Interactive story examples you can play now
Mysteries, romances, stories told in texts and worlds you walk into: published interactive stories you can play in your browser, with nothing to install.
The quickest way to understand interactive fiction is to play some. This is a short list of stories published on Pominis that you can open and play right now, in a browser, on a phone or a computer, with nothing to install. The visual novels and chat stories play without an account; World Mode asks you to sign in first.
Every story here was made by the Pominis team with Pominis. Each card says what kind of story it is and how many chapters are out so far; click a card to open the story’s page, see the cast and chapters, and press play.
Mystery and thriller
Mysteries suit the format well: you choose who to trust, what to look at and when to say what you know. Both of these are illustrated visual novels with two chapters and two endings so far.
The Midnight Express to Edinburgh
Visual novel · 2 chapters · EnglishA night train in the snow, and every passenger carries the same photograph of you. A locked-room mystery on a 1930s sleeper.
Don't Let Him Drive
Visual novel · 2 chapters · EnglishAt 3:07 a.m. a text from your dead sister’s number: don’t let Daniel drive you home. The wedding rehearsal is today.
Romance and fantasy
Romance in a visual novel lives in small choices: what you say back, when you stay, when you leave. These two sit at opposite ends of the mood scale.
A Kiss Before Midnight
Visual novel · 2 chapters · EnglishYou were hired to kill the cursed prince at the Winter Masquerade. He says this is your third try. An enemies-to-lovers story that resets every midnight.
The Apology Cake
Visual novel · 2 chapters · EnglishA grumpy dragon wants to learn to bake an apology cake for someone he wronged three hundred years ago. Warm, funny and full of flour.
Stories told in text messages
Phone-chat stories play out in a chat thread: messages arrive one at a time, someone is typing, photos come through, and your replies are the choices. They are good for suspense, because you only ever know what the other person tells you.
The Glass Between Us
Phone chat · 3 chapters · EnglishAt 2:17 a.m. your sister, missing for a year, texts: don’t open the door, that is not me outside. Then the doorbell camera sends her face.
Possession Is Nine-Tenths
Phone chat · 2 chapters · EnglishA 1 a.m. text to your ex reaches a stranger who wants to negotiate over the hoodie. Then he sends the view from his window. It is your street.
Worlds you can walk into
World Mode stories have no fixed choices. You are dropped into a place with its own people and rules, you type whatever you want to say or do, and the world answers, painting new places as you reach them.
The Undelivered
World Mode · EnglishYou are the new mail carrier in a seaside town where every letter is addressed to someone the sea or time has already taken.
Low Tide, Room Nine
World Mode · EnglishYour first night at a cliffside academy of magic. Your roommate is gone, and the only clue is a note in your own handwriting.
If you read Chinese
Most stories on Pominis are written in Chinese. Two from the team, if you can read them:
红烛夜归人
Visual novel · 2 chapters · ChineseA bride marries in her sister’s place, and the groom who lifts her veil is the boy she pushed off a cliff three years ago. A period romance with a mystery inside.
明日来信
Phone chat · 2 chapters · ChineseOn her first night in a seaside town, a stranger sends photos of where she will be standing tomorrow. In the newest one, someone is behind her.
How we picked these
There are hundreds of public stories on Pominis. For this list we only chose stories made by our own team, so we can stand behind every one and say exactly how it was made: each started from a short idea, and Pominis wrote and illustrated it chapter by chapter. We will add stories from the community when their authors agree to be featured.
How to play
Open a card and press play. In a visual novel, click or tap to read on and pick an option when a choice appears; the choices change scenes, what people think of you and, at the end of a story, which ending you reach. Phone-chat stories play inside a phone screen, and you pick your replies. In World Mode you type freely, and the world remembers what you have done there.
Two tips for a first play. Do not reload to undo a choice the first time through; the point of an interactive story is living with what you picked, and the second chapter often comes back to it. Then, once you reach the end of what is written, play again and choose differently. In each visual novel and chat story here, the latest chapter has two endings reached by different paths, and seeing how the same scene reads after a different choice is the best way to see what the format can do.
Remix one, or start your own
If a story gives you an idea, press Make your version on its page. You get your own copy to change: a different ending, a different lead, the same cast in a new place. The original stays as it is, and your version credits it. Or start from nothing: write one idea on the homepage and Pominis writes chapter 1 for you to play, then continues in the direction you pick.
Questions about these stories
Are these stories free to play? The visual novels and chat stories are free to play. A world comes with free turns; after those, each turn costs one credit.
Do I need to download anything? No. They play in the browser on phones, tablets and computers.
Were these made with AI? Yes. They were written and illustrated with Pominis, from ideas by our team.
Where can I find more? The stories page lists every public story on Pominis, newest first.
