The most popular interactive fiction games
Interactive fiction games (or text adventures) are adventure games in which the player gives textual commands in order to act within the given story. The story itself is told both using text and static pictures or with no graphics of any kind, just text. The genre's stepping stones are Adventure (developed in 1975) and the Zork series. Infocom, Legend Entertainment and Magnetic scrolls were some of the most popular interactive fiction developers of the 80s.
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Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor
DOS1987 Infocom
If you ever wanted to roleplay in a text adventure where a coconut is of utmost importance, Beyond Zork has your back. This is Infocom at its most delightfully weird: part RPG, part parser game, all nonsense. You’ll customiz...
Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz
DOS1983 Infocom
You survived Zork I, and now it’s personal. In Zork II, you face off against the enigmatic Wizard of Frobozz, who exists mostly to mess with you like a magical prankster with way too much free time. The puzzles get harder, t...
James Bond 007: Goldfinger
DOS1986 Angelsoft
Deadline
DOS1982 Infocom
Star Trek: First Contact
DOS1988 Simon & Schuster Interactive
The Lurking Horror
DOS1987 Infocom
Jinxter
DOS1988 Magnetic Scrolls
Castle Adventure
DOS1984freeware
Castle Adventure is what happens when a medieval fantasy RPG gets crammed into a game smaller than your average selfie. ASCII graphics? Check. Typing commands like “GET SWORD”? Oh yes. It’s part game, part digita...
The Guild of Thieves
DOS1987 Magnetic Scrolls
Star Trek: the Kobayashi alternative
DOS1985 Micromosaics
Eric the Unready
DOS1993protected Legend Entertainment
Knight Orc
DOSMac OS1987 Level 9 Computing
Knight Orc is a text-based adventure game released in 1987 by Level 9 Computing, a British game development studio renowned for creating interactive fiction during the 1980s. In Knight Orc, you play as Grindleguts the Orc, fl...
Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels
DOS1988 Challenge
Transylvania
DOS1986freeware Polarware
Enchanter
DOS1983 Infocom
Zork III: The Dungeon Master
DOS1984 Infocom
The final part of the original trilogy, Zork III ditches treasure-hunting in favor of introspection, moral puzzles, and the looming presence of the Dungeon Master—basically the Gandalf of passive-aggressive mentorship. It&rs...
The Fourth Protocol
DOS1987 The Electronic Pencil Co.
The Fourth Protocol is a 1985 interactive fiction video game inspired by Frederick Forsyth's 1984 Cold War spy novel of the same name. Developed by the Electronic Pencil Company and published by Hutchinson Computer Publishing, the...
Stationfall
DOS1987 Infocom
Rambo First Blood Part 2
DOS1985 Angelsoft
The Shadows of Mordor
DOS1988 Beam Software
Dream Zone
DOS1988 Naughty Dog
Forbidden Quest
DOS1983 Pryority software
Ballyhoo
DOS1986 Infocom
Come one, come all, to the saddest circus ever pixelated. In Ballyhoo, you're stuck in a depressing carnival trying to solve a kidnapping while dealing with clowns, carnies, and the worst text parser since your last therapy sessio...
Spellbreaker
DOS1985 Infocom
Rendezvous with Rama
DOS1985 Telarium
Rendezvous with Rama is an interactive fiction (text adventure) game released in 1984. Telarium, a subsidiary of Spinnaker Software, was known for producing narrative-driven games based on popular literary works. This adaptation o...
9 Princes in Amber
DOS1985 Telarium
Based on the cult fantasy novels by Roger Zelazny, 9 Princes in Amber is a 1985 text adventure that assumes two things: you’ve read the books, and you enjoy typing things like “look tree” and “use sword&rdq...
Gnome Ranger
DOS1987 Level 9 Computing
Gnome Ranger is an abandoned fantasy adventure game, developed and published by Level 9 Computing in 1987 for DOS. Gnome Ranger was designed by Peter Austin who also designed the sequel Gnome Ranger 2: Ingrid's Back.
Alice in Wonderland
DOS1989
Step into the rabbit hole - no, really, step carefully, or you’ll glitch right through the floor. Alice in Wonderland (1989, DOS) is a surreal, side-scrolling adventure that loosely follows the Lewis Carroll classic, if Lewi...
Questprobe featuring Human Torch and The Thing
DOS1985 Adventure International
Sorcerer
DOS1984 Infocom