Text-based games: ASCII, etc.
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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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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1893: A World's Fair Mystery
Windows XP/98/95Mac OS20033.9/5
1893: A World's Fair Mystery is an interactive fiction game developed by the American studio Illuminated Lantern and released in 2002. Set during the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, the game combines historical fiction with mystery-solving gameplay.In 1893: A World's Fair Mystery, players take on the role of a detective investigating ...
2112
DOS19943/5
A Dudley Dilemma
DOS19883.3/5
A Mind Forever Voyaging
DOSMac OS19854.1/5 Infocom
A Night with Troi
DOS1991NSFW4.1/5
A-Maze
DOS19894.2/5 New Era Software
Ace 2.02
DOS20013.3/5
Acheton
DOS19873.7/5
Acquire
DOS19893.9/5 IBM
Adventure Game Studio (AGS)
Windows 10/11LinuxMac OS1997freeware3.9/5
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 adventure games. AGS provides a scripting language, a visual editor, and various other tools to simplify the game developmen...
Adventure in Serenia
DOS19823.6/5 Sierra On-Line
African Adventure
DOS1997remake3.6/5
Air Traffic Controller
DOS19854.2/5 Cascoly Software
Air Trax
DOS19833.5/5
Alice in Wonderland
DOS19893.3/5
Alice: The Personal Pascal
DOS19854.3/5
AlphaMan
DOS19953.6/5
Amazon
DOS19843.8/5 Telarium
Amnesia
DOS19864/5 Cognetics corporation
Amulet of Yendor
DOS19853.6/5 Keypunch Software
Anacreon: Reconstruction 4021
DOS1987freeware3.8/5 Thinking Machine Associates
Anacreon: Reconstruction 4021 is one of the first 4x turn-based strategy games, ASCII based. Anacreon is set in space, as most 4x sci-fi games are, and was published by Thinking Machines Associates and designed by George Moromisato who later re-released the game as freeware.
Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM) v1.1
Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1996freeware3.9/5
Angband
Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1992freeware4/5
Arachne WWW
DOS1996freeware3.8/5
Arachne is a graphical web browser for DOS. Arachne was developed by Michal Polák and released in the early 1990s as a text-mode web browser with limited graphical capabilities. Arachne allowed DOS users to browse the World Wide Web in a graphical, though quite basic, manner. It supported features such as displaying images, handling lin...
Arj
DOS19904.2/5
ARJ is a file compression utility and file format created by Robert K. Jung. The name "ARJ" stands for "Archived by Robert Jung." It was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a compression tool for MS-DOS and other systems. ARJ offered high compression ratios and various features, such as archive encryption and error recovery.
Armchair Quarterback
DOS19854.1/5
Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur
DOS19894/5 Infocom
Ascii Sector
Windows 10/11LinuxDOS2007freeware4/5
At the Carnival
DOS1990freeware3/5
At-slow4
DOS19893.2/5