title: text adventure recommendations date created: 2025.06.30 last modified: 2025.06.30 ---- I've been into text adventures for a long time (yet another niche interest). I played them on the family as a kid, and I play them on my laptop[0] now. Here are some of my recommendations. I'm focusing on my favourites here, but there are a lot of options available. I'd recommend you look on the Interactive Fiction Database [ https://ifdb.com ], to see what other games you can play. All the games I list here have links to play online on that site, and hints/walkthroughs can be found online (try searching invisiclues). 1. Counterfeit Monkey by Emily Short This is one of my all-time favorites. It's set in a world where people can change things into other things by altering their names (e.g. removing a letter). I love the worldbuilding in this game, it shows how having a power like this would affect society. The puzzles are based around this wordplay mechanic. 2. 9:05 by Adam Cadre This game is super quick to play (10ish mins), and needs to be played a few times to explore all the endings. I think this is a good one to start off with because it's short, funny, and doesn't have any difficult puzzles. 3. Violet by Jeremy Freese A single-room game where you need to avoid distractions so that you can get some writing done. The story is told from the point-of-view of your girlfriend, Violet. This game is also funny as the puzzle solutions get quite bizarre. 4. Shuffling Around by Andrew Schultz Like Counterfeit Monkey, this game also uses wordplay as the main puzzle mechanic (this time it's anagrams). I the puzzles are clever, and it was fun to play. It has a great help system, so don't worry if you're bad at anagrams. 5. Toby's Nose by Chandler Groover In this game you play as Sherlock Holmes' dog. It has a limited amount of verbs you can use (smell, examine, bark, and inventory), but it shows that you can do a lot with just that. I played this quite a while ago, so I don't remember much, but it was fun. 6. Alias 'The Magpie' by J.J. Guest In this game, you're a thief stealing a priceless object from a manor while assuming different costumes and disguises. It has great writing, and the puzzles are good (but can be a bit fiddly). 7. Spider and Web by Andrew Plotkin This game has you recounting your actions to your interrogator through your gameplay. The protagonist knows more than you as the player, which you can really see in the ending. The final puzzle is one of the best text adventure puzzles i've come across (imo), so I don't want to spoil it. It is kind of confusing and has a lot of trial-and-error,so maybe don't play this one first. 8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky DO NOT MAKE THIS YOUR FIRST GAME. It's very frustrating to play, and can be pretty evil to you. Make sure to save regularly if you play it. On the other hand, it is very well written and has great puzzles (the Babel Fish, for example). I did actually enjoy playing it when I wasn't getting myself killed. The story is a bit different to the book, but having read it can help. I'm a huge Hitchhiker's Guide fan, so it was right up my alley. I don't think the link on the ifdb works, but you can play it here: www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2game I'm definitely doing a part two at some point because I haven't even mentioned classics like Zork, The Oregon Trail, or Colossal Cave Adventure (which the genre got hit's name from). Next on my 'to play' list is 'Type Help' by William Rous, which was inspired by Return of the Obra Dinn and Her Story. ---- [0] my laptop is a glorified netbook with a broken keyboard. I'm getting a new one at the end of July, which I am so ready for. Here's a how-to-play tutorial to help you get started: https://microheaven.com/IFGuide/step3.html