Inform

Dust

Chandler Groover

Master Bryce is throwing a party. As his most faithful servant, that means it's your job to make the party run smoothly. But you only have two hands—and far too many duties. You'll have to manage requests from the guests, the master's eccentric demands, and your own composure. All the other staff have quit, unwilling to entertain the master's "moods," but you've served Wyatt Manor for decades; what's one more evening?

A comedy of errors, mild frustrations, and major workplace-safety violations. With limited actions and a limited inventory, juggle hors d'oeuvres, flaming curtains, and radioactive elements—and keep the drinks coming!

The Bat

When you discover that your family has been invaded by faeries, there is only one thing to do: take names, and kick...well, actually, just take names.

Faery: Swapped

Ryan Veeder

A short game taking place soon after The Little Match Girl 4: Crown of Pearls.

The Little Match Girl against the Universal Sisterhood of Naughty Little Girls

The little match girl goes on a spooky adventure with her friend (a crow).

The Little Match Girl and Her Friend, the Crow

Ben Kirwin

Today has been an extraordinarily long day. You picked up the keys to your new apartment in the morning, you went shopping for furniture in the afternoon, and you've spent the evening putting it together.

And you're almost finished -- there's one box left.

ASSEMBLY is a story of magic and adventure. Can you assemble a small table? Can you save the world from the vengeance of ancient gods?

Assembly

SV Linwood

Join esteemed mad scientist Dr Ludwig as he faces the greatest challenge of his nefarious career: making a deal with the Devil and coming out on top.

Research demonology! Read legal documents! Face off against the world's least effective torch and pitchfork-wielding mob! All this and more!

Dr Ludwig and the Devil

In The Little Match Girl 4 by Hans Christian Andersen, a prince has been born, and the titular little match girl must assemble the subtitular Crown of Pearls.

The Little Match Girl 4: Crown of Pearls

Arthur DiBianca

A light dungeon crawl. Tap spell gems to defeat monsters!

The Vambrace of Destiny

The little match girl plays a magical flute.

How the Little Match Girl Met the Queen of Vampires

Drew Cook

Explore an all-new "critical edition" of a 1996 Inform 5 game about mental illness, magic, and the second law of thermodynamics.

Repeat the Ending

The little match girl acquires a Colt Paterson revolver and teaches a virtue to a goblin.

How the Little Match Girl Got Her Colt Paterson Revolver, and Taught a Virtue to a Goblin

"The Snow Queen controls her servants with Shards from the Mirror of Belial," Ebenezer Scrooge explained.

The Little Match Girl 3: The Escalus Manifold

The little match girl is hired to assassinate a disgusting old man.

The Little Match Girl 2: Annus Evertens

Amanda Walker

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall,” you say dreamily, gazing into its sparkling surface…

“You know,” replies the mirror, “I can do a lot more than just reflect fair faces. O, how I long to leap off this wall! I want to meet princesses, witches, and wolves … to win a throne and become a hero! What say you?”

Well, what say you, adventurer?

Fairest

In The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen, a little girl is forced to sell matches on the street in the cold of New Year's Eve.

The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Andersen

B.J. Best

You haven't been over since she told you a month ago that she was moving to some small town in Wisconsin. But Riley is here, and the computer is here, and that's what matters for now. "Have you played the game yet?"

"You told me to wait to play it with you about a billion times," she says.

A work of interactive fiction by B.J. Best.

And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One

Six bees. Five bags of groceries. A four-pound dumbbell. Three sailboats. One twin.

Sting is a puzzleless parser memoir about ordinary days and unexpected interruptions.

Sting

"Magic comes with a price. But on your birthday, all your expenses are paid. Welcome to Grooverland."

Grooverland is a large parser game that takes over two hours to complete. It is based on the works of author and programmer Chandler Groover, although it does not require previous knowledge of his games to play.

Grooverland

In a world of arcane mysteries, a young doctor's apprentice unravels a conspiracy most grim.

The Weight of a Soul is a mystery-horror interactive novel inspired by IF classics like Blue Lacuna and Anchorhead.

The Weight of a Soul

The fourth one in a series of anthologies of unbelievable terror, edited by Ryan Veeder.

Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone

An account of the disastrous sidewalk chalk tournament of August 27, 2011.

A Rope of Chalk

ub4q

Four cardboard boxes stacked in the centre of a bare office. You can't leave til they're all unpacked, and there's an awful lot to unpack here, including emotional baggage, academic misconduct, and a blood feud spanning centuries.

Academic Pursuits (As Opposed to Regular Pursuits)

Arno von Borries

At some point, going back would have been inevitable anyway. And why should I not have been allowed a bit of rest? After all, no one could say I hadn't tried to run. But when you're running, you need to stop eventually, or else you risk running into people.

For a Place by the Putrid Sea

Ilmur Eggert

Isaac Newton receives a mysterious letter inviting him to investigate a new scientific phenomenon.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Lance Campbell

The only thing worse than being a village idiot is being an unemployed village idiot. Maybe it’s time to change careers. Maybe it’s time to be a knight.

