 | Zork I, by Marc Blank and Dave Lebling
24 votes
"Set the standard for modern IF." [+]"Set the standard for modern IF.: Zork I lifted the IF world right out of the depths of Adventure and set its course straight for the golden shores. " ( - Full review) --AmberShards... "IF Ancestor should not be missed" [+]"IF Ancestor should not be missed: Where else would you have discovered a grue?" () --DallasBrianK... "Epic and Funny Universe." [+]"Epic and Funny Universe." --Drobatch... "One of the earliest, and still great." [+]"One of the earliest, and still great." () --artao... "The one and only." [+]"The one and only." --Atari Lover... "The best IF game ever!!" [+]"The best IF game ever!!: It's a milestone in the IF history." --zhaofeng... "it's zork" [+]"it's zork" --stadtgorilla... "In the beginning, there was ZORK." [+]"In the beginning, there was ZORK.: The parser set the standard for the genre." () --Puddin Tame... "To my knowledge,..." [+]"To my knowledge, this was the first work of IF sold commercially. " --Rose... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Ghalev... "The game that..." [+]"The game that became emblematic of interactive fiction for a generation." () --qwrrty... (No comment) [+](No comment) --David Welbourn... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --schifter... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Grey... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --tggdan3... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Matt Wigdahl... "Its a tough call..." [+]"Its a tough call between this one and Adventure. I think you could make the case that Adventure some more innately seminal, but I believe the superior quality of the Zork One gaming experience, and the fact that it was almost certainly the single best-selling piece of commercial entertainment software until the mid-to-late 1980s, places it a cut above Adventure in overall significance. Contrary to popular belief, it was not the first commercial IF game. It was preceded by Scott Adams' Adventureland, Pirate Adventure, and Secret Mission...and possibly by Voodoo Castle as well (they both came out in 1980). There were also several other largely quite obscure & forgotten IF titles for the Commodore Vic-20, Commodore PET, the TRS-80, and very probably the Apple II and IBM PC systems. But Zork One sold more than all of them combined, and will still be remembered (albeit not so much, alas) in the year 2050." () --Xervosh... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Fredrik... (No comment) [+](No comment) --sushabye... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Muskie... "Does this even..." [+]"Does this even require discussion? To the outside world, Zork IS interactive fiction." () --Jim Kaplan... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Karl Ove Hufthammer... (No comment) [+](No comment) --E.K....
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| Adventure, by William Crowther and Donald Woods
20 votes
"It all starts here" [+]"It all starts here: Without Adventure, we would be lost in a dark cave." --Sylvia Storm... "No IF without this one." [+]"No IF without this one." () --artao... "The Granddaddy Of Them All" [+]"The Granddaddy Of Them All: This was the first-ever Interactive Fiction; without it, the entire genre might never have gotten started." () --Jeff Zeitlin... "What Zork copied from." [+]"What Zork copied from.: Adventure defined the whole genre - Crowther invented the world representation (rooms, directions, inventory, darkness, ..) and Woods the notion of story (treasure hunting, puzzles, magic, NPCs, ..)." --Biep... "The one that..." [+]"The one that started it all! This was the first work of what is now known as Interactive Fiction. " () --Rose... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) --qwrrty... (No comment) [+](No comment) --aaronius... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) --schifter... "So much that we..." [+]"So much that we take for granted was established here, including basics like inventory and navigation." --baf... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Azazel... "The very first..." [+]"The very first one. This is why IF exists." () --Nathan... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Xervosh... "The very first...." [+]"The very first. Nothing more need be said." () --Fredrik... (No comment) [+](No comment) --sushabye... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Cheryl L... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Ferret From Hell... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Karl Ove Hufthammer...
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 | Photopia, by Adam Cadre
15 votes
"Vivid and charming." [+]"Vivid and charming." --HumanHand... "Others sum up..." [+]"Others sum up this game far better than I can. Just read the reviews. " () --Rose... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Merk... (No comment) [+](No comment) --SleepyEmp... "Photopia drove..." [+]"Photopia drove home the notion that works of IF did not have to be "games", that IF could still be interactive without puzzles, and that the medium of IF can present stories in a way that other media can't easily match -- that is, some stories can only be told via IF." --David Welbourn... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Michael R. Bacon... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Grey... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Matt Wigdahl... "Very interesting..." [+]"Very interesting and captivating story, great for beginners and hardcore gamers alike (if you are tired from breaking your brains). You read it like a book (because you don't forget about the plot when you solve a puzzle)." --Drobatch... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Aintelligence... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Jordan Magnuson... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Karl Ove Hufthammer...
