AI Dungeon Alternatives (2026): 10 AI Story and Roleplay Games

AI Dungeon showed a lot of people what a text adventure looks like when the computer can answer anything you type. Since then the category has split: some tools are games with rules and dice, some are writing partners, and some are programs you run at home.

AI Dungeon itself isn't in this list. The ten tools below are alphabetical and in no particular order, and each description comes from the developer's own website or project page, read as of Nov 2026. I've kept to what those pages say about stories, worlds, characters and privacy.

AI story and roleplay games at a glance

Tool	Type	Good for
DreamGen	Hosted role-play and story generator	Steering a plot you define
Everweave	AI game master for fantasy adventures	Dice rolls, classes and party adventures
HammerAI	Character chat and roleplay platform	Private chat with local models
Hidden Door	Story platform built on fiction worlds	Playing in worlds from published fiction
KoboldCpp	Local AI program	Running story models on your own computer
NovelAI	AI storyteller	Co-writing stories, worlds and characters
Perchance AI Character Chat	Free browser character chat	Chatting without an account
RPGGO	Text RPG engine and creator platform	Playing and making text-based AI RPGs
SillyTavern	Front end for language models	Connecting to the model you choose
Talemate	Open source roleplay program	Narration with consistent world tracking

Ten AI adventure and story tools

DreamGen

Best for: Players who want to define the world, steer the plot and chat with several characters at once, with a free tier on its page.

Everweave

Best for: Tabletop-style fantasy players who want an AI game master with classes, dice rolls and, in the page's words, no fixed paths.

HammerAI

Best for: Privacy-minded players, since its page says chat is free with local models through Ollama, and it writes stories too.

Hidden Door

Best for: Stepping into story worlds from published fiction, or one you dream up, then playing and sharing those stories with others.

KoboldCpp

Best for: Running GGUF language models on your own computer from one file with no install, through a web interface for stories and roleplay.

NovelAI

Best for: Writers who want storytelling models to help shape worlds and characters, from a page that says its AI writes with you, not for you.

Perchance AI Character Chat

Best for: Trying character chat in a browser straight away, since its page calls it free, online and no sign-up, and lets you make characters.

RPGGO

Best for: Playing text-based RPGs with AI non-player characters, or making your own games by describing the rules in plain language.

SillyTavern

Best for: Power users who want a front end for chatting with language models and like choosing which model it connects to.

Talemate

Best for: Roleplay with strong narration, where the project says it keeps track of a consistent world and game state as the story moves on.

A shutdown, a handover, and why hosted or local matters

Two changes show how fast this category moves. Dreamily's address now opens a notice saying the service ceased on 21 April and that all user data was deleted, so it's left out of this list. Anyone who kept their stories only inside that app lost them.

The second change is a handover. The old KoboldAI Client page says that product isn't maintained any more and points to KoboldCpp instead, which its own page describes as free, open-source software that runs GGUF models on your own computer from a single executable, with no installation.

Put those together and the choice between hosted and local matters more than the logo. Local tools run on your machine, so your stories stay with you for as long as you keep the files. Hosted tools run on the developer's servers, which means less setup and a dependence on the service staying open.

Which entries are hosted and which run at home

• Hosted adventure games. Everweave runs fantasy adventures with an AI game master, RPGGO hosts text RPGs with AI characters and a creator platform, and Hidden Door builds playable worlds from stories.
• Hosted story and roleplay tools. DreamGen and NovelAI lean towards steering and writing stories, and Perchance AI Character Chat is a free character chat that runs in the browser.
• Both. HammerAI runs in the browser and says you can chat with local models too.
• Local programs. The local runner above, SillyTavern as a front end for whichever model you connect, and Talemate for narration-focused roleplay on your own machine.

What to weigh before your next adventure

• Game or writing partner. If you want dice, classes and a game master, pick a game. If you want to write a story with help, pick a writing tool. They feel very different after an hour.
• Memory. Long adventures fall apart when the AI forgets what happened earlier. Look for tools that talk about keeping track of the world and the characters.
• Your computer. Running models locally needs a reasonably capable machine. If yours is older, a hosted tool is the easier start.
• Privacy. Hosted tools store your stories on their servers. Read the privacy policy, or run a local program if that matters most.
• Saving your stories. Check whether you can export what you've written, so a shutdown doesn't take your work with it.
• Content settings. Each tool sets its own rules, so read them on the developer's site before you start.

Five questions for any AI story game

1. Can I export my stories and characters?
2. Does it remember what happened earlier in a long adventure?
3. Where are my stories stored, and can I delete them?
4. Can I build my own world, or only play other people's?
5. Will it run in a browser, or do I need to install something?

If you'd rather write than play, my guide to AI story generators covers writing tools, and my lists of Character AI alternatives and PolyBuzz alternatives go deeper on character chat.

Do you make an AI story or roleplay game? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.

My advice for your next text adventure

Choose between hosted and local first, because that decides almost everything else. Hosted tools are the quickest way back into a story, while local programs take more setup and keep everything on your own machine. Then decide whether you want a game with rules or a partner for writing. Whichever you choose, export your stories now and again. The tools in this category come and go faster than most, and the only stories you're sure to keep are the ones you've saved yourself.

Want your tool on this list? Featured spots and reviews here are paid partnerships. Here's how to partner with me.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best AI Dungeon alternative?

It depends on what you want. Hosted adventure games suit players who want a game master in the browser, writing tools suit people building stories, and local programs suit anyone who wants their stories kept on their own computer.

Is there a free AI Dungeon alternative?

Several tools here name a free tier, free play or open source software on their own pages, as of Nov 2026. Free terms change, so check the developer's site before you start.

Can I run an AI story game on my own computer?

Yes. A few programs here run language models locally or connect to a model you choose, which keeps your stories on your own machine. They need more setup than a browser game.

What happened to Dreamily?

Its address now shows a notice that the service ceased on 21 April and that all user data was deleted, as of Nov 2026.

Can I keep my stories if a service shuts down?

Only if you've saved them yourself. Export stories regularly from any hosted tool, or use a local program that stores everything as files on your computer.

Are these games or writing tools?

Both kinds are here. Some are adventure games with game masters, dice and classes, while others are story generators and roleplay tools built for writing with an AI.