Abandonware DOS title

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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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.
xtrek91-02

Xtrek

DOS1991freewareNSFW
plunderedhearts-splash

Plundered Hearts

DOSMac OS1987 Infocom
skthemist-splash

The mist

DOS1985 Angelsoft
007-goldfinger-1

James Bond 007: Goldfinger

DOS1986 Angelsoft
dungeonmasterass1enc-splash

Dungeon Master's Assistant Vol 1

DOS1988protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
borland-c1-03

Borland Turbo C v1

DOS1987 Borland Software Corporation
borland-turbo-c-2-02

Borland Turbo C v2

DOS1988 Borland Software Corporation
ibm-filing-assistant-02

IBM Assistant 2.0

DOS1986 IBM
moria-5

Moria

DOS1992freeware
ags-01

Adventure Game Studio (AGS)

Windows 10/11LinuxMac OS1997freeware
Adventure Game Studio (AGS) is a software development tool that enables users to create point-and-click adventure games. It was originally created by Chris Jones and has been used by game developers to produce a variety of 2D adventure games. AGS provides a scripting language, a visual editor, and various other tools to simplify the game developmen...
kingdomkroz-splash

Kingdom of Kroz

DOS1988freeware Apogee Software
adventure-in-serenia-01

Adventure in Serenia

DOS1982 Sierra On-Line
word-perfect-5-02

Word Perfect 5

DOS1989 Corel
shadowsmordor-3

The Shadows of Mordor

DOS1988 Beam Software
borland-turbo-pascal-1-01

Borland Turbo Pascal 1.0

DOS1983 Borland Software Corporation
sleuth-splash

Sleuth: A Murder Mystery

DOS1983freeware Norland Software
questprobe-spiderman-01

Questprobe Featuring Spider-Man

DOS1986 Adventure International
Questprobe Featuring Spider-Man is an abandoned text-based adventure game designed by Scott Adams, developed and released by Adventure International in 1986 for DOS but was also published for Acorn Electron, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Dragon 32, ZX Spectrum, MSX. Questprobe Featuring Spider-Man is part of the Questprobe game series, the ...
borland-paradox-4-03

Borland Paradox 4.5

DOSWindows XP/98/951993 Borland Software Corporation
amnesia-splashb

Amnesia

DOS1986 Cognetics corporation
battleformidway-1

Midway Campaign

DOS1983 Microcomputer Games Inc.
starsaga-splash

Star Saga: One - Beyond the Boundary

DOS1987 Masterplay Publishing Corporation
borland-eureka-1-04

Borland Eureka: the Solver

DOS1987 Borland Software Corporation
Borland Eureka: the Solver is an abandoned text-based application developed by Borland Software Corporation and released in 1987 for DOS. The product is designed to solve complex problems, generate tables and plots, and perform what-if analysis. The user writes an equation, sets options, and instructs the software to solve the problem. The pro...
acquire-splash

Acquire

DOS1989 IBM
ascii-sector-02

Ascii Sector

Windows 10/11LinuxDOS2007freeware
rockstar-splash

Rockstar!

DOS1989 Wizard Games
galaxy-4

Galaxy

DOS1981 Microcomputer Games Inc.
kingdom-of-kroz-2-splash

Kingdom of Kroz 2

DOS1990 Apogee Software