Zeitgeist 1980 Prototype

Play the 80s as they never were.

Choice-Based Interactive Fiction

A decade of time-traveling robots, talking cars, masked slashers, weird science, ninjas, suspenders, toy commercials disguised as cartoons, and a never-ending cold war.

Zeitgeist 1980 is an interactive fiction game set in the world of cinematic 1980, drawing inspiration from classic movies, television, and cartoons of the year. It's broken up into four episodes, released as a serial and building off of one another, each drawing from different shows.

Play through a story inspired by the films of 1980.

• Play as an 80s teen archetype discovering the weird world around you
• Your choices guide the narrative, your flaws determine your character arc
• Episodic format drawing inspiration from classic 80s films
• Written by Parsec Award and Best Chicago Novelist finalist author Michael Coorlim

Zeitgeist 1980 is divided into episodes, like a television series or comic book volume or long-running film franchise, each set during 1980, each stranger than the last.

In the first episode, Rascal and the Boxer, you - an ordinary high-school student - are sent to stay with your irresponsible cousin Colt over winter break... only to end up on a cross-country run from a bare-knuckle brawler while carrying an unknown cargo across state lines. This episode - inspired by the movies Smokey and the Bandit II and Any Which Way You Can and the TV show Dukes of Hazzard.

There are seven planned episodes in the 1980 season.

Patreon supporters will have access to development builds a version ahead of the public release available here. Become a supporter to access version 0.2.