Participate in the 2019 Interactive Fiction Top 50!

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In no particular order, here are five of mine. I’ll add more (in separate replies, because I assume that’s easier for Victor to keep track of) as I think of them and what to say about them.

The Adventure of Jacaranda Jim by Graham Cluley
The first text adventure I really got into, and the one that showed me how funny IF could be. It’s full of unwinnable states, unwarned deaths, unknowingly irreversible actions, and inventory limits, but I didn’t know those were Bad Things until much later. The setting and characters are wacky but not over the top - in fact, the whole game is delightfully just under the top. It’s written in a good homebrew parser in Pascal, and that was the parser I was mimicking when I started writing my own Javascript IF.

A Mind Forever Voyaging (Infocom)
Infocom’s best serious IF, and most shamelessly “walking simulator”-ish. This could have SO done with a remake in 2016.

Knight Orc (Level 9)
A carefully built game world bustling with well-written NPCs, and commentary on gaming culture years ahead of its time.

Brain Guzzlers From Beyond by Steph Cherrywell
The game that got me back into IF after a long hiatus. Funny and just the right level of difficulty.

Inside the Facility by Arthur diBianca
I love Arthur’s reduced-parser puzzlers, and this is IMO the clearest and funniest.

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I wanted to start by saying: this list is very imperfect. I used to be most active in the IF scene in the years 2004-2012, I haven’t even played all that much more recent IF, there is no way this list is reflective of what’s really the best interactive fiction… but let’s stop right there. I’m the organiser of this thing, and I’m here to tell you in an official tone of voice that none of that matters. Below is a list of twenty games that impressed me, that stuck with me for one reason or another, and that I wholeheartedly recommend you to check out. What more could you want?

Alabaster, Emily Short et al (2009)

Emily Shory impressed with Galatea, a conversation with a single NPC. But for my money – and I expect hers as well – the much later Alabaster is the superior piece. You are the hunter, tasked with bringing Snow White’s heart to the queen. Full of twists and turns, unexpected revelations, and interesting endings.

Anchorhead, Michael Gentry (1998)

I don’t even like Lovecraftian horror. But Anchorhead makes it work, with very good use of the central NPC and some truly chilling moments. Harsh and cruel as a game, and so perhaps not too well-suited to today’s appetites, but a great piece nevertheless. (I haven’t played the new edition yet.)

Blue Lacuna, Aaron Reed (2008)

Its sheer size is amazing; the complexity of the most important NPC is amazing; and all the nifty technical stuff, much of it aimed at helping newcomers to interactive fiction, is amazing. Blue Lacuna gives you a lot of setting and story to experience, and you may well enjoy every moment of it.

Counterfeit Monkey, Emily Short (2012)

I’ve only played the first half of this game. Not because I got stuck or didn’t want to continue, but because other commitments intervened and I had forgotten too much by the time I could return to it. Still, I’m putting it on the list based on the impression the first half made. Meticulously implemented, brilliant puzzle mechanic, interesting setting. I look forward to starting over some day and playing it to the end.

Creatures such as we, Lynnea Glasser (2014)

Confession: I don’t remember much details about this game. A few scenes, a few ideas… not much more. But I do remember that it made a big impact on me. It sold me on choice-based games. So I can’t explain why, but you do have to play it. I too plan to revisit it.

Curses!, Graham Nelson (1993)

Five years ago, I explicitly said that I would not put a game like Curses! on my list, it being far too difficult. Well, here it is. I made a valiant attempt at solving it without help last year, and although I did not finish it, I came far and enjoyed in immensely. One day, one day I will return and solve it for good.

Dead Man’s Fiesta, Ed Sibley (2018)

I’ve agonised about this choice, because there were a few games from last year’s IF Comp that were really good but just didn’t get the love they deserved. Dead Man’s Fiesta is one of them, and the one which I ultimately chose to put in this list. It’s a subtle meditation on loss and the lack of meaning in life, without for a moment becoming angsty or dark. Recommended.

Eat Me, Chandler Groover (2017)

Brilliant writing, perfect puzzle and environment design. But what really makes this work is the fantastically twisted, deeply ambivalent portrayal of need. A game that grosses you out and makes you hungry at the same time must be revealing something real about what it is to be human.

Hollywood Visionary, Aaron Reed (2015)

I haven’t played many of the Choice of Games games – only some of the very first ones – but if they’re anything like Hollywood Visionary I should certainly do so. You’re doing your damned best to make a movie while trying to survive the red scare. A gripping story, tons of choice, and social commentary, all wrapped up into one lovely package.

