This list is not a best of. Nor does it have a theme. I haven't even finished some of the games on it. (shame on me!) This is a list of the games that kept me coming back to Interactive Fiction, despite my newbie-obstacles. (unhelpful parsers, untelepathic authors, unknown conventions, unwelcoming in-jokes,...) These games made me bite through that and discover this amazing puzzle/story-world.
I love the book, and the series, and the film, so when I saw that there was a game too, I started playing it. I was surprised when I was confronted with nothing but text. So I had no choice but learn about this new/old medium called Text Adventures. To this day, I have not finished it, but I did enjoy every minute playing it.
2. Glowgrass, by Nate Cull (1997) Average member rating: (97 ratings) Rovarsson says:
Luckily, this was among the first IFs I played. Short, sci-fi fun, easy enough. This showed me how enjoyable IF can be for a newbie. Made me hungry.
3. Worlds Apart by Suzanne Britton (1999) Average member rating: (89 ratings)
Rovarsson says:
As I said in my review (more of a love letter actually): my first love. Compelling story, kept me glued to the screen for days and made me not care about frustrating parser-limitations.
4. Photopia by Adam Cadre (1998) Average member rating: (563 ratings)
Rovarsson says:
A good story where I could wander around the plot a bit. Perfect for beginner-me.
5. Firebird by Bonnie Montgomery (1998) Average member rating: (31 ratings)
Rovarsson says:
Too puzzly for me back then. I walked through it. I did enjoy it very much though.
6. Metamorphoses by Emily Short (2000) Average member rating: (130 ratings)
Rovarsson says:
A month or so ago, I replayed Metamorphoses and was blown away by the ingenuity of puzzles and implementation. I rated it five stars. 12 years ago, I was more flabbergasted by the overload of possibilities. Didn't finish it then, but it showed me a glimpse of the scope of this new world.
7. Sunset Over Savannah, by Ivan Cockrum (1997) Average member rating: (54 ratings) Rovarsson says:
If this had been my very first IF-experience, I would have walked away and never looked back. What's the point of running 'round the beach digging through boiled peanut shells and getting nowhere? So this is puzzle-IF. I gave up that time, but by then I knew enough to put this on my try-again list. Turns out it's a masterpiece!
