fine art dealer at the head of a massive organized crime ring (and a vampire at that) won't go down easy. But the Redjackets aren't your typical vampire hunting firm, either: they have both humans AND vampires in their employ. They're usually much more concerned with solving underworld disputes nonviolently through mediation and so-called restorative justice... but Jeppson has left them with no other options.

Play as decorated, human vampire hunter Declan, experienced vampire Redjacket Lynette, or freshly-turned informant Fiia as they strive to bring Jeppson down. Choices made in one protagonist's path will be remembered if you play through another's story, later.

Only one thing is certain: Rosco Jeppson has to die.

But the rest?

That's up to you.

Content warning: Blood and gore (decapitation, mutilation, gunshot wounds), guns, capture/involuntary confinement, near-death experiences, vomiting, strong language

Supernatural, thriller, true crime • Two hours • Choice-based •

Cover art by: Claudio Daffra

Claudio Daffra

Dive into the mystery of Claymorgue's Castle, a place suspended in time and permeated with unfathomable secrets. United by an insatiable thirst for discovery, our team of investigators ventures into this forgotten place. Guided by Jack’s bravery, Lisa’s technological genius, Tom’s strength, and the sharp pen of our narrator. But beware, this is no ordinary place. It’s a location where even silence seems to tell ancient stories. Are you prepared to delve into its mysteries? But don’t forget, the adventure doesn’t end here. An event will happen in the years to come, an event that you will be able to see in a few years. But it’s up to you to discover it. Claymorgue Castle awaits you, ready to reveal its secrets hidden in time. The images were created in pixel art.

Mystery • An hour and a half •

Hubert Janus

Once again, it's exactly what it sounds like.

Content warning: Flashing images, crude humour, testicular trauma

Humour • 15 minutes or less •

Beth Carpenter

Deep in Kingthrall caves, monsters dwell. The crown has offered a large reward to anyone who can destroy them. You are probably not the quester anyone had in mind, but you’re desperate, and that has made you determined. Enter the caves. Argue with the creatures from your nightmares. Discover a war nobody on the surface knew about. Hear the dead God speak. Bring down the Hydra King, or fall in the attempt… Fantasy, about 70k words, choice-based.

Fantasy • Longer than two hours • Choice-based •

Cover art by: Bez

Naomi Norbez (call me Bez, e/he)

In times of trouble, Juniper turns to Shyler, a new mental health AI chatbot, for reassurance and help. Watch their relationship develop through the course of this brief trilogy.

Content warning: Discussion of mental health, suicidal thoughts, & death. There is a happy ending.

Is this sci-fi or is this real life by now? • Half an hour • Choice-based •

Charles Moore

It's the Old West and Buck Swagger is the man of the hour and his feats of derring-do are known all across the western territories. You, however, are Buck's long-suffering sidekick and know all too well that those feats are actually your feats and that Buck is, in reality, a vain dimwit with great teeth and good press.

Now, Buck's been summoned to Mercury Springs, a small town under the heel of a ruthless gang of villains. His assignment? To rid the town of evil. Your assignment? To complete Buck's assignment for him and to keep him from getting himself killed in the process. If successful, you'll receive none of the accolades. But such is the life of the sidekick.

Western • Two hours • Web-based

Cover art by: Matemateca (IME/USP)/Rodrigo Tetsuo Argenton

W Pzinski

Some things in life you can choose, and some things, you're just stuck with...

String Theory is an interactive short story about family and finding the courage to love. You play as Jay, a college student trying to survive Thanksgiving with his Uncle Jimmy while dealing with stress about finals and his new same-sex relationship.

Learn about Jay's past as you help him decide what to do with his future.

Content warning: Some profanity, body image/weight issues, a few mildly suggestive passages, racism, drug and alcohol abuse, mental health issues, and indirect descriptions of a car accident.

Romance, humor, drama • One hour • Choice-based •

Cover art by: anaterate

D. S. Yu

A somewhat "old-school" style text adventure set in modern day. Contains mild puzzles, most of which have multiple solutions (a basic walkthrough will also be provided). This game is unlikely to change your life in any meaningful way, but I hope you enjoy it.

One hour • Parser-based • Z-code

Cover art by: Ian Yarham, Geograph (2024-08-18)

Clyde Falsoon

A medieval detective explores a desolate chapel in search of a powerful magical item. You guide this naive adventurer through the story, but who, unless you explore diligently, gets deeper and deeper into trouble until--well, some things are worse than death! Inspired by the classic dungeon-crawl adventures of yore.

JUDGES: The game will ask for your name. You can enter whatever you want, but if you enter "Inform Judge", randomizations will be turned off, such as zombie battles.

PLAYERS: This game has two parts. Part 1 is for a bit of training: more linear plot and easier puzzles. Part 2 is less linear and the puzzles are harder. Both parts should be able to be completed within two hours.

Content warning: None

Sword & sorcery • Two hours • Parser-based • Web-based

Dee Cooke

Long day done, groceries bought and you're so nearly home!

Unfortunately it's rush hour, and getting out of this supermarket car park is a difficult job at the best of times.

Will you ever get out of this place? It can't take forever, can it?

All you need to do is turn right...

Slice-of-life • 15 minutes or less • Parser-based •

Jim Nelson

"There are some secrets that do not permit themselves to be told."

