Abandonware DOS title

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.
zork-quest-1-01

Zork Quest: Assault on Egreth Castle

DOS1988 Tom Snyder Productions
Interactive fiction meets comic book in this spin-off, where you follow a fantasy story through illustrated panels and scripted choices. Zork Quest: Assault on Egreth Castle feels ...
alice-wonderland-if-01

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 ...
dream-zone-02

Dream Zone

DOS1988 Naughty Dog
Released in 1988, Dream Zone was a surreal adventure where you explore your own subconscious after being sucked into a dream machine. It’s colorful, strange, and often unsett...
jack-the-ripper-01

Jack the Ripper

DOS1995 Intergalactic Development
wishbringer-splash

Wishbringer

DOS1985 Infocom
gateway2_home_000

Gateway 2: Homeworld

DOS1993protected Legend Entertainment
Gateway 2: Homeworld takes the already unusual formula of its predecessor and leans even further into its strange, narrative-driven identity. You’re not just solving puzzles&...
skullduggery-01

Skullduggery: Adventures in Horror

DOS1986
Don’t let the cartoony name fool you: Skullduggery: Adventures in Horror wants to unsettle you, and it’s surprisingly good at it. This early horror adventure mixes clas...
hollywoodhij-splash

Hollywood Hijinx

DOS1986 Infocom
Hollywood Hijinx feels like stepping into a puzzle-filled mansion where logic occasionally takes a coffee break. Released in 1986, this text adventure blends humor with brain-teasi...
timequest-01

Timequest

DOS1991protected Legend Entertainment
time-and-magik-03

Time and Magik: The Trilogy

DOS1988 Level 9 Computing
dudley-dilemma-04

A Dudley Dilemma

DOS1988
A Dudley Dilemma (1988) sounds like the title of a children’s book, but it’s actually a very British text adventure for DOS where the stakes are politely quirky and mil...
rendezvousrama-1

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 ...
trinity-01

Trinity

DOS1986 Infocom
rambo-first-blood-01

Rambo First Blood Part 2

DOS1985 Angelsoft
skthemist-splash

The mist

DOS1985 Angelsoft
ballyhoo-1

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 th...
wizard-of-oz-01

The Wizard of Oz

DOS1985 Windham Classics
demonsforge-1

Demon's Forge

DOS1987 Mastertronic
In this 1987 DOS game, you delve into a dungeon filled with traps and monsters. Solve puzzles, defeat enemies, and uncover the secrets of the forge. It's like playing Dungeons &...
acheton-01

Acheton

DOS1987
Acheton (1987, DOS) is one of those text adventures where the game cheerfully tries to kill you every five minutes — and does so with words. You're tossed into a sprawling, b...
sherlockholmesbow-splash

Sherlock Holmes: Another bow

DOS1985 Magicom Multimedia
borrowed-time-04

Borrowed Time

DOS1985 Interplay Productions
Borrowed Time is a graphic adventure video game developed and published by Interplay Productions. It was released in 1985 for various platforms, including the Apple Macintosh,...
guardinfinity-splash

Guardians of Infinity: to Save Kennedy

DOS1988protected Paragon Software
Guardians of Infinity: to Save Kennedy is the sort of time-travel adventure that casually suggests you might want to prevent one of the most infamous assassinations in history befo...
top-secret-loriciels-03

Top Secret

DOS1986 Loriciel
lancelot-01

Lancelot

DOS1988 Level 9 Computing
Lancelot (1988) is an action-adventure that draws loosely from Arthurian legend and very tightly from the difficulty school of “good luck.” You guide the famous knight ...
gnomeranger-splash

Gnome Ranger

DOS1987 Level 9 Computing
Gnome Ranger feels like the kind of game that was designed by someone who really loved puzzles but maybe didn’t love explaining them. You control a gnome (clearly a recurring...
the-witness-01

The Witness

DOS1983 Infocom
african-adventure-01

African Adventure

DOS1997remake
African Adventure is one of those games that feels like it was made during a two-hour layover at the airport - but somehow, it works. Set in the savannah, it combines survival, exp...
zork-quest-2-02

Zork Quest: The Crystal of Doom

DOS1989 Tom Snyder Productions
More illustrations, more intrigue, more doom. The Crystal of Doom continues the hybrid of comic-style storytelling and light role-playing with just enough choices to make you feel ...
gamma-force-splash

Gamma Force in Pit of a Thousand Screams

DOS1988 Tom Snyder Productions
Few titles make a promise quite like Gamma Force in Pit of a Thousand Screams. You already know this won’t be a relaxing stroll through a meadow. Instead, it’s an energ...
js-shogun-02

James Clavell's Shogun

DOS1989 Infocom
James Clavell's Shogun, a text adventure game developed by Infocom and released in 1989. Infocom was known for its interactive fiction games, and "James Clavell's Shogun" was one o...