Highest Rated
Gold ribbons mark these spines. Each one a recognised masterpiece, consistently earning the highest marks from players who have ventured within their pages.
That Damn Elevator!
Binkley Beardman
Smoke is pouring in through the cracks of the front door, a harbinger of the fire to follow! You've got to think quick! (Good thing thinking is your thing, you think king!) Test game made in an afternoon for yucks and practice.
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Eggstraordinary Adventure
Adri
Once a year, the Easter bilby brings handpainted eggs to all the good children. This is a two-player game.
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Mini-Zork II
Dave Lebling, Marc Blank
A refurbished version of the work-in-progress, never-released Mini-Zork II found in Infocom's archives. Primarily restored by Torbjörn Andersson. Compared to the full game, the map and some of the puzzles have been simplified and much of the text has been shortened. The Bank of Zork and Oddly-angled rooms have been dropped completely, and the Wizard has lost a few of his spells. <i>Expect the unexpected when you take on Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz. As you explore the subterranean realm of Zork, you'll continually be confronted with new surprises. Chief among these is the Wizard himself, who'll constantly endeavor to confound you with his capricious powers. But more than that, you'll face a challenge the likes of which you've never experienced before.</i>
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Zork 285
Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling
This is an attempt to make a truthful as possible ZIL-version of the very first MDL version of Zork from June 14th, 1977. Please type 'about' in game for more info about this version.
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The Little Match Girl 3: The Escalus Manifold
Ryan Veeder
"The Snow Queen controls her servants with Shards from the Mirror of Belial," Ebenezer Scrooge explained.
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Visit Skuga Lake - Masterpiece Edition
Ryan Veeder
An unpaid intern learns to cast over forty spells as she skulks around a small town, looking for her boss. "Visit Skuga Lake" originally appeared in <i><a game="4s19t4yjswvtbh9l">Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone</a>.</i> This Masterpiece Edition includes alternate endings, production notes, a commentary track, a little extra sidequest, and an interview with author Leah Naidu.
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Cragne Manor
Ryan Veeder, Jenni Polodna, Adam Whybray, Adri, Andrew Plotkin, Andy Holloway, Austin Auclair, Baldur Brückner, Ben Collins-Sussman, Bill Maya, Brian Rushton, Buster Hudson, Caleb Wilson, Carl Muckenhoupt, Chandler Groover, Chris Jones, Christopher Conley, Damon L. Wakes, Daniel Ravipinto, Daniel Stelzer, David Jose, David Petrocco, David Sturgis, Drew Mochak, Edward B, Emily Short, Erica Newman, Feneric, Finn Rosenløv, Gary Butterfield, Gavin Inglis, Greg Frost, Hanon Ondricek, Harkness Munt, Harrison Gerard, Ian Holmes, Ivan Roth, Jack Welch, Jacqueline Ashwell, James Eagle, Jason Dyer, Jason Lautzenheiser, Jason Love, Jeremy Freese, Joey Jones, Joshua Porch, Justin de Vesine, Justin Melvin, Katherine Morayati, Kenneth Pedersen, Lane Puetz, Llew Mason, Lucian Smith, Marco Innocenti, Marius Müller, Mark Britton, Mark Sample, Marshal Tenner Winter, Matt Schneider, Matt Weiner, Matthew Korson, Michael Fessler, Michael Gentry, Michael Hilborn, Michael Lin, Mike Spivey, Molly Ying, Monique Padelis, Naomi Hinchen, Nate Edwards, Petter Sjölund, Q Pheevr, Rachel Spitler, Reed Lockwood, Reina Adair, Riff Conner, Roberto Colnaghi, Rowan Lipkovits, Sam Kabo Ashwell, Scott Hammack, Sean M. Shore, Shin, Wade Clarke, Zach Hodgens, Zack Johnson
A tribute to <a game="op0uw1gn1tjqmjt7">Anchorhead</a>.
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Counterfeit Monkey
Emily Short
Anglophone Atlantis has been an independent nation since an April day in 1822, when a well-aimed shot from their depluralizing cannon reduced the British colonizing fleet to one ship. Since then, Atlantis has been the world's greatest center for linguistic manipulation, designing letter inserters, word synthesizers, the diminutive affixer, and a host of other tools for converting one thing to another. Inventors worldwide pay heavily for that technology, which is where a smuggler and industrial espionage agent such as yourself can really clean up. Unfortunately, the Bureau of Orthography has taken a serious interest in your activities lately. Your face has been recorded and your cover is blown. Your remaining assets: about eight more hours of a national holiday that's spreading the police thin; the most inconvenient damn disguise you've ever worn in your life; and one full-alphabet letter remover. Good luck getting off the island.
