Best Choices: Stories You Play Alternatives (2026)

The best Choices alternative depends on what you miss. If you want stories that don’t run out and choices nobody wrote in advance, Euphoria writes an illustrated, multi-chapter story around your own character and lets you type any action. If you want another hand-written romance app, Episode has the biggest library, Chapters weekly releases and Romance Club mature branching. If you would trade art for depth, Choice of Games publishes long text-only interactive novels and makes its older ones free. Prices and ratings below are from the US App Store as of 4 November 2026.

The short list

App	Best for	Free play	Paid from	Platforms
Choices (for reference)	Polished, pre-written romance and drama	Free; keys unlock chapters	$14.99/mo (VIP); $2.99 VIP for a Day	iOS, Android
Euphoria: AI Choices	Illustrated AI stories with your own character	Free download	In-app purchases from $1.99; no subscription	iOS, Android
Episode	The biggest library, and writing your own	Free; passes gate reading	$14.99/mo (VIP)	iOS, Android
Chapters	Weekly romance releases	Free; 3 tickets that refill hourly	$9.99 (VIP)	iOS, Android
Romance Club	Mature branching romance (18+)	Free; daily diamonds	$9.99 (Gold pass)	iOS, Android
Choice of Games	Long text-only interactive novels	Older back catalog free	Varies by title	iOS, Android, Steam, web
AI Dungeon	Open text sandbox	Unlimited on free models	$14.99/mo (Journey)	Web, iOS, Android

What is happening with Choices, and a disclosure

We make Euphoria: AI Choices, which is on this list, so weigh our view accordingly. Every number here is sourced in the footer.

Choices launched in August 2016 and is still one of the biggest apps in its genre. It holds a 4.5 rating from 199,000 App Store ratings, and a 2024 PocketGamer report put it at over 100 million downloads. Its strengths are real: an in-house writing team, a customizable main character, new chapters on a regular schedule, and outfits to dress that character in.

What has changed is the studio around it. Pixelberry was bought by Series Entertainment, a company that builds games with generative AI, in July 2024. On 1 April 2026 the Choices team said it had to “say goodbye to several members of our team”. Two weeks later it explained that Choices “was built on a codebase that’s now a decade old” and that “we’re adjusting our release cadence and book length”, because “our writing team has changed”. The schedule that followed had books of five to eight chapters. On 4 May it committed to “traditional Choices IF content through August” while moving to new tools on its RUN platform, and gave no schedule beyond that. No shutdown has been announced, and the latest iOS update still lists new chapters, but players who came for long books on a steady schedule have reason to look around.

The usual monetization complaints have not gone away either. Keys unlock chapters, diamonds pay for premium choices and outfits, and fan guides describe free keys refilling at about one every three hours, with no more than two held at once. VIP removes the key wait for $14.99 a month.

The contrast we care most about is between a story someone wrote for everyone and a story written around you. In Euphoria, the AI writes a multi-chapter story with a coherent plot and memory that carries from chapter to chapter, so a choice in chapter one still matters in chapter five. Every scene is illustrated with your own character in the outfits you chose. And you are never limited to three options: you can type any action and the AI writes what happens next. We explain the difference between story apps and chat apps in AI story apps vs AI chat apps.

If you want choices nobody wrote for you: Euphoria or AI Dungeon

Euphoria: AI Choices is the closest swap if what you love about Choices is the illustrated romance and drama with you as the lead. You describe your character in words and the app generates their look, with a wardrobe for new outfits. Then you play community stories or type an idea of your own and get a full interactive book. Story variables track relationships, health and skills, so how you treated a character carries into later chapters. It is free on iOS and Android, rated 16+, with a 4.6 rating from 148 ratings, and optional purchases (5 Keys for $1.99, Essence packs from $1.99) rather than a subscription.

What you give up: the prose is AI-written, not the work of an editorial team. It has far fewer ratings and community stories than Choices, and it does not run in a browser. Our guides on creating an AI character and getting an AI to remember your story show how to get the most from it. If you like reading yourself into stories as Y/N, see what Y/N means.

AI Dungeon suits players who want the same freedom without any structure. Its free tier is unlimited on its free models, with paid plans from $14.99 a month for more memory. It is text-first, with images paid in credits, so it feels nothing like a visual Choices book. Our AI Dungeon alternatives post covers it in depth.

If you want another hand-written story app: Episode, Chapters, Romance Club

These three work like Choices: authored stories, a customizable character, premium choices for currency. Pick by what you value most.

Episode has the largest catalog, with over 150,000 stories and a 4.7 rating from 2.8 million ratings. Players can also write and publish their own stories there, and it is rated 13+, younger than the others. Passes gate reading, gems buy premium choices, and VIP costs $14.99 a month. Player feedback names the cost of key decisions as the top complaint, which will sound familiar.

Chapters is the pick for steady releases: its listing promises new stories and chapters every week, and it is rated 4.4 from 116,000 ratings. Free players get three tickets that refill hourly, and VIP is $9.99. Premium choices typically cost 12 to 17 diamonds against about two earned per chapter, so frequent premium choices add up.

Romance Club is for adults who want more mature branching. It is rated 18+, holds 4.6 from 17,000 ratings, and every story has multiple endings. It runs on diamonds and tea, with a $9.99 Gold pass and daily login diamonds.

Our best interactive story apps roundup compares these in more depth, and the best AI romance story apps covers the AI side of the genre.

If you would trade art for depth: Choice of Games

Choice of Games takes the opposite approach to visuals. It calls itself the world’s largest publisher of interactive novels: more than 150 since 2010, each entirely text, “hundreds of thousands of words and hundreds of choices, without graphics or sound effects”. Titles are available on Steam, iOS, Android and the web, more than a dozen new ones arrive each year, and the older back catalog is free to all readers. The trade-off is plain: no character art, no outfits, no customizable look.

Who each alternative is for, and who should skip it

• You want illustrated romance with your own character and endless new stories: Euphoria. Skip it if you only want stories written by professional writers.
• You want the most stories in one app: Episode. Skip it if you are tired of paying for key decisions.
• You want a reliable weekly reading habit: Chapters. Skip it if you dislike ticket timers.
• You want mature, branching romance: Romance Club. Skip it if you are under 18.
• You want long, deep stories in text: Choice of Games. Skip it if art and outfits are half the fun.
• You want total freedom in plain text: AI Dungeon. Skip it if you want a visual story.
• You are mid-way through a favourite Choices series: stay, and watch Pixelberry’s blog for news on its move to the RUN platform.