Winners of the 2026 IFComp

‘System’ tells you not to get friendly – the mission must always come first. But if you choose to listen, you may discover that the Scavenger under your command has their own reasons for being there. Will you put them at risk in order to achieve the mission, or will you talk to them, find out who they are and why they’re here? What kind of Operator will you be?

A choice-based game, with a parser style open world to explore – where your choices will decide the fate of two lives that may have more in common than they realise.

Note: Whilst the game touches on some darker themes, it's intended to be played by any age or skill-level – in fact, the game may be more forgiving than it initially appears.

Uncover layers of magic, memory, and melancholy in this surreal Victorian fantasy story that brings paintings to life.

Includes in-game hints and a companion website with a walkthrough, list of commands, map, example transcript, and historical references.

The game offers an immersive adventure, full of twists and turns, grounded in real historical events. As you explore, infiltrate and talk to people, you will discover a world not so different from our own, one confronted with both incredible new technologies and the everyday violence of class-based society.

You will also discover, in a somewhat unconventional use of Inform 7, a fully-fledged ASCII-style graphical interface, playable exclusively via the keyboard, the source code for which is included in the downloadable archive. Note that the game *cannot* be played on a mobile device.

No rest until all peoples are liberated!

Or, in other words: this is an educational game (actually a series of three short games) presented entirely in the ancient Hittite language. It’s meant for absolute beginners—no knowledge of Hittite is needed! Sneak into enemy territory, craft a disguise, uncover a murderous conspiracy, and hopefully return home triumphant with your god in tow.

Um, I'm not sure I can do this?

You are Dante Scrivner, the 19 year old substitute drummer for The Androgynous Androids on their second tour of America’s finest basements, dive bars, and DIY spaces. Inspired by the author’s years of touring in the indie and punk scene, 9 Days In A Van With Your 3 Best Friends takes you on a sometimes surreal, sometimes joyous, sometimes harrowing journey in search of indie rock glory and gas station coffee.

You are also a gigantic unicorn with a chainsaw for a horn and a habit of causing untold destruction everywhere you go.

Press any key to begin, then choose subsequent keys much, much more carefully: each one will immediately perform a specific action, and (depending where you are at the time) you may not like the result. Thanks to Arthur DiBianca for the code behind this, and apologies to Arthur DiBianca for what I've done with it.

Familiarity with Ultraviolent Unicorn Deathmatch of Destiny 1-3 is not necessary or even particularly useful for this game.

A collection of scenes from a fictional Polish village.

With these words as your guide, can you heal those who live in the Valley of Ink?

(If you experience overlapping audio, please visit the settings page and toggle the music off and on again.)

This is a game you can play whimsically or purposefully.

Besides, come on. You stuck yourself in your house to start your three-day weekend, anyway.

In-game map after solving a brief puzzle. ZIP file contains map and logic puzzle flowchart. (Narrative contains minor comic violence. )

Play as one of five (and a bit) skellegrombs to build a chair, reconnect with your ex, become a bog, or otherwise follow the demands of your bony soul.

Boston, September 1926. You are Maximilien Cornwell, a psychology student.

A darkened past, an unnameable presence, and a mounting unease take shape as the authorities close in on the man they are already calling the Ogre of South Boston…

Something that does not belong to daylight presses at the edges of your dreams.

The game features:

STRUCTURE ▸ A non-linear narrative, branch-and-bottleneck ▸ Four independent story paths leading to 12 possible conclusions ▸ 16 achievements to unlock

A RACE AGAINST TIME ▸ A running clock, a day-night cycle, a limited number of actions each day ▸ A mind that comes apart ▸ A police manhunt tightening around you

INVESTIGATION ▸ An interactive map of Boston, inventory, casebook, hunches ▸ Clues, puzzles, and mysteries to uncover ▸ Characters whose fate depends on how closely you pay attention

OPTIONS ▸ Extensive settings Visual effects, audio, display, difficulty, tutorials…

The choices you make as you venture through Pleasure Gardens and Entertainment Districts determine the relationship with your companions and your crew's fate.

