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]
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Chicken Farm by Skandi Studios
In this simulation game, players buy and grow a chicken farm. Players buy chickens, collect eggs, and buy more chickens. Chickens get combined to make better chickens, and players try to get the highest-tiered chicken.
Info: Made in 2026 on Roblox
Tags: simulation, minimal, tycoon
[entry posted by Reid Cragg]____________________________________


The Temple of No by Crows Crows Crows
This is a twine game that uses a fun story to show the player different ways to make twine games more engaging. The game lets you explore the adventure of three different characters whose goal is to find a map which can tell the future. Throughout the game, it allows the player to experience story, images, music, and more that help show how expressive twine games really can be.
Info: Made in Twine but Hosted in itch.io
Content Warning: Profanity, Murder, Death
Tags: Twine, Music, Engagement, Adventure, Silly
[Entry posted by Lilly Wilson]

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a kiss by Dan Waber
A kiss is an interactive story about love, memory, and everyday life. There is not a clear one pathed fixed story line, rather the player can click on multiple different links to move through different memories. The game is about a married couple every day experiences together. It explores their relationship in many different ways but always ties back to the central idea of a kiss. 
Info : made in 2013, found on the Electronic Literature Collection vol. 4, uses twine
Tags: romance, love, memories, life
[entry posted by Audrey Metcalf]

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OMORI by OMOCAT
Omori is a RPG focused around the main character, OMORI, and a series of tragic events that occured in his life. The story is told through a whimsical, child-like world; the exploration of the fantastical place slowly reveals more of the truth along with the nonsensical plot that surrounds it. The work is about getting over trauma, forgiveness of oneself, and dealing with stressful situations in healthy ways. The creepy elements of the game along with the slow buildup makes the reveal of the story that much more impactful. 
Info : made in 2020, found on Steam
Tags : horror, role-playing, single-player, adventure
[entry posted by Phillip Kim]

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Papa's Freezeria by Flipline Studios
Papa's Freezeria is a simulator game focused on making ice cream on a remote island. As the character completes more difficult orders, they unlock more toppings and syrups for dynamic gameplay. The player can maximize their profits by upgrading the store and completing orders better for bigger tips. The work is about consistency, navigating stressful situations, and employment. The purpose of the game is relatively surface-level, with no main background story. 
Info : made in 2011, found on multiple platforms including Mobile, PC, and tablet
Tags : simulator, strategy
[entry posted by Phillip Kim]

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Plantgotchi by Nat Morillo
This is a simple game about taking care of a plant that acts like a pet. The goal is to make sure all of its moods stay in a proper range so that the plant stays happy. However, how well an event goes is up to chance making it harder to have a perfect scenario. After the plant matures enough, you get to see one of the twelve types of plants there are and you get to see how well you kept the plants moods up.
Info: A twine game in itch.io. Music by OpenGameArt.
Tags: 2D, Pixel Art, Tamagotchi, Twine, Pet Care
[Entry posted by Lilly Wilson]

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Bad News by James Ryan, Ben Samuel, Adam Summerville 
This game takes place in the late 70s and the player plays as the county mortician. Someone in the town has died alone and the no one knows their identity. Your job is to find out who the person was and to notify their family about their death. You find this information through talking to the different towns people. Bad News is about death and its effects on other people within a community.
Info : Github game, made in 2015, found on the Electronic Literature Collection vol. 4
Tags : grief, death, mystery
[Entry posted by Audrey Metcalf]

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I'm better by Ludonaut (Jeremy Lonien
This game uses a minimalist set up to portray a short story of self-delusion, emotional recovery, and depression. We briefly learn about how the main character thinks and worries through a conversion where they repeatedly say the words, "I'm better" while slowly revealing his true unstable personality.
Info: made in 2015; authoring tool: Twine; featured on Twiny Jam and itch.io
Tags: psychological, depression, mental health
[Entry posted by Mindy Chen]

