Interactive Fiction Log

I realized I was consuming more interactive fiction this year than anything else, so I decided to separate it out into a log of its own. You can find my IFDB profile here, where I'll also be keeping up with the games I play and sometimes adding more in-depth reviews than you'll find here.

Key:
one out of five stars - Didn't like, little to no redeeming qualities
two out of five stars - Just okay, nothing special
three out of five stars - Pretty good!
four out of five stars - Great! I really enjoyed it.
- A masterpiece
five hearts - A masterpiece and also one of my new favorites

title image with a bunch of logs stacked to form a makeshift hut The Witch Girls 2025 five stars An incredible piece of interactive fiction about the horrors of adolescence combined with the horrors of dark witchcraft. It has branching endings, and I kept playing until I got them all. The illustrations and music are great too.

title image with a German Shepherd in a field and heiroglyphs The Wise-Woman's Dog 2025 five hearts This game won second place in IFComp 2025 and I can absolutely see why. It's an intricate puzzle game with a unique magic system and an incredible historical fantasy world based on the Hittite Empire. It took me about five hours to get through it and figure out every puzzle, and I did it all in one sitting because I could not stop playing!

black text reading Saltwrack against a white plain of salt Saltwrack 2025 four out of stars Another one from IFComp 2025. I adore the world of this game and would love to explore it more. It's bleak yet alive. You play as an Interpreter, a post-apocalyptic scientist who sets out with a small team to find the origins of the event that wracked your planet. I felt that some of my choices should've had more impact, but that aside, I really enjoyed this well-written game.

illustration of a spaghetti monster in a Styrofoam cup Slated for Demolition 2025 five hearts Another IFComp 2025 game. This one healed me. Absolutely something you should go into knowing as little as possible and experience yourself. Do note the content warnings, though. All I'll say is you find yourself haunted by a spaghetti monster after trying to get a Slurpee, but despite how funny and light-hearted that may sound, this is a horrific and emotionally deep story.

photo of a sparse white museum gallery Gestures Towards Divinity 2023 five stars This is a contemplative piece that takes you on a virtual tour of an art gallery showing Francis Bacon's work. I've always been fascinated by Bacon's art, so I clicked on this game as soon as I saw its description. The writing is so good, and I like that it gives different perspectives on Bacon's art and the artist himself. It has great trans representation as well. Just a lovely space to be in for a while.

photo of a sparse white museum gallery you are an ancient chinese poet at the neo-orchid pavilion 2025 four out of five stars A lovely piece of historical fiction about composing a poem for the Chinese emperor, inspired by the Orchid Pavilion Gathering. I loved the setting and the various ideologies you're exposed to as you wander the grounds around the pavilion. I wish there were more choices available, but I really enjoyed the writing, themes, and overall atmosphere of this game.

photo of a sparse white museum gallery Violet 2008 four out of five stars This one was a lot of fun! A humorous slice-of-life piece where you just have to write 1,000 words of your dissertation, guided by the voice of your long-suffering girlfriend. Some of the writing didn't work for me, but for the most part I loved it. The puzzles were especially fantastic, and it's entertaining to see how bizarre things get as you progress.

distorted medical imaging photos Nihilist Syndrome 2025 five stars A five-minute story that made a lasting impact. The atmosphere in this is just incredible, and the illustrations really add to the eeriness. It's about memory, both human and digital, and I can't say much more than that for fear of spoiling it. Just play it, please!

A black and white illustration of birds flying from a tower Beautiful Dreamer 2015 two out of five stars The first of two games I played by S. Woodson, and unfortunately this one just wasn't my thing. I get that it's supposed to be dreamlike, but I got a bit of whiplash from being transported to several entirely different locations. I do think it was well-written and there were seeds of an intriguing fantasy world, but it was too disjointed to feel the kind of immersion I look for in these games.

An illustration of a fairy in pink ♥Magical Makeover♥ 2014 five stars My second S. Woodson game, and I enjoyed this one much more. It's a satirical look at the so-called "girl games" of the early 2000s, but it's also a wonderfully written unconventional fairy tale. I replayed it a few times to get several of its multiple endings. A great, funny romp through a well-built fantasy world with LGBTQ+ representation and unforgettable characters.

Anchorhead cover showing a desolate village Anchorhead 1998 five stars This was a long and rather difficult one. I had to use a guide to solve some of the more taxing puzzles, but I'm proud to say that I mostly made it through on my own. There's a lot to do in this game! Although it's a bit of a product of its time, I loved the setting, atmosphere, and characters. I'm also impressed at the sheer density of this game, the amount of writing and coding that went into it. A classic of the genre that deserves five stars.

Lunium title Lunium 2023 four out of five stars An escape room game where you're a detective trying to solve a murder, but someone (the culprit?) has locked you in a room. Your goal, of course, is to get out, but you'll also find clues leading you to solve the murder case in the process. It takes place in Victorian England, and the atmosphere and visuals are fitting and lovely. Really enjoyed this one and looking forward to playing more by this developer.

Roadwarden pixel art cover Roadwarden 2022 five hearts You play as a roadwarden hired by a merchant guild to explore and influence an isolated peninsula on their behalf. You'll travel the roads, offer help wherever you can, and get to know the people you meet in villages, inns, and abandoned hamlets. There are a lot of choices to be made and lots of room for customization of your story. Dark fantasy at its best, with lovely music and pixel art to go with its largely text-based gameplay.

dithered image of a diner a diner for the end of the world 2025 five stars A ShuffleComp 2024 entry that used several songs as inspiration. As the title says, you run a diner at the end of the world, serving various alternate timeline versions of yourself. I'm a sucker for diners and safe spaces amidst horror, so this was right up my alley. A unique concept, and I'd love to play something longer in this vein, although I don't fault this game for being short. Despite the story's bleak circumstances, it felt hopeful, and that's my favorite kind of post-apocalyptic fiction.

title image with a pink candelabra hideous, fabulous 2025 five stars Another ShuffleComp 2024 entry with multiple endings. It caught me off guard because the best ending requires doing something you might not expect. This is a great example of the neat ways you can use Twine to tell a text-based story without simply advancing forward the entire time. Brilliant story that's cleverly implemented.