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.
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Essex

DOS1985 Synapse Software
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Myth

DOS1989 Magnetic Scrolls
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Jewels of Darkness

DOS1986 Level 9 Computing
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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 mildly confusing. You play as Dudley, a man with prob...
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Questprobe featuring Human Torch and The Thing

DOS1985 Adventure International
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The Usurper

DOS1989 Sir-tech Software
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Castle Elsinore

DOS1992 Temple Software
If Hamlet had a sequel directed by a DOS programmer, Castle Elsinore would be it. This interactive fiction game drops you right into Shakespearean drama with murder, betrayal, and the occasional parser error. You’ll solve pu...
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Timequest

DOS1991protected Legend Entertainment
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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 clever (or guilty). This time, you’re chasin...
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Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen

DOS1988 Tom Snyder Productions
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Gnome Ranger 2: Ingrid's Back

DOS1988 Level 9 Computing
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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 loosely follows the Lewis Carroll classic, if Lewi...
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Mindshadow

DOSMac OS1985 Interplay Productions
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Guardians of Infinity: to Save Kennedy

DOS1988protected Paragon Software
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Romantic encounters at the dome

DOS1988 MicroIllusions
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Gamma Force in Pit of a Thousand Screams

DOS1988 Tom Snyder Productions
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Time and Magik: The Trilogy

DOS1988 Level 9 Computing
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Journey: The Quest Begins

DOS1989 Infocom
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Questprobe featuring The Hulk

DOS1984 Adventure International
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Legend of the Sword

DOS1988 Silicon Software
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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 of its later releases.This text adventure game is b...
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2112

DOS1994
Welcome to 2112, a game that predicted a grim techno-future back when floppy disks still ruled. This DOS-era oddity throws you into a world that’s part cyberpunk, part fever dream, and entirely confusing. It’s got clun...
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Suspect

DOS1984 Infocom
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Border Zone

DOS1987 Infocom
Welcome to Border Zone (1987, DOS), where the Cold War is hot and your only weapon is your brain (and maybe a good map). This text-based espionage thriller from Infocom combines spy drama with multiple protagonists and a real-time...
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Sherlock Holmes: The Vatican Cameos

DOS1986 Magicom Multimedia
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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, Apple II, DOS, and Atari ST. The game is notable ...
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Dragon World

DOS1984 Telarium