The best text-based games
A few genres traditionally linked to the beautiful world of ascii characters still survives: roguelikes (nethack, angband, etc.) and interactive fiction, for example.
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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
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.
Executive Suite
DOS19823.9/5 Armonk Corporation
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...
Romantic encounters at the dome
DOS19883.9/5 MicroIllusions
Rules of Engagement 2
DOS19933.9/5 Omnitrend Software
Warp Rogue
WindowsLinux2004freeware3.9/5
Monopoly
DOS19853.9/5
Larn
DOS1986freeware3.9/5
Adventure Game Studio (AGS)
WindowsLinuxMac OS1997freeware3.9/5
Adventure Game Studio (AGS) is a software development tool that enables users to create point-and-click adventure games. It was originally created by Chris Jones and has been used by game developers to produce a variety of 2D adventure games. AGS provides a scripting language, a visual editor, and various other tools to simplify the game developmen...
Bureaucracy
DOSMac OS19873.9/5 Infocom
Bureaucracy is an abandoned text-adventure game designed by Douglas Adams (yes, the writer of The Hitchhiker Guide of the Galaxy), developed and published by Infocom in 1987. Bureaucracy is a peculiar interactive fiction; the game challenges you to solve frustrating bureaucratic problems in a world populated by strange characters.
Mission: Mainframe
DOS19873.9/5
Monopoly (Adam Stevens)
DOS19983.9/5
Deadline
DOS19823.8/5 Infocom
Forbidden Quest
DOS19833.8/5 Pryority software
Moonmist
DOS19863.8/5 Infocom
The Patcher 6.1
DOS19933.8/5
Beyond the Titanic
DOS19863.8/5 Apogee Software
Omega
DOSLinux1988freeware3.8/5
Hack
DOS1984freeware3.8/5
Lawn Mower
DOS19873.8/5
Corporate Raider: The Pirate of Wall Street
DOS1988protected3.8/5 SoftServ
Star Fleet 1: The War Begins
DOSMac OS19853.8/5 Interstel Corporation
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...
WitchavenRL
WindowsLinux20133.8/5
Guns 'R' Us
DOS19933.8/5 Future Vision