Horse Master, Tom McHenry (2013)

Grotesque and weird, but ultimately a fantastic exploration of the nature of ambition and the desire for a success that leaves nothing more to be desired.

Junior Arithmancer, Mike Spivey (2018)

If you don’t like math puzzles, steer clear of this little animal. If you do, prepare to enjoy yourself as much as I did.

Make it Good, John Ingold (2009)

Many have been the attempts to adapt the detective genre to interactive fiction; few have been the successes. Last year’s Erstwhile was one of those successes. But Make it Good is, for me, in a different league. It’s a hard puzzle game, but those puzzles are worth solving. Prepare to be surprised as the mystery slowly unfolds.

Mentula Macanus: Apocolocyntosis, Adam Thornton (2011)

It may look like the least promising of premises: lead the pornographic hero Stiffy Makane through the Roman world. But Thornton has learned a thing or two from Joyce and Pynchon, and manages to successfully mix low and high registers in a way unparalleled in interactive fiction. There may be dick jokes, but they are at same time jokes about T. S. Eliot and Virgil. Inspired me to a tribute game, so no surprise that it ends up on this list.

Photopia, Adam Cadre (1998)

Sure, we can no longer experience it as the revolutionary piece it used to be. But Photopia remains a very good exploration of theme of the influence that people have on each other and stories have on us.

Savoir-Faire, Emily Short (2002)

A fantastic puzzle game that makes the most out of its central puzzle mechanic of linking like to like. Very difficult. Amazingly complex world model.

Slouching Towards Bedlam, Star Foster and Daniel Ravipinto (2003)

An expertly told tale of mystery and revelations, with multiple endings that perfectly fit.

Sorcery! 2, Steve Jackson and inkle (2013)

I liked Sorcery!, but it didn’t blow me away. Part 2 did blow me away. I never suspected that a gamebook structure could lead to a game as great as this. Fantastic setting, brilliant encounters, very smart structuring. Part 3 didn’t grip me as much, but perhaps I played it too soon after gorging myself on part 2 – I certainly plan to play 3 and 4 in the future.

Spider and Web, Andrew Plotkin (1998)

The central conceit is brilliant. And, yes, there is that particular puzzle.

Superluminal Vagrant Twin, C. E. J. Pacian (2016)

Should this even work? I don’t know, but it does work. Hopping around the galaxy, discovering new planets and new ways of making money, is just a gigantic amount of fun. Doesn’t aspire to the greatest heights, but achieves what it sets out to.

The King of Shreds and Patches, Jimmy Maher (2009)

I don’t even like Lovecraftian horror. But here is the second game in the genre to make this list. And a brilliant game it is, set in a lovingly evoked Shakespearean London, paced very well indeed and filled with puzzles that are fair and fun at the same time. Quite accessible, even to those who don’t play much puzzly parser IF.

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I made a mistake and submitted 24 instead of 20 games. It seems nobody noticed. Oops. Sorry.

I removed the following games from my list, so the votes can be revoked from the spreadsheet:

Anchorhead
Being Andrew Plotkin
Glowglass
Kaged

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Like everyone else, I guess (apart from Brian Rushton, who has played everything) this is massively skewed by my own limited knowledge of the catalogue and by some odd blind spots (for instance, I’ve never, to my shame, played 80 Days). It’s amazing actually to see just how much there is, and just how good it is.

Anchorhead Michael Gentry
A fantastically successful creation of atmosphere and story. Should really be totally not my thing, but I was hooked by it from beginning to end. Massively ambitious, meticulously crafted.

All Things Devours Half Sick of Shadows
OK, this is far from perfect in some ways: but it is also an absolutely perfect example of a particular kind of puzzle game (where Spider & Web I think is the other example) which depends on grasping and then meticulously implementing a particular mechanic, so that when you “get it” you just get it.

The Baron Victor Gijsbers
One of the most terrifyingly effective pieces I know. In terms of emotional manipulation, and general shock value, it’s up there with Chandler Groover’s grisly Taghairm (which doesn’t make my list); but the Baron clearly surpasses it for the sly way in which it manipulates expectations, and for the slow and ghastly way in which it reveals itself.

Birdland Brendan Patrick Hennessy
The alphabet here takes us from somewhere very dark to sunny uplands. It’s got such a wonderful voice, such perfect characterisation, and is so very much it’s own wonderful thing. In it’s way, its virtues are those of Anchorhead: it just creates a sense of place and character and atmosphere which really touched me.