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Nanopasos by Camila Gormaz
In this Twine game you play as a person living in Chile, dealing with the low salaries and high cost of living. You must make decisions about what to spend money on throughout a month, trying to have enough left at the end to pay the rent on your apartment. This game shows the harsh reality of trying to make ends meet in Chile. 
Info:  made in 2019; simulation; authoring tool: Twine, Aseprite; hosted on itch.io
tags: Economy, Life Simulation, Cost of Living, Chile, Pixel Art
[entry posted by Kylie Thomas]
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Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk by Nikita Kryukov
In this twine game, you play as the inner voice of a girl to help her buy milk at a store after grief significantly worsened her mental health. The game uses abstracted visuals, distorted words, and a three-color pixel palette to show the overwhelming sensory overload and trauma experienced by the protagonist. 
Info: made in 2020; psychological horror / visual novel; authoring tool: Ren'Py; hosted on itch.io and Steam
tags: Visual Novel, Mental Health, Trauma, Glitch Art, Pixel Art
[entry posted by Mindy Chen]
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What Remains of Edith Finch by Giant Sparrow
In this first-person point-of-view game, players experience the strange Finch family estate through the eyes of Edith Finch and uncover a series of short stories, which chronicle the last days of different family members throughout time. Each story is told using unique game mechanics, based on the particular perspective of each family member.
Info: made in 2017; walking simulator; authoring tool: Unreal Engine; hosted on Steam
tags: Spatiality, Family, Memories, Storytelling
[entry posted by Simarpreet Nagi]
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The Longest Journey by Ragnar Tornquist
In this point and click adventure story, April Ryan is the central character, who is an art student living in a cyberpunk city and finds out that she has the power of moving from her world of science and logic, called Stark, into a world of magic and mythology known as Arcadia. The story is about finding harmony and the price one has to pay for it.
Info: made in 1999; adventurous; hosted on Steam
tags: Narrative, Fantasy, Identity
[entry posted by Simarpreet Nagi]
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my father’s long long legs by Michael Lutz.
In this Twine game you hear the story of a woman and her family, centered around her fathers strange habits. As she grew up her father became obsessed with digging a hole in their basement, getting to the point that broke apart the family. This game has an eerie feel as we learn more about what the fathers habit turns him into. 
Info:  made in 2013; authoring tool: Twine; hosted on itch.io
tags: Horror, Suspense, Family 
[entry posted by Kylie Thomas]
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99 Nights in the Forest by Grandma's Favourite Games
In this survival-based game, players work together to survive in a forest. Players have to find food, fire, and resources to create a better camp. During the game there are evil animals who come a try to catch you, therefor eliminating you from the game. The ultimate goal is to last at least 99 nights in the forest.
Info: Made in 2025 on Roblox
Tags: survival, minimal
[entry posted by Reid Cragg]______________________________________
80 Days by inkle
In this interactive narrative game, players take on the role of Passepartout, the assistant to Phileas Fogg, as they travel around the world in 80     days. Players make decisions about where to travel, who to interact with, and how to manage their money and time. Each decision affects the story and creates different possible experiences. The game combines exploration, storytelling, and strategy, allowing players to shape their own version of Jules Verne's classic adventure.
Info: released in 2014; interactive adventure game; developer: inkle; inspired by Around the World in Eighty Daysby Jules Verne; available on multiple platforms.
Tags: travel, exploration, choice, adventure, colonialism, culture
[entry posted by Viraj More]
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A Modern Ghost by Artemio Morales
In this interactive digital story, readers follow a young man's memories of a relationship that never fully happened. Through scrolling, the story unfolds using text, photographic illustrations, and an original soundtrack. As readers move through his memories, they experience his feelings of love, longing, and loss.
Info: released in 2017; interactive digital story; authors: Artemio Morales and Jon Morales; publisher: AltSalt Studios; the Electronic Literature Collection, Volume 4
Tags: memory, love, loss, relationships, nostalgia
[entry posted by Viraj More]
 

