1966 IF

1966, an interactive fiction WIP

[1966-if]

1966, an interactive fiction WIP

1966 is a WIP interactive, text-based cosmic horror game where YOU play as the eldritch cosmic entity. 244k words (last update: 1/9/25 +84k words). Rating: 18+ | Genres: Cosmic Horror, Lovecraftian, Supernatural, Mystery, Dark Romance In 1966, the world is ending. And you are not who—or what—you seem. PLAY THE DEMO HERE In 1966, the world is ending. And in 1966, you find yourself inexplicably inhabiting an unknown to you human body, stuck in a gloomy little town on a mist-shrouded island in the middle of nowhere. You are something ancient, something vast, a cosmic entity wearing human flesh. But why here? And why now?

FEATURES

Create and customize your character: choose their physical appearance, clothing, gender, and sexuality.

Make choices that influence your personality, morality, and relationships.

Wield otherworldly abilities or rely on the limited strengths of your human host.

Define your personality through the choices you make and the actions you take.

Use your eldritch powers or the skills inherited from your human host.

Find love, forge friendships, or make enemies with four gender-selectable characters.

Embrace your true nature as a cosmic being, or learn what it means to be human.

Will you end the world, save it, or reshape it in your own image?

Make decisions that shape your personality and influence those around you.

Join a cult, destroy a cult, lead a cult, or become the god they worship.

A story-, choice-, and character-driven narrative experience.

ROs' intros

Forum

Update 1: 1/09/25 +84k words (total 244k words)

Next update?

[1966-if]

Uhm hello, I believe MC has also ifected ny mind because I CANNOT put this story down!

I adsolutely adore our MC, they're so hilarious even when they don't mean to be. I found myself giggling at our conversations and our dialogue options. One that floored me was "Men shall bring me gold," 😭😭😭 And Roulet's reaction to it was 😚🤌🏻!

Also, something is up with you (def not me), like why am I reading about leather bag skin dog snout horse hoof dude one minute and having a sexually charged fight for my life with him the next?? Like, I'm not into sort of thing, I swear..

Fish dude is bald, which is a dealbreaker for me, but he has soulful, bulging milky eyes so I guess we can work something out.

ANYWAYS what I came to say is that I love your IF!

I love MC, my brain has been infected for years by now lol you read ONE book and go mad

"something is up with you" what?? that's just H. P. Lovecraft

"Fish dude is bald" my fish's catching strays again: male baldness is not a joke

[1966-if]

Do you roughly know when to expect the next update? (Absolutely no pressure, it's okay if there's no timeline. I'm just curious because i really love this IF and am excited to see how things turn out!)

Right, next update. I published the first one on 1.09. Tragically, something else happened on 1.09: I had to go back to work. I'm an ESL teacher, and September has not been easy. This year, at least so far, my schedule has been grim. I'm working six days a week. And first lessons are always more stressful because you're only just getting to know your students. Plus, of course, I have some difficult ones. And it only takes one 'difficult' child messing you around for an hour to leave you too tired to work on anything when you get home.

So, when is the next update? I don't know! I am trying to write. I AM writing. But it hasn't been easy. I've no idea how other authors can say, 'Next update in a month.' How do you know? How do you know how much you'll manage to write? I was planning to write this week, but then a lot of other teachers got sick, and I had to substitute for three days out of six, so I only managed to write on one day. And now I'm also getting sick…

I don't know, guys. I'm sorry. The story isn't being abandoned—I'm far too obsessed with the MC for that—but it's been rough mentally. Sorry!

And sorry for venting. I'm not saying I CAN'T write—I can—I'm just saying I've been stressed and had no inspiration this month.

Sorry! And thank you all for your support!

[1966-if]

Holy shit I think I might have accidentally genuinely fallen in love with Paul, i'm sorry he is so like,,, omg there are no words I love this little freak, I need to.Ineedtosquishhim, the end of the demo almost made me choke thinking he was fuckind DEAD dude I can't, also I adore the way you write. One of the few IF's who haven't bore me and made me skip paragraphs of text in a long time

THANK YOU!!! <3

[1966-if]

Speaking of Lovecraftian inspirations, do you like Junji Ito?

I think his work, even if not always that scary, is so deeply imaginative that it's always interesting to read. Plus the art is great as inspiration for terrible horror fates.

I have read quite a few Junji Ito works, yes! My favourites are probably Hellstar Remina and The Long Dream. And I LOVE the aesthetics of Tomie! Such a girl, you know. Love her. Just really a Girl 💋ྀིྀི✧🔪𐙚🩸✮ 🎀 But I'm not the biggest Junji Ito fan, to be honest. I have my prejudices, I'm afraid! Also, just not my cup of tea. For example, Hellstar Remina starts off great—but then just goes completely out of pocket. Which is cool! just not for me. You know what other 'big planet approaching Earth' I find exponentially more terrifying? Melancholia. LOVE that film. You don't need to give a planet a tongue or an eye to make it scary: a planet, in space, in the cosmos, is just a priori horrifying, in my opinion. But oh well, I also find seeing the Moon during the day creepy, so maybe it's just me!

[1966-if]

Hi author....

