Abandonware DOS title

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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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.
incursion-04

Incursion

Windows 10/11LinuxMac OS2007freeware
omega-rpg-01

Omega

DOSLinux1988freeware
beast-01

Beast

DOS1984
Beast is ASCII horror at its most gloriously minimal. You’re a brave soul (well, a smiley face) trapped in a dungeon with sentient blobs (the titular beasts) that want you very, very dead. Armed only with moving blocks and r...
lawnmover-splash

Lawn Mower

DOS1987
adom1.1-05

Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM) v1.1

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1996freeware
ADOM is what happens when a rogue, a wizard, and a hungry troll walk into a dungeon and never come out. Released in 1996, this roguelike classic is brutal, brilliant, and unapologetically text-heavy. Permadeath is the norm, the st...
finalcrusadekroz-2

The Final Crusade of Kroz

DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
forbiddenquest-splash

Forbidden Quest

DOS1983 Pryority software
starfleet1-battle-begins03

Star Fleet 1: The War Begins

DOSMac OS1985 Interstel Corporation
1893-world-fair-04

1893: A World's Fair Mystery

Windows XP/98/95Mac OS2003
1893: A World's Fair Mystery is an interactive fiction game developed by the American studio Illuminated Lantern and released in 2002. Set during the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, the game combines historical ficti...
armchair-quarterback-01

Armchair Quarterback

DOS1985
Armchair Quarterback lets you live the dream of yelling at your TV — but on your DOS machine, and with even less control. It’s part simulator, part quiz show, and all weird. You make play calls, analyze stats, and pray...
champ-manager-93-01

Championship Manager 93

DOS1993 Domark Software
f-prot-01

F-Prot

DOS1995
F-PROT is an antivirus developed by FRISK Software International. The name "F-PROT" stands for "FRISK-PROActive," emphasizing its proactive approach to virus detection and prevention. F-PROT Antivirus is designed to protect comput...
templeofkroz-4

Temple of Kroz

DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
witchhavenRL-01

WitchavenRL

Windows 10/11Linux2013
guns-r-us-02

Guns 'R' Us

DOS1993 Future Vision
borland-turbo-c-2-02

Borland Turbo C v2

DOS1988 Borland Software Corporation
border-zone-01

Border Zone

DOS1987 Infocom
Welcome to Border Zone (1987, DOS), where the Cold War is hot and your only weapon is your brain (and maybe a good map). This text-based espionage thriller from Infocom combines spy drama with multiple protagonists and a real-time...
returntodoom-splash

Return to Doom

DOS1988 Topologika Software
shadowsmordor-3

The Shadows of Mordor

DOS1988 Beam Software
borland-reflex-2-01

Borland Reflex 2.0

DOS1986 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 soft...
arachne-www-03

Arachne WWW

DOS1996freeware
Arachne is a graphical web browser for DOS. Arachne was developed by Michal Polák and released in the early 1990s as a text-mode web browser with limited graphical capabilities. Arachne allowed DOS users to browse the ...
fish-01

Fish!

DOS1988 Magnetic Scrolls
ms-cobol-112-02

Microsoft COBOL 1.12

DOS1984 Microsoft
objection-01

Objection!

DOS1992
questprobe-hulk-01

Questprobe featuring The Hulk

DOS1984 Adventure International
reach-for-the-stars-01

Reach for the Stars

DOS1988 SSG Strategic Studies Group
voodoisland-splash

Voodoo island

DOS1985 Angelsoft
nethack-2

NetHack

DOSWindows XP/98/95Mac OSLinux1987freeware
NetHack is an open-source roguelike game that's been around since the early 1980s. It's a single-player dungeon exploration game where you navigate your character through a randomly generated dungeon filled with monsters, traps, t...
acheton-01

Acheton

DOS1987
Acheton (1987, DOS) is one of those text adventures where the game cheerfully tries to kill you every five minutes — and does so with words. You're tossed into a sprawling, brain-melting maze of puzzles so obscure they might...