# Any good text based games anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 5, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-text-based-games-anymore/549224 "2010-08-05T03:47:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-text-based-games-anymore/549224/1 "2010-08-05T03:47:20Z")
I used to like text-based games, even as far as when I got Windows 98 on my computer. This delightful [site](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitlei9fyz80ocg6y) points out the biggest flaw of them, which was that they were horribly unforgiving when it came to giving the proper command. Nowadays, it seems like that would be less of a problem, what with more sophisticated AI and spellcheck and the like. Has any purist tried to resurrect the genre, or is it dead and gone forever? ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-text-based-games-anymore/549224/2 "2010-08-05T10:12:39Z")
[MUD](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD)’s are still alive and well. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-text-based-games-anymore/549224/3 "2010-08-05T11:30:31Z")
Text adventures are called Interactive Fiction these days, and there is a band of hobbyists still churning them out. Some of the games are pretty good. There are a few IF archives on the internet. Lots of info at [http://www.ifreviews.org/](http://www.ifreviews.org/) . [ETA]… and I see now that your link already mentions interactive fiction ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-text-based-games-anymore/549224/4 "2010-08-05T12:34:15Z")
Here is a game that is somewhat recent that uses text inputs mixed with graphics, just like the oldest Sierra games(King’s Quest 1-4, etc.) Great game, by the way. [Trilby’s Notes](http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/notes/) ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-text-based-games-anymore/549224/5 "2010-08-05T13:27:12Z")
How fondly I recall being a lad playing _Zork_ on his Commodore 64… ---
**Author:** ![Shadez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Shadez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadez)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-text-based-games-anymore/549224/6 "2010-08-05T22:13:16Z")
I play [AVATAR MUD](http://www.outland.org) a lot. It is a (family friendly) medieval fantasy MUD and I have been playing it for years. I do love mages. ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Keen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Commander\_Keen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Keen)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2010, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-text-based-games-anymore/549224/7 "2010-08-07T04:15:21Z")
[Photopia by Adam Cadre](http://pr-if.org/play/photopia/). Note: it emphasizes the “fiction” part of “interactive fiction”. You can easily finish it in less than an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-text-based-games-anymore/549224/8 "2010-08-09T15:25:18Z")
> [@Commander\_Keen](#): > > [Photopia by Adam Cadre](http://pr-if.org/play/photopia/). > > Note: it emphasizes the “fiction” part of “interactive fiction”. You can easily finish it in less than an hour. Cadre is one of the more experimental authors in the IF genre. All of his IF works can be downloaded from his website: [http://adamcadre.ac/if.html](http://adamcadre.ac/if.html) Fun games, though some of them are really tough. E.g. Varicella is designed to be tough. Real tough. In fact, in order to win without looking up a walkthrough, expect to play the thing multiple times (and I don’t think it’s possible to win the first time). Because a lot of the puzzles are time-critical. (In fact, you need to examine everything, but take notes, because you will never complete time-critical tasks by wasting time examining things. There are things that happen on a fixed turn, and if you aren’t in the right place, you miss it.) That being said, none of the puzzles are unfair. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-text-based-games-anymore/549224/9 "2010-08-09T15:31:11Z")
> [@Hoopy\_Frood](#): > > Fun games, though some of them are really tough. E.g. Varicella is designed to be tough. Real tough. In fact, in order to win without looking up a walkthrough, expect to play the thing multiple times (and I don’t think it’s possible to win the first time). No indeed, considering especially the bit where you need to know that characters A and B are interacting in location A at a specific time so that you can bring character C to location B so that you can watch them over a closed-circuit TV. In fact, I had to go back to the beginning when doing Varicella via a walkthrough because I mixed up east and west and thought I’d have time to just walk back the other way (instead of immediately "UNDO"ing). ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-text-based-games-anymore/549224/10 "2010-08-09T15:32:25Z")
Andrew Plotkin has some good games out there as well, though some of them (like DUST) aren’t really games as such.