Electronic Literature Collection
New Media Writing Prize (open "archive" to see all works)
Itch.io (home page)
Itch.io (Twine Games)
Itch.io (The Bitsy Essay Jam)
National Film Board of Canada Interactive
The New River Journal (open "archive" to see past works)
The interactive fiction competition

Your task is help build our list of works, including hyperlinks, brief summaries, stars, and tags. As our list grows, we can begin to organize the material differently.

Here's an example:

A Vast and Lonely Desert by Gavin G. See
In this minimalist Bitsy game, we travel through vast, empty spaces of the desert with a friend making our way through the desert toward a campfire and star gazing. The work is about friendship, grief, and poetry with a western vibe. It's sparse and powerfully moving precisely because of its sparseness.
Info:  made in 2020; serious game; authoring tool: Bitsy; on the Electronic Literature Collection, vol 4 and itch.io
tags: spatiality, navigation, orientation, friendship, loss, LGBTQ
[entry posted by k.kelly]
____________________________________

RECIPE FOR LOVE by Shelly Alon
In this Twine Game, you play as a human who has been hired by a robot, attempting to help it understand what love is. This game is about exploring multiple factors that make up the "human" concept of love. Through a futuristic lens where robots are the overarching species,  helping two robots have a passionate romance, and in the end, successfully completing your task, this game is a simple but cute play. 
Info: A short twine game on itch.io, released in January for a challenge
Tags: discovery, romance, futuristic, humor, crafting 
[entry posted by Mazlin McGrath] 

Rainy Day by Thaisa 
A twine game that focuses on the day of a person who struggles with anxiety, showing the difficulties that arise with the mental challenge. The work walks the player through how simple tasks can become monstrous, tasks such as getting out of bed, choosing an outfit, to taking a shower. The game has a mellow vibe with soothing rain sounds that accompany the gameplay. 
Info: A twine game on itch.io created to bring awareness about anxiety disorders and their severity. There are 3 possible endings. 
Tags: anxiety, self-talk, overthinking, criticism, listlessness, educate, reality 
[entry by Mazlin McGrath] 

Papers, Please by Lucas Pope
In this dystopian puzzle game, the player takes on the role of an immigration officer at a border checkpoint in the dystopian state of Arstotzka. The player must decide who to let in and who to turn away, balancing obeying the regulations of the state and making moral choices. The player affects the world through their choices, highlighting both the dehumanizing nature of totalitarian regimes and the struggle between “just following orders” and upholding one’s morals
Info: made in 2013; serious game; authoring tool: HaxeFlixel; on Steam, iOS and Android app stores
Tags: bureaucracy, ethics, surveillance, totalitarianism, morals, immigration
[entry posted by Nathan Camporeale]

 

We Become What We Behold by Nicky Case

In this game made by the renowned Nicky Case, the player acts as a cameraman for a news station which displays its photos through a TV shown to a crowd of people. The work focuses on the idea of media violence and propaganda. Its short yet graphic narrative sends an impactful narrative to not so easily be swayed by what the media says. 

Info: made in 2016; serious game; itch.io

Tags: exploration; violence; propaganda; popular media

[entry posted by Seungbeom]



It Paints Me by ENDYSIS

This mysterious, horror game has you play in the perspective of a painter who is using his art and uses the different choices we make for a means of catharsis and come to terms with a traumatic experience. The game focuses on explaining the tragedy that the main character dealt with and how he is trying to come to term with it through its ominous, dark horror tone and means of relaying the information of specific moments from the past.

Info: made in 2023; serious, dark game; Itch.io
Tags: Atmospheric, Dark, Gothic, Horror, Male protagonist, Multiple Endings, Psychological Horror, Romance, Story Rich
[entry posted by Ishan Datla]




A Shower Story by Atjscreams

In this short Twine horror game, the player experiences an intimate and unsettling encounter moment alone in the shower as the ordinary act of bathing turns into a scene of body horror. The experience centers on confronting the body as both familiar and alien when exploring the themes of menstruation and shame. Through minimal text and visceral imagery, the work evokes feelings of discomfort, transformation, and vulnerability. The game’s simplicity amplifies its tension, creating a deeply personal and physical sense of dread. 

Info: made in 2021; horror game; authoring tool: Twine (later adapted in Ren’Py); available on itch.io
Tags: body horror, menstruation, transformation, discomfort, identity, gender, short narrative
[entry posted by Eric Chen]




THE MOSTLY BE AN FAT by Sporegrooby

In this Twine story game, the player follows a narrative centered on weight gain and bodily transformation. The work explores how food, consumption, and physical change interplay with identity, attraction, and compulsion. Through branching storylines, the player participates in incremental shifts in the body whilst stuck in a conflict between the lines of desire and discomfort. The narrative leans into fantasies of stuffing and binging with psychological dynamics of body dysmorphia and surrendering.

