Alabaster, by John Cater, Rob Dubbin, Eric Eve, Elizabeth Heller, Jayzee, Kazuki Mishima, Sarah Morayati, Mark Musante, Emily Short, Adam Thornton, Ziv Wities Average member rating: (121 ratings) The Queen has told you to return with her heart in a box. Snow White has made you promise to make other arrangements. Now that you're alone in the forest, it's hard to know which of the two women to trust.... |
All Hope Abandon, by Eric Eve Average member rating: (37 ratings) Your day got off to a good enough start when you met that blonde in the breakfast queue, but it's all downhill from there: you may be wishing you could escape a particularly dire lecture, but not by the one... |
Anchorhead, by Michael Gentry Average member rating: (393 ratings) You take a deep breath of salty air as the first raindrops begin to spatter the pavement, and the swollen, slate-colored clouds that blanket the sky mutter ominous portents amongst themselves over the little... |
Augmented Fourth, by Brian Uri! Average member rating: (65 ratings) WANTED: Amateur musicians to serve the Royal Court. Must provide own instrument and be inured to copious constructive criticism. Impress your friends! Meet the King! Apply in person at the Castle, located on... |
Aunts and Butlers, by Robin Johnson Average member rating: (44 ratings) It's 1920, you're a minor aristocrat fallen on hard times, and your wretched Aunt Cedilla is on the warpath. A Wodehousean comedy of manners, manors, mysterious butlers and unfriendly poodles. |
Babel, by Ian Finley Average member rating: (155 ratings) In this game, you play as an amnesiac inside Babel, an abandoned Arctic facility devoted to biological research. You soon discover that you have the unusual ability to witness scenes from the past by... |
Bad Machine, by Dan Shiovitz Average member rating: (15 ratings) |
Balances, by Graham Nelson Average member rating: (38 ratings) "A homage to Infocom's Enchanter Trilogy, at the same time showing some of the things that Inform is capable of doing." [--blurb from The Z-Files Catalogue] |
Basic Train-ing, by bpsp Average member rating: (5 ratings) An infantryman finds himself trapped on a peculiar train traveling through an even stranger forest. But could the situation be more than what it appears? |
Best of Three, by Emily Short Average member rating: (62 ratings) |
Blighted Isle, by Eric Eve Average member rating: (43 ratings) Blockade duty in the Bay of Biscay, vile weather, and an unplanned jaunt over the side of the ship into the tossing waves. But instead of drowning, you end up on an island that has no right to be there - and... |
Blue Lacuna, by Aaron A. Reed Average member rating: (111 ratings) You have always been different. One in a trillion have your gift, your curse: to move between worlds, never settling, always alone. To Wayfare. Yet there are others like you, and something stronger than... |
Broken Legs, by Sarah Morayati Average member rating: (31 ratings) A blurb? They expect you to write? You're Lottie Plum so you're not going into writing. You sing. And dance and act up a storm while everyone else can only manage a puddle. You belong at Bridger. No matter... |
Bronze, by Emily Short Average member rating: (286 ratings) When the seventh day comes and it is time for you to return to the castle in the forest, your sisters cling to your sleeves. |
City of Secrets, by Emily Short Average member rating: (103 ratings) |
Curses, by Graham Nelson Average member rating: (132 ratings) "As "Curses" opens, you're hunting about in the attic of your family home, looking for a tatty old map of Paris (you're going on holiday tomorrow) and generally trying to avoid all the packing. Aunt Jemima... |
Damnatio Memoriae, by Emily Short Average member rating: (58 ratings) 14 AD. Agrippa Postumus, grandson of the recently-deceased Augustus, tries to avoid death at the hands of the next emperor, Tiberius. At his disposal: a couple of old manuscripts, a lamp, and a recalcitrant... |
Dangerous Curves, by Irene Callaci Average member rating: (23 ratings) |
De Baron, by Victor Gijsbers Average member rating: (160 ratings) An evil nobleman, a kidnapped daughter and a father who wants to rescue her at any cost--that is not the way life works. Something much darker, something much more human, lies underneath. Een kwaadaardige... |
Dead Like Ants, by C.E.J. Pacian Average member rating: (58 ratings) You play as a young woman in red overalls, a red worker ant. Every spring, five dangerous creatures visit the tree and threaten the village, and every spring, the Queen sends one of her daughters to... |
