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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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.
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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Baseball Mogul
Windows XP/98/9519973.9/5 Infinite Monkey Systems
Math Cad 2.5
DOS19893.9/5
Mind Mirror
DOS19863.9/5
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...
Norton Commander 1.0
DOS19863.9/5 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...
Romantic encounters at the dome
DOS19883.9/5 MicroIllusions
Rules of Engagement 2
DOS19933.9/5 Omnitrend Software
Warp Rogue
WindowsLinux2004freeware3.9/5
Acquire
DOS19893.9/5 IBM
Deadline
DOS19823.9/5 Infocom
Larn
DOS1986freeware3.9/5
Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM) v1.1
Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1996freeware3.9/5
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
Moonmist
DOS19863.8/5 Infocom
The Patcher 6.1
DOS19933.8/5
Dungeon Master's Assistant Vol 2
DOS1989protected3.8/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Hack
DOS1984freeware3.8/5
Beyond the Titanic
DOS19863.8/5 Apogee Software
Monopoly
DOS19853.8/5
NewsMaster
DOS19863.8/5
Omega
DOSLinux1988freeware3.8/5
Lawn Mower
DOS19873.8/5
Corporate Raider: The Pirate of Wall Street
DOS1988protected3.8/5 SoftServ
Forbidden Quest
DOS19833.8/5 Pryority software