Text-based games: ASCII, etc. sorted by release date

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 These text-only video games may seem primitive and outdated and, in fact, the genre almost died with the fast evolving graphics of modern games.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.

Most popular text-based games

Norton Commander 5.5

applicationDOS

President Elect: 1988 Edition

simulationDOS

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VisiCalc 1.0

DOS1979freeware4.3/5 Software Arts

VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet software for personal computers, and it played a pivotal role in the early history of personal computing. It was developed by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston and first released in 1979 for the Apple II computer. VisiCalc is often considered the first electronic spreadsheet, and its success had a significant impact ...

B-1 Nuclear Bomber

DOS19813.6/5 Avalon Hill

Galaxy

DOS19814.1/5 Microcomputer Games Inc.

Softporn Adventure

DOS1981freewareNSFW3.9/5 Sierra On-Line

The Wizard's Castle

DOS1981freeware3.3/5

The Wizard's Castle is a classic text-based, dungeon-crawling adventure game released in 1980, designed by Joseph R. Power. The game was originally developed for the Exidy Sorcerer computer and later ported to various platforms, such as the TRS-80 and early IBM PCs. The game is set in a mysterious wizard's castle, where the player takes on the...

Adventure in Serenia

DOS19823.6/5 Sierra On-Line

Deadline

DOS19823.9/5 Infocom

Executive Suite

DOS19823.9/5 Armonk Corporation

Pac Gal

DOS19823.1/5

Pac-girl

DOS19823.7/5 Magicom Multimedia

Starcross

DOS19823.7/5 Infocom

Video Trek 88

DOS19823.9/5 Windmill Software

Volkswriter 3

DOS19823.8/5 Lifetree Software

Zork I: The Great Underground Empire

DOS19824.2/5 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 was one of the most prolific developers of text-adventures for home computers and created memorable interactive fiction ga...