When I said I had played through all of the official games, a few people asked for recommendations or rankings.
I can say right now that every game was worth playing. And I can’t provide a linear ranking of all games because they’re good at different things. But I can provide some interesting lists.
Here are some top 10’s. I think every game is on here somewhere. If it’s more interesting for the games to have more data (like a brief blurb or word count), let me know. If I missed any games, or left out something obvious, let me know, too!
For most of the lists, the top 2-3 are ones I think are especially great but the rest of the order doesn’t really matter.
My personal top 10
- Creatures Such as We. This was the first choicescript game I every played, and it’s unique. There are no stats at all. Most of the game is thinking about game design and talking about it with others, which is my favorite hobby in real life.
- Vampire the Masquerade: Night Road. I love the VtM IP and White Wolf stuff in general. This game nails the parts of the TTRPG that I liked, and has great mechanics.
- Choice of Robots. Such great branching. This game feels infinitely replayable, and the different goals are really diverse and fun.
- Heart of the House. Wow, I love this book. I’ve always been into gothic horror and weird horror, and this has both. Very good atmosphere, absolutely thrilling.
- Creme de la Creme. This game has everything I liked from ‘school’ books like Jane Eyre or the non-magical parts of Harry Potter. Lots of fun.
- Choice of Rebels. This is the best fantasy game, in my opinion. Feels like Wheel of Time in scope and worldbuilding.
- Choice of Magics. Another great Fantasy game. I like the drawbacks each of the 5 branches of magic has.
- Metahuman Inc. The absolute number one thing here is seeing all the options for cool tech you can research, buy, and install on yourself. Great sci-fi.
- Heroes of Myth. Epic fantasy mixed with discussion of the nature of storytelling. Really like the effort put into the demon worldbuilding.
- Superlatives: Aetherfall. I like Fallen London and X-men, and this felt like a mix between them. Steampunk superhero fun.
’High fantasy’ games
- Choice of Magics.
- Choice of Rebels
- Heroes of Myth.
- Pon Para and the Great Southern Labyrinth.
- Stronghold: A Hero’s Fate
- Hero of Kendrickstone series
- Sword of the Slayer
- Tower Behind the Moon
- Choice of the Petal Throne
- Choice of the Dragon
Space-based sci-fi games
- Mecha Ace
- Asteroid Run
- I, Cyborg
- The Fleet
- Fog of War: The Battle for Cerberus
- The Martian Job
- Light years apart
- Choice of the Star Captain
- Treasure Seekers of Lady Luck
- Reckless Space Pirates
Being the Bad Guy
- Grand Academy for Villains
- Diabolical
- Blood Money
- Rent-a-Vice
- Slammed!
- Metahuman, Inc.
- Tower Behind the Moon
- It’s Killing Time
- Choice of the Cat
- Choice of the Dragon
Tech-based scifi
- Choice of Robots
- Metahuman, Inc.
- Silverworld
- Empyrean
- Rent-a-Vice
- Diabolical
- The Orpheus Ruse
- Yeti’s Parole Officer (technically has space stuff, too)
- Ratings War
- T-Rex Time Machine
Thriller/Spy/Crime
- 180 Files: The Aegis Project
- Eagle’s Heir
- It’s Killing Time
- Thieves’ Gambit: The Curse of the Black Cat
- Rent-a-Vice
- The Martian Job
- Undercover Agent
- NOLA is Burning
- Ratings War
- Choice of the Ninja
God-based games (usually fighting them/serving them/becoming them)
- Champion of the Gods
- Exile of the Gods
- Pon Para and the Great Southern Labyrinth
- Sword of the Slayer
- Avatar of the Wolf
- Ironheart (not directly acting with/against Gods, but instead choosing a religion and fighting for it)
- Saga of the North Wind
- Fate of the Storm Gods
- An Odyssey: Echoes of War
- Fox Spirit: A Two-Tailed Adventure (good game, not as much God content)
Games set in real life (or almost-real life) in the past
- Creme de la Creme
- Tally Ho series
- Eagle’s Heir
- Fool!
- Choice of Broadsides series
- Broadway 1849
- Trials of the Thief Taker
- Choice of Alexandria
- Road to Canterbury
- Gilded Rails
Modern-day real life games
- Slammed!
