PAST PRESENT

Past Present

An interactive short story

A Dreamers Travel Destination, L. Whittaker (CC BY-NC 2.0)

“The agreement is, once the furniture is moved out of the house, each of us goes inside one at a time to collect our remaining things.

Now the house stands empty, haunted by a few odds-and-ends, dust, and a lot of regrets…”

Past Present is a game about memories, loss, and a unique chance to go back and change everything.

Play it online

About the game

Past Present is an interactive fiction, sometimes called a “text adventure.” Rather than the game using graphics, animation, and sound, you play by reading and interacting with the story world.

It’s a short game, and can be played in a single sitting.

Past Present was the winning (and, alas, only) entry in the Winter 2021/2022 TADS Jam. You may find more information, ratings, and reviews at the IFDB (Interactive Fiction Database).

I’ve written a postmortem (author’s notes) on the game. Note: It contains major spoilers.

Other reviews

“A beautiful game written by Jim Nelson that pulls on the heartstrings.” – Grue Eater

Download & play

You can download the game from the Interactive Fiction Archive or itch.io. It’s free.

To play, you’ll need to install a TADS 3 interpreter. You can find one for your operating system at tads.org. A fuller listing of TADS 3-compatible interpreters is at IFWiki.

You can also play in your browser using the Parchment interpreter. Just click the link to get started.

Additional credits

  • Beta testers: Edo, fos1, Kevin McCarty, Christopher Merriner
  • Cover art: L. Whittaker