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 | Galatea, by Emily Short
12 votes
"The entire game..." [+]"The entire game consists of a conversation with one NPC. " () --Rose... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) --CAS 1317-38-0... (No comment) [+](No comment) --SleepyEmp... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Michael R. Bacon... (No comment) [+](No comment) --David Welbourn... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --diddlescatter... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Cheryl L... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) --darint... (No comment) [+](No comment) --E.K....
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 | Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky
11 votes
"frackin' hilarious. and tough." [+]"frackin' hilarious. and tough." --stadtgorilla... "Mostly harmless!" [+]"Mostly harmless!: I believe this game was the first to use non-linear story-telling and multiple POVs. It is also laugh out loud funny. So good I will excuse the fact that it only covers about half the book. Ranks among my top 3 Infocom works (along with TRINITY and DEADLINE)." () --Puddin Tame... "Don't Panic!" [+]"Don't Panic!: My second IF!" --Agnishom... "First game with a..." [+]"First game with a lying narrator. First game to use footnotes. Probably the first game with multiple PCs." --David Welbourn... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --qwrrty... (No comment) [+](No comment) --pylar_escapist... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Michael R. Bacon... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Grey... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Xervosh...
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 | Curses!, by Graham Nelson
11 votes
"Beautifully written epic" [+]"Beautifully written epic: I was recommended this as a classic, and although I'm a novice player I can appreciate it's significance." ( - Full review) --ragnaR... "Kickstarted modern IF and Inform" [+]"Kickstarted modern IF and Inform" --artao... "The first Inform..." [+]"The first Inform game released. " --Rose... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --zer... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --schifter... "Inform's default..." [+]"Inform's default command responses were written specifically for this game, and loads of games use them without alteration. As such, Curses has had a tremendous impact on their feel." --baf... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Azazel... (No comment) [+](No comment) --sushabye... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --E.K....
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 | Aisle, by Sam Barlow
10 votes
"Multiplicity actualized!" [+]"Multiplicity actualized!" --HumanHand... "Introduced the..." [+]"Introduced the 'one-move' game. Influenced Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle, I'll, Rematch, and The Phoenix Move." --David Welbourn... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) --CAS 1317-38-0... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Michael R. Bacon... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Karl Ove Hufthammer... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --E.K....
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 | Anchorhead, by Michael Gentry
10 votes
"Widely praised, standard-setting modern game" [+]"Widely praised, standard-setting modern game" () --artao... "The game that got me hooked on IF." [+]"The game that got me hooked on IF.: A compelling plot, believable character AND challenging puzzles. If only more games could find this balance." --Lumin... "One of the most..." [+]"One of the most coherent and compelling narratives in IF. Putting the "fiction" back in interactive fiction." () --qwrrty... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) --CAS 1317-38-0... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Azazel... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Xervosh... (No comment) [+](No comment) --HumanHand...
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 | A Mind Forever Voyaging, by Steve Meretzky
9 votes
"Broadened the possibilities of IF beyond "gaming"" [+]"Broadened the possibilities of IF beyond "gaming"" --artao... "Breaking out of the box of traditional I.F." [+]"Breaking out of the box of traditional I.F." --Atari Lover... "Defines "Interactive Fiction" as contrasted with "Adventure Game"" [+]"Defines "Interactive Fiction" as contrasted with "Adventure Game": This opened up the possibilities beyond "Get stuff, score points". Actually encourages exploration of the game world, even if you've previously successfully reached an endpoint." () --Jeff Zeitlin... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --aaronius... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Grey... "The first IF that..." [+]"The first IF that had something important to say." () --Nathan... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Matt Wigdahl...
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 | Deadline, by Marc Blank
7 votes
"Established a new genre" [+]"Established a new genre: To me, this was the first IF game that went outside the realm of dungeons & dragons lore and into the mainstream. It also established the whole notion of "Feelies" (e.g. clever packaging) and introduced a number of other elements like real-time, NPCs, etc. This game helped establish story-based IF." --ZUrlocker... "Whodunit I.F. A fun new genre when introduced. " [+]"Whodunit I.F. A fun new genre when introduced. " --Atari Lover... "Got me hooked on Infocom games." [+]"Got me hooked on Infocom games.: Pioneer in the use of NPCs. Infocom never produced another mystery game as good as this one. Ranks among my top 3 Infocom games (along with TRINITY and HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GLAXY)." () --Puddin Tame... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Peter Pears... "Set the template..." [+]"Set the template for how mystery genre games would be represented in IF, overshadowing the approach taken by The Colonel's Bequest." --David Welbourn... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Matt Wigdahl... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Ghalev...
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 | Adventureland, by Scott Adams
6 votes
"Scott Adams influenced everyone who played computer games in the eighties." [+]"Scott Adams influenced everyone who played computer games in the eighties." --Ken Hubbard... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Xervosh... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Fredrik... "A fun game which..." [+]"A fun game which established a template for fitting parser-based adventures into home computers which didn't have much RAM. Of course Adams's games were also ported to computers which had RAM to spare." () --Wade Clarke...