Coming Out Simulator Nicky Case
I’d say this is a “personal favourite” rather than a massive technical or artistic achievement. It has, for me, a good deal of emotional truth about it, and it is presented (with the interface, the pictures, and so forth) in a distinctive and slick way.

Counterfeit Monkey Emily Short
For me Counterfeit Monkey and Hadean Lands represent in their different ways virtuoso examples of how “puzzle” and fantasy can be combined with narrative or … more perhaps than combined, in which narrative can be secreted in the interstices of puzzle. There are things about Counterfeit Monkey that I don’t much care for (I find it emotionally a bit hollow — too slick, too controlled, not raw enough for my taste), but it engrossed me.

Endless, Nameless Adam Cadre
A bitter and clever game, which functions as a carefully concealed (and in many ways withering) commentary on IF, its development, and the IF community, but which is in its own way quite brilliant.

First Draft of the Revolution Emily Short, Liza Daly
I like this because it’s an experiment in form and narrative, within a narrow compass, which achieves exactly what it sets out to achieve. Like Coming Out Simulator it is a one-off: you couldn’t really make a genre out of this format. But it is exploring a way of thinking about choice-based IF which ran distinctively counter to the prevailing approach.

Gun Mute CEJ Pacian
A lovely experiment in how to tame the parser and use it to tell a story which manages to be both fantastical and in some sense emotionally true. For me it was a toss up whether to include this or Love, Hate and the Mysterious Ocean Tower which does something similar and also (as will be obvious from some of my other choice I guess) with a matter-of-fact gay sensibility which I like.

Hadean Lands Andrew Plotkin
Up there with Counterfeit Monkey as a virtuoso display of how to turn puzzle to narrative, and in the comperhensive mastery of technical craftsmanship.

Howling Dogs Porpentine
In preparing this, I went back to play it again … and can only find dead links. Oh dear. Anyway, to my mind (as far as I can remember …) a searingly raw and strange experience, dripping with a combination of energy and raw emotion, a sort of surreal flaying, which more or less launched a minor genre but surpassed nearly all its imitators.

Invisible Parties Sam Kabo Ashwell
For me, a marvellously realised and characterised world, and a massively successful experiment in doing things differently. Another game with a one-off mechanic, which one wouldn’t really be able to implement a second time, which I really liked.

Lime Ergot Caleb Wilson
Because in its way it is unimprovable.

Make it Good Jon Ingold
Another incredible parser piece, of the sort that could only be made by someone who had spent a massive amount of time mastering the technicalities to the point that it is able to transcend them. Hugely more to this than at first sight meets the eye.

Midnight. Swordfight. Chandler Groover
I struggled to decide which Groover game(s) to include. In terms of the sheer quality of the writing, I think they are all outstanding. In the end, I chose Midnight. Swordfight simply because although I feel I should like Eat Me better (it is a “better game”), the sheer exuberant weirdness and joy of Midnight.Swordfight pleases me more.

Photopia Adam Cadre
I know this is, in a sense, now dated, and some of the bloom is off it just from exposure and from the fact that it pioneered approaches and techniques that are now commonplace. But overall I still think it stands the test of time, and it seems crazy to leave it out.

Rameses Stephen Bond
Old as it is, this remains important not just for what it did (pushing away from a certain sort of interactivity towards a certain sort of story-telling, which has found fruit more through choice-based than parser IF, I think), but for the quality of its writing and characterisation. In its way the cynical, depressive older sibling of Birdland.

Spider and Web Andrew Plotkin
A brilliant example of how a single, simple, idea can be taken and turned into something extraordinary, precisely because it is so simple. Not surprisingly, the essential narrative approach works similarly to Hadean Lands: the backstory is really the story, and the real excitement is piecing it together. Very clever, and very enjoyable.

Sub Rosa Joey Jones and Melvin Rangasamy
I am not a hugely lover of what one might call “puzzle boxes”: I prefer (generally) those games where there is either one “big thing” to figure out (Spider and Web, All things devours) or a consistent mechanic (Counterfeit Monkey, Hadean Lands), but Sub Rosa charmed me by being surreal and yet consistent in all the right ways, with a level of challenge that, for me, hit a sweet spot.

Violet Jeremy Freese
Simply for its distinctive voice.

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Don’t worry, I played it yesterday – the address has simply changed. You can find it here. I’ll update the IFDB link while I’m at it!