What kind of Captain will you be?

Reports show only Frotz, Gargoyle, or the online legacy terminal below are suitable interpreters to access the file. Alternatives are strictly forbidden. Please note the online legacy terminal (accessed at 'Play Online') has neither scrollback features nor screenreader capabilities. Please proceed at your own risk.

CONTENT WARNINGS: Mild body horror, gaslighting, swearing, and death. Fast flashing light sequences can be skipped by typing COLOR at the first available prompt. But don't fret - you’ll be fine.

Not that you have a choice. We’re the only ones that keep you alive.

We hope you have a great time working with us, as always!

Make decisions and give orders as you see fit. How the officers feel about you may change based on what you do.

Explore the ship. Use the computer and comms. Get to know your officers, and reshuffle them as needed; create a plan with them, and accomplish your mission of diplomacy and science.

Good luck, Captain!

Deal with your ambitious daughter, take care of your disabled grandson, and decide how loyal to be to Uplift, Inc. Optional text explains the consequences of most choices. Co-authored with Steve L. Peck, the acclaimed author of A Short Stay in Hell.

- Optimized for desktop, tablet, and smartphone

- A cool interactive mapping feature to help you navigate the island

- A multi-level hint system for when you get stuck

- Switch seamlessly between English and German at any time

Can you regain your memories and uncover the secrets of the island?

Playable on the web or via the included z8 file.

Quackpond is a petsite dedicated to lovable waterfowl. Create and customize your very own duck! Feed and play with your duck, and once you're done bonding with them, spend your time quacking with other members of the site through our forums, the Pond!

(Note: This game is not optimized for mobile.)

A story I never intended to tell.

Or a game about being a demon on a murderous quest to bring order back to a broken world. Because I can't force you to listen.

The game involves an exploratory, wandering mode of gameplay which allows for the reader to navigate an unseen space by returning and re-returning to certain maps within the game world.

Your job is to traverse a hidden stream buried beneath the city, uncovering along the way a dastardly plot, a potential murder, and the collected works of a forgotten NZ writer. As the player develops a connection to the stream and the township thru meandering (and a fun machine called the Bullet), a secret alternate narrative is built alongside the waterway, which may help the player to organise their thoughts and plan their next moves.

Can you learn the name of the stream, the truth about the city, and the haunting story of the forgotten poet?

A static. A buzzing. Just beneath every line she's forced to say. The closer she listens, the less she remembers how to be who they wrote her to be.

A surreal telenovela noir about a villainess who isn't supposed to go off script.

You're willing to give them—or give up—a lot more.

To play this interactive fiction you type commands after the prompt ">" and press "enter" to confirm. You can move to the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west), up and down, or in and out, typing one of them. You can also examine things described in text, typing examine and the thing you want to examine (e.g. "examine window"). The status bar on top shows your position to the left, to the right it shows the directions you can go from there. That’s all you need to play this game.

Thirst for blood has two different possible endings.

A vampire in their midst.

A host of other tropes and clichés to enjoy.

Tag along with a pair of self-confessed "music geeks" as they investigate a mystery at their high school, in this light-hearted adventure which may not break new ground, but does threaten to poke it repeatedly with a sharp stick.

GRIP is a choice-based bureaucratic-horror visual novel: ten cases, one office, and a stamp that gets heavier every time you use it. What you decide changes who lives free, who lives watched, and who stops living at all. By the end, it will have quietly decided something about you, too.

The subsumed underbelly of an iron-walled city provides a small reprieve from the merciless beyond. Navigate the computer logs of a man's desiderium as he roves the slums he once called home, and as he begins to learn just as much about himself as he begins to forget. Discover what it is he has given up, and all that he has left behind. Play the dark, dangerous Game where more than money is placed into bets.

BLOODRUST is a game about hunger, need, and entrapment within the confines of one’s world and mind alike.

[For optimal gameplay, please play fullscreen on a Chrome browser on desktop or mobile.]