Deadline, by Marc Blank Average member rating: (58 ratings) Twelve hours to solve the mystery. One false move, and the killer strikes again. It's been called "part of the latest craze in home computing (TIME magazine), an "amazing feat of programming" (THE NEW YORK... |
Deadline Enchanter, by Alan DeNiro Average member rating: (58 ratings) |
Deep Space Drifter, by Michael J. Roberts and Steve McAdams Average member rating: (7 ratings) Stranded in deep space after running out of fuel, you luck upon a nearby space station. When you get there, though, the place is abandoned, and strange things seem to have been happening lately. And if you... |
Delightful Wallpaper, by Andrew Plotkin ('Edgar O. Weyrd') Average member rating: (78 ratings) |
The Dreamhold, by Andrew Plotkin Average member rating: (175 ratings) The Dreamhold is interactive fiction — a classic text adventure. No graphics! No point-and-click! You type your commands, and read what happens next. The Dreamhold is designed for people who have never... |
Dual Transform, by Andrew Plotkin Average member rating: (109 ratings) This game takes place in a single room — but not always the same one. The room contains just one item, but again, there's more to it than that. Experiment and enjoy. |
Earth And Sky 3: Luminous Horizon, by Paul O'Brian Average member rating: (41 ratings) |
Enchanter, by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling Average member rating: (109 ratings) In Enchanter, the first of a spellbinding series in the tradition of Zork, you are a novice magician whom Fate has chosen to do singlehanded combat with a dark and fierce power. But worldly weapons will... |
Fail-Safe, by Jon Ingold Average member rating: (112 ratings) |
Fate, by Victor Gijsbers Average member rating: (50 ratings) You are nine months pregnant, and the contractions have already begun. Trapped in a castle with more enemies than friends, and Queen in name but not in influence, you fear for the future of your child. But... |
Flight of the Hummingbird, by Michael Martin Average member rating: (29 ratings) Dr. Sinister is at it again! The Concordance of Powered Response isn't entirely clear on what it is he's planning, but it's big. This is clearly a task for one of the world's mightiest champions! |
Floatpoint, by Emily Short Average member rating: (98 ratings) It is night on this side of the planet. Settled areas are lit: a jagged crescent in the tropics, lining the inland sea. The bright splatter along the top of the curve is Tanhua, as bright from space as New... |
Fragile Shells, by Stephen Granade Average member rating: (51 ratings) You don't know how long you've been hammering against the station's wall, but you stop as soon as you realize what you've been doing. |
Galatea, by Emily Short Average member rating: (335 ratings) Emily Short's description: A conversation with a work of art. "47. Galatea. White Thasos marble. Non-commissioned work by the late Pygmalion of Cyprus. (The artist has since committed suicide.) Originally... |
Glass, by Emily Short Average member rating: (106 ratings) The Prince sits awkwardly on the couch, holding his glass slipper and trying to keep it from crushing. Lucinda and Theodora have the ends of the same couch, and they are taking turns seeing who can bend... |
Goose, Egg, Badger, by Brian Rapp Average member rating: (21 ratings) |
Gourmet, by Aaron A. Reed and Chad Barb Average member rating: (55 ratings) Missing employees, wily crustaceans, malfunctioning kitchen equipment and a terminal food shortage, all on the night the most important culinary critic in the world has chosen to review your debut... |
Heavenly, by Jim Aikin Average member rating: (9 ratings) You're an angel. You're in Heaven. Everything is perfect. Honestly, it's perfect. It's so nice, so mind-numbingly nice, you'd give anything to get away from here.... |
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky Average member rating: (185 ratings) Don't Panic! Relax, because everything you need to know about playing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is contained in the pages of this manual. In this story, you will be Arthur Dent, a rather ordinary... |
Hoosegow, by Ben Collins-Sussman, Jack Welch Average member rating: (40 ratings) Muddy's plan done landed you and your partner in the hoosegow. Now you're fixing to rectificate the matter before the marshal introduces you to the business end of a hangin' rope at dawn. Created for the... |
