The Best Interactive Fiction Games on Android

Ryan North's to Be or Not to Be

Shakespeare wrote a lot of great plays, but there's a reason almost every school kid looks at his name with dread. Luckily, Ryan North and Tin Man Games have come to the rescue with this hilarious take on one of Shakespeare's most famous plays. With multiple playable characters, a ton of endings to find, and artwork from a variety of artists, including Kate Beaton, the Bard's never been so much fun or funny.

Download Ryan North's to Be or Not to Be

80 Days

Have you ever wanted to live in a Jules Verne novel? Well, now you can. Sort of. 80 Days puts you in the shoes of Phineas Fogg's loyal valet, Passepartout, as the two set out to try to circumnavigate the globe within 80 Days. You'll be in charge of the budget, planning the itinerary, and keeping Fogg out of trouble. There are many different routes to take, but some of the most interesting ones might not be the most efficient, so choose wisely. The 80-day limit gives this gamebook a little of a score-chaser feel, and as you would expect from inkle, it's absolutely gorgeous to look at, too.

Download 80 Days

Sorcery!

In a lot of ways, inkle's adaptations of Steve Jackson's Sorcery! changed expectations for gamebooks. Instead of simply trying to recreate the book precisely, Sorcery! does things a physical book couldn't. You move your character around on a living map, choose letters out of the sky to compose spells, and engage in battles that require you to pay careful attention to your opponent to make the correct counter-attack. Since the Sorcery! series tells one big story, it's best to start with the first book and work your way through, but all of them are quite good.

Download Sorcery!

Gamebook Adventures 12: Asuria Awakens

As more pure gamebook experiences go, you can't do much better than the most recent release in Tin Man's long-running Gamebook Adventures series, Asuria Awakens. It's long, nicely paced, and packed with action, interesting characters, and lots of surprises, and while it can be a little difficult in places, it's reasonably fair relative to other traditional gamebooks. This is definitely the pick of the litter when it comes to Tin Man's fantasy-themed works.

Choice of Robots

The adventures that Choice of Games puts out might not have much to offer in terms of presentation, but they have some of the best writing and most interesting branching narratives around. Choice of Robots is perhaps the most the interesting of the lot, giving the player a great deal of influence on the direction of the story while also staying true to this genre of fiction by presenting lots of interesting philosophical ideas to chew on. 

Download Choice of Robots

Heavy Metal Thunder

Heavy Metal Thunder is like a no-nonsense, hardcore action movie in text form. It might not be the most well-written gamebook and it can certainly be crass at times, but if you've never imagined a book could be big, loud, punch-to-the-face fun, you'll want to check this one out. If you enjoy it, there's also a direct sequel you can try. Heavy Metal Thunder is one of those gamebooks that is pretty hard to solve on your first try, but it's really enjoyable to test out all of the options available to you, so taking an extra run or two is actually a pleasure.

A Study in Steampunk: Choice by Gaslight

Take the stories of Sherlock Holmes and filter them through a steampunk setting and you get one of the most interesting adventures Hosted Games has released to date. You play the role of a Watson-like character who serves as a secret agent in the fictional country of Mercia. The country lies on the brink of war, and it's up to you and your partner to figure out how to prevent that. Or perhaps you'd prefer to fan the flames to your own ends? Exceptionally well-written and packed with interesting choices, A Study in Steampunk is a must for any fan of detective stories that likes a good text-based game. 

Download A Study in Steampunk: Choice by Gaslight

Trial of the Clone

Written by Zach Weinersmith, the creator of the comic strip Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, Trial of the Clone is the hilarious sci-fi tale of a clone out to seek a greater destiny. Sweetening the pot a little, actor Wil Wheaton lends his voice to the game, and it's all done up in Tin Man's excellent Gamebook Adventures engine, with all the bells and whistles that come with that. There aren't a lot of gamebooks that go for a pure comedy angle, something that helps Trial of the Clone stand out from the pack.

Download Trial of the Clone