King's Quest 1 - The Quest for the Crown (1987) by Sierra On-Line and IBM
In this classic computer game made for a number of personal computers including IBM PCjr, Tandy 1000, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, Amiga, Macintosh, MS-DOS, and SEGA Master System, you play as the knight Sir Graham(e) (1984 has the e but Graham has not had the extra e since then) in his quest to retrieve three treasures: the Magic Mirror, the Shield, and the Chest. The game is set in the fantasy kingdom of Daventry which is conveyed through its manual. The game is interacted with using the text parser through which you can issue commands to Graham like, climb tree, bow king, swim, et cetera. The parser is fairly decent with recognizing commands and usually has a list of words that are acceptable for common actions. For example, the words take and get both result in obtaining the desired item. The game's story is primarily conveyed through the manual which tended to change between releases.
Info:  first published in 1984; adventure game; designer/writer: Roberta Williams; composer: Ken Allen (1990 only); publishers: Sierra On-Line Incorporated, International Business Machines Corporation
tags: adventure, text parser, classic
[entry posted by Mitchell Mazer]
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Rogue by Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman
In this 1980 PC game, the player plays as an adventurer in a mysterious dungeon. The game is fairly simple: you must collect as much gold as possible and make it to the bottom of the dungeon and back before you die. The dungeon is made of ASCII characters and is procedurally generated and death is permanent. This game, although not the first to utilize perma-death in an adventure game, inspired a massive genre of games with similar mechanics some of which have incredibly interesting stories. While it is in itself interesting, I find it equally interesting what games descended from it. A very short list of these games, commonly referred to as rogue-likes or roguelites (two different genres with quite a bit of overlap) includes: The Binding of Isaac, Slay the Spire, Spelunky, Dead Cells, Enter the Gungeon, Balatro, Blue Prince. Blue Prince reminds me quite a bit of Gone Home with a similar theme of exploring a house although you are able to choose what room you enter from a randomly generated list, the house resets each day, and the story is usually in service of its amazing puzzles.
Info:  made in 1980; roguelike? (it defined the genre)
tags: ASCII, roguelike, procedural generation
[entry posted by Mitchell Mazer]
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Deficit by Gava Sarafian
This game simulates the creator's real-life experiences with ADHD. The player gets to navigate a variety of every day tasks as someone with ADHD. The game highlights the structural barriers and the difficulties of focusing on specific tasks people with ADHD often struggle with. The game utilizes bright colors, static, and flashing to illustrate the overwhelming stimulation people with ADHD often experience. 
Info: made in 2020; created in Twine found on itch.io
Tags: ADHD, mental health, simulation
[entry posted by Abigail Shin]
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Takeover by Leo Bayly Barton
In this interactive game, players take on the role of a member of congress who is witnessing democracy collapse. Players get to "vote" on certain choices that either support the new government or protect democracy, while trying to protect their favor, family safety, and friends. This game is based on the events that led to Hitler's consolidation of power in 1933.  
Info: made in 2025; created in Twine found on itch.io
Tags: democracy, morals, politics, power, government
[entry posted by Abigail Shin]

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SCAVS by Ben Jackson
In this choice-based science fiction game, your'e an 'operator' that searches an abandoned mining planet for leftover Helium-3 by controlling your scavenger, or scav. Players must protect them through deadly storms, navigate dangerous obstacles, and keep them alive until they collect enough resources to go back home. Your choices will decide the fate of two lives that may have more in common than they realize, and whether or not they break free from the 'system' that moderates every operation. 
Info: made in 2026 in Twine, won 2026 IFComp, playtime is around an hour and a half 
Tags: science fiction, exploration, survival, corruption, power, AI
[entry posted by Chloe Jung]

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Flee the Facility by A.W. Apps
This survival game has players hack computers that you find hidden around in a chosen map while hiding from the beast, who is one randomly chosen player. The beast hunts other players down and captures them in pods, who can be saved within a time limit. Complete hacking the computers to open the 2 exits, escape with other players, and avoid being captured by the beast.
Info: made in Roblox, over 6 billion visits and 9.7 million favorites
Tags: survival, violence, escape, 1 vs all
[entry posted by Chloe Jung]

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A tale at the Bonfire by Nat Morillo

