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Interactive Fiction hidden gems on Steam
Every game here is tagged Interactive Fiction on Steam, sits between 1,000 and 5,000 reviews, is rated at least 80% positive, and carries a catch drawn from its own negative reviews. All 25 of them. How these pages are made.
A narrative roleplaying game where choices drive a musical story. Players make dialogue and song choices to uncover a mystery in a modern fantasy world.
What players likedPlayers praise this interactive story as a visual novel or choose-your-own-adventure musical with an amazing voice cast and compelling Greek mythology story.
The catchThe songs are forgettable, with characters mostly singing dialogue to a tune.
Games like Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical →
This is a story-driven arcade game where players stop falling blocks to experience an AI's first game creation. It features simple block-dropping gameplay interwoven with dialogues about life and dandelions.
The catchFailing a level restarts it, and the falling-object minigames often feel impossible.
Games like Press Any Button →
This is a narrative-driven personality test game with a simple exploration and interaction loop. It offers a short, reflective experience about self-discovery.
What players likedPlayers praise its charming art, unique introspection, and compelling story, offering a chill break from typical games.
The catchThe personality results come out vague or plain wrong and rarely match the player.
Games like Refind Self: The Personality Test Game →
A narrative exploration game with van upgrades and community interaction. It's a peaceful, hopeful post-apocalyptic road trip.
What players likedPlayers praise its cozy, non-combat exploration and rich world-building, comparing it to Outer Wilds, Knytt Stories, Mad Max, KotOR, and Portal 2.
The catchThe loop is fetch quests and slow driving with heavy backtracking over the same map.
Games like Caravan SandWitch →
Narrative adventure game with dialogue choices and exploration. Features a Star Trek story with a focus on crew interaction and problem-solving.
What players likedPlayers praise it as a TNG-era Star Trek movie or episode, with an engaging story and meaningful choices.
The catchBugs, glitches and stutter run right through it and were never patched out.
Games like Star Trek: Resurgence →
This is a narrative investigation game where players explore a found smartphone's contents to uncover a person's life and disappearance. Its core loop involves searching messages and apps within a realistic phone interface to build empathy.
What players likedPlayers praise this story-driven game for its natural narrative exploration of a phone, piecing together an interesting mystery.
The catchPuzzles boil down to hunting arbitrary dates in walls of text to use as passwords.
Games like A Normal Lost Phone →
This is a narrative-driven sci-fi noir point-and-click adventure game where player choices have permanent consequences. Players investigate a murder, gather evidence, and make difficult moral decisions that shape the story's outcome.
What players likedPlayers praise Lacuna as an engaging visual novel with a good story, thoughtful characters, and effective pixel art.
The catchThe story and characters lean on stale noir tropes and rarely become interesting.
Games like Lacuna – A Sci-Fi Noir Adventure →
This is an analog horror telephone operator simulator where players diagnose household threats from a catalog. It features a core loop of listening to callers and providing correct advice under pressure.
What players likedPlayers praise its unique analog horror, worldbuilding, and monster lore, comparing it to a cozy 90s reading sim.
The catchThe loop of hearing a call and matching a database entry gets repetitive fast.
Games like Home Safety Hotline →
Noctuary94% positive from 2,588 reviews202325% finish itDeck Playable
A dual-protagonist visual novel with combo-based combat and relationship building. Explore a fairy-tale world, fight monsters, and uncover a mysterious story.
What players likedPlayers praise Noctuary's challenging bullet-hell battles, interesting plot twists, and engaging story that blends visual novel elements.
The catchIt is far more visual novel than action RPG, with long dialogue between rare fights.
Games like Noctuary →
This is a dark visual novel where you read ship logs with an AI to uncover a mystery. It features branching narratives and multiple endings exploring transhumanism and loneliness.
What players likedPlayers praise its unforgettable story and characters, with a climax that leaves a lasting, impactful impression.
The catchGameplay is almost entirely clicking through dense text logs, and it drags.
Games like Analogue: A Hate Story →
BURIED STARS84% positive from 2,200 reviews202147% finish itDeck Verified
This is a narrative mystery adventure game where players uncover a murder through dialogue choices and social media mechanics, set in a cinematic, atmospheric style.
What players likedPlayers praise its engaging story, character drama, and tense mystery, comparing it to Danganronpa and the Nonary Game.
The catchThe same topics get rehashed with every character, and read text cannot be skipped.
Games like BURIED STARS →
This is a first-person, live-action interactive visual novel. Players make choices to navigate relationships and unlock multiple endings.
What players likedPlayers praise it as another excellent game in the series, similar to a director's cut experience.
The catchThe story is thin and clumsily written, a clear step down from the earlier game.
Games like Love is All Around: Echoes of Yesterday →
Narrative text RPG where players make choices to alter a predetermined destiny in a medieval world. The core loop involves reading journal entries and making decisions that shape the protagonist's skills and plot.
