Choice of Robots is a thought-provoking story about the morality of technological development, that appeals as speculative fiction and on emotional level. Easily the best Choice of Games title, in my opinion.
80 Days is also a really imaginative and immersive game that really feels like you are on the frantic globe-trotting roadtrip of a lifetime!
Here is one that hasn’t come up yet: Suzerain
This is a choice-based political sim where you control the recently elected president of a fictional eastern European country in the 1950s. You have to make decisions about the economy, media, health care, military, and social issues. It feels very reactive, and customizable. There is nothing quite like this game.
I played only the demo, but I must agree: The fact that you can let your robot play interactive fiction (with a reference to Choice of Games and Choice of Robots itself) and Civilization IV is enough for me.
The former commercial game Worldsmith is my favorite and I would be very surprised If the commercial version of Anchorhead does not come close to the 1998 free version which is amazing.
The game itself is slightly updated - I noticed one particular puzzle that’s been reworked (the genealogy one), though there might be others, and I think there’s been a general level of clean-up — plus there are some illustrations.
I really like Sherlock Mysteries. Its gameplay is almost identical to Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective board game. There are 10 cases atm. It’s available only for Android. When I found about it I felt like I found new, unknown SHCD box.
The House Abandon was one of the first pieces of IF I experienced, back when the rest of Stories Untold had yet to be released, and it definitely motivated me to seek out more of the genre.
One other slight advantage: it helps with online searches to have a unique word or combination of words in a game title. A title like “Ultimate Adventure” is likely going to return a lot of random results that aren’t that game, especially if it hasn’t had an online presence for very long.
That said, it looks like they’ve done key-wording SSO correctly as searching incorrectly for “forgotten Anne” brings up the steam page for the game as you’d want.
I do know they differ slightly - the commercial version is an update that streamlines some of the logic-leap puzzles of the original. I discovered this when I was trying to help someone with an early puzzle (I think originally to get into the real estate office you had to move a trash can, climb on it, then hook the fire-escape ladder with the umbrella and pull it down) and it was made much less complicated in the re-release; understandably since it’s an early bottleneck that might frustrate people not versed in the interactions of parser games right off the bat.)
For what it’s worth, I asked about the difference in the revised Anchorhead here. One person preferred the original because the revision simplified some puzzles. A couple people preferred the revision because the puzzles were better clued and less contrived and artificial. I went with the revision and have neither regrets nor a personal basis for comparison.
Any other recommendations for commercial text-based games that:
1.) are NOT part of a bigger company (like Choice of Games/Fallen London)-- more individually developed.
2.) That do NOT depend on graphics. I mean games that could be played without the graphics perfectly well and don’t depend on any graphical elements.
3.) Are NOT visual novels. Although these are perfectly valid as IF, they aren’t what I’m interested in.
So far from this thread I think there a few that meet these criteria:
1.) Thaumistry: In Charm’s Way by Bob Bates
2.) Hadean Lands by Andrew Plotkin
3.) Anchorhead by Michael Gentry
4.) Worldsmith by Ade McT
5.) Maybe 80 Days by Inkle, although that probably counts as a “big” company, at least comparatively.
Toying around with an idea for a Rosebush article on little independent devs/authors trying to monetize IF, so any other recs would be appreciated.
Treasures of a Slaver’s Kingdom
The Shadow in the Cathedral
Cryptozookeeper
1893: A world’s Fair Mystery
Tristam Island
Death off the Cuff
Arcadie: Second Born
No, I believe they’ve both been non-commercial for a decade or more at this point (I think Tristram Island has also gone to a name-your-own-price-including-free model now, too).
If you’re willing to accept non-text games, I guess I’d say Her Story and Virginia are my favorites. Whether these are IF is disputable.
For primarily text based IF games, I haven’t purchased much that qualifies. I did play OPUS: The Day We Found Earth a few years ago. It has an interesting way of presenting the story. I was expecting a full-fledged graphic adventure, but it’s mostly dialog boxes and a space telescope-based interface.
It’s not a groundbreaking story and at 2 hours, not worth the full price IMO (I got it during a free promotion). However, the interface is kind of neat.
Thanks for flagging though, will keep it in mind if I ever get an Android device!