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Oh good grief this is difficult! Ok my list is as below. It’s hopefully chronological in order. And it doesn’t have what are the very best games by any particularly rational measure, but contains the games that meant the most to me or otherwise really resonated with me, and I think are superb examples of the craft.

Note there are many other games I admire from afar but haven’t played enough yet. Some of my choices may be a little unusual below. I also see I have quite a few games from recent years - all due to quality of late.

The Hobbit (1983) - I’d played adventures before, but this was the first one that I really “got”. I’m still wowed by the NPCs, and it’s still a stunning achievement.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1984) - again I’d played Infocom games before, but this one blew me away. Challenging puzzles, bonkers game design, and a nice story expanding on an already favourite book.

The Guild of Thieves (1987) - the best for me from Magnetic Scrolls, the first graphic adventure that wowed me, and a world that just drew me straight in.

Curses! (1993) - in a class of its own in its day, never mind a demonstration of Inform. Still a highly entertaining romp, with a huge degree of imagination, and a very satisfying player experience.

Christminster (1995) - still a classic, a great example of a university set game, that combines puzzles with plot.

All Roads (2001) - a very deserved IF Comp winner that combines Renaissance Venice with a time shifting and perspective altering plot. One of the first games to strike me as a narrative experience rather than puzzle based.

1893: A World’s Fair Mystery (2002) - so rich in detail, a delight, even to dip in to, never mind explore fully.

Lost Pig (2007) - superb player character and implementation. I’m only so far through this, but it’s a grin from start onwards, and very accessible to newbies.

The King of Shreds and Patches (2009) - disclaimer I playtested this, but it’s still the best conversion I’ve seen yet of a tabletop pen and paper roleplaying scenario, and a Lovecraftian Renaissance delight.

Guilded Youth (2012) - innovative user interface and use of a BBS style system combined with good plot makes this a memorable experience, and still a trailblazer.

Brain Guzzlers from Beyond (2015) - a wacky 50s B-movie homage, that’s funny while at the same time remarkably clever, complex (yet approachable), and enormously satisfying to play.

Midnight. Swordfight. (2015) - reminded me of All Roads a bit, in its twisting through space/time. Very evocative, original approach to IF.

Detectiveland (2016) - a deft combo of innovative graphical interface and traditional parser to present a well organised whodunnit with multiple ways of playing through.

Fair (2016) - fun recreation of a school science fair, complete with struggling author trying to sell books. Fun to play with a rich, often humorous environment, and clever handling of events / plot.

The Wizard Sniffer (2017) - had me grinning from start to finish, a marvellous Pythonesque romp that is both a puzzle fest and plot stonker, hilarious characters, and user friendly for new players as well as old pros.

Eat Me (2017) - truly grotesque in places, but I found it a delightful horror, and conjured up images in my mind that I really didn’t expect.

Will Not Let Me Go (2017) - yup that was a very strong year! Devastating Twine IF about dementia and loss. Utterly devastating, but so powerful, and so clever in its design.

The Master of the Land (2018) - stunning Twine historical fantasy using a clever interface to include mapping and moving about, as well as interacting with NPCs and driving plot.

Death by PowerPoint (2018) - as an academic who’s been to many conferences, and given PowerPoint presentations, this one is horribly close to my reality. Things spiral out from that, and it’s a great piece of IF.

The Missing Ring (2019) - great example of how to do a mystery game, how to do great NPCs (and PC), and all packaged up in a rich Twine-based interface.

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Thanks! The spreadsheet is once again up to date.

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I must state that my vote for Sorcery! was for the whole series, so better if I pick one of the four. The thing is, Sorcery 2 and 3 are just mindblowing, so yes, I think in the end I will vote for the open interdimensional world of Sorcery! 3.

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Changed!

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I’ll go with:

16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds
Counterfeit Monkey
Galatea
Gostak, The
Gun Mute
Horse Master
Lost Pig
Lurking Horror II: The Lurkening, The
PataNoir
Planescape: Torment
Photopia
Shade
Superluminal Vagrant Twin
Toby’s Nose
ULTRA BUSINESS TYCOON III
Violet
Walker & Silhouette

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My favorite games so far.

Counterfeit Monkey
Anchorhead
Lost Pig
Superluminal Vagrant Twin
Gateway
Slouching Towards Bedlam
Babel
Theatre
The King of Shreds and Patches
Absence of Law
Kerkekruip
Dual Transform
The Shadows in the Cathedral
Elysium Enigma
Beyond

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In a few days I’m going to think of something I’ve forgotten to include, and then I’ll feel bad for the omission. So, my apologies up front! But here we go, ordered by year of release:

Trinity by Brian Moriarty, 1986

For its thematical coherence, the map with its large-scale geometrical features, and the multitude of innovative puzzles that go beyond mere fetch quests. Heavy subject matter, delightfully presented.

