Winners of the 2023 IFComp

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1st place

Dr Ludwig and the Devil

Cover art for Dr Ludwig and the Devil

SV Linwood svlinwood@gmail.com

Join esteemed mad scientist Dr Ludwig as he faces the greatest challenge of his nefarious career: making a deal with the Devil and coming out on top.

Research demonology! Read legal documents! Face off against the world’s least effective torch and pitchfork-wielding mob! All this and more!

Comedy • An hour and a half • Parser-based

This work also won 1st place in the 2023 Miss Congeniality Awards.

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 8.43
Votes Cast 60
Standard Deviation 1.17

2nd place

LAKE Adventure

Cover art for LAKE Adventure

B.J. Best @bjbest60 bjbest60@gmail.com

═════════════════════════════

LAKE Adventure!

By Eddie Hughes

Copywrong 1993

* * *

Revisited by Ed Hughes

March 2020

═════════════════════════════

Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 7.94
Votes Cast 63
Standard Deviation 1.72

3rd place

The Little Match Girl 4
Crown of Pearls

Cover art for The Little Match Girl 4

Ryan Veeder @rcveeder rcveeder@me.com

Cover art by: Ryan Veeder

A touching epic time travel fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen.

Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 7.84
Votes Cast 57
Standard Deviation 1.33

4th place

Honk!
A Fair Game

Cover art for Honk!

Alex Harby @wisprabbit alexjharby@gmail.com

Cover art by: Alex Harby

A berserker's at the circus, and they're ruining everyone's performances! And all you have to stop them is a stack of custard pies, a squeaky red nose and your own wits. But the show must go on!

Comedy • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 7.80
Votes Cast 46
Standard Deviation 1.42

5th place

The Vambrace of Destiny

Cover art for The Vambrace of Destiny

Arthur DiBianca a_dibianca@yahoo.com

A light dungeon crawl. Tap spell gems to defeat monsters!

Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 7.54
Votes Cast 63
Standard Deviation 1.24

6th place

Bali B&B
Can you keep a bunch of tourists happy in Paradise?

Cover art for Bali B&B

Felicity_Banks @FBanksBooks

"Bali B&B" is a cosy choice-based tale of running a Bed & Breakfast in Bali, Indonesia.

There is peril to humans and animals on Friday but your choices will definitely not get anyone or anything killed.

Play online: https://dashingdon.com/play/Felicity_Banks/bali-bb-for-if-comp-2023/mygame/

Real world • An hour and a half • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 7.51
Votes Cast 43
Standard Deviation 1.37

7th place

LUNIUM
Can you escape your chains before the killer strikes again?

Cover art for LUNIUM

Ben Jackson ben@radiosity.co.uk

You wake to find yourself trapped in a room filled with locks and strange contraptions. Someone has locked you in here and identifying them may hold the key to your escape. Hidden somewhere are the clues you need to set yourself free, but time is running out…

Uncover the clues, unlock the chains and solve the mystery!

Features:

Specially created art including items, locations and notes that help bring this Victorian-era story to life.

Unique visual puzzles that will challenge your detective skills. Also includes a helpful hint system.

Detective / Mystery / Escape room • One hour • Choice-based

This work also earned its author the Rising Star award.

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 7.45
Votes Cast 64
Standard Deviation 1.45

8th place

How Prince Quisborne the Feckless Shook His Title
A Fanciful Tale Both Whimsical and Earnest

Cover art for How Prince Quisborne the Feckless Shook His Title

John Ziegler johnnywz00@yahoo.com

It was supposed to be really straightforward: take the king's mollycoddled heir under your capable wing, get him away from the castle, and turn him into Noble Ruler material within the space a year or so.

Well, you still have to do that... but thanks to the limerick-loving prince's romantic attachment to a princess with an unwilling father, now it sounds like the agenda includes investigating old legends that speak of a haunted fastness in the North—legends that might lead you all the way to the Overworld.

So much the better! This new twist should provide plenty of challenge and adventure for you to ply the pampered prince with along the way; and fortunately, you have an ample amount of time to accomplish your objectives and try to shape the prince into something more—as he would say—*feckful*…

(Author highly recommends playing with QTads interpreter; otherwise, content/features are missing and formatting may be unsightly.

Parser-fearing judges note! There is a readthrough mode provided, in which the game will play itself while allowing you to try things out at your leisure, and which you may turn off at any point that you feel you've gained your confidence.

2-hour estimated play time applies to standalone intro/warmup game... full game is much larger.)

Light pseudo-medieval fantasy • Two hours • Parser-based

This work also won 2nd place (tie) in the 2023 Miss Congeniality Awards.

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 7.40
Votes Cast 30
Standard Deviation 1.52

9th place

Assembly

Cover art for Assembly

Ben Kirwin bkirwi+assembly@gmail.com

Today has been an extraordinarily long day. You picked up the keys to your new apartment in the morning, you went shopping for furniture in the afternoon, and you've spent the evening putting it together.

And you're almost finished — there's one box left.

ASSEMBLY is a story of magic and adventure. Can you assemble a small table? Can you save the world from the vengeance of ancient gods?

Fantasy / slice of life • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 7.27
Votes Cast 75
Standard Deviation 1.41

10th place

Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head

Cover art for Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head

The Hungry Reader gravidtron@gmail.com

Cover art by: The Hungry Reader

The world’s most beloved puppeteer has died under mysterious circumstances. His legacy must be preserved! Hunt your way through his studio and talk to seven different puppets to learn the truth and protect Mal Newsome’s honor.

For SUPER players: Take the NO UNDO challenge! If you play the game without undoing earlier moves, you may discover brand new gameplay and content!

Mascot horror • Choice-based

This work also won 2nd place (tie) in the 2023 Miss Congeniality Awards.

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 7.22
Votes Cast 55
Standard Deviation 1.87

11th place

To Sea in a Sieve
Episode one of The Curse of Captain Booby

Cover art for To Sea in a Sieve

J. J. Guest jason.guest@gmail.com

Cover art by: Cover art by Howard Pyle. Image acquired from Wikimedia Commons. Graphic design by J. J. Guest.

