Games released in 1986

You are Sherlock Holmes, and someone has committed a crime, possibly because they couldn’t handle the game’s UI. 221B Baker Street is a detective board game where your mind is your only weapon. And also a notepad, because keeping track of clues is half the game. You wander through foggy London, asking yourself how such elegant mystery-s...

This 1986 DOS classic sounds way cooler than it is — ACE: Air Combat Emulator promises combat, but delivers what feels like flying a lawnmower through molasses. Still, for its time, it gave players the thrill of joystick jostling and the joy of watching enemy planes disappear into four jagged pixels. Think of it as the Wright brothers’ ...

The title Alex Higgins World Snooker might imply world-class snooker. What it delivers is 1986 DOS ball physics that sometimes feel like they were modeled in an alternate dimension. But who needs realism when you have charm, right? This game lets you play as the late, great Alex “Hurricane” Higgins—except “play” is a g...

Think of Alter Ego: Female Version as life’s greatest hits - and a few of its flops - played out one decision at a time. From childhood tantrums to awkward teenage crushes and midlife crises, you’ll make choices that define your digital doppelgänger’s path. Will she be a punk rock rebel or a buttoned-up banker? A lover, a lon...

Welcome to Alter Ego: Male Version, where your life begins with a cry and a diaper and only goes downhill - or uphill, depending on your choices. This text-based simulation lets you experience the full ride of being a man: childhood scraped knees, teenage dreams, career decisions, marriage proposals, and midlife what-am-I-doing-here moments. Funny,...

If your idea of high-octane excitement involves wind direction, tacking angles, and sail trim, then American Challenge: A Sailing Simulation is your digital paradise. This 1986 DOS classic lets you live out the thrilling world of competitive sailing... very slowly. It's you, your boat, and an ocean of pixelated blue waiting to be conquered with you...

In Amnesia, you wake up in a hotel room with no idea who you are, where you are, or why someone wants you dead. And no, this isn’t a gritty FPS—it’s a text adventure. That’s right, no graphics, just your imagination and 40,000 lines of written paranoia. Written by Thomas M. Disch (yes, the actual science fiction author), it&...

Antarctic Adventure (1986) stars a penguin who seems to be training for the Winter Olympics — at full sprint. This early Konami game has you racing across icy terrain, dodging seals, and leaping over yawning crevasses while a relentlessly upbeat tune loops in the background. There’s no real story, no final boss, just pure penguin hustle...

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 session. Classic Infocom, meaning great writing and an interface that hates you. But hey, if you’ve ever wanted to type ...

Batalia (1986) is what happens when war games and spreadsheet programs fall in love. This early DOS strategy title throws you into tactical battles with graphics that would struggle to impress a calculator. But don’t be fooled—it’s deeper than it looks. Planning, resource management, and an iron will are essential. It's not pretty...

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 secret underground base and aliens?”—and somehow, it works. With only words and your imagination, it builds a wo...

Ah, Bob Winner (1986, DOS), the game that asks: what if Indiana Jones had a cousin who got lost in a side-scroller? You play as the titular Bob, an adventurer who walks like he’s late for a dinner date and punches wildlife like it owes him money. There’s a story somewhere—something about treasure and evil—but mostly you&rsqu...

Borland Reflex was a relational database management system (RDBMS) developed by Borland International, a software company that was prominent in the 1980s and 1990s. Reflex was released in the mid-1980s as a graphical database software primarily targeted at business and professional users.