Abandonware DOS title

The most popular text-based games

In the past, lots of games used ASCII characters (text) to represent the game world. These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.
A few genres traditionally linked to the beautiful world of ascii characters still survives: roguelikes (nethack, angband, etc.) and interactive fiction, for example.
dungeonmasterass1enc-1

Dungeon Master's Assistant Vol 1

DOS1988protected4/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
borland--dbase-5-02

Borland DBase 5

DOS19944/5 Borland Software Corporation
prolog_001

Turbo Prolog 2.0

DOS1986protected4.1/5 Borland Software Corporation
_amfv_001

A Mind Forever Voyaging

DOSMac OS19854.1/5 Infocom
norton-editor2-01

Norton Editor 2

DOS19904.2/5 Peter Norton Computing
borland-paradox-4-03

Borland Paradox 4.5

DOSWindows XP/98/9519934/5 Borland Software Corporation
borland-turbo-c-2-02

Borland Turbo C v2

DOS19883.6/5 Borland Software Corporation
anacreon-1

Anacreon: Reconstruction 4021

DOS1987freeware3.9/5 Thinking Machine Associates
Anacreon: Reconstruction 4021 is one of the first 4x turn-based strategy games, ASCII based. Anacreon is set in space, as most 4x sci-fi games are, and was published by Thinking Machines Associates and designed by George Moromisato who later re-released the game as freeware.
msword-1-01

Microsoft Word

Windows XP/98/95Windows 3.x19833.5/5 Microsoft
galaxy-4

Galaxy

DOS19814.1/5 Microcomputer Games Inc.
zork2-2

Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz

DOS19834.3/5 Infocom
chinaseatrader-2

China Sea Trader

DOS19893.5/5
norton-commander-1-04

Norton Commander 1.0

DOS19863.8/5 Peter Norton Computing
Norton Commander was a file manager and editor application released by Peter Norton Computing for DOS. Norton Commander used a text-based user interface with side-by-side panels and featured copy, delete, editing and preview any kind of file easily: it was an improvement over the command-line only MS-DOS interface. Norton Commander 1.0 was fir...
leather-goddesses-of-phobos-04

Leather Goddesses of Phobos

DOS19864.2/5 Infocom
adom1.1-05

Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM) v1.1

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1996freeware3.9/5
lawnmover-1

Lawn Mower

DOS19873.8/5
dmassistant2-1

Dungeon Master's Assistant Vol 2

DOS1989protected3.8/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
hd-deskmate-01

DeskMate

DOS19842.8/5
Deskmate is a software suite developed by Tandy Corporation that provided a graphical user interface (GUI) and a set of applications for personal computers. It was often bundled with Tandy's TRS-80 and Tandy 1000 series of computers in the late 1980s and early 1990s.Deskmate included various applications such as a word processor, spreadsheet, calen...
borland-reflex-2-01

Borland Reflex 2.0

DOS19863.7/5 Borland Software Corporation
Borland Reflex was a relational database management system (RDBMS) developed by Borland International, a software company that was prominent in the 1980s and 1990s. Reflex was released in the mid-1980s as a graphical database software primarily targeted at business and professional users.
borland-eureka-1-04

Borland Eureka: the Solver

DOS19873.9/5 Borland Software Corporation
Borland Eureka: the Solver is an abandoned text-based application developed by Borland Software Corporation and released in 1987 for DOS. The product is designed to solve complex problems, generate tables and plots, and perform what-if analysis. The user writes an equation, sets options, and instructs the software to solve the problem. The pro...
borland-turbo-pascal-3-03

Borland Turbo Pascal 3.0

DOS19863.8/5 Borland Software Corporation
borland-c1-03

Borland Turbo C v1

DOS19874.1/5 Borland Software Corporation
amaze-02

A-Maze

DOS19894.2/5 New Era Software
checkit-3-02

CheckIt 3

DOS19902.8/5
turbo-pascal-7-01

Turbo Pascal 7

DOSWindows 3.xMac OS19924/5 Borland Software Corporation
Turbo Pascal 7 (TP7) is a programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was developed by Borland as an evolution of their earlier Turbo Pascal versions. Turbo Pascal 7 was released around 1992.Turbo Pascal 7 gained popularity in educational settings and among hobbyist progra...
turbo-pascal-2-01

Borland Turbo Pascal 2.0

DOS19834/5 Borland Software Corporation
newsmaster-01

NewsMaster

DOS19863.6/5
word-perfect-5-02

Word Perfect 5

DOS19893.9/5 Corel