Peter Petibon, cabin boy, hath a problem. He be goin' down — to Davy Jones' locker, by the powers! Lest he seize the booty o' the dread pyrate Booby, and heave it all o'erboard, he and the Cap'n both will be hors d'oeuvres for the sharks. But what be in that mysterious sea-chest? Do beavers eat boats? And what, i' the devil's name be THE DREADED "YATEVEO" TREE? All o' these questions, an' more besides, will be answered when ye play "To Sea in a Sieve", a one-room game by J. J. Guest.

To Sea in a Sieve is a prequel to the author's 2003 game To Hell in a Hamper. Set 160 years earlier, To Sea in a Sieve will eventually form the first part of a trilogy. No knowledge of To Hell in a Hamper is needed to enjoy To Sea in a Sieve.

Comedy, pyratical yarn • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 7.18
Votes Cast 65
Standard Deviation 1.73

12th place

Xanthippe's Last Night with Socrates

Cover art for Xanthippe's Last Night with Socrates

Victor Gijsbers victor@lilith.cc

Cover art by: Guillaume Rouillé

It's your last night together, for literal fuck's sake, but your husband is 'not in the mood'. Can you convince him to fulfil his marital duties?

And will that bring any solace at all?

Romance • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 7.15
Votes Cast 98
Standard Deviation 1.73

13th place

Paintball Wizard

Cover art for Paintball Wizard

Doug Egan dougegan2@gmail.com

Cover art by: infinityto1

Sure, I know Quidditch: expensive and impossibly complex game played by fictional wizards at an imaginary boarding academy. The guys in my house (frat house, that is) came from marginal high schools where we were afraid to identify as wizards to our non-magical classmates. Here in college we’ve formed our brotherhood. The sport we pursue on Saturdays away from campus is mystic paintball.

Learn spells, hang with the brothers, compete for the title of Paintball Wizard.

Comic puzzler • Two hours • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 7.00
Votes Cast 32
Standard Deviation 1.90

14th place

Tricks of light in the forest

Cover art for Tricks of light in the forest

Pseudavid @pseudavid

Some year not too far, in a foggy morning just before sunrise, a normal girl takes a normal walk in a normal forest.

One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.98
Votes Cast 48
Standard Deviation 1.49

15th place

Citizen Makane
A Sexual Comedy

Cover art for Citizen Makane

The Reverend citizen.makane@gmail.com

In the beginning, you thought it was a simple nightmare. But then it just didn't stop.

You're trapped in a text-adventure game called "The Incredible Erotic Adventures of Stiffy Makane". Maybe this is your purgatory. Maybe you deserve this.

Official Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7tbJ0Tm3tjIHlmNbKPtojU

Sexual comedy • Longer than two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.97
Votes Cast 39
Standard Deviation 1.51

16th place

Dysfluent

Cover art for Dysfluent

Allyson Gray allyson_gray@hotmail.com

Sometimes talking is easier said than done.

Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.95
Votes Cast 77
Standard Deviation 1.46

17th place

Hand Me Down

Cover art for Hand Me Down

Brett Witty @brettwitty handmedown@brettwitty.net

Cover art by: Maggie McMahon

Ruby Walker takes a hesitant bus ride to the hospital where her father has spent the last nine months. But he has not called her there to discuss his condition. With James, her supportive partner by her side, Ruby is about to discover a deeply personal project decades in the making.

Dive into this intimate tale spanning IF platforms (Twine and TADS 3), all within your browser.

Choice- and parser-based, slice of life • An hour and a half

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.87
Votes Cast 30
Standard Deviation 2.08

18th place (tie)

One King to Loot them All
A tale of High Adventure

Cover art for One King to Loot them All

Onno Brouwer onekingtolootthemall@gmail.com

Cover art by: RION

In the old free days, all you needed was a sharp sword and a straight path to your enemies. Overthrowing the old dynasty was easy enough, but you quickly learned that as a King, no path was straight, and your sword was useless. Now, an old enemy has sent you this abomination through a magical portal, and you face death. You feel alive once more.

You hear your blood sing in your ears, and you crave vengeance. Vengeance upon the dark sorcerer who sent this creature that killed your priestess, Lydia, into the very heart of your kingdom. It is time to take the fight to him. You are the Barbarian. You are the King. You are...

ONE KING TO LOOT THEM ALL.

Includes a story mode and hints!

This game uses custom commands. Consult the Player Primer available through the Walkthrough button below.

No goats were harmed in the creation of this High Adventure.

Fantasy • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.80
Votes Cast 46
Standard Deviation 1.69

18th place (tie)

Eat the Eldritch
Everybody's got a hungry something.

Cover art for Eat the Eldritch

Olaf Nowacki @OlafNowacki olaf.nowacki@gmail.com

Cover art by: Annette Köhn

You are Jun Do, captain on the fish processing ship Tataki. Your crew is not only new to you, they are also quite strange. And your destination is Point Memo, the furthest place on earth from any cost...

The song "Star Ocean" by Rainer Torres Kessler is included in the game - courtesy of the artist.

Horredy • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.80
Votes Cast 41
Standard Deviation 1.33

20th place

Fix Your Mother's Printer
Laugh, Cry, Troubleshoot

Cover art for Fix Your Mother's Printer

Geoffrey Golden @geoffreygolden

Fix Your Mother’s Printer is a "family sim" visual novel where what you say changes the story and your relationship with your mom.

It’s Sunday afternoon and your mother is calling you on Swoon, the video conferencing app specifically for moms. She’s having a tech emergency and you’re the only one who can help! Will you be the golden child and fix her out-of-pocket printer? Make fun of her and watch her fume? What kind of adult child do you want to be? Remember, it's not just a printer. It's an emotional journey.

Slice of Life Comedy • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.74
Votes Cast 89
Standard Deviation 1.75

21st place

CODENAME OBSCURA

Cover art for CODENAME OBSCURA

Mika Kujala mika23if@gmail.com

It's the year 1987. As an undercover operative Sinus for the T.U.R.T.L.E organization, (Tactical Unit for Rapid and Thorough Lethal Espionage), you have recently been assigned to a task in Italy. A few weeks ago, your colleague, operative Onyx, was sent to Aurelia, a small village in Northern Italy. His task was to gather intelligence and uncover the dealings of the enigmatic Count Schwarzberg. Rumored to be entangled with crime organizations, including the infamous Italian mafia, the Count's activities have so far remained veiled in secrecy.