Stuff of Legend

A millionaire guards a fabulous ruby in her private train car. Countless thieves have failed to steal it. But they weren't the Magpie!

The Magpie Takes the Train

The memoir of a demonic spy in the Cold War between Heaven and Hell.

Vain Empires

The first Taleframe game based on the 90s children's horror soap opera.

Crocodracula: The Beginning

It's been over a year since you were last home, and now it's time to finally clear out those last few things, and the memories they bring back.

Moving On

The black gate at the east end of the schoolyard is closed, locked. The After School Program does not relinquish its warriors willingly.

Here is where the mud is thinnest on the ground, and in some places the painted lines of the kickball diamond are visible.

A text adventure by Ryan Veeder.

Mud Warriors

Sam Kabo Ashwell

Cat Manning

Yoon Ha Lee

Caleb Wilson

An interactive fiction about perfume, memory and new meanings, with heavy use of procedural generation.

Scents & Semiosis

Mike Spivey

With a loud "click," the door closes behind you. Finally! You are locked inside an antebellum Southern mansion, alone, wearing only a chicken costume. You've fantasized about this moment for years.

Sugarlawn is a timed treasure hunt game where the goal is to collect as much cash as possible via the valuables you pick up.

Sugarlawn

Relax at the Jewel Pond Recreation Area with Ryan Veeder as your guide.

Ryan Veeder's Authentic Fly Fishing

Jenni Polodna

Cragne Manor is an 'exquisite corpse' text adventure commemorating the twentieth anniversary of Michael Gentry's Anchorhead, in which each of its 84 rooms was created by a different author.

Cragne Manor

Junior Arithmancer

J. J. Guest

Alias 'The Magpie' is a parser interactive fiction game, or text adventure. There are no graphics! You play as Sir Rodney Playfair, alias the 'Magpie', typing commands to decide what he does next!

Alias 'The Magpie'

In this castle, you'll eat or be eaten. May contain dairy, carnage, puzzles, nuts.

Eat Me

Buster Hudson

You were recently acquired by the brave Ser Leonhart and his squire to sniff out the evil shapeshifting wizard. Unfortunately, you are not a wizard sniffer (if such a thing even exists). As far as you can tell, you are an ordinary pig.

The Wizard Sniffer

Left/Right is a short, experimental parser-based text adventure about fate, created for The 2017 Spring Thing Festival of Interactive Fiction.

Left/Right

An accurate recounting of recent kitten-related events.

Don't Eat the Cactus

Katherine Morayati

You are battle-weary. Your armor is scanty and your countenance is loathsome; you tire of the swords flicking at your neck. But you have a duty. There is nothing you can't take.

A game written by Katherine Morayati (as Amelia Pinnolla) for the 2016 Interactive Fiction Competition.

Take

Hanon Ondricek

As the most famous self-published Science Fiction author residing in Hillview, you are eminently qualified to judge their annual Elementary School Science Fair.

Fair

Your friend Mike thinks no one can infiltrate THE FACILITY, but you're going to prove him wrong. A game written by Arthur DiBianca for the Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

Inside the Facility

Your mirror never lies. A game written by Chandler Groover for the 2016 Interactive Fiction Competition.

Mirror and Queen

Worldsmith is an exciting, immersive text game. Type in commands and explore the World, solve puzzles, talk to people and play the Game of Worlds. In Worldsmith, you control the story.

With over 150,000 words of text, Worldsmith is a full, novel length, Interactive Fable.

As you explore the world of the Septem Tower, you will create solar systems and Life, unearth ancient mysteries, and discover the secrets behind the Tower and its billion year mission.

Worldsmith is an Interactive Fable and is part novel, part adventure, part puzzle and part strategy game.

Worldsmith

A piece of interactive fiction written by Chandler Groover, where you play the magician Morgan the Magnificent.

Three-Card Trick

Someone's been bopping the field mice on the head, and only Good Fairy, Senior Detective can find out who. A parser-driven noir adventure based on the interactive fiction of Ryan Veeder.

Foo Foo

C.E.J. Pacian

Ply the spaceways. Make five million credits. Buy back your twin. A space sim in the form of interactive fiction, written by C.E.J. Pacian.

Superluminal Vagrant Twin

sub-Q Magazine

What Fuwa Bansaku Found

The last two officers of a tropical colonial outpost wait for evacuation.

Lime Ergot

Open That Vein is a Parser-based horror text adventure and a La Petite Mort entry in ECTOCOMP 2015.

Open That Vein

Alex Butterfield

You burnt some toast, which set off your smoke alarm and called the fire department. If there's not a fire when they arrive, you can expect a hefty fine.

5 Minutes to Burn Something!

Steph Cherrywell

A game written by Steph Cherrywell for the 21st Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

Brain Guzzlers from Beyond!