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 | Blue Lacuna, by Aaron A. Reed
6 votes
"Great extensions" [+]"Great extensions: Whether you dig this game or not, Aaron Reed set a new bar for ease of use and story quality. Plus he contributed some excellent extensions for keyword emphasis, smarter parser etc." --ZUrlocker... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Juhana... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --brattish... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Azazel... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Matt Wigdahl...
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 | Trinity, by Brian Moriarty
6 votes
"Perhaps Infocom's best game." [+]"Perhaps Infocom's best game.: TRINITY pushed IF in a literary direction moreso than any game that preceded it. A thoughtful, well-written blend of fantasy and history." () --Puddin Tame... "I haven't played..." [+]"I haven't played it myself, but I believe it has been an influence on many works of IF since. " --Rose... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --zer... (No comment) [+](No comment) --aaronius...
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| Spider and Web, by Andrew Plotkin
5 votes
"Perhaps the cleverest use of IF to tell a story that would not work in any other medium." [+]"Perhaps the cleverest use of IF to tell a story that would not work in any other medium." () --Jerome C West... (No comment) [+](No comment) --pylar_escapist... (No comment) [+](No comment) --namekuseijin... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Matt Wigdahl...
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 | Suspended, by Michael Berlyn
5 votes
"Broke the Mold" [+]"Broke the Mold" --AmberShards... "Very innovative" [+]"Very innovative: Multiple protagonists was something new, and they could even cooperate. Still, it wasn't just a game based on a single gimmick - the story, writing and artwork were all compelling." () --Fredrik Ramsberg... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Matt Wigdahl...
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 | Rameses, by Stephen Bond
4 votes
(No comment) [+](No comment) () --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) --CAS 1317-38-0... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Cheryl L...
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 | The Hobbit, by Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler
4 votes
"Unbelievably advanced for its day" [+]"Unbelievably advanced for its day: It's hard to believe this game wasn't written yesterday, and sent back 25 years into the past in a time machine as some cruel prank to confuse future IF historians. Despite its many flaws by today's standards, it still pulls off many tricks with its parser and AI characters which are more advanced than any IF system available to us now." () --Jerome C West... "Innovative early..." [+]"Innovative early use of AI for NPCs." --Molly... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Peter Pears... "Extremely..." [+]"Extremely influential on the mid-80s European IF market." () --Fredrik...
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 | Border Zone, by Marc Blank
4 votes
"different roles/perspectives in the same story, and realtime events" [+]"different roles/perspectives in the same story, and realtime events" --Fredrik Ramsberg... "A new spy genre in realtime" [+]"A new spy genre in realtime: This was one of the last Infocom games, and has a great 3 part sequence. It's easy to have fun with it and the atmosphere is tense because of the realtime clock. I only wish there were more spy genre!" () --ZUrlocker... "Perspectives IF" [+]"Perspectives IF" --Atari Lover... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Peter Pears...
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 | Softporn Adventure, by Chuck Benton
4 votes
"The granddaddy of..." [+]"The granddaddy of all pornographic IF, laying the groundwork (nudge nudge, wink wink) for the first game in the Leisure Suit Larry series." --David Welbourn... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Xervosh...
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| Hunter, in Darkness, by Andrew Plotkin
4 votes
"Does away with..." [+]"Does away with compass directions. Technically, this isn't influential since it didn't catch on, but it was an interesting innovation. " ( - Full review) --Rose... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --aaronius...
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| So Far, by Andrew Plotkin
4 votes
"If this isn't the..." [+]"If this isn't the first example of the now cliche "surreal adventures in a land that may or may not be in the protagonist's mind" IF, then it certainly was the one that had the most effect on the imitators." --Molly... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --zer... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) --recursi53...
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 | De Baron, by Victor Gijsbers
4 votes
(No comment) [+](No comment) () --Peter Pears... "Contains an..." [+]"Contains an innovative multiple-choice system: at certain points in the story you are allowed to make choices on not only what your character does, but why he does it (e.g., whether to kill an animal out of mercy or sadism.)" () --Molly... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --aaronius...
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 | Slouching Towards Bedlam, by Star Foster and Daniel Ravipinto
3 votes
"A sinister steampunk masterpiece" [+]"A sinister steampunk masterpiece" () --Jerome C West... "Great work on..." [+]"Great work on offering the player real control over the direction of the story without reducing that control to a single undoable choice-point." --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Azazel...
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| Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die, by Rob Noyes
3 votes
"Love it or hate..." [+]"Love it or hate it, it did spawn a lot of imitators, even as recently as 'Pick up the pine box and die' in 2008." --David Welbourn... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Michael R. Bacon... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Karl Ove Hufthammer...
