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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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

Stationfall

DOS19874/5 Infocom

The Golden Fleece

DOS19894/5

The Witness

DOS19834/5 Infocom

Angband

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1992freeware4/5

Dungeon Crawl

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1997freeware4/5

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 Desktop

DOS19924/5 Peter Norton Computing

Uplink: Hacker Elite

Windows XP/98/95LinuxMac OS2001protected4/5 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...

Xtrek

DOS1991freewareNSFW4/5

Empire: Wargame of the Century

DOS19874/5 Northwest Software

Indiana Jones: Revenge of the Ancients

DOS19874/5 Angelsoft

Borland Eureka: the Solver

DOS19874/5 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...

Moria

DOS1992freeware4/5

The mist

DOS19854/5 Angelsoft

Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor

DOS19874/5 Infocom

Plundered Hearts

DOSMac OS19873.9/5 Infocom

Global Thermo War

DOS19853.9/5

Sorcerer

DOS19843.9/5 Infocom

Spellbreaker

DOS19853.9/5 Infocom

Softporn Adventure

DOS1981freewareNSFW3.9/5 Sierra On-Line

Video Trek 88

DOS19823.9/5 Windmill Software

Red sky at morning

DOS19933.9/5 Simulations Canada

1893: A World's Fair Mystery

Windows XP/98/95Mac OS20033.9/5

1893: A World's Fair Mystery is an interactive fiction game developed by the American studio Illuminated Lantern and released in 2002. Set during the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, the game combines historical fiction with mystery-solving gameplay.In 1893: A World's Fair Mystery, players take on the role of a detective investigating ...