Post-apocalyptic

The great virtue of Enoch is its setting. It's post-apocalyptic, but the fall of technical civilization happened so far in the distant past that almost nothing is remembered. The icecaps are long gone, tropical jungle covers the temperate latitudes, the skeletal remnants of skyscrapers poke from the drowned coast, and nanobot plagues still sweep across the world. We have layers of technical civilization, including still-functioning "demon" AIs deep beneath the earth, along with credulous belief in new gods (some of which are beings that indeed possess godlike powers), while the highest expression of remaining civilization are exploitative, slave-owning empires reminiscent of the Bronze Age--and most humans live as Stone Age hunter-gatherers.

Armageddon Empires has a story set in the future and gameplay set in the past. Imagine Magic: The Gathering crunched with Hex-based strategy and based in post-Heinlein sci-fi, with a dash of Fallout for garnish. Things are slow and deep, and that's how they're meant to be. Resources are balanced against dice rolls, moves are carefully allotted, armies are assembled based on complementary numbers and specials, saves are made frequently. Even down to the individual attack, you make judgments with the prudence of a wargamer while hedging with the reckless tact of a card gamer. Only the hardcore need apply.

One of the more encouraging developments in interactive fiction is the development of distinct genres special to the medium -- not genres based on book-selling categories like "fantasy" and "mystery", but genres that are about interaction. The gradual development of these is, I think, a sign of the medium maturing; of authors beginning to see how specific interaction patterns are useful for specific kinds of storytelling; of players recognizing those patterns as interesting.

C. E. J. Pacian's Gun Mute belongs to the genre of combat-puzzle IF.