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 | Fail-Safe, by Jon Ingold
3 votes
"Would not work if..." [+]"Would not work if it was static fiction, the experience on replaying is completely different. Cadre tried to do something similar at an earlier time, but Ingold is much more compelling with Failsafe." --CAS 1317-38-0... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Matt Wigdahl... "Perhaps the first..." [+]"Perhaps the first convincing example of true second-person fiction - with a brilliant plot twist that matches the second person mode as well." () --Cheryl L...
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 | Mystery House, by Ken Williams and Roberta Williams
3 votes
"The first graphic adventure" [+]"The first graphic adventure: Established conventions seen throughout the first wave of illustrated text games (such as hitting return on an empty line to toggle the graphics on and off), and paved the way for all the Sierra games." --baf... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Wade Clarke... (No comment) [+](No comment) --sushabye...
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 | Plundered Hearts, by Amy Briggs
3 votes
"Early example of..." [+]"Early example of a protagonist who's a) female and b) a specific individual with a family, etc." --Gemma Bristow... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Xervosh...
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 | Leather Goddesses of Phobos, by Steve Meretzky
2 votes
"Black circles, gender-changing restrooms, and more" [+]"Black circles, gender-changing restrooms, and more: One of the earlier gender-bending games, and arguably the first to reach a wide audience (complete with a gender choice made by taking an action rather than answering a prompt). Also a strong example of conscious advancement in player-friendly world design, with teleportation circles making it easy to move quickly across multiple regions in a large play-area." () --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Xervosh...
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 | A Day for Fresh Sushi, by Emily Short
2 votes
(No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --S. Plumb...
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 | Beyond Zork, by Brian Moriarty
2 votes
(No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Ghalev...
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| The Space Under the Window, by Andrew Plotkin
2 votes
(No comment) [+](No comment) () --Peter Pears... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Michael R. Bacon...
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 | Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It, by Jeff O'Neill
2 votes
"Long-term influence seems minimal or at least indirect, but noteworthy for discarding the standard adventuring-room-to-room paradigm almost entirely in favor of conceptual puzzle-play." [+]"Long-term influence seems minimal or at least indirect, but noteworthy for discarding the standard adventuring-room-to-room paradigm almost entirely in favor of conceptual puzzle-play." --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Peter Pears...
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| A Change in the Weather, by Andrew Plotkin
1 vote
"I believe this..." [+]"I believe this was the first game with no score. " --Rose...
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| Rematch, by Andrew D. Pontious
1 vote
"Tour de force of indirection" [+]"Tour de force of indirection: Rematch is on the surface a one-turn game like Aisle, however it provides an impressive way of packing many actions into that one turn. It's the first of its kind." --CAS 1317-38-0...
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 | Ditch Day Drifter, by Michael J. Roberts
1 vote
"This was the..." [+]"This was the sample game for the TADS authoring system. " --Rose...
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 | The Guild of Thieves, by Rob Steggles
1 vote
"Funny, Surrealistic and innovative" [+]"Funny, Surrealistic and innovative: It was the one got me hooked. Funny, surrealistic and innovative. Although it just does the same thing as previous games it had a different feel. " --LeMort...
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 | A Bear's Night Out, by David Dyte
1 vote
(No comment) [+](No comment) --Sam Kabo Ashwell...
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| All Alone, by Ian Finley
1 vote
(No comment) [+](No comment) () --Peter Pears...
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 | Shade, by Andrew Plotkin
1 vote
"Modern IF work..." [+]"Modern IF work relatively well-known and well-regarded outside of IF circles - probably has introduced many to modern non-commercial interactive fiction." () --Cheryl L...
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| She's Got a Thing for a Spring, by Brent VanFossen
1 vote
(No comment) [+](No comment) --Sam Kabo Ashwell...
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| Rox, by L. Ross Raszewski
1 vote
(No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Peter Pears...
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 | Fallacy of Dawn, by Robb Sherwin
1 vote
(No comment) [+](No comment) () --Alan DeNiro...
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 | Exhibition, by Ian Finley
1 vote
(No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Peter Pears...
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 | For a Change, by Dan Schmidt
1 vote
(No comment) [+](No comment) --Alan DeNiro...
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 | Varicella, by Adam Cadre
1 vote
(No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sam Kabo Ashwell...
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| John's Fire Witch, by John Baker
1 vote
"Start of the trend towards short IF" [+]"Start of the trend towards short IF: On its release in 1995, it was novel to have a full game, not a mere sketch or demo, intended to be finished in a single sitting. This game inspired a lot of discussion on the newsgroups. Later that year, the first IF comp was held." --baf...
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