The annual Interactive Fiction Competition (held at https://ifcomp.org). I've played quite a few of these entries over the years, and even entered a game in 2022.
I made time to judge the 2021 Interactive Fiction competition. I played and rated 10 entries:
Used this rubric:
Interactive (up to 4 points) +1 Novelty within the medium +1 Interactions are fun and/or consonant with the theme +1 No distracting bugs +1 Polished; quality-of-life features (e.g. hints) that enhance the experience Fiction (up to 4 points) +1 Effective prose +1 Well-sketched setting +1 Compelling plot +1 Memorable character(s) Bonus (up to 2 points) +1 I like this! +1 I admire this
My Intfiction.org thread (Author's Forum)
Alleson and I entered Esther's in IFComp 2022, and tied for 17th place.
Thoughts on 2022 comp games originally posted in this thread on intfiction.org which is restricted to authors, not everything's been copied over to Commonplace.
My top 10 in order (and their final comp ranking):
Others:
All of my reviews are spoilery. I always want to know what people really thought and read reviews after I've played a story, so that's what I write.
Personal bias ahead. I'm writing and scoring based on what *I want* out of IF, which I recognize is not universal. Things I look for, in no particular order
I'm cherry-picking this year. Life intrudes, so I'm jumping straight to entries that look interesting and skipping ones that probably aren't for me (especially anything horror-themed or with lots of content warnings.)
I also want to caveat that I'm feeling less patient than usual this year with high-friction experiences. I'm going to share raw impressions because as an author I'd want to know when someone bounced off my work. There are probably entries I'd have found more rewarding if I had the energy to push through a rough start, but there's just too much to see and too little time this go-round. I want to acknowledge my responsibility in that up front and hope there's no personal offense given.