Anchorhead by Michael Gentry, 1998

For its captivating atmosphere, and for the way its story emerges from a set of well-crafted, interlocking puzzles. A large game that keeps the momentum going throughout.

Photopia by Adam Cadre, 1998

For the emotional impact of that skillfully engineered moment, when the shards of the broken timeline suddenly come together and you see the full picture.

For A Change by Dan Schmidt, 1999

For the wacky language, with its consistent tone, and all the charming little details, from the murmuring songlantern to the toolman, bright and misty.

Varicella by Adam Cadre, 1999

For the groundbreaking puzzle design that spawned a subgenre, but also for the evocative and vividly described setting and memorable characters.

Dreamhold by Andrew Plotkin, 2004

For the map with large-scale geometrical features, the competently crafted puzzles, and the conveyed sense of being locked inside a part-mechanical, part-magical contraption.

Foo Foo by Buster Hudson, 2006

For its adeptly constructed plot that twists and unfolds gradually as new puzzles are encountered, and for its ingeniously foreshadowing references to Veeder canon.

Lost Pig by Admiral Jota, 2007

For its verbal humour, its fresh take on the hero’s-journey plot, and its sympathetic characters that make you want to start over and experience the story again.

Violet by Jeremy Freese, 2008

For the engaging and sympathetic portrayal of an easily-distracted protagonist, and for the skillfully written NPC who really comes alive despite being absent the entire time.

Warbler’s Nest by Jason McIntosh, 2010

For the environment-driven storytelling and the gradual realization that something is horribly, horribly wrong, except that it’s right and good from the point of view of you, the player character.

Taco Fiction by Ryan Veeder, 2011

For the entertaining plot and relatable characters, and for the brilliantly written descriptions where nothing is what it first appears to be.

Ollie Ollie Oxen Free by Carolyn VanEseltine, 2013

For the way in which it builds towards a big narrative reveal, but distracts you with puzzles so you don’t see it coming.

Ascent of the Gothic Tower by Ryan Veeder, 2014

For the contemplative, introverted mood, and the sharp, minimalistic writing that takes a bare-bones plot and makes it look good naked.

Eat Me by Chandler Groover, 2017

For the lush, polished writing that revives an oldschool interface (cardinal directions and a single destructive verb for the fire button) and transforms it into an amazing fairy tale of delicious horror and beauty.

Wizard Sniffer by Buster Hudson, 2017

For the cleverly designed puzzle structure, where a single, improbable verb is employed indirectly, sometimes doubly so, to achieve a multitude of actions; and for the surprisingly multi-layered narrative where the comedy is gradually peeled off to reveal a serious underpinning.

Alias: ‘The Magpie’ by J. J. Guest, 2018

For its top-notch writing that delivers over-the-top caricatures that you genuinely feel for, which is remarkable, and perfectly-timed interactive slapstick, which is impossible, in the form of a convoluted but fair puzzlefest filled to the brim with wit and sparkle.

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A list of 20:

Photopia
Always will be at the top

Rameses
I’ve always liked the IF that takes the format’s conventions and plays around with them. Straightforward, and challenging.

Hadean Lands
There’s a distinct midpoint, where it takes all the little shards of knowledge you’ve painstakingly collected and shatters them to the wind. You spend the rest of the game re-building something stronger.

Floatpoint 2006
The setting and the world that it allows you to explore as a diplomat, and a real dilemma that’s more than an angel and devil on each shoulder.

Coloratura
Otherworldly, cool viewpoint/mechanic, with a lurking horror if you look at it from the other side.

Lost Pig
Just fun. Fun responses to everything.

Spider and Web
Y’know

Suveh Nux
One room, Satisfying to solve.

Sunset Over Savannah 1997
A slice of life. A different type of adventure.

Superluminal Vagrant Twin
There was like this one planet with this one alien near the edge of the galaxy. With so few verbs, not even an examine, how does it do so much?

The Edifice
The 2nd level puzzle? It made me so happy.

Queers in Love at The End of the World 2013
A final grasp, when nothing matters. When everything matters.

With Those We Love Alive 2014
What can you do with text? You can lock people up, rattle them out of their complacency.

Open Sorcery 2016
Bristling with inventive energy. Systemically magical.