Your boss, Ember, has recently received a backup and assistance request from agent Onyx. So they need *you* now, operative Sinus, to be urgently redirected to Aurelia to assist and evaluate the situation.

NOTE: This game uses intentionally retro-style, small resolution images and limited color palette. The idea is to release a web-based (HTML) version of the game for this competition. But it has been developed in Adventuron 8-bit compatibility mode, so it would be possible to translate and release it also to the ZX Spectrum Next computer at some point later. I developed the very first version of the game back in the year 1987. but it never got released, in any form, because it became much too demanding for the ZX Spectrum 48K memory.

Mystery, espionage, languages, 8-bit retro-style • One hour • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.72
Votes Cast 54
Standard Deviation 1.66

22nd place (tie)

Gestures Towards Divinity

Cover art for Gestures Towards Divinity

Charm Cochran @Over__Thinkings charmwritesthings@gmail.com

Francis Bacon (1909-1992) was a British painter, infamous for his use of brutal imagery and distortions of the human face and body. Well-known for both his violent subject matter and cutting wit, he is commonly considered one of the most important artists of the Twentieth Century.

This story is not about him.

Surreal • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.68
Votes Cast 47
Standard Deviation 2.15

22nd place (tie)

Ribald Bat Lady Plunder Quest

Cover art for Ribald Bat Lady Plunder Quest

Joey Acrimonious

Wherein a bat-themed monster lady goes on a felonious adventure to obtain a special birthday present for her beloved.

Fantasy/Erotica • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.68
Votes Cast 31
Standard Deviation 1.79

24th place

Antony & Cleopatra: Case IV: The Murder of Marlon Brando

Cover art for Antony & Cleopatra: Case IV: The Murder of Marlon Brando

Travis Moy moytravis@gmail.com

The year is 2021. Neo-America is prospering under the stern yet wise direction of President for Life, Gaius Julius Ceasar. 330 million souls live, love, and laugh, all working tirelessly for the glory of the American people! But with light comes darkness. With prosperity comes misery. And with law comes crime. Heinous crimes! Shocking crimes! Cunning crimes! And sometimes, very rarely, crimes so devious, so shadowy, so slippery that only Neo-America's greatest detectives can hope to solve them.

For these crimes, the very worst of crimes, America has a special team. Two individuals, both alike in dignity, in fair DC, where we lay our scene. Their names: Antony and Cleopatra.

He's the Vice President.

She's the Queen of Egypt.

Together, they fight crime!

Note that this is a fully synchronous two-player game and requires two people and internet access to work. You cannot download this game and play it offline, no matter what the button says.

Experimental Multiplayer Murder Mystery • An hour and a half • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.61
Votes Cast 33
Standard Deviation 0.92

25th place

My Brother; The Parasite
It is a kind of symbiosis.

Cover art for My Brother; The Parasite

qrowscant @qrowscant

People die, and sometimes they come back. Your brother is one of those. Even as his body rots and his mind unravels, he still has control over you— just like when you were kids.

A story about a corpse, a complicated sibling relationship, and the things we forget.

Familial Horror • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.52
Votes Cast 54
Standard Deviation 2.39

26th place

The Whisperers
An Interactive Play

Cover art for The Whisperers

Milo van Mesdag @MiloMesdag m.mesdagwriter@gmail.com

The year is 1938, two newcomers have just arrived at their new home: a communal apartment in Moscow, the beating heart of Soviet power. But what will they make of their new lives? And what will their neighbours make of them? The Whisperers is a story of love, revolution, belief, and the choices ordinary people make in extraordinary times.

Or: the year is 1938 and you have arrived at your local soviet sponsored theatre, ready for a play lauded by the agents of the Department of Agitation and Propaganda as "the first truly socialist play", in which the audience, the people, decide the course of events.

Or: The Whisperers is a script for an interactive play, loosely adapted into a piece of written interactive fiction (while also featuring an annotated version for the ease of use of prospective directors and actors).

Play, romance, historical, politcal. • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.51
Votes Cast 35
Standard Deviation 1.86

27th place (tie)

Death on the Stormrider

Cover art for Death on the Stormrider

Daniel M. Stelzer dsdraco7@gmail.com

You'd had such high hopes, starting out. And now you're limping home, tail between your legs, as all your plans for a new life crashed and burned. You barely had enough money to arrange an airship home, an old freighter that needed extra hands on short notice. You thought that would be the end of it.

But now the man who hired you on—the only one on the crew who spoke your language—is dead, and they think your brother did it. If you don't find some way to prove him innocent before the ship lands, he's going to spend the rest of his life rotting in a Kishadu prison.

All you have to do is escape from your cabin, figure out what really happened on this ship, and prove it to the crew…who can't understand a word you say. You have no idea how you're going to manage it. But you're Kiang's last hope. You have to try.

Mystery • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.48
Votes Cast 52
Standard Deviation 1.22

27th place (tie)

Last Valentine's Day

Cover art for Last Valentine's Day

Daniel Gao danwcgao@gmail.com

Cover art by: Matt Wang

This Valentine's Day feels an awful lot like Groundhog Day...

You find yourself in an inexplicable time loop, reliving the same day over and over again. Can you find a way to stop your lover from leaving you?

Fantasy, romance, story-driven • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.48
Votes Cast 54
Standard Deviation 1.40

29th place

My Pseudo-Dementia Exhibition
a personal & public museum

Cover art for My Pseudo-Dementia Exhibition

Naomi Norbez (call me Bez, e/he) @NaomiNorbez bezthezebro@gmail.com

Cover art by: Naomi Norbez (with public domain/CC0 images)

If you want a swashbuckling adventure game, or exciting puzzles to solve, then I apologize, but this game doesn't have that. This Twine contains a museum, which consists of items notable to me during my long period of mental health recovery. I wanted to share my journey in some form or fashion, and this Twine is the result.