The Hours, by Robert Patten Average member rating: (25 ratings) Your new job as a time traveler may be harder than you thought. A simple heist in the ancient Library of Alexandria turns into a murder mystery. ONLINE PLAY: The status bar is essential to the game, but may... |
I-0, by Anonymous Average member rating: (157 ratings) Stranded on Interstate Zero after your car broke down, you are miles away from the last sign of civilization. It's twenty minutes to noon and the temperature is well over 120°F. It's beginning to look like... |
Indigo, by Emily Short Average member rating: (54 ratings) "Years ago, a witch placed you in this tower and arranged for your upkeep, paying certain villagers well to keep you supplied with the most basic necessities, and no more. Your years in the tower have... |
Insight, by Jon Ingold Average member rating: (27 ratings) |
Jigsaw, by Graham Nelson Average member rating: (84 ratings) New Year's Eve, 1999, a quarter to midnight and where else to be but Century Park! Fireworks cascade across the sky, your stomach rumbles uneasily, music and lasers howl across the parkland... Not exactly... |
Ka, by Dan Efran Average member rating: (20 ratings) For an Egyptian mummy's soul - or "Ka" - death is but the first step on a puzzling and perilous journey. The second step? Getting out of all those coffins.... |
The King of Shreds and Patches, by Jimmy Maher Average member rating: (77 ratings) January 14th Dear friend. My sojourn in parts foreign is at an ende. I am at lodgings in Southwark not far from the bridge at Stoney Street, come dine with me two days hence to ring in the newe year. I have... |
LASH -- Local Asynchronous Satellite Hookup, by Paul O'Brian Average member rating: (41 ratings) In this historical drama and treasure hunt set in 2062, you have rented a robot called a MULE that you can control remotely to salvage artifacts from an abandoned irradiated plantation near Macon, Georgia.... |
Leadlight, by Wade Clarke Average member rating: (34 ratings) 15-year-old Belinda Nettle is studying at Linville Girls High School in Australia's Blue Mountains. After falling asleep in the library one afternoon, she wakes from her mundane existence into a nightmare... |
Little Blue Men, by Michael S. Gentry Average member rating: (70 ratings) This game is a joke. This game is a warning. This game is a satire. This game is inspired in equal parts by Vaclav Havel's "The Memorandum" and Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". This... |
Lowell Prison, by Emily Short Average member rating: (4 ratings) A small conversation piece between you, an inmate of Lowell Prison, and an old man who crouches beside a wide-open gate. |
Lydia's Heart, by Jim Aikin Average member rating: (32 ratings) "Lydia's Heart" is a large, complex game with a serious tone and seven or eight NPCs you can converse with. The genre is low-key horror: There's almost no actual blood, but there are several ways to die in a... |
Make It Good, by Jon Ingold Average member rating: (84 ratings) The call comes through. Of all the dicks; you get the call, sitting in the front seat of your car, hands shaking on the steering wheel. An urgent call; but all you were thinking of was the bottle in the... |
Max Blaster and Doris de Lightning Against the Parrot Creatures of Venus, by Dan Shiovitz and Emily Short Average member rating: (15 ratings) Someplace on Venus a secret weapon is being built that threatens Earth with total destruction. You and your comrade must penetrate the Xavian base and save the world -- before it's too late! |
The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet, by Graham Nelson (as Angela M. Horns) Average member rating: (51 ratings) Another day wasted as guest of the Empress, a wretchedly long tour of the breath-taking Boreal Falls, conducted as ever by the Lady Amilia. As if she weren't bad enough, an honour guard of soldiers, their... |
The Myothian Falcon, by Andy Joel Average member rating: (11 ratings) "That day, the 9th of June, 3145, started out like any other, perhaps a little hotter than usual. Then Maisy DeValle entered his office." Vic Gantry, P.I., has a new client. She is wanted for the murder of... |
Necrotic Drift, by Robb Sherwin Average member rating: (18 ratings) Necrotic Drift is a survival horror text adventure... but with graphics and sound! An homage to the old Magnetic Scrolls game in presentation, Necrotic Drift follows the story of gaming store employee Jarret... |