Jack Whitham

Final Exam takes place in the near future after an AI revolution has led to the establishment of a new sort of government. You are seeking a job within this government: your performance in the “final exam” determines the outcome. You wake up on the day of your exam to find that your world has unexpectedly changed. You leave your room to seek answers, and find the Administration Centre deserted... 
 
A game written by Jack Whitham for the 21st Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

Final Exam

A game written by Arno von Borries for the 21st Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

Gotomomi

A game written by Arthur DiBianca for the 21st Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

Grandma Bethlinda's Variety Box

Joey Jones

Melvin Rangasamy

A puzzle game about secrets in the Age of Lead. You've spent seventeen years preparing for an infiltration. Stealing the Confessor's secrets is only the beginning: it will all be for nothing if you leave a trace.

Sub Rosa

You are starting your IT internship. The details you got from the university are scarce: just the address and the date (today).

Byod

Adam Cadre

If you’ve never played interactive fiction before, or have poked at a few games but didn’t feel like you really knew what you were doing, start here.

A short text adventure guided towards helping newcomers to the genre understand the rules and nature of IF.

Tutorial

18 Rooms to Home is an experimental work of interactive fiction. It’s a day in the life of Yesenia Reed, whose life is far from ordinary, no matter what she might prefer.

18 Rooms to Home

A murder most foul has been committed and Sherlock Holmes is on the case. You are his dog.

Toby's Nose

Down, the Serpent and the Sun is a piece of Interactive Fiction written by Chandler Groover.

Down, the Serpent and the Sun

A story of mild and non-debilitating obsession.

The Ascent of the Gothic Tower

Eyes can see, and a mind can think. Insanity is just one step away. You are in a room. That's where you are, and you know exactly what is going on. But the truth is hard to take.

Enigma

Emily Short

Nvidia

Ultimate Quest: Journey to the Far Side of Possible is an interactive tweet-based text adventure by internationally renowned interactive fiction author Emily Short and featuring illustrations by Silvio Aebischer.

Ultimate Quest: Journey to the Far Side of Possible

An interactive tale of strange conspiracy.

Pull up your hood, lower your gaze and enter the city of Zendon. If you can gather enough information, you may just be able to change the course of history.

(Weird City Interloper is a shallow but broad conversation game.)

Weird City Interloper

Hugo Labrande

A game written by Hugo Labrande for the 21st Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

Life on Mars?

You should carry the bag. I'm more of a delegator.

A work of interactive fiction by Ryan Veeder.

Captain Verdeterre's Plunder

"War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children." - Jimmy Carter

A piece of Interactive Fiction written by Carolyn VanEseltine.

Ollie Ollie Oxen Free

Emily Boegheim

High school journalists spend the night in a church, investigating reports of a ghost.

A piece of interactive fiction written by Ryan Veeder and Emily Boegheim.

Robin & Orchid

Made Real Stories

Stolen away by apathetic Blind Ones, your only desire is to return to your Cellarium and the Song of the Universe. They should understand. You shall make them to understand. 
 
A piece of interactive fiction written by Lynnea Glasser.

Coloratura

Castle of the Red Prince is a small text adventure with a different perspective on how locations can work in a parser game.

Castle of the Red Prince

Andrew Plotkin

Interactive Fiction created by Andrew Plotkin as fanfic of the xkcd comic "Click and Drag".

Bigger Than You Think

Jim Munroe

You play Tony, a fourteen-year old thief who needs some help looting the legendary Oakville Manor. Luckily it’s the 1980s and finding fellow adventurers is just a modem squeal away…

Guilded Youth

You are a yet another brave adventurer set upon the quest to slay the mighty dragon that is threatening the village! Following the questing traditon, you decide to start your search for the dragon in the local tavern! What makes this quest different? It takes place on the worldz best BBS! hehehe!!! 
 
A piece of interactive fiction by Adam Cadre.

Endless, Nameless

You play as Alice Armstrong, the new Professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland, even though you've never heard of "muggles" before and never knew magic was real until the headmaster proved it to you. But when you arrive at the school, you discover that a botched spell has made everyone disappear and you're now trapped within the castle. Is this something you can fix without magic?

A work of interactive fan fiction by Flourish Klink.

Muggle Studies

You've had a long day. All you want to do is climb into bed. But why is your pillow quivering like that?

I Found a New Friend is a short text adventure in the style of the old Infocom games. It is based loosely on the They Might Be Giants song of the same name.

I Found a New Friend

Your friend has invited you over for stew. He has not bothered to procure most of the ingredients.

You've Got a Stew Going!

It's the last day of summer, and you're old enough now to go into town by yourself.

Last Day of Summer

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.

PataNoir

Playing Games is a short fantasy game about an trial of initiation in a semi-secret club.

Playing Games

Your vision clears as you gently land in an endless landscape. There is the wind, a bleak and chill thing. And there is your sense of uncertainty: You don't know which way to go. Or, maybe, which way you went.

Browser Games on Inform