The best 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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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.

Sort by:

Borland Turbo Pascal 1.0

DOS19834/5 Borland Software Corporation

Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor

DOS19874/5 Infocom

Moria

DOS1992freeware3.9/5

Acquire

DOS19893.9/5 IBM

Plundered Hearts

DOSMac OS19873.9/5 Infocom

Global Thermo War

DOS19853.9/5

Spellbreaker

DOS19853.9/5 Infocom

Stationfall

DOS19873.9/5 Infocom

Video Trek 88

DOS19823.9/5 Windmill Software

Red sky at morning

DOS19933.9/5 Simulations Canada

The mist

DOS19853.9/5 Angelsoft

Questprobe featuring The Hulk

DOS19843.9/5 Adventure International

Doszip Commander

DOS2007freeware3.9/5

Zyll

DOS19843.9/5 IBM

Suspended

DOS19833.9/5 Infocom

James Bond 007: A View to a Kill

DOS19853.9/5 Angelsoft

Star Saga: Two - The Clathran Menace

DOS19893.9/5 Masterplay Publishing Corporation

Word Perfect 5

DOS19893.9/5 Corel

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...

Business Simulator

DOS19873.9/5 Reality Development

Business Simulator is an abandoned business simulation game developed and released by Reality Development in 1987 for DOS only. Business Simulator is a text-based management simulation designed by an university professor.

Baseball Mogul

Windows XP/98/9519973.9/5 Infinite Monkey Systems

Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM) v1.1

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1996freeware3.9/5

Executive Suite

DOS19823.9/5 Armonk Corporation

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.

Core War Plus

DOS19843.9/5

One-Nil Soccer Manager

DOS19923.9/5 New Era Software

One-Nil Soccer Manager is a text-based soccer management simulation game that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was developed for various home computer systems, including DOS, Commodore 64 and Amiga. In One-Nil Soccer Manager, players take on the role of a soccer team manager, making strategic decisions to guide their team to s...