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 Bitsy game, we travel through empty spaces with a friend making our way toward a campfire and star gazing. The work is about friendship and grief and poetry with a western vibe. It's sparse and powerfully moving for 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]

The Talos Principle by Croteam
In this picturesque puzzle game, we are the end of a long slew of AI robots that run the gauntlet of puzzles to "ascend". This work is about self-reflection, self-discovery, and doubt towards authority figures. As a non-linear story, we can either stay faithful or ask the important questions: Who are you? What is your purpose? And what will you do about it?
Info: made in 2014; serious game; authoring tool: Serious Engine 4; on Steam for $30 full price; Overwhelmingly Positive with 24k+ reviews
tags: faith, navigation, puzzle, self-discovery, trust, first-person, existentialism, morals
[entry posted by d.shen]
When the Darkness Comes by Sirhaian
This is a short psychological game in the style of Depression Quest, while wrapped in a 3d-platformer genre. At first, it seems like your normal anti-game (like There is No Game) but quickly spirals into the topics of depression and self-hatred. This work is about depression, anxiety, and platforming (pretty hard platforming at some parts). 
Info: made in 2019; serious game; authoring tool: Unity; free on Steam; Very Positive with 8k+ reviews
tags: depression, anxiety, exploration, horror, platforming
[entry posted by d.shen]

Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist by Crows Crows Crows
Desc: A short, 15 minute walking simulator game in the complete opposite style to Gone Home as a lighthearted game. However, its not what you expect it to be! 
Info: made in 2015, non-serious game; authoring tool: Unity; free on Steam; Very Positive with 9k+ reviews
Tags: the narrator talks a lot, exploration, short, funny, perspective
[entry posted by d.shen]
 

Tacoma by Fullbright
This is a brief but detailed walking simulator from the same creators as Gone Home. This game is set on a space station. In place of audio tapes/journal entries, there are holographic AR logs to help the player fid out what happened on board the station and where everybody went.
Info: Released in 2017; semi serious game; authoring tool: Unity; $19.99 on Steam and Epic Games store; Very Positive with 2500 reviews (steam) and 4.4 stars (epic)
Tags: puzzle, walking simulator, first person, ethics, morals, AI, artificial intelligence
[entry by r.jaeger]

Crown of Ashes and Flames by Coeur
This is a fantasy game that follows the main character, you, the child of the Queen and King. Your parents are killed and you're taken by Luceris, who has taken over the kingdom. It's a story about survival, coming of age, and hardship. The story is very well written and invokes a lot of imagery. 
Info. Released in 2023 and still being updated. Non-serious game. Free on itch.io. Positive reviews of 96. 
Tags: fantasy, second-person, world-building. 
[entry by a.kennedy-dominguez]


Please Answer Carefully by Litrouke

This bitsy game has users fill out surveys asked in a human-like manner from a robot…. But it’s not just that.  What seems like a simple fill in the blank task becomes a story that scratches the surface of the topic of stalking and being in a controlling relationship. 

Info: 3 minute play time;authored withBitsy;platformed by Itch.io;published March 2023

Tags: Psychological Horror,  Short, Text based, Twine, Mouse only

[Entry posted by Sarah Godfrey]

Seedship by John Ayliff

This is a Twine based game that is centered around a futuristic scenario in which Earth has died and humanity has built an AI controlled ship that holds survivors in hibernation and has tasked it to search for a suitable replacement world. The player acts as the AI, and must make tough decisions (like choosing to keep vital scanners that would prevent asteroid collisions and a small chance of killing everyone, or sacrificing a few people and saving everyone else). It's a very thought provoking game that brings up important issues surrounding AI.

Info: Published January 2018,  free to play on Itch, variable but generally short play time (up to user)
Tags: Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, Twine, short, text-based
[entry by d.raman]

Trigaea by RynGM

This is a Twine based science fiction adventure game set in the far future. The user plays as someone who wakes up on a foreign planet with no memories, and only has an artificially intelligent computer as a companion. This game is based off of traditional exploration/adventure games, however instead of being first or third person POV games, it is text based. The game is very progress focused, and you can “die” multiple times without losing, and explores how attempting to avoid conflict can lead to conflict.
Info: Published 2022, free to play on Itch, very long play time
Tags: Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, Exploration, Twine
[entry by d.raman]

The Data Scrolls by David Thomas & Henry Wright
This surreal interactive prose work offers a unique look at language, culture, and the nature of history. You examine writings attached to seven different files, the last remnants of our modern age in the far future. This game explores how the information we record, and the information we don't, paint a picture of our culture.
Info: made in 2019; authoring tool: independent website (HTML, CSS, Javascript); on the Electronic Literature Collection vol 4
Tags: information, language, history, culture, dystopia, future, surreal
[entry by m.murdoch]

Gender Dysphoria by exodrifter
This non-linear interactive narrative gives cisgender people a look into the experience of a transgender woman who has just come out, by presenting several different vignettes of the trials of being transgender. The voice acting and personal storytelling create a gut-wrenching emotional experience for the player, regardless of their gender.
Info: made in 2021; authoring tool: Unity; on itch.io
Tags: narrative, non-linear, voice acted, transgender, LGBTQ+, coming out
[entry by m.murdoch]