In this survival themed visual novel, you play as a character who gets lost in a dark forest and comes upon a bonfire. You must survive the night by foraging for food and maintaining your hunger and bonfire light levels in order to leave the forest in the morning. As the story unfolds, you interact with a helpful character named Kurt and also his friends who have all been in the same position as you. The game features cozy, pixelated visuals, atmospheric sounds and is accompanied by dialogue choices on the side that progresses as you talk with the characters. This game is ultimately designed as a personal, reflective experience to help process emotional struggles and combines survival mechanics with a storyline about human connection and learning to ask for help.
Info: made in 2019; created in Twine and hosted on itch.io; survival themed visual novel; interactive fiction; pixel art
Tags: survival, human connection, emotions, self-care, empathy
[entry posted by Andrea Phua]

Rainy Day by Thais Weiller

In this interactive text based narrative game, the storyline is centered on a protagonist who contemplates whether to stay in or go to work on a rainy morning. This game combines player choices with drawn visuals of the protagonist and their environment and includes a narrative that depicts the struggle with burnout and mental exhaustion. The protagonist feels insignificant, isolated and overwhelmed by simple daily routines like taking care of themselves, interacting with others and their job. This game features branching choices which ultimately lead to three different endings and a measure on how long the protagonist “slacked for”, representing the time you spent procrastinating getting to work. 
Info: made in 2016; created in Twine and hosted on itch.io; interactive fiction; narrative game
Tags: mental health, anxiety, depression, stress, isolation
[entry posted by Andrea Phua]

Living Will by Mark C. Marino

In this interactive text-based game, the player assumes the role of an heir to the legacy of ER Millhouse, who is a rich coltan tycoon. Through the exploration of Millhouse’s last will, the player has to choose whether he or she wants to expand his or her legacy or to lose it due to various medical and legal costs. During the course of this game, the player discovers the legacy of Millhouse, including the history of the exploitation associated with the extraction of coltan in the Congo. The plot of this story deals with such issues as wealth, legacy, ethics of corporate activity, and benefits from someone else’s suffering.
Info: made in 2012; created using Undum; interactive fiction; browser-based narrative game; entered in the 2012 Interactive Fiction Competition.
Tags: interactive fiction, wealth, inheritance, ethics, corporate exploitation, colonialism, Congo, decision
[entry posted by Abhiram Maganti]

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We Descend, Volume Two by Bill Bly

In this hypertext fiction, the reader will explore a number of fictional documents and historical texts relating to the character known as Egderus Scriptor. This text makes use of interlinked texts, hyperlinks, and multiple perspectives to build a bigger story from various times and generations. In this post-apocalyptic setting, the player will examine the ways in which humans document and reinterpret history. There is no single story that needs to be followed. Readers will have to follow the archive and discover its connections.
Info: published in 2015; created using Tinderbox and published online; hypertext fiction; electronic literature.
Tags: hypertext, interactive fiction, archives, history, storytelling, memory, multiple perspectives, digital literature.
[entry posted by Abhiram Maganti]
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Can your pet by Scaryama
An intentionally misleading game where the player is tasked with raising and taking care of a pet chicken that they are entrusted to. In this seemingly friendly game, the player will wash, feed, and play with their chicken before discovering the horrifying fate and truth of what happens to their pet. The game is a bait and switch and criticizes mass industrialization of meat and hypocrisy over human care for animals. There is no way to help the pet escape, which makes it all the more tragic as the player tries to save the chicken from their fate.
Info: published in 2010 on flash, later imported over to android and mobile
Content warning: Gore, animal cruelty
Tags: deception, hypocrisy, meat industry, industrialization, animals
[entry posted by Kaito Lovin]
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This War of Mine by 11 bit studios
In this base-management game inspired by the 2 year long Sarajevo siege, you are tasked with looking over a group of survivors during a civil war that doesn't seem to be ending soon. You will have to expand the house they start in while also keeping them alive by gathering resources. While these are readily provided in the beginning of the game, it becomes more scarce the further you go. This game tests your morality and willingness to help your own people survive while also trying to keep a shred of humanity in a place where it seems completely distant. Even though players may try to be morally good throughout the game, dire circumstances and a lack of resources often pushes people with even the strongest moral code to their limit.
Info: published in 2014 on steam, console, android and mobile; base-building; survival;
Content warning: alcohol and tobacco, violence, implied sexual themes, strong language
Tags: war, survival, morality, desperation, importance
[entry posted by Kaito Lovin]