You sit at your desk, looking at the skyscrapers. You can’t stop thinking about that half-smile. And the wooden cabin. Your bladder is about to give up. But there is an email from your boss, waiting. Will you open the cutlery drawer in the kitchen before going to his office?

You cannot remember if you have been here before.

Bel should be studying but, with companies to build, debts to pay, a business partner and friends who need help, she just doesn’t have enough time.

As mysterious cats, a plot for revenge, a sinister network and circling authorities compete for her time, she has to decide what to do next.

This is a Timescale story. In Free-play mode, the story can be played at your own pace and takes hours to finish. In Timescale mode, the story unfolds across a real-life timescale and takes weeks to finish. Developed to be read on a phone but it is browser based, so is compatible with desktop etc.

Dark comedy, slow-burn sci fi, neo-noir, mystery.

For mature audiences.

You're a stranger in this short, chaotic comedy about success, failure, and the self-worth of a half-ass-half-man. But even a stranger's words can be influential.

Inspired by and based on William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Images: Collages made by author using free license images. Background made by author using MS Paint.

you worked late again. dinner was a leftover conference bagel on the drive home. at least the traffic wasn't so bad today.

someone linked to an album release livestream at 9pm. you were caught by surprise.

this album is what you didn't know you were missing.

you forgot it was possible. love at first spin.

In Epistemophilia, choices matter. The story can last ten minutes or several hours and it can end in twenty four different ways. Ultimately, it will be the player's choice to settle on a truth.

She doesn't expect to find Alim — the man she dumped two months ago — performing a song that rips her apart to a bar full of strangers. Work will have to wait.

When Alim goes home with her that night, he learns how much he didn't know about the woman who broke his heart.

This is a hypertext literary fiction short story told across two pivotal nights months apart, with original songs embedded as lyrics in the text.

You are Bob the Barbarian. You come from a long line of proud barbarians, a crude and vulgar pedigree, and this is your first kidnapped princess and your first chance to prove your mettle. You've journeyed across miles of wasteland to this tiny village where the evil sorcerer Zarayeb has captured and locked away the princess Xandina.

Armed only with your wits, such as they are (for, while you are a strapping barbarian, you are not particularly bright one) you must find and rescue the princess in order to take your rightful place among barbarian society.

Designed for the portrait mode of mobile phones. You can play it anyway you want though.

Once every month, G takes the external compact disk reader, plugs it into the laptop and patiently updates the server traffic data from the past month. I can see how much G loves this task, even if it's an outdated procedure. This task gives them peace and confidence, forcing them to slow down, waiting for the reader to get the information, hearing the buzzing and scratching sound of the disk spinning, tasting the dust-burning smell of the small engine in the reader. It's a ritual; a sacred meditation about the importance of patience and constancy in work over rush and shortcuts. Everything needs time; Rome wasn't built in a day, and you took nine months to be born.

Below those ones, there is also an unexpected envelope, kraft paper outside and plastic bubbles inside. No name on it, so there is only one way to know who it is meant for: open it.

It contains a booklet and a floppy disk. I go down to the second floor, where the IT help-desk is. In storage room 2, behind several modern monitors, and over some cardboard boxes full of old landline phones, they also have a vintage computer - probably from the 80s - the kind with a green-screen monitor built in. It takes time, unscrewing and removing a fistful of dust from each component, then screwing it back together.

The system starts to buzz and beep, and the green-screen lightens up to a brighter green. Anyway, this old machine doesn't do much more, the light flickers on the screen but nothing happens. Of course it doesn't work, this is a restoration way above any of my competences. While I was glooming looking at the screen, the floppy in my hand, G said, handling an external floppy reader: "isn't it easier with that one?".

Yes, it's much easier. So, this is for you; I'm sharing the game I found on the floppy disk, and a scan of the handwritten pages in the envelope.

Once, someone told you that it's the number of the liar and this has stuck with you ever since. There's no proof of this claim, at least not as far as you could find online. But it would be in line with the number's character, that it should hide behind a mask of agreeableness and keep its true thoughts well away from the world at large.

