Play This Thing offers this review of “Photopia” (a text game by Adam Cadre).

Photopia is very, very linear. It has very simple puzzles. It’s barely interactive at all.

And yet it works. Photopia could be a short story,
but it would lose most of its impact. It’s difficult to explain why
that is without ruining the game. The key to Photopia’s success is the interactions between the player and the main character (who, interestingly enough, is never actually playable).

Photopia takes the term “interactive fiction” to a new level, because that’s really what it is.

Photopia actually brought IF to that new level almost 10 years ago, back in 1998, so this isn’t exactly news — but the game is still worth the praise today.