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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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

DOS19833.8/5 Pryority software

DOS Navigator v 1.5

DOS1991freeware4/5

Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM) v1.1

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1996freeware3.9/5

Borland Paradox 4.5

DOSWindows XP/98/9519934/5 Borland Software Corporation

Dungeon Master's Assistant Vol 1

DOS1988protected4.1/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Word Perfect 5

DOS19893.9/5 Corel

DND

DOS19844.1/5

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 ...

Adventure in Serenia

DOS19823.6/5 Sierra On-Line

Ascii Sector

WindowsLinuxDOS2007freeware3.8/5

Rockstar!

DOS19894/5 Wizard Games

Plundered Hearts

DOSMac19873.9/5 Infocom

Angband

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1992freeware4/5

AlphaMan

DOS19953.6/5

Melody Maker 3

DOS19923.8/5

Borland Turbo Pascal 3.0

DOS19863.8/5 Borland Software Corporation

Starcross

DOS19823.7/5 Infocom

Galaxy

DOS19814.1/5 Microcomputer Games Inc.

Borland Turbo C v2

DOS19883.6/5 Borland Software Corporation

Xtrek

DOS1991freewareNSFW4/5

Dungeon Crawl

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1997freeware4/5

Dungeon Crawl (also known as Linley's Dungeon Crawl from the name of the original programmer: Linley Henzell) is a classic roguelike: an RPG with permadeath, procedural generation and high replayability. Dungeon Crawl was released on 1997 but it's not maintained anymore. The spiritual successr of Crawl is DCCS (Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup).

Quattro Pro v4

DOS19913.8/5 Borland Software Corporation

Zork III: The Dungeon Master

DOS19844/5 Infocom

Borland Turbo Pascal 2.0

DOS19834/5 Borland Software Corporation

Norton Desktop

DOS19924/5 Peter Norton Computing

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...

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...