You have a story idea. Maybe it's a heist on a floating city, a cursed bakery, or a detective who can hear the dead lie. Usually that idea sits in your notes app. With Cleus Play, you type it in and, about a minute or two later, you're standing inside it, choosing what happens next.
Cleus Play is live now at cleus.ai/play. It's an AI story game: one line in, a playable world out, with pictures, voices, music and choices that matter. Start playing on Cleus Play →
What is Cleus Play?
Cleus Play is an interactive AI story you play scene by scene. You give it an idea (one line is enough) and Cleus builds three things for you: the world, the cast and the opening scene. From there, every scene ends with a decision, and the story bends around what you pick.
Think of the choose-your-own-adventure books many of us grew up with, where you flipped to page 47 if you opened the door. The difference is that nobody had to write page 47 ahead of time. The story is made for your idea, and it keeps going wherever you take it.
It also isn't a wall of text. Old-school interactive fiction was words on a screen and a blinking cursor. Cleus Play is closer to an AI text adventure with pictures, voices and a soundtrack, and it runs on Cleus's own model, Cleus Smartest v3.
How a story gets made
From one line to a scene you can play.
One line is enough: a place, a person and a problem. A haunted lighthouse keeper who owes money to the sea, say.
Three ways to play
Every story can be played in one of three modes. Same idea, three very different feels.
Stage: a scene you can poke
Stage is the most hands-on mode. Scenes are built in layers: cut-out characters stand over a background of the place you're in, and they have expressions. Happy, angry, shocked. When someone reacts, they bounce, shake or lean in.
Dialogue shows up in speech bubbles, one speaker at a time, so a tense argument actually reads like one. And you're not just watching. You can walk your own character around the scene, tap people to poke them (they react), and tap glowing objects to find clues. You can talk to characters, give them items from your bag, or take things.
Cinematic: a new painting every scene
Cinematic mode draws a full new illustrated picture for every scene. The camera moves slowly across it, and weather effects drift over the top: rain on a midnight chase, embers around a burning keep, fog rolling over a graveyard. It's the mode for people who want the story to look like a storybook that keeps turning its own pages.
Movie: every scene is a clip
In Movie mode, each scene is a short filmed clip. Popular paths through a story are pre-filmed, so if you take a road other players have taken, it plays instantly.
Not sure which one is you? Take the quick quiz.
Which mode fits your story?
Match each craving to the Cleus Play mode built for it.
You want to walk your own character around, poke people and hunt for glowing clues.
Characters who talk, and sound like themselves
Cleus Play is written dialogue-first. Scenes are mostly the characters talking to each other (and to you), with only a line or two of stage direction to set the moment. That keeps things moving. You learn who people are from what they say, not from paragraphs of description.
Then it's all read out loud:
- A narrator reads the stage direction. The narrator's voice matches your main character, so a male lead gets a male storyteller.
- Every character speaks in their own distinct voice, so the nervous apprentice never sounds like the smug duke.
- Your own character talks too. Your lines are voiced, not just printed.
Under all of it runs mood music that changes with the scene. There are 8 moods: tense, romantic, mystery, action, horror, playful, epic and calm. Walk into a quiet tavern and it's calm; draw a sword and it shifts to action.
Choices, dice and a light game layer
Every scene ends with three choices, and each one is tagged so you know the flavour before you commit: bold, clever, sweet, sneaky or wild. Premium players can also skip the list and type any action they want.
Some choices are risky. When you take one, Cleus rolls a d20 and you watch the die land. Success or failure changes what happens next, so a sneaky lie that fails can turn an ally into a suspect.
On top of the story sits a light game layer. It's there to give your choices weight, not to bury you in menus:
- Meters. Each story tracks 2–3 meters that fit it, like someone's trust in you, or how suspicious the guards are.
- A bag. Items you pick up go in it, and you can hand them to the people you meet.
- Achievements for the moments worth remembering.
- A "story so far" log, so you never lose the thread.
- Cast cards for everyone you've met.
The same faces in every picture
A common problem with AI pictures is that the hero looks like a different person in every scene. Cleus Play draws each character once and reuses them, so the same faces show up in every picture of your story.
You can also put your own Cleus Characters in the lead. If you've already made a character you love chatting with, cast them in a story and watch them handle a dragon, a murder or a first date.
Free vs Premium: what you can play
Every story people create in Cleus Play goes into a community feed, sorted by Trending and New, for anyone to play. Community stories also have a report button, so anything that shouldn't be there can be flagged.
Here's how it splits:
- Free: play every scene the community has already unlocked. Those scenes are instant and the same for everyone, so you can jump into any story in the feed and play the paths other players have opened.
- Premium: create your own stories from any idea, type any action you want, and explore paths nobody has played yet. When you open a new path, it unlocks for everyone. Premium also lets you animate scenes, redraw a picture, rewrite a scene, or redraw a character.
So free players get a growing library of playable stories, and every Premium player who explores a new branch makes that library bigger.
Share your run as a video
Finished a great run? One tap turns your playthrough into a vertical recap video: the clips or pictures, the character voices, subtitles, the music and a "Play on Cleus" mark. It's sized for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, and it comes with a link to the story so anyone who watches can go play it themselves.
How Cleus Play is different from a text adventure
Classic gamebooks and text adventures are built around reading. They're great, and many AI story apps are still text-first: you read a paragraph, then type what you do.
Cleus Play is built around watching and listening as much as reading. Characters are on screen with faces and expressions. They speak in their own voices. Music follows the mood. You get three clear choices when you want to move fast and dice when you want risk. And when the story is done, you have something to show people, not just a log to scroll.
If you'd rather write long-form fiction with an AI co-writer, that's what Cleus Story is for. Cleus Play is for when you want to be in the story instead of writing it.
Tips for a great first idea
You only need one line, but a good line goes a long way:
- Give it a place. "A night market on the back of a giant turtle" beats "a fantasy world".
- Give someone a want. A thief who needs one last score. A ghost who wants to be noticed.
- Add a problem. The score is a trap. The only person who can see the ghost is terrified of them.
- Pick a tone. Cozy, creepy, chaotic or romantic: the music and the cast will follow.
Then hit go, and let the first scene surprise you.
Cleus Play FAQ
What is Cleus Play?
Cleus Play is an AI story game on Cleus. You type an idea, Cleus builds the world, the cast and the opening scene in about a minute or two, and you play the story scene by scene by making choices.
Is Cleus Play free?
Yes, you can play for free. Free players can play every scene the community has already unlocked, and those play instantly. Creating your own stories, typing any action and exploring paths nobody has played yet need Premium.
What are the three modes?
Stage gives you layered, reactive scenes where you can move your character, poke people and find clues. Cinematic draws a new illustrated picture every scene with camera movement and weather effects. Movie plays every scene as a short filmed clip.
Do the characters really talk?
Yes. A narrator reads the stage direction, every character has their own distinct voice, and your own character speaks too. Mood music changes with the scene.
How do choices work?
Every scene gives you three choices, each tagged bold, clever, sweet, sneaky or wild. Risky choices roll a d20, and success or failure changes what happens. Premium players can also type any action.
Can I use my own characters?
Yes. You can star your own Cleus Characters in a story, and every character keeps the same face in every picture.
Can I share my story?
Yes. One tap makes a vertical recap video of your playthrough with voices, subtitles and music for TikTok, Reels or Shorts, plus a link to the story. Stories you create also appear in the community feed for others to play.
Go play something
Your idea has been waiting long enough. Type one line, pick a mode and see where the first choice takes you. Play now at cleus.ai/play →
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