I am having hard time imagining MC true form because I am not really familiar about eldrich entity I think this is one of 2 games I play that have those, do you have some sketch or image of it?

The other games is just survival horror still wakes the deep, the enemy is fused together human not the entity itself.

The descriptions in the game are purposely vague so the player can imagine their character however they want. This is an existing character, though, and there is a lot of art for it. Personally, I do have a favourite depiction (I even have a little figure now). If you know who MC is, then it is very obvious which specific depiction I keep referencing. If you don't, then just imagine them however you want! There is no 'canon' for how MC looks. Even as an existing character, it's all just interpretations, neither more 'truthful' than another. So, whatever you imagine is perfectly valid! You can't say 'oh this character can't have tentacles' or 'actually ☝️🤓 they should be invisible' that's bs and just lame. There is no canon for how they look or even what they are. So, just have fun!

[1966-if]

hey idk if this is a bug but last time i joined the order i still got to go on a shopping date with the ghoul but now the entire scene is gone even tho i made the same choices and im still romancing him??

It was a bug! If you're joining the Order, the ghoul shouldn't even be there! So, he would just show up out of nowhere and then ask you on a date as if you hadn't just tried to kill each other twenty minutes ago lol. No, it was a massive, silly bug.

[1966-if]

you're right kissing paul isn't enough i need to put him in a jar and shake it

[1966-if]

no stalker romance? 😢😢

I answered that before, but again: 1) no full romance, no; 2) but you will be able to accept their 'offer' in the future. So, yes and no. It was never planned as a full romance, sorry! :(

[1966-if]

So I'm curious about Nyar's romance: when MC brings up the betrayal, N implied that it's in their nature and so they probably don't see the betrayal as such. I guess I'm wondering if they're supposed to be the toxic romance route? Like if MC chooses them, should MC (and us, readers) anticipate that N will betray MC again since it's who they are? I want to temper my expectations so I can protect my MC from more heartbreak 😅

Did they imply that? Did they?? N says a lot of things. They aren’t lying—in the main—but they do be saying!

But, anyway, I’ve answered this before, and I’ll say it again: yes, all ROs are kind of ‘toxic’, some more, some less, but no one is going to betray MC in the end. This is something that personally really annoys me in other games—no shade, just not a fan myself—when you’re going for a specific romance/friendship/ally the whole game, and then they leave or, worse, betray you! So it won’t happen here. Again, don’t expect a ‘happy-go-lucky, safe and comfy, all sunshine and rainbows’ romance, but there won’t be any backstabbing at the end of the game. N might still mess with MC for fun, though! (N's definition of 'fun', of course)

[1966-if]

You know, I usually try to make morally right choices in games and but making a cult and creeping into people's brains and genuinely believing we are helping them is proving to be too fun :) well, I did like cult of the lambs (though I did not choose any doctrines that seemed evil....) so I guess I can say I love starting cults:) Thank you for letting me know another side of me........ haha

Fun fact! While my main inspirations lie elsewhere, the 'let's make a sacrifice oh no now we've brought something dreadful back' part did partially come to me after I played Cult of the Lamb. But I only played that game for one day: I messed up massively, ran out of resources and cultists, and instead of restarting, just abandoned it. Also, myself, never had an issue role-playing as 'morally questionable' characters :D I do think completely evil characters are a bit boring to role-play—same as totally goody-two-shoes heroes—but if there's something redeeming, or at least multifaceted, about them, I think it can be really fun to be a little evil (oh I love how unhinged you can be in Fallen Hero you know)

[1966-if]

ooojhh my god i need that ghoulussy NOW

well, I'm glad my fave is getting love!

[1966-if]

Not sure if this counts as a bug, but chapter45_ghoul.txt downloads itself as a file instead of opening in browser when clicked on unlike the rest of the files?

rogue file, it was empty, I’ve deleted it now. thank you for telling me! <3

[1966-if]

THEY DID WHAT NOW????

[1966-if]

AGH- I CAN'T, i just played this for the first time and the story is way too gooddd 😭😭

I was just going with flow, and its seems like my MC is having a predicament on her feelings towards Roulete but at the same time is also not over nyarlathotep

( she hates their guts tho🗿 )

CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT UPDATEEEEE 🔥🔥💯💯

thank you!!

I think, to a certain degree, any MC is not over N. However, whether this ‘not over’ is more hateful, fearful, longing, or something else depends on the player’s choices.

[1966-if]

oh yeah glad I'm not the only one nicknaming Silas to sally

Every time he tries to kill us or tries to backtalk I'm like omg haha you're so silly, sally , silly sally haha

ooooh, I see

[1966-if]

Are romance routes exclusive for each RO?

I kind of want to romance Silas (or Hendrik) and also Nyarlotothep at the same time (guy's an asshole but high-key intriguing as a love interest)

What does ‘exclusive’ mean here? Anyway, for now, there are no penalties for romancing all four of them. There’s even some extra flavour text/options for it (some ROs might get worried about the MC, some jealous). But I’m planning for the player to eventually have to choose just one person (yes, it could also be Saffron/Sorrel). There will be specific endings for the different romance routes. There won’t be any poly routes.