Textfire Golf 2001
I’ve replayed this more than anything else on this list. There’s actual strategy involved, but then it manages to weave in a reactive story to it all?

The Arboretum 2014
If you’ve ever thought “interactive fiction should be interactive” than this will absolutely frustrate you. But it’s a story about love where the words matter, the way they’re placed and paced matters, and where choice matters. To you.

Take 2016
Lots of thought. Precise.

Writers are Not Strangers 2018
Personally resonant.

The Wizard Sniffer 2017
Extremely well constructed.

The Wand 2017
Focused, pure puzzle design.

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With apologies to the authors of the many fine works I am yet to read, and in no particular order:

Reliques of Tolti-Aph Graham Nelson 2006
A wistfully tongue-in-cheek nostalgia-fest reimagining as text-adventure the pre-digital world of pencil/paper/dice/board role-playing. Surprisingly controversial, considering that ROTA’s many ‘deprecated’ game mechanics lie at the heart of several hugely popular genres to which it pays homage. Approached with the right mind-set, a thoughtfully balanced and innovative hybrid between rogue-like gaming and conventional parser IF, leavened throughout by Graham Nelson’s ever-enjoyable prose.

Curses! Graham Nelson 1993
At turns quirky and rambling, inventive and erudite but always finely-written with humour and deft economy of style. In its way, Curses! occupied a place in the early community-authored phase of IF that Colossal Cave did in the preceding commercial era. Less coherent or innovative than the best work that came after, but this quintessential unforgiving puzzle-fest was an utter revelation at the time and remains strong enough to stand on its own merits in the face of all later imitation.

The Edifice Lucian Smith 1997
The language puzzle- my all-time favourite.

For a Change Dan Schmidt 1999
“The sun has gone. It must be brought. You have a rock.” Beautiful, whimsical syntactical subversion underpinned by gentle, fun puzzles in a dreamlike landscape.

She’s Got A Thing For a Spring Brent Van Fossen 1997
Gentle puzzle-based game whose tasks are satisfyingly interwoven with the richly-described mountain wilderness setting and a likeable well-developed NPC. Evokes a charming sense of place, showing deference to the setting and devoid of fantastical elements.

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My answer to this got so long-winded that I made it into a blog post ( https://emshort.blog/2019/07/14/a-top-20-list-of-if/ ), in which I explain a lot about the selection criteria I used this time and why they ruled various things in or out.

The shorter version of the list, condensed here:

With Those We Love Alive
80 Days
Make It Good
Reigns: Her Majesty
Hadean Lands
Birdland
Invisible Parties
18 Cadence
Human Errors
The Reprover
Bogeyman
Everybody Dies
Solarium
Horse Master
Harmonic Time-Bind Ritual Symphony
Will Not Let Me Go
Fabricationist DeWit Remakes the World
Endless, Nameless
Mentula Macanus

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Here’s my list, with very brief reviews. I was writing longer explanations, but I rambled so much in some of them that I should probably just collect my thoughts and post them as reviews on IFDb.

I’m sticking with games I’ve completed and can vouch for. There’s a lot of games which I’m sure I’d love which would be on this list if I’d played them by now, but I haven’t, so they aren’t. Sorry.

Adventurer’s Consumer Guide (Øyvind Thorsby, 2007)
Maybe the funniest IF I’ve ever played, and some very clever puzzles requiring creative inventory use.

A Beauty Cold and Austere (Mike Spivey, 2017)
Excellent puzzlefest built around a geniune and infectious interest in mathematics.

Bronze (Emily Short, 2006)
The best of the beginner-oriented IFs (that I’ve played), with great writing and nice quality-of-life features.

Child’s Play (Stephen Granade, 2006)
Another contender for funniest game. Manages to go as far as possible with its narration gimmick without becoming annoying, which is an incredible feat of writing.

Curses! (Graham Nelson, 1993)
Some very clever puzzles (I love the Royal Palace puzzle), and a relentless and genuine interest in history and archaeology.

DEVOTIONALIA (G. Grimoire, 2018)
Weird horror with the xenophobia stripped out and replaced with love for an absentee god. Thought-provoking, deeply melancholy, and such a pretty Twine layout.

Eat Me (Chandler Groover, 2017)
Food gorn. Sumptious writing, horrific-yet-delicious imagery, and the puzzles are pretty neat too.

Fourdiopolis (Andrew Schultz, 2016)
See Threediopolis below.

