A Brief List of Interactive Love Stories
Looking for some new stories to experience?
That’s right, I said experience. Because these are interactive. Say whaaaaat.
Titles are links to the stories and their websites.
[All images are pictures of the titles, except for With Those We Love Alive, which is a screencap from one of the first screens of the game.]
“A computer mystery/romance set five minutes into the future of 1988.”
If you like ancient operating systems, government conspiracies, typing in phone numbers, and online dating, this game is for you. It’s a bit of a slog in terms of testing out phone numbers to see if they’ll let you connect (maybe that’s just me being a little impatient), but the overall story is great.
You just moved and got a new computer. You meet a lovely person named Emily on a poetry forum and start an e-mail correspondence. But something sinister seems to be afoot. It’s a free download, too!
“I’m often frustrated by the flat, immortal, smooth sleekness of the digital. I wanted to have another dimension. I wanted to feel something.”
This just might be one of my favorite weird things ever. There is so much I can say about this one, but doing so would give away a lot of the amazing things you’ll discover while playing, so I’ll keep it vague.
The premise: you are a person in a violent, brutal fantasy world chosen to be the personal inventor for the monstrous Empress (and I mean monstrous in a very literal sense). You must create trophies for her while navigating the strange world of her empire.
Things it has: blatant and overt transgender themes and trans characters (God bless), a system that has you draw sigils on your body based on the events of the story (there’s a website where everyone posts their sigils, it’s very cool), beautiful abstract writing that totally nails the atmosphere, a great love story about the dangers of loving in a brutal world, and atmospheric music that turns creepy at just the right points.
[“Content warning for violence, self harm, blood, abuse, unreality.”]
“Creatures allows you to play as a moon-based tour director, who passes the time between duties by playing video games. The designers of your favorite game arrive as a tour group, and you get to not only discuss the disappointing ending, but the larger implications of video games as art as well.”
This is a longer one. It’s free to play if you wait a little bit between narrative arcs, or you can buy it for like $5.
It’s philosophical in all the right places, goofy in others, a surprising amount of good tension, and has a bunch of well-developed romance plots. Also, the character creation is amazing: you can be any nationality, any race, any gender identity. This story discusses the nature of consent in dating simulators and romance games, the nature of death and its ability to be conquered, and the implications of video games as art. Fun, beautiful, and educational - it’s got everything!
The story has some surprising twists and turns, and the choice aspect integrates wonderfully into the narrative. I really liked playing this one and I’m tempted to go back and do a bunch of different play throughs.
“C.H.E.T is in need of a human to decode what love consists of. Help him, will you? It will look good on your profile.”
Exactly what it says on the tin: help a robot find the recipe for love. It’s cute, quirky, snarky, and the end results are pretty great (and come with adorable art pieces). Shouldn’t take more than 15mins.
“You sold your firstborn child to a witch years ago to save your mother from a deadly disease. Since then, you’ve been less than successful in the dating world. If you don’t find a mate soon, the witch will never get her part of the bargain.”
There’s a nice twist near the end of this story that is just so surprisingly heartwarming, I love it. You have three options, three different people to try to date, each with a wildly different personality. It’ll give you the warm-and-fuzzies, guaranteed.
Queers in Love at the End of the World
“When we have each other we have everything.”
Probably one of the most minimalist ones out there. The world is ending and you have ten seconds to spend with the person you love - what do you do? What would happen if you chose to spend your ten seconds differently? It’s kind of amazing how much this “short” game accomplishes in just ten repeatable seconds of game play.