- Drag Star
- It’s Killing Time
- Choice of the Cat
- Sixth Grade Detective
- Undercover Agent
- Choice of the Rock Star
- Fielder’s Choice
- Thieve’s Gambit: The Curse of the Black Cat
- Hollywood Visionary (great game, technically set older than most games on this list but newer than most games on the other real-life list)
Blended modern/fantasy or magical realism
- Vampire: The Masquerade–Night Road
- Werewolves Series
- Choice of the Vampire
- The Fog Knows Your Name
- Deathless Series
- Blackstone Academy for Magical Arts
- Congresswolf
- Luminous Underground
- Daring Mermaid Expedition
- Death Collector
Historical fantasy/medium fantasy/Historical scifi (mostly medieval or renaissance settings with usually one or two prominent magical additions)
- Weyrwood
- Pendragon Rising
- Kidnapped! A Royal Birthday
- DinoKnights
- Midsummer Night’s Choice
- Cannonfire Concerto
- Chronicon Apocalyptica
- Magician’s Workshop
- A Squire’s Tale
- Runt of the litter
Horror (and horror-adjacent) Games
- Heart of the House
- Vampire the Masquerade: Night Road
- Masque of the Plague Doctor
- Blood Money
- Choice of the Vampire
- Mysteries of the Baroque
- Choice of Zombies
- For Rent: Haunted House
- Chronicon Apocalyptica
- Rent-a-Vice (Not technically horror, but grim reality)
Superhero Games
- Psy High Series
- Original Heroes Rise series
- Superlatives Series
- Hero Unmasked
- A Wise Use of Time
- Hero Project Series
- Zip! Speedster of Valiant City
- Versus Series
- The ORPHEUS Ruse
- Diabolical (Superhero game from Villain perspective)
Humor (a lot of games are funny, but these ones seem focused on humor)
- Tally Ho series
- Grand Academy for Villains series
- Kidnapped! A Royal Birthday
- Fool!
- Sorcery is For Saps!
- Neighborhood Necromancer
- Choice of the Star Captain
- Yeti’s Parole Officer
- For Rent: Haunted House
- To the City of the Clouds
Mythology Games
- Champion of the Gods series
- Fox Spirit: A Two Tailed Adventure
- Choice of Kung Fu
- An Odyssey: Echoes of War
- Saga of the North Winds
- Fate of the Storm Gods
- A Midsummer Night’s Choice
- Avatar of the Wolf
- Demon Mark
- In the Service of Mrs Claus
Most unusual games
- Choice of the Vampire. This game is huge, actually 4 games in one, tons of stats, tons of hidden stuff, and filled with esoteric history. Simultaneously one of the oldest and newest choicescript games.
- NOLA is Burning. I’ve never had such a ‘What the heck?’ reaction to a choicescript game. Utterly, utterly bizarre. I can’t even describe how weird the ending is. Well, I’ll put it this way: I once played a parser game where you have to attack a druglord’s army from the inside of a mechanical hot tub powered by the magic of an off-brand Olsen twins DVD. This game has that same feeling.
- Sky Pirates of Actorius. Tiny game. Uses a lot of binary choices and has randomized events for much of the game.
- Choice of the Dragon. The original, and contains quite a bit of ‘early installment weirdness’ that never got passed on.
- Heroes Rise series. These games are very much more game-oriented, with stats explicitly mentioned, save points, hints, etc.
- The Fleet. No romance, just you and a ton of ships. Very little of the game is about you as a person.
- The Last Monster Master. A framing/training sim where you have 4 monsters with different personalities and decide what training regimens to give them.
- Showdown at Willow Creek. A short western that focuses on detective work and science.
- Fielder’s Choice. Uses randomization to simulate baseball throwing. Makes for very unusual feel.
- Gilded Rails. Has a selectable difficulty level, the most RO’s of any game, and a big mishmash of stuff altogether.
Edit: Ocean Based Games
- Choice of the Pirate
- Choice of Broadsides series
- Blackstone Academy for the Magical Arts
- An Odyssey: Echoes of War
- 7th Sea: A Pirate’s Pact
- Sea Eternal
- Daring Mermaid Expedition