Text-based games: ASCII, etc.

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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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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TheDraw 4

DOS19863.3/5

Time and Magik: The Trilogy

DOS19884.1/5 Level 9 Computing

TomeNET

Windows XP/98/95Linux2003freeware4.4/5

Treasure Island

DOS19853.5/5 Byron Preiss Video Productions

Trinity

DOS19864.1/5 Infocom

Turbo Assembler (TASM)

DOSWindows 3.xWindows XP/98/9519894.4/5 Borland Software Corporation

Turbo Assembler, often referred to as TASM, is an x86 assembler for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. It was part of the Turbo Assembler/Turbo Debugger (TASM/TD) package that Borland released as part of their Turbo Assembler product line. Borland was a software company known for its development tools during the 1980s and 1990s.

Turbo Pascal 7

DOSWindows 3.xMac19924/5 Borland Software Corporation

Turbo Pascal 7 (TP7) is a programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was developed by Borland as an evolution of their earlier Turbo Pascal versions. Turbo Pascal 7 was released around 1992.Turbo Pascal 7 gained popularity in educational settings and among hobbyist progra...

Turbo Prolog 2.0

DOS1986protected4.1/5 Borland Software Corporation

Uplink: Hacker Elite

Windows XP/98/95LinuxMac2001protected4/5 Introversion Software Limited

Uplink is a computer hacking simulation game released in 2001 by Introversion Software. The game allows players to take on the role of a hacker for hire and engage in various hacking activities.In Uplink, players perform tasks such as hacking into systems, stealing data, and covering their tracks. The game features a realistic representation of hac...

Video Trek 88

DOS19823.9/5 Windmill Software

VisiCalc 1.0

DOS1979freeware4.3/5 Software Arts

VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet software for personal computers, and it played a pivotal role in the early history of personal computing. It was developed by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston and first released in 1979 for the Apple II computer. VisiCalc is often considered the first electronic spreadsheet, and its success had a significant impact ...

Volkswriter 3

DOS19823.8/5 Lifetree Software

Voodoo island

DOS19853.8/5 Angelsoft

Wall Street Raider

DOS19864.3/5

Warp Rogue

WindowsLinux2004freeware3.9/5

Wishbringer

DOS19853.7/5 Infocom

WitchavenRL

WindowsLinux20133.8/5

Word Perfect 5

DOS19893.9/5 Corel

Wordstar 4

DOS19864.2/5 MicroPro International

WordStar 4 was a popular word processing software program during the early days of personal computing. WordStar 4 included features typical of word processors in that era, allowing users to create, edit, and format documents. It used a command-driven interface, where users would enter specific commands to perform various tasks. The software wa...

Xtrek

DOS1991freewareNSFW4/5

ZAngband

WindowsMacDOSLinux1999freeware4/5

Zangband is a variant of the popular roguelike game Angband. Zangband, short for Zelazny Angband, was developed by Chris Weisiger and first released in 1994. The game features a fantasy world with diverse races, classes, and monsters. Players explore dungeons, caves, and other environments in a quest to reach the bottom level of the dungeon, d...

Zork I: The Great Underground Empire

DOS19824.2/5 Infocom

Zork is one of the most popular text-adventures and one of the first interactive fiction games ever created. The first Zork was developed in the seventies and ported on various platform by Infocom in the early 80s. Infocom was one of the most prolific developers of text-adventures for home computers and created memorable interactive fiction ga...