This game is a museum, so treat it as such. Peruse slowly. Stop and listen to the music. Linger on an exhibit that you like. Exit whenever you feel ready to.

And do leave your name in the guestbook, won't you? https://forms.gle/yK4orr4J3g7so5mE7

(P.S. I strongly recommend you download this game. The browser is not always the nicest to it in terms of loading pages & images, which are essential to the player experience.)

Autobiography • One hour

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.47
Votes Cast 38
Standard Deviation 2.41

30th place

Detective Osiris
Death. Conception. Genesis. Mystery.

Cover art for Detective Osiris

Adam Burt @Newnab

Cover art by: Illustration: Kama Mielczarek

You are Osiris, the recently deceased king of Egypt. And it's time to investigate your own murder.

Question the gods! Interrogate the Egyptian pantheon, to piece together the details of your death.

Search ancient streets for clues! From Waset to Sepermeru, travel through primordial cities to find evidence.

Basic puzzles! As you hunt down your killer to make them face judgement, you'll be free to complete your investigation in any order, unlocking new conversation options with characters as you go. Use your observational skills and complete a couple of light riddles will help you catch the killer and reach the story's thrilling conclusion.

From the bank of the River Nile, to the heavens above, DETECTIVE OSIRIS is an explorable re-imagining of Ancient Egyptian mythology, with a light noir twist. Featuring art by Kama Mielczarek, and music by Mycelium Music. Playtested by Ben Joy and Taya Beleanina.

Historical Fantasy • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.45
Votes Cast 62
Standard Deviation 1.46

31st place (tie)

The Gift of What You Notice More

Cover art for The Gift of What You Notice More

Xavid blessings@xavid.us

Co-written by:

Cover art by: Elanor Pam

If you’re gonna get your heart broke, you’d better do it just right…

It’s the middle of the night and you’re trying to pack your things. But can you really bring yourself to walk through the door? And how did it come to this? If only you had three mysterious poets to help you figure things out…

The Gift of What You Notice More is a surreal escape-room-esque puzzle-based Twine game about memories and choices.

Surreal escape room • Two hours • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.42
Votes Cast 48
Standard Deviation 1.66

31st place (tie)

Kaboom
Translated from Russian

Cover art for Kaboom

By anonymous, artwork by Vera Pohl

Cover art by: Vera Pohl

You're still the only one whom she takes to bed with her.

One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.42
Votes Cast 36
Standard Deviation 1.75

33rd place

The Whale's Keeper

Cover art for The Whale's Keeper

Ben Parzybok @sparkwatson ben@ideacog.net

Cover art by: Sylvie Parzybok

You appear to have been swallowed by a whale. Expect to find wonders and horrors, mythical and real, inside the cavernous belly of the greatest mammal on Earth. Fortunately, you’re a cetologist.

This story is delivered via Plotopolis - at this point, a proof-of-concept interactive fiction journal that publishes to chat platforms - which was written in concert with this story.

Literary / speculative • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.32
Votes Cast 57
Standard Deviation 1.79

34th place

One Does Not Simply Fry

Cover art for One Does Not Simply Fry

Stewart C Baker and James Beamon stewart.c.baker@gmail.com

Co-written by:

Cover art by: Image based on "Ring of Fire" by Brunello Panucci (used under a CC-BY license), plus a CC-0 picture of onion rings.

One Ring of onion and flour, One Ring that's frying, One Ring to bring them all, and to the menu bind them...

~ ~ ~

It's the Great Godstone Fry-Off, and Tira Misu has gathered chefs and celebrities from all the Twelve Mostly Civilized Realms for a no-holds-barred cooking challenge at the base of Mount Boom.

Face off against the likes of Marcher, Argyle the Chefromancer, Sour Ron, Friar Fryest, and a surprisingly skilled loaf of bread. Choose between four playable characters, with tactics including confusion, violence, sabotage, bribery, and even (to everybody's lasting shock) actual cooking!

No matter what approach you take, you'll face stiff competition as tensions rise and fall around you like overmixed pancake batter. Will you craft the perfect Ring of Onion and usher in a new age of peace, prosperity, and delicious crispiness—or fall to the black eyeliner and fiery theatrics of Másgoth, the mostly-vanquished ancient godking bent on sending all the Realms hurtling back to the Worst Age?

~ ~ ~

(The first playthrough takes roughly 30-45 minutes, depending on your reading speed. Playing through a couple of times is recommended for the full Fry-Off experience!)

Fantasy / comedy / baking • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.28
Votes Cast 40
Standard Deviation 1.55

35th place

All the Troubles Come My Way
or; Johnny Montana and His Missing Cowboy Hat

Cover art for All the Troubles Come My Way

Sam Dunnachie samdunnachie4@gmail.com

You, Johnny Montana, are a cowboy from 1883 inexplicably transported to modern day New York City. The world is a confusing and awful place, but nonetheless one you have to interact with, especially considering your newly misplaced cowboy hat. Explore the world and interact with what you can to try and find a replacement. This game is intened to be replayed. There are multiple different avenues for adventure, and it is up to you which ones you find yourself on each playthrough. The game contains swearing, and is not designed for young children.

Comedy, western, contemporary, replayable • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.25
Votes Cast 59
Standard Deviation 1.51

36th place

Bright Brave Knight Knave

Cover art for Bright Brave Knight Knave

Andrew Schultz @anandrewschultz blurglecruncheon@gmail.com

Cover art by: Monica (infinityto1) on intfiction--the good stuff is hers, I just superimposed some MSPaint faces

Friends, for ends, or mends (more).

Sixth in my Prime Pro-Rhyme Row series, though it is fully independent of the others.

Option to skip one room with an off-color name and bonus puzzle.

Comedy/surreal • Longer than two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.08
Votes Cast 26
Standard Deviation 1.82

37th place

Beat Witch
An interactive loneliness

Cover art for Beat Witch

Robert Patten curiousrealms@gmail.com

The beat witch killed thousands with a thought. Now you venture into a city of death to face her. Flee your pursuers. Save a world that fears you. Stay away from music.

