Abandonware DOS title

Abandonware adventure games

Adventure games focus on cracking enigmas and exploring and contemplating the game world in a narrative-driven scenario. In order to progress within the story arc, the player has to interact with different items, the environment itself, and other non-playing characters (NPC in short).
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1893: A World's Fair Mystery

Windows XP/98/95Mac OS2003 interactive fiction
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 ficti...
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20000 Leagues under the sea

DOS1988 visual novel, interactive fiction
Based loosely on Jules Verne’s famous tale, this game lets you live your steampunk submarine dreams with all the elegance of a DOS interface. You command the Nautilus, explore the ocean depths, and encounter strange sea crea...
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2112

DOS1994 interactive fiction
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...
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3 Skulls of the Toltecs

DOSWindows XP/98/951996protected point and click adventure
This 1996 point-and-click western is what you’d get if Lucky Luke and Monkey Island had an awkward but lovable baby. 3 Skulls of the Toltecs throws you into a spaghetti western full of puzzles, puns, and characters with more...
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9 Princes in Amber

DOS1985 interactive fiction
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...
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A Dudley Dilemma

DOS1988 interactive fiction
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...
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A Mind Forever Voyaging

DOSMac OS1985 interactive fiction
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...
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A Night with Troi

DOS1991NSFW interactive fiction
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 ...
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A Personal Nightmare

DOS1989 graphic adventure with text parser
A Personal Nightmare (1989) blends horror and detective work into one spooky little cocktail of 1980s DOS game design. You return to your hometown to find it overrun by demonic possession, creepy villagers, and enough red flags to...
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Acheton

DOS1987 interactive fiction
Acheton (1987, DOS) is one of those text adventures where the game cheerfully tries to kill you every five minutes — and does so with words. You're tossed into a sprawling, brain-melting maze of puzzles so obscure they might...
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Adventure in Serenia

DOS1982 interactive fiction
Before heroes had inventory screens and voice acting, there was Adventure in Serenia, the lovechild of a text parser and a fever dream. Released in 1982, this proto-graphic adventure gave players a taste of magic, mystery, and con...
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African Adventure

DOS1997remake interactive fiction
African Adventure is one of those games that feels like it was made during a two-hour layover at the airport - but somehow, it works. Set in the savannah, it combines survival, exploration, and a splash of educational trivia (prob...
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Alice in Wonderland

DOS1989 interactive fiction
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...
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Altered Destiny

DOS1990protected point and click adventure, graphic adventure with text parser
In Altered Destiny, a perfectly average guy named P.J. Barrett gets sucked into a bizarre alien dimension because he answered a phone call. Seriously. What follows is a classic point-and-click adventure filled with weird puzzles, ...
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Amazon

DOS1984 interactive fiction
From the mind of Michael Crichton comes Amazon, a game that lets you live out your jungle explorer fantasies—without the bugs or dysentery. You’re off to the Amazon to recover a missing expedition and probably get into...
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Amazon: Guardians of Eden

DOS1992 point and click adventure
Think Indiana Jones meets 90s daytime TV. Amazon: Guardians of Eden is a cinematic point-and-click adventure filled with jungles, conspiracies, and more hair gel than any explorer should carry. As a square-jawed hero investigating...
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Amerzone: The Explorer's Legacy

Windows XP/98/95Mac OS1999protected puzzle adventure
Amerzone is like stepping into a dream where logic is optional and atmosphere is everything. You play a journalist unraveling the mystery of a dying explorer’s last journey, which involves a lost civilization, mystical eggs,...
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Amnesia

DOS1986 interactive fiction
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 im...
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An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

DOS1993 point and click adventure
Fievel's back, and this time it’s personal. An American Tail: Fievel Goes West lets you step into the little cowboy boots of everyone’s favorite Russian mouse as he tries to save the Wild West from cat-shaped villainy....
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Angel 3

DOS1990NSFW visual novel
Angel 3 is that kind of DOS game where you sit down thinking "I'll give it five minutes" and three hours later you're still trying to figure out what just happened. Released in 1990, it's part shooter, part surrealist fever dream,...
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Armaeth: The Lost Kingdom

DOS1993 point and click adventure
Armaeth: The Lost Kingdom looks like a cousin of Prince of Persia who dropped out of school to study magic mushrooms. You play a vaguely heroic dude exploring a crumbling kingdom full of traps, bats, and possibly regret. The platf...
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Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur

DOS1989 interactive fiction
Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur is a text adventure with occasional graphics, in which you, the not-yet-king, bumble your way through Camelot trying to prove you’re not just some kid with a weird haircut. The writing is witt...
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Atlantis: The Lost Tales

DOSWindows XP/98/95Mac OS1997protected puzzle adventure
Atlantis: The Lost Tales is a graphic adventure game developed by Cryo Interactive and released in 1997. It is the first in a series of games set around the legendary lost city of Atlantis. You play as Seth, a young hero who ...
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Avon

DOS1989 interactive fiction
If Shakespeare wrote video games and then decided, “You know what this needs? A parser and some pixelated drama,” you'd get Avon. In this interactive fiction gem from 1989, you step into the slippers of a humble page t...
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B.A.T.

DOS1990 point and click adventure
B.A.T. is a cyberpunk-themed adventure game released in 1989 by UBI Soft for various platforms, including Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, and later the Commodore 64. It blends adventure, role-playing, and simulation elements in a futuris...
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B.A.T. 2 : The Koshan Conspiracy

DOS1992 point and click adventure
Ah, B.A.T. 2, the cyberpunk sequel that decided the future needed more trench coats, tech jargon, and inexplicably confusing interfaces. Released in 1992 for DOS, this game throws you into the seedy underbelly of interstellar espi...
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Ballyhoo

DOS1986 interactive fiction
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 sessio...
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Bargon Attack

DOS1992 point and click adventure
Imagine stepping into a sci-fi fever dream written during a caffeine crash, and you’ll get Bargon Attack (1992). This French point-and-click adventure is stylish, surreal, and frequently confusing—but in a charming &ld...
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Beavis and Butt-Head in Virtual Stupidity

Windows XP/98/951995 point and click adventure
If you ever wanted to play a point-and-click adventure where the protagonists have the combined IQ of a slice of cheese, Beavis and Butt-Head in Virtual Stupidity is your masterpiece. Join these brainless legends as they attempt t...
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Beneath a Steel Sky

DOS1994freeware point and click adventure
Beneath a Steel Sky is a classic point-and-click adventure game released in 1994, developed by Revolution Software. Set in a dystopian, cyberpunk future, the game is renowned for its rich atmosphere and distinctive artwork. T...