I could have sworn this was already a poll, but I can't find it now. This is for games that gained some amount of recognition outside our bubble. Any amount of notice will do, from write-ups on non-IF gaming blogs to Wikipedia pages to mainstream success.
| 80 DAYS, by inkle, Meg Jayanth 3 votes "Time Magazine's #1 game of the year, apparently; also IGF 2015 winner" [+]"Time Magazine's #1 game of the year, apparently; also IGF 2015 winner: Time Magazine> According to this thread: https://intfiction.org/t/was-80-days-really-time-magazines-1-game-of-the-year-edit-yes/69655" --JTN... "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( Vote for this game | |
| 1893: A World's Fair Mystery, by Peter Nepstad 2 votes "has a Wikipedia page" [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Tabitha... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Chuckles... Vote for this game | |
| Spider and Web, by Andrew Plotkin 2 votes "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Chuckles... Vote for this game | |
| Creatures Such As We, by Lynnea Glasser 2 votes "Reviewed by The Guardian" [+]"Reviewed by The Guardian: Leigh Alexander's article on IFComp 2015" --JTN... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( Vote for this game | |
| I-0, by Anonymous 2 votes "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Chuckles... Vote for this game | |
| 17776, by Jon Bois 2 votes "A friend posted this to Facebook" [+]"A friend posted this to Facebook: and it ultimately led me to seek out interactive fiction" ( Vote for this game | |
| Neurocracy, by Joannes Truyens and Matei Stanca 2 votes "IGF 2022 finalist; reviewed by The Guardian" [+]"IGF 2022 finalist; reviewed by The Guardian: Not bad for an IntroComp graduate!" --JTN... "You almost stop and ask yourself, "Is this an actual website?" Awesome work of science fiction." [+]"You almost stop and ask yourself, "Is this an actual website?" Awesome work of science fiction." ( Vote for this game | |
| Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You, by Osmotic Studios 2 votes "IGF 2017 finalist" [+]"IGF 2017 finalist" --JTN... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( Vote for this game | |
| Coming Out Simulator 2014, by Nicky Case 2 votes "IGF 2015 finalist" [+]"IGF 2015 finalist" --JTN... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( Vote for this game | |
| Shade, by Andrew Plotkin 2 votes "has a Wikipedia page" [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Tabitha... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( Vote for this game | |
| Emily is Away, by Kyle Seeley 2 votes "has a Wikipedia page" [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Tabitha... (No comment) [+](No comment) --HereticMole... Vote for this game | |
| Photopia, by Adam Cadre 2 votes "has a Wikipedia page" [+]"has a Wikipedia page" ( Vote for this game | |
| Lost Pig, by Admiral Jota 2 votes "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Chuckles... Vote for this game | |
| Social Democracy: An Alternate History, by Autumn Chen 2 votes "The most recent example I can think of" [+]"The most recent example I can think of" --OverThinking... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( Vote for this game | |
| Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, by Dim Bulb Games 2 votes "IGF 2018 honorable mention" [+]"IGF 2018 honorable mention" --JTN... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( Vote for this game | |
| Depression Quest, by Zoe Quinn, Patrick Lindsey, Isaac Schankler 2 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) --Tabitha... (No comment) [+](No comment) --HereticMole... Vote for this game | |
| Slouching Towards Bedlam, by Star C. Foster and Daniel Ravipinto 1 vote "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... Vote for this game | |
| The Smiths Are Dead, by Commodore Plus 1 vote "NME article (and..." [+]"NME article (and others)" ( Vote for this game | |
| A Dark Room, by Michael Townsend 1 vote "When ported to..." [+]"When ported to iOS, it was the best-selling game on the App store for a minute. There was an NY Times article about it." --Amanda Walker... Vote for this game | |
| With Those We Love Alive, by Porpentine and Brenda Neotenomie 1 vote "Reviewed by The Guardian" [+]"Reviewed by The Guardian: Leigh Alexander's article on IFComp 2015" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
| Violet, by Jeremy Freese 1 vote "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... Vote for this game | |
| Queers in Love at the End of the World, by Anna Anthropy 1 vote "part of a 2018 exhibition at the V&A Museum" [+]"part of a 2018 exhibition at the V&A Museum" ( Vote for this game | |
| Vespers, by Jason Devlin 1 vote "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... Vote for this game | |
| Hunger Daemon, by Sean M. Shore 1 vote "Reviewed by The Guardian" [+]"Reviewed by The Guardian: Leigh Alexander's article on IFComp 2015" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
| Cryptozookeeper, by Robb Sherwin 1 vote "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... Vote for this game | |
| rat chaos, by Winter Lake 1 vote "has a Wikipedia page" [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Tabitha... Vote for this game | |