Also you're a spy who's falling from the sky.

Your mission is unknown before here you were flown.

Alas! Alack! Aday! Most verbs have gone away.

Frankly I'm surprised this runs, as it's comprised

of many foolish jokes. I swear, it is no hoax

when unto you I say, I wrote this in a day.

There will be bugs, okay?

Is there really any chance I could make a difference?

Note: When you talk to characters, type 'Say' or 'Ask' followed by your dialogue as spoken. Typing "Ask gordon about johnny" means you said, "Gordon, about Johnny..."

Now, a strange set of circumstances puts a wiser, stronger, and more determined Scarlett in a position where she must once again travel to Dolcett. This time, it will not only be her life at stake, but also the life of an innocent woman she is determined to rescue. Throughout her adventure, Scarlett is challenged time and again by the inhabitants of this strange world, who have one objective in mind—to have her served on a plate for their dinner.

"One (More) Week in Dolcett - Scarlett Sky" is a second-person, choice-based adventure that challenges the reader with each and every decision. There are very few choices that allow the reader to gather information—nearly every selection is a matter of life and death. With over 90 fully fleshed-out conclusions, "One (More) Week in Dolcett" provides elaborate detail in every ending - both on the methodology of Scarlett's demise, as well as the motivations and realities of those who choose to consume her. "One (More) Week in Dolcett" is unique in this regard when it comes to gaming: it leads with a compelling narrative that is enthralling in itself, but its story can be enriched with every “bad” conclusion.

Reader discretion for this tale is EXTREMELY advised. No readers under the age of 18, or readers in any country where erotic material is impermissible, should view this work of fiction. This story includes graphic scenes of cannibalism, violence, sex, dubious consent, identity loss, murder, and death.

"One (More) Week in Dolcett - Scarlett Sky" is also a story about growth, perseverance, and self-actualization under the most extreme conditions. It is a story about people, for people, and written entirely by a person in an effort to combine the deepest human emotions with our most primal instincts.

Can YOU guide Scarlett through her most perilous mission yet, completing not only her quest to save another life, but to help Scarlett save herself?

Then an unexpected royal decree changes everything.

Faced with an outrage you simply cannot accept, your quiet routine goes right out the window. Gather whatever supplies you can find in the village and prepare for a questionable, budget-fueled adventure.

You wake up in a dense forest with nothing but ragged clothes and an absurdly out-of-place, fully automatic AK-47.

Just off the path lies the Copper Tavern, a cozy drinking hole facing imminent destruction under the king's harsh eviction order. To help the tavernkeeper and secure ownership of the inn, you’ll need to explore the surrounding woods, outsmart local scoundrels, sneak into private quarters, and gamble your way to a small fortune.

Whether you rely on stealth, lockpicks, or high-caliber modern firepower, will you find a way to clear the debt before time runs out?

A STARVING THIEF.

THIS EXECUTION WAS NOT SO MUCH A NECESSITY TO LORD ANTORSIS AS MUCH AS IT WAS A CHALLENGE OF ANAYUS'S COMMITMENT.

ANAYUS REFUSED.

LORD ANTORSIS WOULD NOT ALLOW IT.

ANAYUS SAVED THE GIRL AND ATTEMPTED TO FLEE MYRIL, FIGHTING UNTIL HIS LAST GIVEN BREATH.

HE WAS KILLED.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GIRL WAS UNKNOWN.

CONSIDERING THE DEBTS OF ANAYUS AND HIS BLOODIED LIFE, HE WAS CAST INTO THE DEPTHS OF HELL WHERE BELZEBUB WOULD HARDEN ANAYUS AS THE UNDERWORLD'S EXECUTIONER-- "THE MAD WARRIOR."

NOW TASKED WITH THE ELIMINATION OF AN ARCHANGEL GIVEN FLESH, ANAYUS MUST VENTURE INTO THE JAWS OF A HOLY DEN IN ORDER TO FULFILL HIS DESTINY.