The best 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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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...

Jewels of Darkness

DOS1986 Level 9 Computing

Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz

DOS1983 Infocom

You survived Zork I, and now it’s personal. In Zork II, you face off against the enigmatic Wizard of Frobozz, who exists mostly to mess with you like a magical prankster with way too much free time. The puzzles get harder, t...

The Guild of Thieves

DOS1987 Magnetic Scrolls

Suspect

DOS1984 Infocom

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

DOSMac OS1984freeware Infocom

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a humorous free text adventure game based on the novel of the same name written by Douglas Adams (if you never read it, shame on you!). The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was designed by D...

Planetfall

DOS1983 Infocom

Planetfall is an interactive fiction sci-fie game released in 1983 by Infocom, written by Steve Meretzky. It is often considered one of Infocom's best titles. You play as a low-ranking Ensign Seventh Class in the Stellar Patr...

Zork I: The Great Underground Empire

DOS1982 Infocom

Zork is one of the most popular text-adventures and one of the first interactive fiction games ever created. The first Zork was developed in the seventies and ported on various platform by Infocom in the early 80s. Infocom wa...

Leather Goddesses of Phobos

DOS1986 Infocom

Timequest

DOS1991protected Legend Entertainment

A Mind Forever Voyaging

DOSMac OS1985 Infocom

If you ever wanted to play a video game that doubles as a philosophical think piece, A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985) is your ride. Released for DOS and Macintosh, this is one of Infocom’s most ambitious works - a text adventu...

Frederik Pohl's Gateway

DOS1992 Legend Entertainment

Frederik Pohl's Gateway is one of the best abandoned adventures games from Legend Entertainment. Gateway is an interactive fiction with graphics and an improved interface (unusual for IFs), based on the Frederik Pohl's novel ...

Journey: The Quest Begins

DOS1989 Infocom

Lancelot

DOS1988 Level 9 Computing

Myth

DOS1989 Magnetic Scrolls

Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers get all the girls

DOS1990protected Legend Entertainment

You’re a teenage wizard in college. There are spells, parties, potions, and more double entendres than a ‘90s teen comedy. Spellcasting 101 doesn’t take itself seriously—and that’s the point. It&rsquo...

Spellcasting 301: Spring Break

DOS1992protected Legend Entertainment

You’d think a spring break trip would be relaxing. Not when you're a magically inclined college student with a knack for attracting trouble (and bikinis). Spellcasting 301 sends you on a vacation full of sand, sun, and super...

James Bond 007: Goldfinger

DOS1986 Angelsoft

Rambo First Blood Part 2

DOS1985 Angelsoft

Eric the Unready

DOS1993protected Legend Entertainment

Magnetic Scrolls Collection

DOS1991 Magnetic Scrolls

Magnetic Scrolls was one of the finest developer companies dedicated to Interactive Fiction. The Magnetic Scrolls Collection is a trilogy of Magnenic Scrolls adventures remade using the Wonderland engine: Fish!, Corruption, The Gu...

9 Princes in Amber

DOS1985 Telarium

Based on the cult fantasy novels by Roger Zelazny, 9 Princes in Amber is a 1985 text adventure that assumes two things: you’ve read the books, and you enjoy typing things like “look tree” and “use sword&rdq...

Circuit's Edge

DOS1990 Westwood Studios

Circuit's Edge is a cyberpunk-themed role-playing game developed by Westwood Associates and published by Infocom. It was released in 1990 for MS-DOS. Set in a dystopian future, Circuit's Edge takes place in the fictional city of R...

Time and Magik: The Trilogy

DOS1988 Level 9 Computing

A Night with Troi

DOS1991NSFW

A Night with Troi (1991) sounds like a fan fiction gone too far - and, well, that’s pretty much what it is. It’s a DOS-based “adventure” in the loosest sense, where you find yourself on the Enterprise with ...

Trinity

DOS1986 Infocom

Legend of the Sword

DOS1988 Silicon Software

The Fourth Protocol

DOS1987 The Electronic Pencil Co.

The Fourth Protocol is a 1985 interactive fiction video game inspired by Frederick Forsyth's 1984 Cold War spy novel of the same name. Developed by the Electronic Pencil Company and published by Hutchinson Computer Publishing, the...

Questprobe Featuring Spider-Man

DOS1986 Adventure International

Questprobe Featuring Spider-Man is an abandoned text-based adventure game designed by Scott Adams, developed and released by Adventure International in 1986 for DOS but was also published for Acorn Electron, Atari 8-bit, BBC Micro...