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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Beyond the Titanic

DOS1986 Apogee Software

Before Titanic was a movie with a lot of weeping, there was Beyond the Titanic, a text adventure where surviving the iceberg is just the beginning. The game takes the historic disaster and then says, “What if we added a secr...

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...

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...

The Pawn

DOS1986 Magnetic Scrolls

Voodoo island

DOS1985 Angelsoft

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 the worst text parser since your last therapy sessio...

Cutthroats

DOS1984 Infocom

Hollywood Hijinx

DOS1986 Infocom

Supernova

DOS1987freeware Apogee Software

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...

Timequest

DOS1991protected Legend Entertainment

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...

Journey: The Quest Begins

DOS1989 Infocom

Jewels of Darkness

DOS1986 Level 9 Computing

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...

Passengers on the Wind 2

DOS1987 Infogrames

Questprobe featuring Human Torch and The Thing

DOS1985 Adventure International

Guardians of Infinity: to Save Kennedy

DOS1988protected Paragon Software

Brimstone

DOS1985 Synapse Software

Ever wanted to fight fire with... even more fire? Brimstone tosses you into a magical mess of spells, dungeons, and monsters who woke up on the wrong side of the crypt. It’s a 1985 RPG that oozes charm and confusion in equal...

Starcross

DOS1982 Infocom

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, brain-melting maze of puzzles so obscure they might...