| Ladykiller in a Bind, by Christine Love 1 vote "IGF 2017 winner" [+]"IGF 2017 winner" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
| Counterfeit Monkey, by Emily Short 1 vote "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... Vote for this game | |
| The Ice-Bound Concordance, by Aaron A. Reed and Jacob Garbe 1 vote "IGF 2015 honorable mention" [+]"IGF 2015 honorable mention" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
| Seedship, by John Ayliff 1 vote "Reddit has its own subreddit devoted to the game. Does that count?" [+]"Reddit has its own subreddit devoted to the game. Does that count?" ( Vote for this game | |
| the uncle who works for nintendo, by michael lutz 1 vote "has a Wikipedia page" [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Tabitha... Vote for this game | |
| A Death in Hyperspace, by Stewart C Baker, Phoebe Barton, James Beamon, Kate Heartfield, Isabel J Kim, Sara Messenger, JingJing Xiao, Natalia Theodoridou, M. Darusha Wehm, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor 1 vote "won a Nebula award" [+]"won a Nebula award: (known SFF names among the authors may have helped)" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
| Missed Messages, by Angela He 1 vote "has a Wikipedia page" [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Tabitha... Vote for this game | |
| Colossal Cave Adventure, by William Crowther and Donald Woods 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) --Chuckles... Vote for this game | |
| Krypteia, by Kateri 1 vote "Reviewed by The Guardian" [+]"Reviewed by The Guardian: Leigh Alexander's article on IFComp 2015" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
| goodbye.monster, by Eugene An, Rook Liu, Beckett Rowan, Matt Wang 1 vote "IGF 2024 honorable mention" [+]"IGF 2024 honorable mention" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
| Excalibur, by J. J. Guest, G. C. Baccaris, and Duncan Bowsman 1 vote "Reviewed by The Verge" [+]"Reviewed by The Verge" --J. J. Guest... Vote for this game | |
| AlethiCorp, by Simon Christiansen 1 vote "Reviewed by The Guardian" [+]"Reviewed by The Guardian: Leigh Alexander's article on IFComp 2015" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
| You Are Jeff Bezos, by Kris Ligman 1 vote "has a Wikipedia page" [+]"has a Wikipedia page" ( Vote for this game | |
| howling dogs, by Porpentine 1 vote "literally has a..." [+]"literally has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... Vote for this game | |
| Anchorhead, by Michael Gentry 1 vote "I saw it described in a Danish newspaper article about freeware games" [+]"I saw it described in a Danish newspaper article about freeware games" ( Vote for this game | |
| Savoir-Faire, by Emily Short 1 vote "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... Vote for this game | |
| Frankenstein, by Dave Morris and inkle 1 vote "Reviewed by The Guardian / Observer" [+]"Reviewed by The Guardian / Observer: (not very favourably)" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
| 9:05, by Adam Cadre 1 vote "has a Wikipedia page" [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Tabitha... Vote for this game | |
| The Archivist and the Revolution, by Autumn Chen 1 vote "IGF 2024 honorable mention" [+]"IGF 2024 honorable mention" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
| my father's long, long legs, by michael lutz 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( Vote for this game | |
| Fix Your Mother's Printer, by Geoffrey Golden 1 vote "Edge Magazine's web game of the month" [+]"Edge Magazine's web game of the month: (UK print magazine, issue 391; according to https://intfiction.org/t/ifcomp-2023-review-spreadsheet/64754/176 )" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
| The Wizard Sniffer, by Buster Hudson 1 vote "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... Vote for this game | |
| Galatea, by Emily Short 1 vote "has a Wikipedia page" [+]"has a Wikipedia page" ( Vote for this game | |
| Blue Chairs, by Chris Klimas 1 vote "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... Vote for this game | |
| Vampire: The Masquerade — Night Road, by Kyle Marquis 1 vote "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... Vote for this game | |
| Heaven's Vault, by Inkle 1 vote "IGF 2020 winner" [+]"IGF 2020 winner" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
| Earth and Sky, by Paul O'Brian 1 vote "has a Wikipedia page" [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Tabitha... Vote for this game | |
| Long Live the Queen, by Hanako Games 1 vote "Has a Wikipedia..." [+]"Has a Wikipedia page and over 4000 Steam reviews." ( Vote for this game | |
| First Times, by Hero Robb 1 vote "Reviewed by The Guardian" [+]"Reviewed by The Guardian" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
| Eat Me, by Chandler Groover 1 vote "Did the rounds in..." [+]"Did the rounds in a Waypoint article during IFComp 2017" ( Vote for this game | |
| Varicella, by Adam Cadre 1 vote "has a Wikipedia..." [+]"has a Wikipedia page" --Naarel... Vote for this game | |
| Lifeline, by Dave Justus and 3 Minute Games 1 vote "Briefly #1 on Apple store in 2015" [+]"Briefly #1 on Apple store in 2015: (according to 50 Years of Text Games)" --JTN... Vote for this game | |
Poll created on July 13, 2025