3 ms·

Many, many historic text adventures are available in the browser, thanks to the Parchment interpreter. You can find them on the IFDB, and click the link to play

by kqr 6mo ago

Many, many historic text adventures are available in the browser, thanks to the Parchment interpreter. You can find them on the IFDB, and click the link to play online. One of my favourites among the classics are Plundered Hearts[1]. There's also a lively community of people who make modern text adventures. These tend to be shorter and more well designed than many of the cruel games of the past. My all-time favourite is The Wise-Woman's Dog[2], a passion project with a very high quality bar. Text adventures are great[3], and no, as of yet, they are not improved by LLMs. Too inconsistent, too much hallucination. They can't even play text adventures well. [1]: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=ddagftras22bnz8h https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=ddagftras22bnz8h [2]: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=bor8rmyfk7w9kgqs https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=bor8rmyfk7w9kgqs [3]: https://entropicthoughts.com/the-greatness-of-text-adventures https://entropicthoughts.com/the-greatness-of-text-adventure...

JoshTriplett 6mo ago
My favorite of all time is "Ad Verbum". > With the cantankerous Wizard of Wordplay evicted from his mansion, the worthless plot can now be redeveloped. The city regulations declare, however, that the rip-down job can't proceed until all the items within have been removed. It's full of delightful wordplay and puzzles that play with the text-adventure medium, constraining what words you can use. Highly recommended.
- nathell 6mo ago
  Mine is ‘Anchorhead’ (1998), by Michael Gentry. I think it’s actually my favourite game of all time, of all genres. I’ve played the old, text-only, Z-code version back in high school, around 1999, and the experience was so vivid and immersive that to this day I can draw a map of Anchorhead from memory and recite the lineage of the Verlac family. I think it’s still my favourite game of all time (although I spent much more time on some others). These days, an illustrated version can be bought on Steam for something like $10. Highly recommended!
  - kleiba2 6mo ago
    ...which you can also play online: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=op0uw1gn1tjqmjt7 https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=op0uw1gn1tjqmjt7
- kleiba2 6mo ago
  There was a time where I spent most evenings playing "A Mind Forever Voyaging" by Steve Meretzky [1], complete with trying to draw maps and jot down notes and clues, while listening to a Dave Brubeck album on repeat. The fact that I still remember that more than a decade later is a testament to how good that experience was. [1] https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=4h62dvooeg9ajtfa https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=4h62dvooeg9ajtfa
- waisbrot 6mo ago
  "Spider and Web" is quite short, pretty easy, mostly gives good hints. A great starter-game, I think. I also love Zarf's writing. https://eblong.com/zarf/zweb/tangle/ https://eblong.com/zarf/zweb/tangle/
  - mrob 6mo ago
    "Spider and Web" is famous because it's a subversion of genre norms. It does not play fair by traditional text adventure game standards. I don't recommend it for beginners, because other than the central gimmick, the puzzles are not particularly interesting. You won't appreciate it unless you know how unusual it is. And even if you do know how unusual it is, you won't necessarily like it. I can't go into detail without spoilers, but I can compare it to an analogous situation with the Fighting Fantasy gamebook "Creature of Havoc", which is, depending on your point of view, either a work of genius or a broken mess. You opinion of "Spider and Web" will likely match that of "Creature of Havoc".
- ZeroGravitas 6mo ago
  Counterfeit Monkey similarly fuses classic text adventure mechanics with a wordplay mechanic where you can transform objects by adding and removing letters to solve puzzles.
butz 6mo ago
Not sure if it qualifies as a real "text adventure", but I recently played "Type Help" (https://william-rous.itch.io/type-help https://william-rous.itch.io/type-help) and was unexpectedly amazed, how such simple interface, with very few text commands, can lead player through very intriguing story. Will be looking into more IF games now.
nosrepa 6mo ago
A great modern text adventure is roadwarden. You can't play it in a terminal as it does have a GUI and images for the set pieces, but it's still a text adventure at heart.

by kqr 6mo ago

JoshTriplett 6mo ago

My favorite of all time is "Ad Verbum". > With the cantankerous Wizard of Wordplay evicted from his mansion, the worthless plot can now be redeveloped. The city regulations declare, however, that the rip-down job can't proceed until all the items within have been removed. It's full of delightful wordplay and puzzles that play with the text-adventure medium, constraining what words you can use. Highly recommended.

nathell 6mo ago
Mine is ‘Anchorhead’ (1998), by Michael Gentry. I think it’s actually my favourite game of all time, of all genres. I’ve played the old, text-only, Z-code version back in high school, around 1999, and the experience was so vivid and immersive that to this day I can draw a map of Anchorhead from memory and recite the lineage of the Verlac family. I think it’s still my favourite game of all time (although I spent much more time on some others). These days, an illustrated version can be bought on Steam for something like $10. Highly recommended!
- kleiba2 6mo ago
  ...which you can also play online: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=op0uw1gn1tjqmjt7 https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=op0uw1gn1tjqmjt7
kleiba2 6mo ago
There was a time where I spent most evenings playing "A Mind Forever Voyaging" by Steve Meretzky [1], complete with trying to draw maps and jot down notes and clues, while listening to a Dave Brubeck album on repeat. The fact that I still remember that more than a decade later is a testament to how good that experience was. [1] https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=4h62dvooeg9ajtfa https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=4h62dvooeg9ajtfa
waisbrot 6mo ago
"Spider and Web" is quite short, pretty easy, mostly gives good hints. A great starter-game, I think. I also love Zarf's writing. https://eblong.com/zarf/zweb/tangle/ https://eblong.com/zarf/zweb/tangle/
- mrob 6mo ago
  "Spider and Web" is famous because it's a subversion of genre norms. It does not play fair by traditional text adventure game standards. I don't recommend it for beginners, because other than the central gimmick, the puzzles are not particularly interesting. You won't appreciate it unless you know how unusual it is. And even if you do know how unusual it is, you won't necessarily like it. I can't go into detail without spoilers, but I can compare it to an analogous situation with the Fighting Fantasy gamebook "Creature of Havoc", which is, depending on your point of view, either a work of genius or a broken mess. You opinion of "Spider and Web" will likely match that of "Creature of Havoc".
ZeroGravitas 6mo ago
Counterfeit Monkey similarly fuses classic text adventure mechanics with a wordplay mechanic where you can transform objects by adding and removing letters to solve puzzles.

butz 6mo ago

Not sure if it qualifies as a real "text adventure", but I recently played "Type Help" (https://william-rous.itch.io/type-help https://william-rous.itch.io/type-help) and was unexpectedly amazed, how such simple interface, with very few text commands, can lead player through very intriguing story. Will be looking into more IF games now.

nosrepa 6mo ago

A great modern text adventure is roadwarden. You can't play it in a terminal as it does have a GUI and images for the set pieces, but it's still a text adventure at heart.