Horror • One hour • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 6.00
Votes Cast 45
Standard Deviation 1.66

38th place

All Hands

Cover art for All Hands

Natasha Ramoutar

Cover art by: 51581 via Pixabay

The sea is calling you. Its voice is getting louder.

Horror, Mystery • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.85
Votes Cast 61
Standard Deviation 1.62

39th place

The Finders Commission
Episode One: Pharaohs Tombs

Cover art for The Finders Commission

Deborah Sherwood sherwood.deborah.a@gmail.com

Cover art by: Deborah Sherwood

You've been hired to recover a priceless Egyptian artifact from a traveling antique show. Security is tight and the officer in charge has a history with you. Explore the show, find the artifact, avoid the officers and snatch the prize before some one else does. Oh, and you might fall in love along the way. Includes game stats and gender choices.

Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.84
Votes Cast 50
Standard Deviation 1.60

40th place

Who Iced Mayor McFreeze?
A Bubble Gumshoe Mystery

Cover art for Who Iced Mayor McFreeze?

Damon L. Wakes damon.l.wakes@gmail.com

The mayor has only been missing for about an hour, but Mrs. McFreeze has good reason for concern: her husband left to attend some business at the old taffy factory with the notorious Don Toblerone, and she fears he's got himself into a sticky situation. Naturally she calls upon Bubble Gumshoe - Sugar City's premiere private eye - to check up on him.

But unfortunately for the mayor, Bubble Gumshoe comes too late. And Unfortunately for Bubble Gumshoe, the killer is there when she arrives. Locked in the abandoned building - with a demolition charge set for 9am the next day - she must use all her cunning to sniff out the building's secrets so she can once again taste freedom, all while chewing over...

...who iced Mayor McFreeze?

Thanks to Brett Witty, felix, Dave Diamond and Matt Campbell for playtesting.

Mystery • Half an hour • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.80
Votes Cast 74
Standard Deviation 1.45

41st place (tie)

Artful Deceit
For the C64

Cover art for Artful Deceit

James O'Reilly tenprintclearhome+ifcomp@gmail.com

Co-written by:

Three weeks ago, you received an envelope. It had been pushed under your office door and was marked in ornate script with the words, “Of Greatest Urgency.” Intrigued, you grabbed your trusty sword-shaped letter opener from a cluttered desk drawer and tore into it. Inside, you found the kind of letter that is basically an urban legend in your line of work.

Richard Hawthorne, millionaire art magnate, was retaining your services to investigate a murder. One that had not yet happened. His own. Included was a huge check and a set of security codes to access both the gates of his private community and the back door of his residence, 34 Hush Lane, in the event of his death.

Your assignment: if anything were to happen to him, investigate immediately and determine for certain whether it was due to natural or nefarious causes.

Paranoid or not, the man came to the right place. Your cluttered office and perpetually disheveled look belie a razor sharp analytical mind and expert interrogation skills. Underestimation by others is your secret weapon and allows you to fade into the woodwork, catching clues that others miss. This has made you one of the most successful P.I.s around. You had accepted the job immediately, not expecting to have to follow through so soon.

Download includes a .D64 disk image to run on a Commodore 64 emulator such as VICE or real hardware.

Murder mystery • Longer than two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.72
Votes Cast 25
Standard Deviation 2.22

41st place (tie)

One Knight Stand
Part 1: The Beginning of the End

Cover art for One Knight Stand

A. Hazard oneknightstand@darkluna.com

It's another humdrum day as the weekend winds to its inevitable end. The pandemic has stretched on for a decade now. A new serial killer stalks the streets. A ghost haunts your dreams. And your polo club is waiting. Exactly as expected.

Just ignore the sounds in your living room. Just ignore that shadow scuttling across the floor. Just ignore the lies of the 'friend' whose known you for years. He's lying. She's lying. That stranger on the street is lying. And the voices whispering in your mind are definitely lying. Even this blurb is lying.

But that's fine...

Y̸̷̶̷̸̷̷̷̥͑̅̌̔̉ͯo̼̩̖̓ͪ̽͢ǔ̢͢͏̫͕͋'͎̬́͐ͥ᷇͢r̉͏͍̾᷉̓̓e͓͕ͦ̿᷅͆͠ l̜̻̈̅̃͢͞y̡̬͙̪̦̦ͧi̘᷅̓͒̐̍͑n̰͈᷅ͯͥͨ͜g̯᷾̒̑᷄̕͟ t̶̙͍̏͊᷈͠o̙̟ͦ̏̄ͭ͂ő̶͎̘̝̂

Dark Urban Fantasy • Longer than two hours • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.72
Votes Cast 43
Standard Deviation 2.47

43rd place

The Ship
An interactive novel about reaching out to others and finding oneself

Cover art for The Ship

Sotiris Niarchos sot.niarchos@gmail.com

Cover art by: DALL·E 2

It is the year 1719. A Captain embarks on an extraordinary voyage into the unknown, guided solely by a cryptic poem passed down as an unexpected family heirloom. A fabled promised land beckons, but as the Captain inches closer to their elusive destination, a series of extraordinary events unfold, prompting a profound reevaluation of identity and potential. Do they really know who they are? Who they could have been? What truly awaits at the journey's end? And what formidable challenges must the Captain surmount to reach it?

Embark on a journey through a meticulously crafted universe teeming with enthralling characters and a richly developed world. Prepare to unravel a unique mystery with intricate puzzles, lifelike personalities, each with a different story to tell, and a tapestry of interconnected events. Will you manage to piece together the greater picture? Are you prepared for what or who you’ll find at the end of the line? Or for what comes after?

Estimated playtime: 2.5 - 3.5 h

Pirates, scifi, mystery, puzzles, achievements • Longer than two hours • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.69
Votes Cast 35
Standard Deviation 1.83

44th place

The Long Kill

Cover art for The Long Kill

James Blair jc.blair@zoho.com

A thought-provoking tale of friendship under fire; The Long Kill is an Interactive Novel that places readers in the shoes of "Mister", a prodigious sniper in the British army. Lying prone in the scorching desert sun, your rifle plays guardian angel to a patrol performing a risky house to house search.

Make the calls both big and small that will impact the soldier's life forever. Wind estimates, sight adjustments, moral judgements and luck all have their part to play in shaping the outcome of his final mission.

