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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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

Sort by:

Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels

DOS1988 Challenge

The Lurking Horror

DOS1987 Infocom

Rockstar!

DOS1989 Wizard Games

Galaxy

DOS1981 Microcomputer Games Inc.

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...

Rawcopy

DOS1992

GW-BASIC 3

DOS1988 Microsoft

GW-BASIC (short for Gee Whiz BASIC) is a dialect of the BASIC programming language that was developed by Microsoft. It's one of the early implementations of BASIC and was included as the default programming environment in early ve...

Castle Adventure

DOS1984freeware

Star Trek: The Promethean Prophecy

DOSMac OS1986 TRANS Fiction Systems

Star Trek: the Kobayashi alternative

DOS1985 Micromosaics

Amnesia

DOS1986 Cognetics corporation

In Amnesia, you wake up in a hotel room with no idea who you are, where you are, or why someone wants you dead. And no, this isn’t a gritty FPS—it’s a text adventure. That’s right, no graphics, just your im...

Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz

DOS1989 Infocom

With Zork Zero, Infocom decided to throw everything into the cauldron: graphics, mouse support, and a jester who won’t shut up. A prequel to the original trilogy, it’s stuffed with puzzles, jokes, and deeply Zorkian no...

Dungeon Master's Assistant Vol 1

DOS1988protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur

DOS1989 Infocom

Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur is a text adventure with occasional graphics, in which you, the not-yet-king, bumble your way through Camelot trying to prove you’re not just some kid with a weird haircut. The writing is witt...

Borland Turbo Pascal 2.0

DOS1983 Borland Software Corporation

Air Traffic Controller

DOS1985 Cascoly Software

Welcome to the most stressful job in the world - rendered in glorious 1985 DOS graphics! Air Traffic Controller lets you experience the thrill of herding aircraft without the luxury of coffee breaks or radar resolution. It’s...

Ascii Sector

Windows 10/11LinuxDOS2007freeware

Ascii Sector is what happens when someone takes Privateer, removes the graphics, and replaces them with pure ASCII and sheer willpower. It’s open-world space sim meets roguelike: you trade, fight, explore, get stabbed in sha...