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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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

DOS19823.7/5 Infocom

DeskMate

DOS19842.8/5

Deskmate is a software suite developed by Tandy Corporation that provided a graphical user interface (GUI) and a set of applications for personal computers. It was often bundled with Tandy's TRS-80 and Tandy 1000 series of computers in the late 1980s and early 1990s.Deskmate included various applications such as a word processor, spreadsheet, calen...

Quattro Pro v4

DOS19913.8/5 Borland Software Corporation

ZZT

DOS1991freeware4.2/5 Epic MegaGames

Anacreon: Reconstruction 4021

DOS1987freeware3.9/5 Thinking Machine Associates

Anacreon: Reconstruction 4021 is one of the first 4x turn-based strategy games, ASCII based. Anacreon is set in space, as most 4x sci-fi games are, and was published by Thinking Machines Associates and designed by George Moromisato who later re-released the game as freeware.

Galaxy

DOS19814.1/5 Microcomputer Games Inc.

Ace 2.02

DOS20012.7/5

Norton Desktop

DOS19924/5 Peter Norton Computing

James Bond 007: Goldfinger

DOS19864.1/5 Angelsoft

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...

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...

Alice: The Personal Pascal

DOS19854.3/5

Championship Manager Italia

DOS19934.1/5 Sports Interactive Limited

Castle Adventure

DOS1984freeware4.2/5

Borland Turbo Pascal 2.0

DOS19834/5 Borland Software Corporation

Leather Goddesses of Phobos

DOS19864.2/5 Infocom

James Bond 007: A View to a Kill

DOS19853.9/5 Angelsoft

Classic Hangman

DOS19833.6/5 Norland Software

Dragonriders of Pern

DOS19873.1/5 Everlasting

Championship Manager

DOS19924.1/5 Domark Software

Championship Manager is the first chapter in one of the most successful football manager games series. The first Championship Manager was a text-based British football/soccer simulation and included teams from four English divisions, European cups and domestic cups as well. Championship Manager was designed by Paul and Oliver Collyer and ...

B-1 Nuclear Bomber

DOS19813.6/5 Avalon Hill

1893: A World's Fair Mystery

Windows XP/98/95Mac20033.4/5

One-Nil Soccer Manager

DOS19923.9/5 New Era Software

One-Nil Soccer Manager is a text-based soccer management simulation game that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was developed for various home computer systems, including DOS, Commodore 64 and Amiga. In One-Nil Soccer Manager, players take on the role of a soccer team manager, making strategic decisions to guide their team to s...