IF

BAF's Interactive Fiction Ranking



Colossal Cave Adventure by Will Crowther and Don Woods was the first text adventure ever made.[11]
Adventureland by Scott Adams is considered one of the defining works of interactive fiction.
The Zork series by Infocom (1979- ) was the first text adventure to see widespread commercial release.[27]
Softporn Adventure by Chuck Benton, a popular adult game that inspired the Leisure Suit Larry series.
The Hobbit by Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler of Beam Software (1982) was an early reinterpretation of an existing novel into interactive fiction, with several independent non-player characters.
Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken by Yuji Horii (1983) was the first visual novel and the earliest known interactive fiction to feature colour graphics.
Planetfall, by Steve Meretzky of Infocom (1983), featured Floyd the robot, which Allen Varney claimed to be the first game character who evoked a strong emotional commitment from players.[28]
Suspended by Michael Berlyn was an Infocom game notable for a large vocabulary and unique character personalities.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky of Infocom (1984), was notable in that the author of the original work was involved in the reinterpretation.
A Mind Forever Voyaging, by Steve Meretzky of Infocom (1985), a story-heavy, puzzle-light game often touted as Infocom's first serious work of science fiction.[29]
Leather Goddesses of Phobos by Steve Meretzky, a risqué sci-fi parody from Infocom.
Amnesia (1987), by Hugo Award and Nebula Award winning science fiction and fantasy author Thomas M. Disch, a purely text-only adventure published by Electronic Arts.[30]
Snatcher (1988) and Policenauts (1994), by Hideo Kojima, for a long time the most highly regarded visual novels in the West.
Curses, by Graham Nelson (1993), the first game ever written in the Inform programming language. Considered one of the first "modern" games to meet the high standards set by Infocom's best titles.[31]
So Far, by Andrew Plotkin (1996), the first XYZZY Award for Best Game winner in 1996.[32]
Anchorhead, by Michael S. Gentry (1998) is a highly rated horror story inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.[33]
Photopia, by Adam Cadre (1998), the first almost entirely puzzle-free game.[34] It won the annual Interactive Fiction Competition in 1998.[35]
Spider and Web, by Andrew Plotkin (1998), an award-winning[36] espionage story with many twists and turns.[37]
Varicella by Adam Cadre (1999). It won four XYZZY Awards in 1999 including the XYZZY Award for Best Game, and had a scholarly essay written about it.[38]
Galatea, by Emily Short (2000). Galatea is focused entirely on interaction with the animated statue of the same name. Galatea has one of the most complex interaction systems for a non-player character in an interactive fiction game. Adam Cadre called Galatea "the best NPC ever".[39]
Slouching Towards Bedlam, by Star C. Foster and Daniel Ravipinto (2003). Set in a steampunk setting, the game integrates meta-game functionality (saving, restoring, restarting) into the game world itself. The game won four XYZZY Awards.[40]