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Gaia, Živa, Jarilo
Harkness (as Formless)
In this work, you are an Earthling tourist visiting a zoo on Živa which features animals from three worlds. Explore the place at your leisure. There is no goal you must accomplish, and although the work has its secrets, the only puzzle you must solve is the mundane exercise of buying a wristband at the entrance.
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Moving (On)
quackoquack
A game about nostalgia, jumping around in time, and clearing out your childhood room. <p> Made for the NarraScope 2020 Game Jam. </p><p> <i>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.</i></p>
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18 Rooms to Home
Carolyn VanEseltine
<i>18 Rooms to Home</i> 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. This story takes place over the course of 18 updates, which are presented in reverse chronological order. With every update, the story moves further back in time – so the first update includes room 18, the second includes room 17 and 18, the third includes 16, 17, and 18, and so on. This is a work in progress, being published serially. As of August 27, 2015, Room 15 is the latest to be published.
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Anchorhead
Michael Gentry
<i>You take a deep breath of salty air as the first raindrops begin to spatter the pavement, and the swollen, slate-colored clouds that blanket the sky mutter ominous portents amongst themselves over the little coastal town of Anchorhead.</i> <p>Travel to the haunted coastal town of Anchorhead, Massachusetts and uncover the roots of a horrific conspiracy inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft. Search through musty archives and tomes of esoteric lore; dodge hostile townsfolk; combat a generation-spanning evil that threatens your family and the entire world. </p><p>The original version was and remains freely available.<br>To mark the twentieth anniversary of its initial publication, <i>Anchorhead</i> is now available in a special Illustrated Edition. Every aspect of the game has been rebuilt and redesigned from the ground up: </p><ul><li>The code has been rewritten in Inform 7 and compiled to the glulx format, allowing far more detail and interactivity than before.</li><li>The prose has been revised and polished to reflect 20 years of accumulated writing experience.</li><li>Additional puzzles, scenes, and background information to explore.</li><li>Decorated with over 50 gorgeous illustrations by Carlos Cara Àlvarez.</li></ul> <i>Anchorhead: the Illustrated Edition</i> is a commercial game. See the <a href="https://mikegentry5.itch.io/anchorhead">itch.io page</a> for purchasing information.<br> (The <a href="http://www.anchorhead-game.com/">website</a>, no longer active, allowed ordering feelies.)
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Of Their Shadows Deep
Amanda Walker
A story about love and disease and loss. Contains graphics and has a screen reader mode for use with text to speech software. Written in Inform 7 for 2022 ParserComp. Play time about one hour. Content warning: This game is about dementia.
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The Wizard Sniffer
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. A comedy of errors experienced through a parser with a limited verb set. Also, puzzles.
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A Beauty Cold and Austere
Mike Spivey
That survey course in conceptual mathematics seemed like a good idea at the start of the term - no graded homework, no midterm exams - just an oral final at the end. But now that final is tomorrow morning. After months of procrastination you've got one night left to learn enough to pass the course. You might even be desperate enough to try one of your roommate's sketchy memory pills.
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Superluminal Vagrant Twin
C.E.J. Pacian
<i>A text-only space sim.</i> Ply the spaceways. Make five million credits. Buy back your twin. (<i>Superluminal Vagrant Twin</i> is a shallow but broad exploration game.)
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Absence of Law
mathbrush
Excuse me, can you help me? Yes, you, browsing IFDB games! I need your assistance, but I don't have long. There's so much going on: remote surveillance, unauthorized cloning, forgotten languages, robots playing poker. It's time to take control! Absence of Law is a science fiction comedy from the author of Ether and Color the Truth. This game is designed to be accessible to those who have never played parser games, while keeping a few surprises for parser experts. The online version of this game uses non-standard colors and fonts, and has a complete musical soundtrack that can be enabled from the first menu. The download zip contains both a full offline web version (index.html) and a gblorb file with no colors or sound.
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Toby's Nose
Chandler Groover
A murder most foul has been committed and Sherlock Holmes is on the case. You are his dog.
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The Impossible Bottle
Linus Åkesson
Housework is only as dull as your imagination. Join Emma, six years old, on a playful adventure of peculiar proportions. Merciful puzzlefest. Parser or point-and-click, as you please. Web (including mobile) or Z-machine.
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Coloratura
Lynnea Glasser
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.
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