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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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

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Star Fleet 1: The War Begins

DOSMac OS19853.8/5 Interstel Corporation

WitchavenRL

WindowsLinux20133.8/5

Guns 'R' Us

DOS19933.8/5 Future Vision

Border Zone

DOS19873.8/5 Infocom

The Usurper

DOS19893.8/5 Sir-tech Software

Voodoo island

DOS19853.8/5 Angelsoft

Beast

DOS19843.8/5

Quattro Pro v4

DOS19913.8/5 Borland Software Corporation

Return to Doom

DOS19883.8/5 Topologika Software

1893: A World's Fair Mystery

Windows XP/98/95Mac OS20033.8/5

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 fiction with mystery-solving gameplay.In 1893: A World's Fair Mystery, players take on the role of a detective investigating ...

Amazon

DOS19843.8/5 Telarium

Arachne WWW

DOS1996freeware3.8/5

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 World Wide Web in a graphical, though quite basic, manner. It supported features such as displaying images, handling lin...

F-Prot

DOS19953.8/5

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 computer systems from various forms of malware, including viruses, worms, Trojans, and other malicious software.

Fish!

DOS19883.8/5 Magnetic Scrolls

Temple of Kroz

DOS1990freeware3.8/5 Apogee Software

Volkswriter 3

DOS19823.8/5 Lifetree Software

President Elect

DOS1987protected3.7/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Acheton

DOS19873.7/5

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.

NetHack

DOSWindows XP/98/95Mac OSLinux1987freeware3.7/5

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, treasures, and various items. The goal is to retrieve the Amulet of Yendor, located deep within the dungeon's lowest leve...

The Final Crusade of Kroz

DOS1990freeware3.7/5 Apogee Software

The Shadows of Mordor

DOS19883.7/5 Beam Software

Wishbringer

DOS19853.7/5 Infocom

Hacker 2: The Doomsday Papers

DOS19863.7/5 Activision

Hacker II: The Doomsday Papers is a video computer game developed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision. It was released in 1986 and is a sequel to the original Hacker game. The game was available for various home computer systems of the time, including the Apple II, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS.In Hacker II: The Doomsday Papers, players take...