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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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.
A few genres traditionally linked to the beautiful world of ascii characters still survives: roguelikes (nethack, angband, etc.) and interactive fiction, for example.
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Seastalker
DOS1984 Infocom
Sherlock Holmes: The Vatican Cameos
DOS1986 Magicom Multimedia
Softporn Adventure
DOS1981freewareNSFW Sierra On-Line
Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance
DOS1991protectedNSFW Legend Entertainment
Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance is an adventure game released in 1991, developed by Steve Meretzky and published by Legend Entertainment. It’s the second installment in the "Spellcasting" series. In Spellcast...
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Trivia
DOS1990 Micro F/X Software
Stationfall
DOS1987 Infocom
The Golden Fleece
DOS1989
The Witness
DOS1983 Infocom
Volkswriter 3
DOS1982 Lifetree Software
Word Perfect 5
DOS1989 Corel
Angband
Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1992freeware
If you’ve ever thought The Lord of the Rings needed more ASCII and fewer hobbit feelings, Angband is your jam. Since 1992, this dungeon-crawling roguelike has been throwing players into a 100-level deathtrap where the ultima...
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...
Norton Desktop
DOS1992 Peter Norton Computing
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 adve...
Xtrek
DOS1991freewareNSFW
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 wh...
IBM Assistant 2.0
DOS1986 IBM
Midway Campaign
DOS1983 Microcomputer Games Inc.
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 suc...
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 ...
The mist
DOS1985 Angelsoft
Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor
DOS1987 Infocom
If you ever wanted to roleplay in a text adventure where a coconut is of utmost importance, Beyond Zork has your back. This is Infocom at its most delightfully weird: part RPG, part parser game, all nonsense. You’ll customiz...
Plundered Hearts
DOSMac OS1987 Infocom
Global Thermo War
DOS1985
Sorcerer
DOS1984 Infocom
Spellbreaker
DOS1985 Infocom
Video Trek 88
DOS1982 Windmill Software
Red sky at morning
DOS1993 Simulations Canada
One-Nil Soccer Manager
DOS1992 New Era Software
One-Nil Soccer Manager is a text-based soccer management simulation game that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was developed for various home computer systems, including DOS, Commodore 64 and Amiga. In One-Ni...