Rabbit Starvation by vileidol
This is a short story that follows a conversation between two former lovers, one of which is supposed to be dead and buried. The author uses imagery and diction to create tension between the two characters. The story is a suspenseful mystery that pulls you in. 
Info: Made in 2023; demo; made in twine and available on itch.io
Tags: horror, mystery, suspenseful, linear. 
[entry by a.kennedy-dominguez]

The Temple of No by crowscrowscrows
This Twine is essentially following the story of a character of your choosing who goes to the Temple of No. The creator lures the player into believing there is some entertaining journey through the lighthearted, informal narration. The player is invested in the story of an important map and adventure, but in the end, there is really no point to the game, to make the point that there are no good twine games.
Tags: adventure, storytelling, twine, discovery, journey
Info: Available on itch.io, includes audios and visuals, written text game made in 2016
[entry by s.stanley]

I'm Better by Ludonaut
This Twine follows the story of someone who is covering up the pain and traumas of their past. This story follows how hard it is to open up and express the truth about how you are truly doing when things aren't going great.
Tags: twine, suicide, depression, mental health, narrative, trauma
Info: Available on itch.io, story-style (no choices), made in 2015
[entry by s.stanley]

The Vine and the Fish, Leise Hook

This work of digital literature is a work that focuses on invasive species and how they are perceived as a metaphor for modern negative rhetoric towards Asian immigrants. The work features a very fluid and calming, watercolor-sketch like artstyle with several flipbook-type animations.

Info: 5-20 minutes playtime, 2020

Tags: Discovery, Metaphor, Art, Asian-American, Immigration, Politics
[Entry by Eric Han]

How To Rob a Bank, Alvin Bigelow

This is a silly but also somewhat creative work that tells the story of an attempted bank robber by having the player go through his phone in chronological order. The work is interesting in that it manages to convey some of the robber’s personality through their interactions with their phone, even though there is no direct input from the robber themself.

Info: Relatively Short playtime, released 2016, kind of a silly game

Tags: Adventure, Mystery, Discovery
[Entry by Eric Han]

The Spectrum Retreat by Dan Smith Studios
This game is a puzzle game set in a simulation of a hotel. As the player explores and progresses through levels, the simulation starts to crumble, enabling them to unlock memories. The player seeks freedom and the knowledge of why they ended up in the simulation in the first place.
Info: Released in 2018; serious game; authoring tool: TBD; $12.99 on Steam and Epic Games store;  and 4.3 stars (epic)
Tags: puzzle, memories, amnesia, matrix, simulation, first person, ethics, morals, murder
[entry by r.jaeger]

The Funny Thing About The Deer by gooeypip
This twine game is about the main character, the player, who is shared a spooky story from their past that is about a creepy deer. As the story continues, it begins to explore the main characters memories from long ago. You get the opportunity to experience their childhood home and their thoughts for the company to the extent that it becomes a sleepy dream like state that builds the horrific twist.
Tags: Interactive Fiction, Atmospheric, Halloween, Horror, LGBT, Minimalist, Narrative, Queer, Story Rich, Twine
Info: Available on itch.io, includes audios and visuals
[entry by b.semenec]

singing from the far side of the hill by miranda rain
Basically, this twine game is a small horror story where the main character, a homeless trans woman who begins living with a stranger due to a breakup, is in their space and there are a bunch of weird occurrences that are happening around the house that psychologically affect the main character. Eventually, it becomes to much for the main character and it becomes a decision she later regrets.
Tags: Twine, Creepy, Ghosts, Horror, LGBT, Short, Singleplayer, Spooky, Transgender
Info: Available on itch.io, includes audios and visuals, written text game made in 2018
[entry by b.semenec]

The universe is a lonely place by Andreas Henriksen (Haroro)
This game allows you to explore the solar system by choosing a planet to visit. Each planet tells a distinct, visually-engaging narrative of someone suffering from loneliness, and how they navigate such scenarios that they encounter throughout life as someone suffering from this.
Info: shortlisted for student prize 2022, available on itch.io, genre: platformer, made with: construct, platforms: HTML5
Tags: exploration, space, alien, loneliness, mental health, introspection, isolation, atmospheric, experimental, narrative, short, singleplayer
[entry by a.tilling-richards]

(con)TEXT by Javeria Kausar
This interactive twine text-based game addresses the issue of decontextualisation, and demonisation of the Islam religion, especially through social media. It describes how what we are exposed to is taken out of historical, political, social, economic and cultural context to paint Muslims in a certain undesirable light. (con)TEXT looks at a small piece of text, modelled after a headline, and examines some of the many contexts it is steeped in. It implores you to fact check what you are exposed to instead of mindlesslessly consuming hate against a group of peoples.
Info: Chris Meade Memorial Prize (Main Prize) 2022, available on itch.io, serious game, 
Tags: Twine, text-based, Islam, Muslim, religion, interactive non-fiction, news
[entry by a.tilling-richards]