Author: Ian Finley
Year: 1997
Development System: TADS
Cruelty Rating: Polite
Length of Play: 3-5 hours
My Rating: 10
Awards: Best Writing — 1997 XYZZY Awards
In 1999 I discovered the IF Archive and the first game I played was not Babel. It was Heist, by Andy Phillips. While I was terrible at it, I was impressed by the parser since the last new text adventure I had played was Bureaucracy. The second game I decided to try was Babel, and I was simply blown away.
Continue reading BabelAuthor: Emily Short
Year: 2000
Development System: Inform
Cruelty Rating: Merciful
Length of Play: 15 minutes
My Rating: 6
Awards: Best Individual NPC — 2000 XYZZY Awards
Galatea is an impressive piece of coding of an art critic interacting with a statue. Around the turn of the century there were many games that tried to create incredibly in-depth characters that would respond to anything, not to mention Scribblenauts, which tried to allow for a near infinite amount of actions. Of all in this genre I’ve tried, Galatea is the most successful at being interesting; yet, the shine wears off quickly and I stopped caring quicker than I thought possible.
Continue reading GalateaAuthor: Michael Gentry
Year: 1998
Development System: Inform
Cruelty Rating: Cruel
Length of Play: 5-10 hours
My Rating: 10
Awards: Best Setting — 1998 XYZZY Awards
My introduction to H.P. Lovecraft, and frankly, well-written horror, Anchorhead remains one of my favorite games ever made twenty years later. While the free version stands on its own, the 20th anniversary edition is well worth the ten dollar price tag on Steam if you liked the original or are a fan of thriller/horror games.
Continue reading AnchorheadAuthor: Tod Levi
Year: 1999
Development System: Inform
Cruelty Rating: Nasty
Length of Play: 3-4 hours
My Rating: 5
When I first discovered interactive fiction in the late 90’s and learned that the public now had tools to develop their own games, my first story idea was to design a game where the player controlled a cat. I gave up on the idea when I realized I had a hard time coming up with a good story with good puzzles that made sense.
Continue reading A Day For Soft FoodAuthor: Robb Sherwin
Year: 2001
Development System: Hugo
Cruelty Rating: Tough (save frequently and you’re fine)
Length Of Play: 3-4 hours
My Rating: 9
Awards: Best Writing and Best Individual NPC — 2001 XYZZY Awards
Fallacy of Dawn won the XYZZY award for best writing; if you play for five minutes and don’t immediately agree, then save yourself some headaches as this game might be the buggiest to ever win an award. If you do enjoy the writing, then you’re in for a treat that is Sherwin’s fascinating and demented brain space.
Continue reading Fallacy of DawnAuthor: Sam Barlow
Year: 1999
Development System: Inform
Cruelty Rating: Merciful
Length Of Play: One-Move Game
My Rating: 7
Awards: Best Use of Medium — 1999 XYZZY Awards
Perhaps the first serious game that would automatically end after one move. The premise is quite simple as you play an ordinary man in an ordinary supermarket who has stopped in the pasta aisle next to a woman who is also shopping. There are exactly 136 possible moves you can make that produce 136 separate endings. There is neither a puzzle nor a plot, and one would be hard pressed to say this is even a character study, as some of the endings’ portrayal of your character’s history contradict each other.
I do wish there was something more here to unravel, but as it stands this is quite a pleasant diversion thanks to the imagination and quality writing of Sam Barlow. More importantly, Aisle inspired many future authors in experimenting with the genre, including a few entertaining games that mimic this one.
I still come back and play Aisle about every five years. There’s just something about the protagonist’s world view that makes me smile.
Author: Abigail Corfman
Year: 2016
Development System: Twine (browser)
Cruelty Rating: Merciful (there is no way to die or get stuck)
Length Of Play: 5-10 minutes per playthrough
My Rating: 9
Awards: Best Puzzles — 2016 XYZZY Awards
The first Twine game I played was a fantastic introduction to the system. About twenty years ago I played Will the Real Marjorie Hopkirk Please Stand Up?, a game about trying to find 100 ways to kill 100 clones. I was enthralled by the premise and disappointed it was a demo with only five solutions. So I was thrilled to finally get to play something similar that was less intimidating and more lighthearted.
Continue reading 16 Ways to Kill A Vampire at McDonalds
Death By Troggles 