Western

Out on the frontier, a group of religious pioneers struggles to make lives for themselves. The Faith faces freezing winters and blazing summers, but the greatest threat to their survival comes from within. You play one of God’s Watchdogs, tasked with holding the faith together in the face of sin, heresy, and demonic influence. The Dogs ride from town to town rooting out pridefullness and false doctrine, exorcising demons, dispensing justice, and keeping the Faith together. Their word is both law and gospel, but with ultimate authority comes ultimate responsibility.

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.