With three experiences of varying difficulty and a variety of outcomes based on your actions, The Long Kill charges you with setting the trajectory of Mister's life.

Interactive Novel - Thriller • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.56
Votes Cast 27
Standard Deviation 1.93

45th place

DICK MCBUTTS GETS KICKED IN THE NUTS

Cover art for DICK MCBUTTS GETS KICKED IN THE NUTS

Damon L. Wakes (writing as “Hubert Janus”)

It's exactly what it sounds like.

Humour • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.54
Votes Cast 110
Standard Deviation 2.73

46th place (tie)

Milliways: the Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Cover art for Milliways: the Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Max Fog

Cover art by: Max Fog

In Milliways: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, every step you take has an equal probability of sending you over the edge of perilous cliff drops or spinning into the stratosphere. But before that all happens, you have a choice: should you hitchhike the galaxy, or stay home and drink beer?

Oh, right. Your home was destroyed ages ago. I guess there's only one way to go then.

As the game begins, you find yourself on the ramp leading from the hatchway down to the surface of the legendary lost planet of Magrathea. Soon, you will find yourself exploring dead planets, escaping white mice, navigating the fjords of Norway, and of course - at Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe!

Zarfian Cruelty Rating: Cruel. But don't fret; built-in hints are available!

Science fiction comedy • Longer than two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.50
Votes Cast 40
Standard Deviation 1.73

46th place (tie)

Trail Stash

Cover art for Trail Stash

Andrew Schultz @anandrewschultz blurglecruncheon@gmail.com

Just a hinky stunt, really.

Comedy/surreal • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.50
Votes Cast 50
Standard Deviation 1.53

48th place

GameCeption
Who is the player?

Cover art for GameCeption

Ruo @ruozestudios ruoshi.dr@gmail.com

Cover art by: Ruo

Welcome to the 5th annual broadcasted gaming competition known as GameCeption, where you compete in duos to win real money!

This year, it seems like the producers are shaking up the format to something a little more exciting and a little more...high-stakes, we shall say.

Action, thriller • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.38
Votes Cast 48
Standard Deviation 1.63

49th place (tie)

Escape your psychosis
Exit the loop game

Cover art for Escape your psychosis

Georg Buchrucker georgbuchrucker@web.de

Cover art by: Gina Fringante

Here a serious topic is presented in a funny way. The goal is to both entertain and inform those willing to play. You have to escape your psychosis by finding one of the two endings. Otherwise you are stuck in the loop. Best played in a pdf reader like acrobat. Playing it in the browser, leads to malfunctions. This game is translated from German language. It will be printed for charitable purposes and is a non-commercial project.

Mental health • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.36
Votes Cast 44
Standard Deviation 1.87

49th place (tie)

20 Exchange Place
Sink or swim in the concrete pool.

Cover art for 20 Exchange Place

Sol FC fenwicsol@myvuw.ac.nz

"This is what you do. This is what you've been trained to do. You've done it before. You just have to keep a cool head."

A short-form, multi-ending, high-octane race against a ticking clock in the heart of New York City circa 2006.

Can you tread water and work your magic? Or will you sink and drown?

Gritty, realistic, short • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.36
Votes Cast 77
Standard Deviation 1.97

49th place (tie)

All Hands Abandon Ship
In a race against time, can you escape before it's too late?

Cover art for All Hands Abandon Ship

David Lee

It's the same old story, really... A low-ranking officer stuck on a doomed spaceship hurtling headlong toward the inescapable gravitational pull of a quantum singularity. Only a perfect storm of systems failures stands between you and your race to find a serviceable life pod. Good luck, Science Officer Cadet Third Class! You're going to need it.

Science Fiction • One hour • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.36
Votes Cast 58
Standard Deviation 1.54

52nd place

Please Sign Here

Cover art for Please Sign Here

Michelle Negron leharts@yahoo.com (writing as “Road”)

Cover art by: XLEHX

Jackie Parker's life gets turned upside down after getting involved in a fatal car accident with her best friend. Now, Jackie's signature has been showing up at murder sights across the area and she has to think back to who could have done it. You have to prove Jackie's innocence, or, are you willing to throw someone else under the bus?

Get to click and play through different scenarios as a coffee barista to see if anyone you had came across could be the true culprit behind it. Figure out the mystery to who might have decided to frame Jackie or, if Jackie is as innocent as she seems.

Suspense, Mystery • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.32
Votes Cast 41
Standard Deviation 2.15

53rd place (tie)

A Thing of Wretchedness

Cover art for A Thing of Wretchedness

AKheon @AKheon

A lonely farmstead... A troubling situation... No easy answers.

This is a parser-based sandbox horror adventure with multiple endings. It takes place in the setting of Ascension of Limbs, but it's intended to be a stand-alone story that doesn't require any foreknowledge. Contains scenes some may find disturbing.

Horror • One hour • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.30
Votes Cast 47
Standard Deviation 1.82

53rd place (tie)

Lonehouse

Cover art for Lonehouse

Ayu Sekarlangit Mokoginta @hauntshill ayusekarlangitm@gmail.com

Cover art by: Matthew Hamilton

After your estranged sister's death, you face difficulty sorting through her personal belongings. As you navigate your grief through these objects, you begin to reminisce about old times and learn about her life years after she left. Where can you find your sister? Who was she through all those years?

(The game contains topics such as grief and death)

Slice of life • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.30
Votes Cast 63
Standard Deviation 2.01

55th place

Barcarolle in Yellow

Cover art for Barcarolle in Yellow

Víctor Ojuel @victorojuel victor.ojuel@gmail.com

Cover art by: Ara Carrasco

Barcarolle in Yellow (1975, released in Italy as "Barcarolla in Giallo"), starring Eva Chantry.

This lurid but stylish Italian thriller is set in Venice during the filming of an eponymous exploitation film, with the lead actress credited as "playing herself". In the day it was critically panned by highbrow critics as "yet another entertainment for those who relish scantily clad ladies being murdered in grisly ways, trippy camerawork and nonsensical plot twists" and relegated to the relative obscurity of other "video nasties".

