The Ballad of Devil’s Creek is at least something unusual for me to read. I don’t usually read westerns, but this one is just awesome. It led me to discover weird west as a genre.
I was going to mention Wonderland Noir, but you already listed it. I bounced right off that IF because I couldn’t really get a grasp for the story or… anything- at all.
One Knight Stand is quite weird in a good way. I have yet to play the “lying about your amnesia” route, but it looks like my kind of mind-screw.
The Passenger is also rather weird, but I also saw it as an allegory for the player and their actions in a CSG (and video games in general). Not sure how popular a reading that is.
It actually is advertised in the list of romantic interests as it turns out when I checked again, so I suppose I didn’t have to spoiler tag that, but the reality of how weird that game turned out to be can still be easily missed from reading the summary alone. It’s a wild ride!
@fablesoffortune
I think this proves my point exactly! IF can be the weirdest! (In a good way). Who doesn’t want to romance an alien lodged in your head?
What other medium could offer you such opportunities? Not even video games can reach such heights! Tho, admittedly you can now date washing machines and swords in videogames… (see - Boyfriend Dungeon and Date Everything! )
@GenericUsername I love how Wonderland Noir’s Intro Post is Alice speaking to the player…that to me is genius level of crazy…in a good way…
@Sujan_Dhakal Saturnine! Yes, of course, so creative. Plus, you’re able to romance a robot spider thing…that’s close second to romancing alien in your own brain…
@wishOtherwise I had never heard of the Weird West genre until you’ve mentioned it and I’m very grateful for you introducing me to it!
@Snowflower Those are some excellent mind-screwing recommendations.
@hustlertwo Well I’m scared of clowns so I don’t know whether to be relieved or distraught at this loss.
Restore, Reflect, Retry is genuinely disconcerting, for reasons I won’t spoil. Let’s just say I found myself creeped out by something I should have been completely immune to being creeped out by.
A Death in Hyperspace is weird. It’s at least a little weird no matter what route you take, but some routes are extra weird.
Certain issues of ChoiceBeat, the zine I write for, have links to exclusive minigames, all of which are at least a little weird.
if you’re interested at all in IF that aren’t Choicescript games, I have some other recommendations too. You may have heard of Hatoful Boyfriend, but if you haven’t, it’s excellent. Genuinely a masterpiece. It’s also a romance visual novel about a human going to a prestigious school for anthropomorphized birds, so it’s a premise you definitely have to have an open mind for in order to enjoy the disturbing, hysterical and poignant story at its core. There’s additionally Monster Prom (another wildly popular one so my apologies if you’ve already played it), which is a dating sim. It’s pretty self-explanatory, you’re a monster at a high school and you’re wanting to get a date for the prom. The premise may sound simple but what “getting a date for prom” entails is insane from start to finish including but not limited to potentially declaring pseudo-war on the sun. It’s a series of sorts with several installments so if you wind up liking it, you’ll be in for hours of fun.
And in retrospect, I have no idea how I didn’t mention this before: The Bread Must Rise. Hands down the most unhinged book I’ve had the pleasure to play from Choice of Games. It’s an eldritch horror comedy and also a baking show game. Enough said I think.