The Game Formerly Known as Hidden Nazi Mode (Victor Gijsbers, 2010)
Asks questions I’d never considered about electronic media. Best use of feelies in IF to my knowledge. Somehow more unsettling than many horror games.

The Gostak (Carl Muckenhoupt, 2001)
Very very difficult language puzzler. Commits wholly to its gameplay idea in a way that I deeply admire.

Harmonia (Liza Daly, 2017)
Beautiful layout, great and playful use of marginalia to express asides and build characters.

Junior Arithmancer (Mike Spivey, 2018)
What could almost have been just pen and paper puzzles is elevated by quality-of-life features, a few smart meta-puzzles, and a very recognisable backstory about tensions in higher education.

Spider and Web (Andrew Plotkin, 1998)
For The Puzzle, of course, but also for its fascinating main antagonist, deftness of writing, and very very smart use of the narrator. My favourite IF of all time so far.

Suveh Nux (David Fisher, 2007)
Tightly designed escape-the-room game which rewards playfulness and which just plain feels great to figure out.

Threediopolis (Andrew Schultz, 2013)
Clever clever gimmick, which remains challenging and logical even when you figure out what’s going on. I’ve put both this and Fourdiopolis on my list because I just love this kind of thing so much and it’s my dang list and I can do what I want with it.

The Wand (Arthur DiBianca, 2017)
Limited-parser puzzler with a great gimmick and an incredibly deep and challenging post-game.

Will Not Let Me Go (Stephen Granade, 2017)
Brilliant use of the Twine medium to guide or disorient as needed. Ruined my day after reading it.

The Wizard Sniffer (Buster Hudson, 2017)
Well-designed, very funny puzzler. I actually think this won Best Individual Puzzle for the wrong puzzle - the final puzzle letting you test your understanding of what the game’s twist is is unimprovable.

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I can’t pass judgement on The Best, there are many undoubtedly fine games that I have yet to complete and many more I’ve yet to begin. But here are 20 games that I have played and think deserve a place somewhere in a Top 50:

Six - Wade Clarke
About as perfectly formed a small parser game can be. Elegantly conceived and implemented, and one of the few IFs with a New Game+ option.

Kerkerkruip - Victor Gijsbers
Best combat puzzle game in text I’ve played. Crunchy and satisfying.

Everybody Dies - Jim Munroe
Rich, intertwined story with lush illustrations a nice bonus.

Hana Feels - Gavin Inglis
Empathetic work about a real issue, very well written.

Cactus Blue Hotel - Astrid Dalmady
The atmosphere with this one really stayed with me.

Anchorhead - Mike Gentry
It’s massive and expansive and genuinely creepy, but most of all works as a scene driven narrative puzzler.

Creatures Such As We - Lynnea Glasser
Some of the best dialogue I’ve ever played through. You can have genuine philosophical conversations in it.

Lost Pig - Admiral Jota
Gold standard for interactivity in user responses and consistent narrative voice.

Cragne Manor - Everyone under the sun
Probably shouldn’t nominate this as I wrote one room and puzzle sequence (near the end which most players would have to play for ten hours before getting to)… but it’s simply an incredible monument of solid meta-design and a wealth of talent.

A Beauty Cold & Austere - Mike Spivey
Solid edutainment. I learned some maths in this game and liked it.

Patanoir - Simon Christiansen
Great concept for a game, skilfully executed. Could only work in text.

Choice of Robots - Kevin Gold
I think the prose is a bit weak in places but as a truly interactive cybertext, you would be hard pressed to find anything else with this depth and breadth of possibility.

Superliminal Vagrant Twin - CEJ Pacian
Ambitious, broad but shallow exploration trading sci fi game. Excellent constrained implementation.

With Those We Love Alive - Porpentine, Brenda Neotenomie
Rich fantasy which takes the interaction out of the game and onto the players own body.

Brain Guzzlers From Beyond - Cherry Stephwell
Like a Lucas Arts adventure game in text. Well plotted, zany puzzle game with charming characters.

Hunger Daemon - Sean M Shore
Great example of comedy done well in a game with excellent use of flashbacks.

Bee - Emily Short
Hard to pick one best game here, but Bee has the most memorable player character and the seasonal game structure works really well with the (unfortunately defunct) format.

Raik - Harry Giles
Clever format where two settings that you swap between have the same underlying structure. A game long analogy with Scots language.

Secret Agent Cinder - Emily Ryan
Illustrated revolutionary mashup about breaking into a ball and ending the aristocracy.

Human Errors - Katherine Morayati
This game transports you to an almost plausible feeling future with a very novel interface perfect for the set up.