What players likedPlayers praise the impactful choices and branching narrative, reminiscent of classic choose-your-own-adventure games.
The catchStat and energy checks often block the choice your character would obviously make.
Games like The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante — Chapter 1&2 →
This is a free, short point-and-click adventure game with 90s graphics. It features puzzles and a mysterious, unsettling atmosphere with horror elements.
What players likedPlayers praise this free, short point-and-click game with exploration and a peaceful atmosphere, often comparing it to a walking simulator.
The catchMostly slow backtracking around a park, ending in a twist that explains little.
Games like A Date in the Park →
Interactive sci-fi novel where you design robots and make choices that shape their development and the world over thirty years. Your decisions determine robot sentience, their relationship with humanity, and your personal life.
What players likedPlayers praise its well-explained story that makes you feel in charge of a growing machine, akin to exploring the complexities of AI.
The catchThe story railroads everyone into a US China war plot no matter which choices you pick.
Games like Choice of Robots →
A hand-drawn narrative adventure where players manage distractions to meet a deadline. It features multiple endings and a free, extended story chapter.
What players likedPlayers praise its charming art, relatable procrastination, and anti-corporate/AI themes, comparing it to "13 Storey Treehouse" and "Lumber Lass."
The catchThere is no working fast forward, so replaying for other endings is a slog.
Games like Endless Monday: Dreams and Deadlines →
Whos Lila?95% positive from 1,797 reviews2022Deck Verified
This is a point-and-click adventure game where players control character facial expressions to drive dialogue. It features a surreal, dither-punk aesthetic and a mystery narrative.
What players likedPlayers praise its unique, convoluted mystery and face-making gameplay, often compared to multimedia mysteries and David Lynch.
The catchSeeing the full story means replaying the same scenes many times until it drags.
Games like Whos Lila? →
This is a narrative detective game where players connect memory fragments to solve a cold case. It features a jigsaw-like reasoning system and a melancholic, investigative feel.
What players likedPlayers praise this short, unique detective puzzle game for its compelling, emotional story and clever dialogue-fragment mechanics.
The catchTracking huge walls of text through a clumsy interface turns deduction into tedium.
Games like No Case Should Remain Unsolved →
Courtroom detective game with evidence-based trials and witness interrogation. Features unique locations and a deep narrative.
What players likedPlayers praise "Trials of Innocence" as a smartly written visual novel detective game, similar to Ace Attorney, with a great storyline and memorable characters.
The catchThe English translation is rough and awkward, which makes following the trials harder.
Games like Trials of Innocence →
This is a hand-drawn, point-and-click adventure puzzle game about love and loss. Players solve puzzles in surreal memory rooms to uncover a bittersweet story.
What players likedPlayers praise this beautiful, melancholic puzzle game for its compelling story and moving portrayal of grief and lost love.
The catchThe story stays shallow and the characters are too flat to make the loss land.
Games like When The Past Was Around →
This is a narrative adventure game where players make emotional choices to uncover a Cold War love story. It features cinematic storytelling and environmental puzzles.
What players likedPlayers praise its superb storytelling, beautiful landscapes, and voice acting, offering a deeply immersive narrative experience.
The catchChoices change nothing, leaving little to do but hold forward through a linear story.
Games like South of the Circle →
Psychological horror game with interactive cartoon elements and environmental exploration. Players interact with a character and explore to uncover a dark story.
What players likedPlayers praise its expanded lore and puzzles, building on the first game's analogue horror while offering a great, well-made experience.
The catchPuzzles regularly bug out or fail to trigger, blocking progress and forcing restarts.
Games like Amanda the Adventurer 2 →
A narrative-driven point-and-click adventure where you play as a cat exploring a family's past. The game features cat-inspired mechanics and a melancholic, observational feel.
What players likedPlayers praise its unique story-driven point-and-click gameplay, where you uncover a family's history as an influential housecat.
The catchUnskippable timed chase and arcade sections interrupt the calm point and click story.
Games like Cats and the Other Lives →
Misty Judgment93% positive from 1,401 reviews20255% finish itDeck Playable
This is a visual novel mystery game where players investigate murders, gather clues, and interact with characters to uncover the truth. It features branching narratives and relationship building with female characters.
What players likedPlayers praise its deep narrative and atmospheric mystery, reminiscent of other FMV games.
The catchMachine translated English makes an already confusing story very hard to follow.
Games like Misty Judgment →
This is a text-based adventure game where players make choices for the protagonist, Kyle, to reach one of 117 unique endings. The core loop involves guiding Kyle through his day, preventing him from making disastrous decisions.
What players liked(No information provided to answer the question.)
The catchThe absurd humor wears thin fast and replaying the same branches becomes a grind.
Games like Kyle is Famous: Complete Edition →
