Abandonware DOS title

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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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.
stationfall-01

Stationfall

DOS1987 Infocom
the-witness-01

The Witness

DOS1983 Infocom
volkswriter3-02

Volkswriter 3

DOS1982 Lifetree Software
word-perfect-5-02

Word Perfect 5

DOS1989 Corel
softporn-splash

Softporn Adventure

DOS1981freewareNSFW Sierra On-Line
angband-03

Angband

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1992freeware
dungeon-crawl-dos-03

Dungeon Crawl

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1997freeware
Dungeon Crawl (also known as Linley's Dungeon Crawl from the name of the original programmer: Linley Henzell) is a classic roguelike: an RPG with permadeath, procedural generation and high replayability. Dungeon Crawl was released on 1997 but it's not maintained anymore. The spiritual successr of Crawl is DCCS (Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup).
norton-desktop1-02

Norton Desktop

DOS1992 Peter Norton Computing
xtrek91-02

Xtrek

DOS1991freewareNSFW
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...
ibm-filing-assistant-02

IBM Assistant 2.0

DOS1986 IBM
battleformidway-1

Midway Campaign

DOS1983 Microcomputer Games Inc.
uplink-v1.3-5

Uplink: Hacker Elite

Windows XP/98/95LinuxMac OS2001protected 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...
skthemist-splash

The mist

DOS1985 Angelsoft
plunderedhearts-splash

Plundered Hearts

DOSMac OS1987 Infocom
sorcerer-splash

Sorcerer

DOS1984 Infocom
spellbreaker-02

Spellbreaker

DOS1985 Infocom
video-trek-88-02

Video Trek 88

DOS1982 Windmill Software
redskyatmorning-3

Red sky at morning

DOS1993 Simulations Canada
questprobe-hulk-01

Questprobe featuring The Hulk

DOS1984 Adventure International
dragon-world-01

Dragon World

DOS1984 Telarium
moria-5

Moria

DOS1992freeware
zyll-splash

Zyll

DOS1984 IBM
business-simulator-03

Business Simulator

DOS1987 Reality Development
Business Simulator is an abandoned business simulation game developed and released by Reality Development in 1987 for DOS only. Business Simulator is a text-based management simulation designed by an university professor.
norton-commander-1-04

Norton Commander 1.0

DOS1986 Peter Norton Computing
Norton Commander was a file manager and editor application released by Peter Norton Computing for DOS. Norton Commander used a text-based user interface with side-by-side panels and featured copy, delete, editing and preview any kind of file easily: it was an improvement over the command-line only MS-DOS interface. Norton Commander 1.0 was fir...
suspended-01

Suspended

DOS1983 Infocom