38

This list is a pure expression of my soul:

500 Apocalypses
80 Days
Bee
Bill Belichick Offseason Simulator
Cactus Blue Motel
Can You Survive Seeing ‘Grease’ On Broadway?
Fabricationist DeWit Remakes the World
Galatea
Horse Master
Human Errors
i love gardening
Laid Off from the Synesthesia Factory
:heart: Magical Makeover :heart:
Midnight. Swordfight.
SPY INTRIGUE
Skulljhabit
Stone Harbor
Swan Hill
Voyageur
With Those We Love Alive

themes: great jokes, unabashed cuteness, intricate design, heightened reality, expansive sci-fi, that good queer shit, gardening

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39

And my 20th pick is SPY INTRIGUE. Reasons at https://emshort.blog/2019/07/16/the-twentieth-entry/ .

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40

It’s so hard picking a top 20. There are games that I greatly enjoyed that aren’t on the list below, and there are games that I haven’t played yet that I suspect would otherwise be on the list. That said, here are 20 games that engaged, inspired, or wowed me in some deep way.

80 Days (Inkle and Meg Jayanth)
An engaging steampunk take on the classic Jules Verne novel. Interesting stories and a combinatorial explosion of route possibilities made for a game that I wanted to play again and again.

Aisle (Sam Barlow)
A deceptively simple one-move game. There’s a lot more here about memory and the narratives we use to make sense of our lives than appears at first.

Alias ‘The Magpie’ (Jason Guest)
Writing a good comedy is harder than it looks, and this is one of the best I’ve ever played.

All Hope Abandon (Eric Eve)
I love the imagery in this game, a journey through hell informed by a deep knowledge of New Testament scholarship.

Anchorhead (Michael Gentry)
Deep, engaging story with puzzles integrated seamlessly into the gameplay. Anchorhead is about as close as I’ve seen to my Platonic ideal of IF.

Bogeyman (Elizabeth Smyth)
Powerful and brutal, this game elicited the strongest emotional reaction I’ve ever had to a work of IF.

Cannery Vale (Hanon Ondricek)
A haunting, layered work about the relationship between authors, their writing, and the writing process.

Counterfeit Monkey (Emily Short)
Not only is this ambitious wordplay game astonishingly well-executed, the wordplay is also integrated naturally into an interesting story and setting.

Curses! (Graham Nelson)
An intelligent, wide-ranging puzzlefest. I first played this game in 2017, and it pulled me into the modern IF community.

I.A.G. Alpha (Serhii Mozhaiskyi)
The end of the story could be fleshed out a bit more, but this game’s meta move is simple, fundamental, and brilliant.

Illuminismo Iniziato (Michael Coyne)
Well-designed and incredibly funny. I played this game shortly after having oral surgery, and I laughed so hard I was afraid I would pop a stitch.

Kerkerkruip (Victor Gijsbers)
I’m still in awe of an IF roguelike that’s this good.

Lost Pig (Admiral Jota)
Responsive, funny, and engaging, with a noteworthy voice and well-drawn characters.

Spellbreaker (Dave Lebling)
Features fiendishly-difficult but well-designed puzzles, plus an emotionally-satisfying ending to Infocom’s excellent Enchanter series.

Spider and Web (Andrew Plotkin)
Superbly-told story that’s tailor-made for the IF medium. Continued to surprise and wow me even after “The Puzzle.”

Superluminal Vagrant Twin (C.E.J. Pacian)
Well-designed, varied, and just sheer fun to play.

Trinity (Brian Moriarty)
Classic, ambitious puzzlefest that explores the history and consequences of the atomic bomb. Features a puzzle (the Klein arbor) that became the template for the puzzle design in the first IF I wrote. In my opinion, Infocom’s best game.

The Wand (Arthur DiBianca)
Features a simple puzzle mechanic that, thanks to some combinatorial explosion, nevertheless allows for a wide variety of challenges. Starts off simply but slowly reveals more and more complex layers. My favorite IF puzzle game.

The Wizard Sniffer (Buster Hudson)
Well-designed and very funny, with more of an emotional heft than you normally see in comedy.

Zork I (Marc Blank and Dave Lebling)
Thirty-five years later I can still recall the mind-blowing joy of encountering this game for the first time. A story that you could affect with your choices? Absolutely amazing. Plus the game’s innovations, such as an antagonist whose help you need, a vehicle that you can ride between locations, an environment that responds in some ways to your actions, and a sophisticated parser.

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