Info: released in 2025; interactive fiction; authoring tool: Twine; available on itch.io
Tags: eating, fat, foods, weight gaining, stuffing, body transformation 
[entry posted by Eric Chen]

How to Rob a Bank by Alan Bigelow
In this game, players get to interact in a 5-part digital interface that goes through a bank robber’s (Ted) and his accomplice’s (Elizabeth) journey of robbing banks, similar to Bonnie and Clyde. This work is presented through a phone-like interface, allowing players to clearly see the integration of social technology and gameplay, and how this enhances the character’s bank-robbing experience and romantic relationship. Through sarcastic, yet relatable game features (Instagram, mobile games, WikiHow), players can understand and see the effects of technology and how that can change one’s moral views.

Info: made in 2016; satirical game; authoring tool : webyarns; on the Electronic Literature Collection, vol 4.
Tags: phone; sarcastic; social technology; moral.
[Entry posted by: Pooja Jadeja]

Untime by Kulu 
In this graphic story-driven game that puts you into the perspective of a murderer who escapes the responsibility of her actions by time-travelling with a watch. She takes advantage of this power to murder people that has supposedly done wrong to her before travelling back in time to avoid these consequences. However, when the watch breaks, the character is forced to face her actions and all the people she has murdered, as well as her past self that she abandoned by time travel. This shows players how everything has consequences even if you escape from it initially.

Info: Released in 2025; Itch.io; Unity; Interactive
Tags: Watch, Time Travel, Consequences, Emotional Wellbeing
[Entry posted by: Ariel Hadiyanto]


Avenue S by Jody Zellen
This artistically exhilarating and beyond creative work uses mostly images with a few words to tell the story of what happened as a result of Covid-19 and how there were very few people around. The artwork is very interpretive and thought-provoking which brings an entertaining experience for the player in trying to piece together the overall message of the game. All of the art is delicate and precise, but not for the people which gets at the fact that we were all in the same situation in the ghostliness caused by the pandemic.

Info: Released in 2022; Narrative, hypertext genre; HTML, css, adobe photoshop, adobe flash; On Electronic Literature Collection vol. 4
Tags: Pandemic, Isolation, Urban Walks, Fragmentation
[Entry posted by: Cooper Loubier]
 

Takeover  by CinemaLeo

In this twine game, you play as a representative of congress who must make decisions quickly while considering the status of your favor, safety of your family, and friends, all while democracy starts to crumble around you. Through an effective use of narrative, visuals, time restrictions and sound design, each choice is given weight as the player feels the compounding pressure to decide between maintaining democracy or falling to the new status quo.

Info: Released in 2025 on itch io, Twine, Serious Game
Tags: narrative, historical, violence, choice-based, time-critical, 
[entry posted by Sana Sameer]


Forgotten Nights by Peter Hebden

In this interactive poem, the player listens to stories that vary from night to night as the arrangement of the stars change. All of the skies have different arrangements, but there is the option to reveal the hidden stars which brings the sameness to all the nights through an all seeing lens. The different patterns correlate to different pieces of the poem and allow the player to discover what is going on in the overall picture as they take themselves to different nights and different layouts.

Info: Released in 2019 on sidestep.me, uses javascript, html, css, jQuery
Tags: Memory, Sky, Night, Voice, Poetry
[entry posted by Cooper Loubier]

Sin by Adam Doolittle

In this piece of electronic literature you play in the perspective of an adult reflecting on his past and pain of growing up between two conflicting faiths. Through choices, the story becomes a way for him to face his trauma and better understand himself. The focus is on explaining the tragedy the protagonist faced (pressure from growing up) and how that shaped them into trying to find reconciliation through reflection.

Info: 2023; itch.io
Tags: dark, gothic, male protagonist, multiple endings
[entry posted by Aidan Brock]

Chase The Sun by Frankie Kavakich

This game follows the narrative of a driver driving during the end of the world. You choose whether to chase the sun, radio the outside world, or reflect on the people you left. This game explores how one can face fear and the loss and uncertainty attached with it. The game invites the player to come to terms with what is coming and how you might spend your last bit of time.

Info: 2022; texturewriter.com
Tags: dark, multiple endings, emotional, choice-based
[entry posted by Aidan Brock]

The Universe Is A Lonely Place by Andreas Henriksen
The game consists of different passages about loneliness, and how its form and impacts are different for everyone. The game is set in outer space within the solar system, with each planet being a different passage, and you control a character that walks on the text, with certain phrases emphasized by being highlighted, and more negatively toned text steps downwards, while positive and uplifting text goes upwards. 

Info: 2022, Itch.com, Keyboard Platformer
Tags: Atmospheric, Experimental, Narrative, Short, Singleplayer
[Entry posted by Andrew Shen]

Drone City by racarter
In this game, you play as an automated delivery drone in the future, going around a city to deliver packages. You can interact with other drones, which all seem to have some issue preventing them from also flying and the messages they spit out reveal small fragments of information. You are initially bound to specific paths for movement, but once you deliver all the packages you have free rein and can move where you want. This game is meant to question the future of drones, and how they might be used for both benefit and harm.

Info: 2015, Itch.io, Bitsy
Tags: 2D, artgame, Bitsy, drone, Narrative, Pixel Art, Text based, Walking simulator
[Entry posted by Andrew Shen]