I’ve finished playing all 79 games (except two that I’ve reserved for long-term play due to awesomeness). I saw Wade Clark say he planned on picking out games by genre, to help with figuring which of these (many, many) games to play. My hope is that this chart will inspire someone by giving them a more reasonable chunk to plow through.
I’ve sorted these games by genre, and then by platform, and then by length. Short games generally take 15 minutes or less, long games take an hour or more, and medium are in between. Some of the games are especially long.
I’ve omitted any notion of quality from the chart, as I am an author, and cannot comment publicly on individual games in a way that would influence judges.
Finally, some genres are subjective. Guttersnipe is comedy and horror; Eat Me is fantasy and horror; the Wizard Sniffer is comedy and fantasy; etc. I’ve tried to place games in categories where someone looking for that category would enjoy that game.
Comedy
Traditional Parser
-Haunted P (short)
-Antiquest (short)
-Fake News (medium)
-Goodbye Cruel Squirrel (medium)
-Guttersnipe: St. Hesper’s Asylum for the Criminally Mischievous (long)
-What Once Was (long)
-The Owl Consults (long)
Cybertext
-Just Get the Treasure v0.9.1 (medium)
Fantasy
Traditional parser
-Grue. (short)
-Tuuli (medium)
-Rainbow Bridge (medium)
-Swigian (medium)
-Land of the mountain king (medium)
-A Castle of Thread (long)
-VR Gambler (long)
Limited Parser
-The Wizard Sniffer (long)
-Eat Me (long)
-The Wand (long)
Hybrid/parser-like cybertext
-Domestic Elementalism (long)
-The Castle of Vourtram (very long)
Cybertext
-The Dragon Will See You Now (short)
-Nyna Lives (short)
-Insignificant little vermin (short)
-The Adventure of Esmeralda and Ruby on the Magical Island (medium)
-Rage Quest: Disciple of Peace (medium)
-Day of the Djinn, by paperowl (medium)
-Harbinger (medium)
-NIGHTBOUND (long)
-Into the Dark (long)
-AND WHEN I SQUINT IT LOOKS LIKE CHRISTMAS (long)
Paper/pdf CYOA
-Silver Gauntlets (long)
Horror
Traditional Parser
-8 Shoes on the Shelves (short)
-Measureless to Man (medium)
-My Night (medium)
Cybertext
-The Murder in the Fog (short)
-The Living Puppet (short)
-Moon Base (short)
Magical Realism (a catch-all for games focused on mundane activities in a magical or futuristic world or magical activities in a mundane world)
Hybrid parser/cybertext
-Behind the Door (short)
Cybertext
-Hexteria Skaxis Qiameth (short)
-Salt (short)
-The Very Old Witch and the Turnip Girl (short)
-Bookmoss (medium)
-Harmonia (long)
-Charlie the Robot (extra long)
Mathematical
Traditional parser
-The Cube in the Cavern (short)
-A Beauty Cold and Austere (very long)
Mystery
Hybrid/Parser-like Cybertext
-Redstone (long)
Cybertext
-The Fifth Sunday (short)
-Unit 322 (Disambiguation)(medium)
Nonfiction
Cybertext
-Queer in Public: A Brief Essay (medium)
Poetry
Cybertext
-a partial list of things for which i am grateful (short)
-Étude Circulár (short)
Floo/Custom
-Run of the Place (long)
Real Life (including Slice of Life)
Traditional Parser
-The Richard Mines (short)
-A Walk in the Park (medium)
-Ultimate Escape Room: IF City (medium)
-1958: Dancing With Fear (long)
Cybertext
-Black Marker(short)
-Something (short)
-10pm (medium)
-Off the Rails (medium)
-The Skinny One (medium)
-Will not let me go (long)
-Mikayla’s Phone (long)
Source Code + Accompanying game
-One Way Out (medium)
Science Fiction
Traditional Parser
-Inevitable (short)
-Future Threads (medium)
-Escape from Terra (very long)
-Word of the Day (very long)
Limited Parser
-Absence of Law (long)
Cybertext
-A Common Enemy (medium)
-Deshaun Steven’s Ship Log (medium)
-Transient Skies (long)
-The Traveller (long)
Simulation
Tradtional parser
-Textcraft: Alpha Island (is completely in real time) (long)
Cybertext
-The Unofficial Sea-Monkey® Simulation (long)
Surreal
Traditional Parser
-Temperamentum (long)
Cybertext
-The Dream Self (medium)
-Alice Aforethought (long)