In the ensuing decades, this giallo has attained cult status, fondly remembered for its bold photography, ambiguous subtext, and of course the tragic circumstances that surrounded the production. Rumours abound about alternative endings that were cut from the theatre version, either by the Italian censors or the American distributor, with bootleg Betamax copies commanding high prices online.

Giallo • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.16
Votes Cast 45
Standard Deviation 1.80

56th place

Help! I Can't Find My Glasses!

Cover art for Help! I Can't Find My Glasses!

Lacey Green lacewing.dev@gmail.com

(To be updated)

Synopsis: Your glasses are missing, and it reeks of a cruel prank to your dependence on them. You have your suspects. Now it’s only a matter of time before you unmask them. Will you find your glasses, and see what’s hidden in their heart?

Slice of life • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.05
Votes Cast 94
Standard Deviation 1.92

57th place (tie)

Lake Starlight

Cover art for Lake Starlight

SummersViaEarth summersviaearth@proton.me

You are young and female and coming-of-age on a planet in utter chaos--its people on a path to ecocide and self-destruction. Magic runs in your blood, but you're just a kid and you're stuck in a toxic little town with no way out. Except...today you wake up to new choices. Will you learn to harness your inner magic or sleepwalk through your planet’s darkest days?

Character Art by Artkblo.

YA Fantasy, coming-of-age story. • An hour and a half • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.00
Votes Cast 36
Standard Deviation 1.97

57th place (tie)

Have Orb, Will Travel

Cover art for Have Orb, Will Travel

Jim MacBrayne jimmacbrayne@protonmail.com (writing as “Older Timer”)

You've spent a lifetime travelling and solving problems for others, but on this occasion have you bitten off a little bit more than you can chew? Where will you find that elusive orb, or has The Council's faith in you been misplaced?

'Have Orb, Will Travel' is a text-only interactive fiction fantasy game, very much in the 'old-school' style. It was written from the ground up for the PC using qBasic64, and has a comprehensive and powerful parser. Included in the game are detailed HELP instructions, and it also has comprehensive hints, both implicit and explicit, which can be accessed using the command HINT.

It is written for Windows on the PC, but can also be run on MacOS using Cross Over or on Linux using WINE.

Fantasy Adventure • Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 5.00
Votes Cast 29
Standard Deviation 1.51

59th place

Last Vestiges

Cover art for Last Vestiges

thesleuthacademy

Hertfordshire Avenue. A body.

Inspector Knapp is asking for your help. Will you use your powers of deduction to find out what happened to the victim?

Mystery, Puzzle, Detective • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 4.96
Votes Cast 45
Standard Deviation 1.92

60th place

Shanidar, Safe Return

Cover art for Shanidar, Safe Return

Cecilia Dougherty @cdougherty

Cover art by: Cecilia Dougherty

Eurasia, 40,000 years ago. As the story begins, a band of Cro-Magnons have just invaded a nearby Neanderthal camp, falsely claiming that the Neanderthals were planning to steal meat, skins and ivory from the Cro-Magnon mammoth hunt. The Cro-Magnons visit the Neanderthal camp with the intent of chasing them out of the territory. As they approach the camp with axes and knives, their rage gets the better of them and they end up murdering every Neanderthal in sight.

You, the reader, are a young Neanderthal woman named Haizea. You have escaped the massacre and are on the run with your son, Eneko, and your Cro Magnon partner, Esti. Esti's best friend, Oihana,is coming with you. Your goal is to reach Shanidar, your ancestral homeland. Follow the story and meet the characters from the Deep Past by choosing links at the end of each story passage as the group of early humans makes their way from what is now southern France to Iraqi Kurdistan.

Speculative Fiction, Prehistory • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 4.93
Votes Cast 28
Standard Deviation 1.87

61st place

Out of Scope

Cover art for Out of Scope

Drew Castalia drewc@hwstn.com

Cover art by: Drew Castalia

Zoe and her brother Joe grew up close. Too close, according to their parents.

Their parents would go far to protect society. Too far, according to their children.

"Out of Scope" is about which forms of love and violence our society condones, and which it condemns. It follows the downfall of the Carnation family, and your effort to put it into perspective.

Political romance • Two hours • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 4.90
Votes Cast 20
Standard Deviation 1.97

62nd place

We All Fall Together

Cover art for We All Fall Together

Camron Gonzalez @CamronJGonzalez camronjgonza@gmail.com

Cover art by: Tassneen Bashir

You wake up. You're falling. A ceaseless sky and a never ending cyclone greets you. Others fall all around you. No where else to go but down.

Fantasy; Surreal • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 4.82
Votes Cast 90
Standard Deviation 1.65

63rd place

The Sculptor

Cover art for The Sculptor

Yakoub Mousli mousliyakoub@gmail.com

Cover art by: José de Ribera

Sways of an artist's delicate spirit. An 82 year old sculptor with no achievements to his name or a penny in his pocket now seeks to make the masterpiece of his dreams before his life fades.

Experimental, Self-Reflection, Echoes of Life • 15 minutes or less

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 4.80
Votes Cast 83
Standard Deviation 1.60

64th place

Magor Investigates...
Adventures In The World Of Alaric Blackmoon - Episode 4

Cover art for Magor Investigates...

Larry Horsfield

Cover art by: Funkwood

You are Magor, court sorcerer to King Kelson Haldane, the young king of the kingdom of Hecate. You are in your chambers, having just had a herald bring the news that the king and Duke Alaric Blackmoon have arrived back from their journey to the Great Sand Sea to investigate reports of Xixon lizardmen being seen down there.

The herald also told you, most unusually, that Kelson & Alaric will be coming to see YOU instead of you having to go to the king's audience chamber and that the visit will be informal, so no bowing will be required. You wonder what tales they will have to tell you?

"Fancy that," you think to yourself. "The king coming to see me!"....

*************************************

* Use FRANKENDRIFT to play the game if you are playing on a MacOS or Linux computer. Download FrankenDrift from https://github.com/awlck/frankendrift/releases/tag/v0.6.2

Fantasy • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 4.73
Votes Cast 22
Standard Deviation 1.51

65th place

The Paper Magician

Cover art for The Paper Magician

Soojung Choi soojung.c.choi@gmail.com

Cover art by: Soojung Choi

“The cat leapt for the star.” Every time I conjured a cat and a star from the words I penned on paper, I found myself more and more like the cat. Longing for something bright and hopeful, but forever out of my reach.

