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.
Sort by:
Essex
DOS1985 Synapse Software
Myth
DOS1989 Magnetic Scrolls
Jewels of Darkness
DOS1986 Level 9 Computing
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...
Questprobe featuring Human Torch and The Thing
DOS1985 Adventure International
The Usurper
DOS1989 Sir-tech 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
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...
Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen
DOS1988 Tom Snyder Productions
Gnome Ranger 2: Ingrid's Back
DOS1988 Level 9 Computing
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...
Mindshadow
DOSMac OS1985 Interplay Productions
Guardians of Infinity: to Save Kennedy
DOS1988protected Paragon Software
Romantic encounters at the dome
DOS1988 MicroIllusions
Gamma Force in Pit of a Thousand Screams
DOS1988 Tom Snyder Productions
Time and Magik: The Trilogy
DOS1988 Level 9 Computing
Journey: The Quest Begins
DOS1989 Infocom
Questprobe featuring The Hulk
DOS1984 Adventure International
Legend of the Sword
DOS1988 Silicon Software
The Golden Fleece
DOS1989
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...
Transylvania 3: Vanquish the Night
DOS1990 Polarware
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...
Suspect
DOS1984 Infocom
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...
Caverns of Chaos
DOS1992
Sherlock Holmes: The Vatican Cameos
DOS1986 Magicom Multimedia
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 ...
Dragon World
DOS1984 Telarium