Nightfall, by Eric Eve Average member rating: (61 ratings) The Enemy is expected to arrive at any moment. Staying behind is either the stupidest or the bravest thing you've ever done. Only one thing - or one person - could have made you stay. So now there's nothing... |
Not Just an Ordinary Ballerina, by Jim Aikin Average member rating: (30 ratings) |
Party Foul, by Brooks Reeves Average member rating: (33 ratings) You're cornered, trapped. There seems to be no escape. You aren't in a jail cell. No, you're in the cocktail party from hell and only by using your wits and luck are you going to get out of this suburb... |
PataNoir, by Simon Christiansen Average member rating: (58 ratings) The Baron's daughter is missing, and you are the man to find her. No problem. With your inexhaustible arsenal of hard-boiled similes, there is nothing you can't handle. |
Perdition's Flames, by Michael J. Roberts Average member rating: (23 ratings) The afterlife isn't what you expected. Explore a strangely modernized and bureaucratic underworld, replete with strip malls, government offices, and science labs, as well as the occasional lake of molten... |
The Phoenix Move, by Daniele Giardini Average member rating: (11 ratings) You are standing on a tall pole. So tall you can't see the ground below. All you see, is a bright blue sky around you. And the sun. And some clouds. And a huge egg, motionlessly floating a couple of feet... |
The Plant, by Michael J. Roberts Average member rating: (34 ratings) You're on a business trip with your boss, driving down a deserted highway in the middle of nowhere, when the car breaks down. You set off on foot seeking help, but you soon find yourself in the middle of a... |
Pytho's Mask, by Emily Short Average member rating: (68 ratings) On the Night of the Comet, the usual astrological bonds do not hold, and the order of the universe is threatened. It is a time made for rebels and usurpers, and all who would claim the kingdom for... |
The Reliques of Tolti-Aph, by Graham Nelson Average member rating: (15 ratings) "It used to be said that there are two kinds of magic-user: those who have been to Tolti-Aph, and charlatans. It used to be generally understood that the attempt to prove oneself in the unforgiving society... |
Resonance, by Matt Scarpino Average member rating: (16 ratings) |
Return to Ditch Day, by M.J. Roberts Average member rating: (30 ratings) It's been a decade since you graduated, but now it looks like you're going to have to solve one more Ditch Day stack. |
Risorgimento Represso, by Michael J. Coyne Average member rating: (48 ratings) You play as an Oxbridge student who, during a particularly boring lecture, falls through a green portal under their desk into the cluttered library of the wizard Ninario. Ninny was trying to summon a... |
Roofed, by Jim Munroe Average member rating: (16 ratings) You and your brother’s job — scouring the city’s highest spots for a rare building material in the year 2040 — is already hard enough. Now Anton’s gone and gotten you trapped on a rooftop. Your acrobat... |
Room 206, by Byron Alexander Campbell Average member rating: (6 ratings) The wedding is over, but the bride is nowhere to be found. You receive a phone call from a mysterious stranger. Things are not always as simple as they seem, and as you pursue the woman of your dreams you... |
Rover's Day Out, by Jack Welch and Ben Collins-Sussman Average member rating: (54 ratings) Three hundred years ago, the Brazilian Space Agency discovered a rocky exoplanet only 38 light years from Earth. With a surface temperature of 1200 Celsius and nine times Earth gravity, it's hardly the sort... |
Savoir-Faire, by Emily Short Average member rating: (131 ratings) The beautiful life is always damned, they say. As for you, you've overexpended yourself: fifteen years of prominence, champagne, carriage rides in the Tuileries, having your name whispered behind... |
Shade, by Andrew Plotkin Average member rating: (413 ratings) "A one-room game set in your apartment." [--blurb from Competition Aught-Zero] |
Slouching Towards Bedlam, by Star Foster and Daniel Ravipinto Average member rating: (215 ratings) In the beginning was the Word, and it was hungry. ... |
Snowblind Aces, by C.E.J. Pacian Average member rating: (33 ratings) Two aces shelter from a snowstorm under the wing of a biplane. They've duelled and played in the air for years. Love is inevitable. But what kind of relationship will they end up in? |
Snowquest, by Eric Eve Average member rating: (47 ratings) You've been on your quest so long you've almost forgotten what it is all about, but now you are nearing your destination -- if only you can stay alive long enough in this frozen wilderness to reach it. |