Until one night when I dreamed for the first time… I met someone who promised to help me escape.

This is the story of a test subject, their encounter with a spirit, and their escape from a mysterious lab.

Speculative Fiction, Fantasy • One hour

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 4.69
Votes Cast 35
Standard Deviation 1.83

66th place

The Witch

Cover art for The Witch

Charles Moore charlesmoore@improvmonster.com

You’re typically a sober-minded upstanding elf but last night you were out a little too late and had a little too much mead. This morning you woke up wedged in a tree in the woods outside of town with a splitting headache. Thanks to your late-night escapades, though, you luckily avoided the previous night’s calamity when a powerful witch swept in and snatched away all the other elves in your village. Now, you’re the only one left to save them. Time is short, however, for the the witch is lurking and she’ll be back at sunset for any stragglers.

Fantasy • Longer than two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 4.47
Votes Cast 38
Standard Deviation 1.77

67th place

Virtue
A Satire on Indulgence

Cover art for Virtue

Oliver Revolta @oliverrevolta oliverrevolta@gmail.com

Cover art by: Chris Halls

(Satire. 45 minutes)

Middle-aged Gloria knows she’s made it: finally she has it all—kids at a posh school, a house in a posh town, and her confidence, shaky for so long, in a place that befits her new upper-middle-class lifestyle. Unfortunately, the universe has other ideas than letting her settle. When she’s out walking her beautiful Border Collie pup Clio along the equally-beautiful canal, she stumbles on an incident that tests her new-found composure and sends her on a self-righteous path of utterly ludicrous foundations. (“Someone has been caught doing what now on the canal !?”). She’s quick to blame the easy targets, and equally as slow to scrutinise her own family.

You’ve seen and read superhero origin stories.

This is an off-beat origin story of a shameful MP.

Satire • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 4.46
Votes Cast 35
Standard Deviation 1.29

68th place

In The Details

Cover art for In The Details

M.A. Shannon mic.shann97@gmail.com

Cover art by: William DePaula

Tonight's your big night, Mx. Soon-To-Be Superstar and nothing will stand in your way. You've had everything planned out for the last year leading up to now, and with all the big names coming to tonight's concert, you cannot wait to put your musical talents to bear and finally live a life of luxury. Nothing will stop you, not even the Devil Himself...?

Contemporary, Horror, Humor • Half an hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 4.40
Votes Cast 48
Standard Deviation 1.38

69th place

The Engima of Solaris

Cover art for The Engima of Solaris

jkj yuio

Amidst the stars, Solaris stands as a beacon of human achievement and discovery. A space station dedicated to unravelling the universe's deepest secrets, it has been a centre of groundbreaking research.

But now, Solaris faces a crisis. A mysterious power loss threatens to destabilise its orbit hurling the station into the planet below, jeopardising thousands of lives.

Agent Elara Grey, a master trouble shooter, is sent on a perilous mission to Solaris. As she delves into the heart of the station's secrets, she'll grapple with the consequences of obsession, the balance between knowledge and humanity, and the ultimate choice between saving lives and unlocking the cosmos.

Sci-Fi • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 4.22
Votes Cast 59
Standard Deviation 1.98

70th place

Creative Cooking
an interactive cooking

dott. Piergiorgio

Railei, a world hundreds of thousands of years and light years away...

In the small town of Luroz is the eve of the Harvesting Festival, a young (that is, 80 years old) fey has just ended the preparation for a dinner with friends, and all remains to do is cooking, but the snafu is always lying in ambush...

A short teaser trailer, sequel of an unreleased WIP, presenting a first look into the interesting world of Railei. It's also the second IFComp entry written with Magx, released with its source code, perhaps the lone actual worked Magx source.

Friendly warning: there's a WC ;)

Fantasy, teaser trailer • An hour and a half • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 4.13
Votes Cast 23
Standard Deviation 1.33

71st place

Into The Lion's Mouth

Cover art for Into The Lion's Mouth

Metalflower

Cover art by: Alexas Fotos

The Serengeti, a 30,000 square kilometre Savannah wilderness in Tanzania, Eastern Africa. It's not your natural habitat. Your jeep, a square box with a messed up engine perched dead centre in that wilderness is not a lion's natural habitat. Luckily, you have options.

Hypothetical Reality drama • 15 minutes or less • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 4.08
Votes Cast 74
Standard Deviation 1.86

72nd place

Meritocracy
A quest to define merit: A battle of wits, an interactive fiction game.

Cover art for Meritocracy

Ronynn ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ

Are you ready to challenge your professor's ideas on what makes good merit?

- Explore the depths of philosophical thought in this immersive game where you must debate with your professor on the nature of merit.

- Engage in a battle of wits and see if you have what it takes to come out on top.

- Will you be able to convince them of your ideas?

Discussion • One hour • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 3.83
Votes Cast 40
Standard Deviation 1.99

73rd place

For Eternity, Again and Again

TheChosenGiraffe

Two lovers. A hero, who's reborn over and over into a new life. A higher being that must love and lose again and again. The cracks start to form as the Universe keeps them from living happily together. Includes: -2 Routes -4 Endings

Fantasy, romance, adventure • Choice-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 3.70
Votes Cast 43
Standard Deviation 1.96

74th place

Hawkstone
A TRS-80 Text Adventure with RPG elements

Cover art for Hawkstone

Handsome McStranger

Hawkstone: A retro TRS-80 adventure with extras for modern day adventurers.

Combining old school text adventures with RPG elements, opening up a deeper world of discovery options and choices for the player. Hawkstone has traditional puzzles to solve with new twists, comedy, and an underlying fantasy story with secrets to discover.

Two hours • Parser-based

Play, download, or learn more about this game on the IFDB

Score 3.29
Votes Cast 21
Standard Deviation 1.45

The organizer of the 2023 Annual Interactive Fiction Competition was Jacqueline Ashwell.