In 1849, Edgar Allan Poe disappeared among the back alleys of Baltimore. A week later, he was found delirious and in disarray. The mystery of his death has remained unsolved for 175 years.

Now it's your chance to decipher the macabre enigma enshrouding the final days of Edgar Allan Poe—a tale of Faustian bargains, artistic ambition, and immortality…

Mystery • Longer than two hours • Parser-based • TADS

Leah Thargic

The only winning move is not to play.

15 minutes or less •

Cover art by: Computer Generated Image

Viwoo

Set in an imagining of early mediaeval India, you play as a voyeuristic entity with the ability to enter people’s minds and be privy to their sordid inner thoughts. Tasked with rooting out all the secrets of the little kingdom, becoming deeply intimate with its many inhabitants, you may find it hard to separate between yourself and the "NPCs" (whatever that term means). It's not your fault though, when you're pressed up against the glass, it's hard not to fog up the window.

Experimental • Half an hour • Choice-based • Web-based

Cover art by: Danielle Chenette

Kit Riemer

Then the externality comes apart like something wet. Then the truth reveals itself to be a nutrient or a poison. Then the sun goes away and the rain comes, and you and I freeze in it, the translucent bluishness of our skin.

Content warning: animated text/flickering, violence, unsanitary

Science fiction • One hour • Choice-based •

Arthur DiBianca

- Be abducted by space aliens who want to give you some challenging tests!

- Make use of highly advanced quorz technology!

- Enjoy the labor-saving convenience of single-keystroke commands!

How strong is your gland?

(For the duration of the competition, hints may be obtained by emailing the author. Just click the little envelope at the top of the entry. Don't be shy, hint requests are welcome.)

Sci-fi • Parser-based • Glulx

Cover art by: William Beilby

Joshua Hetzel

You're a reporter assigned to cover the wedding of the princess of the land. When you get there, you find an empty castle and are pulled into the mystery of what happened.

Explore a vast castle. Solve baffling puzzles. An old school style text adventure without the old school cruelty. Excellent for new players and veterans of the genre (has in game instructions and a limited list of verbs to reduce confusion).

Lighthearted fantasy, humor • Parser-based • Glulx • Download includes additional content

Colton Olds

SimpleChef is helping parents out with a new back-to-school offer.

Also, you’re going to die.

Content warning: brief mention of suicide, cancer, vomit, height self-consciousness

Half an hour • Choice-based •

Cover art by: Lea Baltes

Michael Baltes

Finley is living in a small flat with Johanna, awaiting the wonders of the fabulous Millennium's Eve. Their expectations are all but high, so they're planning at least to go for a drink after work, apart from all the big celebration parties. But life has other plans for them. They both have something to learn this evening and somehow Fortune was willing to give them more than one chance to find their luck.

Slice of life, Crime, Time Travel • An hour and a half • Parser-based • TADS

Viktor Sobol

A brief escape puzzle inspired by Chapter 3 of "Through the Looking-Glass" by Lewis Carroll.

Experimental • 15 minutes or less • Parser-based • Z-code

Andrew Schultz

Silence! We GAVE you ice cream.

Content advisory: there's a small profanity-themed area with no penalty whatsoever for skipping it. It is clearly signposted. Just so you're forewarned!

An hour and a half • Z-code • Download includes additional content

Cover art by: Photo by Stephan Richter

Emery Joyce

Pickering Station, Antarctica: A place of science, knowledge, and deep isolation. When the last plane leaves for the winter, you and your colleagues may as well be on Mars. At least this winter-over has gone well so far — or as well as can be expected with a dozen or so eccentrics locked up together.

But then someone turns up dead...

You have ten days until the next plane arrives and law enforcement takes over the investigation, and by then the perpetrator will have covered their tracks. Can you bring them to justice first? And can you keep your sanity in the process?

Content warning: grief, mental illness, moderate violence

Mystery/Thriller • One hour • Choice-based •

Cover art by: https://www.instagram.com/deadnotsleep1ng/

Naomi Norbez (call me Bez, e/he)

Yancy is an aroace person who thinks they don't have a creative bone in their body. But then the zombie apocalypse begins, and they realize they never pursued their dream of becoming a photographer. So they pick up a camera as the world starts crumbling around them.

Go around Yancy's neighborhood for photo ops, chat with friends at night, and try to hold it together as everything changes. Who knows? It might not turn out the way you think.

(I strongly recommend downloading this game, due to the large amount of audio files involved. If you're having trouble hearing the audio, try waiting a minute after opening the game.)

Content warning: This game contains: depictions of emotional & verbal abuse, othering & white supremacy, acephobia & queerphobia, death of a parent.

Queerplatonic End-Of-The-World Experience • An hour and a half • Choice-based •

Cover art by: Anik Panja

Carter X Gwertzman

Lost in a strange wood, and your YOU isn't YOURS. Solve puzzles, meet strange creatures, and undergo transformations as YOU search for YOUR missing self.

Weird fantasy • Half an hour • Choice-based •

Cover art by: Aisha

Sarah Mak

You have three seconds to kill your former friend.

The nuns and sacred algorithms have willed it.

And no matter how much you want to save her, you can’t.

***

A 12-minute interactive story, featuring music by Falling Islands.

Content warning: Violence and blood

Science fantasy • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based •