Sorcerer, by Steve Meretzky Average member rating: (67 ratings) Sorcerer, the second of a spellbinding fantasy series in the tradition of Zork, takes you on a magical tour through the darker side of Zorkian enchantment. Your journey begins with a cryptic diary - the last... |
The Space Under the Window, by Andrew Plotkin Average member rating: (98 ratings) A new, experimental game that has no puzzles but uses only words that change your focus on things, thereby adapting the story. [--blurb from The Z-Files Catalogue] |
Spellbreaker, by Dave Lebling Average member rating: (58 ratings) Spellbreaker, the riveting conclusion to the Enchanter trilogy, explores the mysterious underpinnings of the Zorkian universe. A world founded on sorcery suddenly finds its magic failing, and only you,... |
Spider and Web, by Andrew Plotkin Average member rating: (310 ratings) A vacation in our lovely country! See the ethnic charms of the countryside, the historic grandeur of the capital city. Taste our traditional cuisine; smell the flowers of the Old Tree. And all without... |
Square Circle, by Eric Eve Average member rating: (27 ratings) What is your crime? Why do you feel both guilty and unjustly punished? What has happened to your memory? How will you draw a square circle and get out of your prison? What will you find then? |
Suveh Nux, by David Fisher Average member rating: (225 ratings) An entry in the 2007 One Room Game Competition. You play a magician's servant who gets trapped in your master's vault; you'll need to learn some of his tricks if you want to get out. |
Taco Fiction, by Ryan Veeder Average member rating: (115 ratings) Taco Fiction is a game about crime. |
Treasures of a Slaver's Kingdom, by S. John Ross Average member rating: (48 ratings) In the cruel kingdoms north of the Viraxian Empire, a barbarian seeks treasure - and vengeance! Having escaped the clutches of the Slaver King, he has vowed to pillage the wealth of the kingdom ... then... |
Undertow, by Stephen Granade Average member rating: (8 ratings) Go sailing on a yacht with three friends, and a corpse.... |
Varicella, by Adam Cadre Average member rating: (131 ratings) You are Primo Varicella, Palace Minister at the Palazzo del Piemonte. This title is unlikely to impress anyone. Piedmont is the laughingstock of the Carolingian League, and the Palace Ministry has devolved... |
Violet, by Jeremy Freese Average member rating: (383 ratings) Calm down. All you have to do is write a thousand words and everything will be fine. And you have all day, except it's already noon. [blurb from IF Comp 2008] |
Walker & Silhouette, by C.E.J. Pacian Average member rating: (51 ratings) Team up with a dashing detective and an iconoclastic flapper to solve absurd and unfathomable crimes in this interactive story - where you control the action just by typing or clicking highlighted words in... |
The Weapon, by Sean Barrett Average member rating: (35 ratings) |
Weishaupt Scholars, by Michael C. Martin Average member rating: (7 ratings) Take on the roles of Hal, Benj, and Janet -- the three newest members of the shadowy conspiratorial group known only as the Weishaupt Foundation. Vie against rival conspiracies and your own baffling... |
When in Rome 2: Far from Home, by Emily Short Average member rating: (15 ratings) Manhattan, 1954. |
Worlds Apart, by Suzanne Britton Average member rating: (90 ratings) For over 20 years, I dreamed about an alternate universe I called the Higher World. For three of those years, I poured almost all of my creative energy into a novel-length story set in that universe. Worlds... |
Zork I, by Marc Blank and Dave Lebling Average member rating: (218 ratings) Many strange tales have been told of the fabulous treasure, exotic creatures, and diabolical puzzles in the Great Underground Empire. As an aspiring adventurer, you will undoubtedly want to locate these... |
Zork II, by Dave Lebling, Marc Blank Average member rating: (97 ratings) The Wizard appears, floating nonchalantly in the air beside you. He grins sideways at you. The Wizard incants "Fantasize," but nothing happens. He shakes his wand. Nothing happens. With a slightly... |
Zork III, by Dave Lebling, Marc Blank Average member rating: (77 ratings) An old, oddly youthful man turns toward you slowly. His long, silver hair dances about him as a fresh breeze blows. "You have reached the final test, my friend! You are proved clever and powerful, but this... |