Classic Interactive Fiction

Here is a collection of computer games from back in the day when they required imagination and were not just about stealing cars and killing people. This genre is known as Interactive Fiction and was the pinnacle of computer gaming. Return now to those thrilling days of yesteryear where all you needed was a terminal, a modem, and an account on a mainframe.

Games

• A Mind Forever Voyaging Science Fiction
  It's 2031. The world is on the brink of chaos. In the United States of North America, spiraling crime and unemployment rates, decayed school systems and massive government regulations have led to a lazy, contentious society. To reverse this critical situation, government and industry leaders have developed a Plan combining the economic freedom and strong moral values of the 1950's with the technological advancements of the 21st century. Will the Plan ensure peace and prosperity? Or will it set the earth on a suicide course to destruction? As the world's first conscious, intelligent computer, only you can visit places that have never been seen before. Only you can view the future. And only you know what must be done to save humanity.
  Play A Mind Forever Voyaging
• Ballyhoo Mystery
  Spangleland! Sawdust and glitter, buffoons and cotton candy! It's a place where your wildest dreams come true! At least, that's what you think... until you get behind the scenes at the big top. Then you learn how easily sweet dreams can turn into nightmares. Beyond the spangles lies a seedy world of deception and crime. Exploring the tattered corners of the circus lot, you overhear a conversation about the owner's daughter. It seems she's been kidnapped, and the hired gumshoe couldn't find the nose on his face. Good samaritan that you are, you start poking around on your own. But watch your step. As the night progresses, you realize you're in as much danger as the little girl. For the kidnapper is lurking right there on the lot, trying to set you up for a permanent slot in the freak show.
  Play Ballyhoo
• Border Zone Espionage
  Where the Iron Curtain divides East and West, the frontier is a no man's land between freedom and captivity, a place where moments lost or precautions not taken exact a toll in men's lives. In Border Zone, you cross this barrier not once, but three times, as three different characters in a fast-paced story of international intrigue. The pulse-pounding tension of espionage is heightened by the addition of real time, which ticks on regardless of your actions. As you race against the clock to complete your missions, you'll find yourself caught up in a spine-tingling adventure that's far more suspenseful than any spy thriller you've ever read.
  Play Border Zone
• Curses! Haunted House | Historical
  "As "Curses" opens, you're hunting about in the attic of your family home, looking for a tatty old map of Paris (you're going on holiday tomorrow) and generally trying to avoid all the packing. Aunt Jemima is potting daisies and sulking; the attics are full of endless distractions and secrets; Greek myths, horoscopes, sixth-century politics, a less than altogether helpful demon, a mysterious bomb plot, photography, ritual, poetry and a dream or two all get in your way; and somehow you keep being reminded of your family through the ages, and all its Curses... ...could it be that even you are Cursed?"
  Play Curses! Forgiveness Rating: Cruel
• Cutthroats Thriller
  You're about to get yourself into very deep trouble. You're a backwater island's top diver and foremost expert on local shipwrecks. Which makes you perfect for the job a band of the island's shadiest characters has in mind for you. It's a simple business proposition: all you have to do is locate and salvage a fortune in sunken treasure. You stand to gain millions. The only drawback is, it could cost you your neck. Because to successfully recover the treasure, you'll have to survive the perils of diving in unknown waters - and the even greater danger of an untrustworthy crew. But none of that will stop you from taking the plunge. You're the type who believes that when stakes are this high, even when your odds are this low, it's worth running the risks of dealing with Cutthroats.
  Play Cutthroats Difficulty: Standard
• Deadline Mystery
  Twelve hours to solve the mystery. One false move, and the killer strikes again. It's Deadline, and it puts you, the keen-eyed sleuth, against a 12-hour time limit to solve a classic locked-door mystery. Armed only with the clues inside this package and your own wits, you must sift through myriads of evidence and motives to track down the killer. No easy feat, for all six of your suspects exercise free will - coming and going, scheming and maneuvering independently of your actions. And some of these personalities are so treacherous that, should you make the wrong move, one of them may do you in.
  Play Deadline Difficulty: Expert
• Enchanter Fantasy
  In Enchanter, the first of a spellbinding series in the tradition of Zork, you are a novice magician whom Fate has chosen to do singlehanded combat with a dark and fierce power. But worldly weapons will avail you naught, for your foe is the Evil Warlock who holds sway over the land. To defeat him, you will have to match your skills as a necromancer against his, casting spells you have learned from your masters in the Circle of Enchanters and other incantations you will acquire as you proceed on your quest. If you succeed, you will be elevated to a seat in the illustrious Circle; if you fail, your land will be doomed to an eternity of darkness.
  Play Enchanter Difficulty: Standard
• Hollywood Hijinx Mystery | Treasure Hunt
  Vampire Penguins. A Corpse Line. Meltdown on Elm Street. Who could forget these classic Hollywood movies produced by your uncle, Buddy Burbank? But his greatest masterpiece has yet to be experienced... Hollywood Hijinx, starring you! Your Uncle Buddy and Aunt Hildegarde have passed away, but their memory lives on in their Malibu mansion, filled with a lifetime of Hollywood memorabilia. And you've inherited it all, with one stipulation - you can only claim your booty if you find the treasures hidden throughout the sprawling beachfront estate. If you can't find the treasures in one night, you lose the whole caboodle.
  Play Hollywood Hijinx Difficulty: Standard
• Infidel Adventure
  Infidel finds you marooned by your followers in the heart of the deadly Egyptian Desert. A soldier of fortune by trade, you've come hither in search of a great lost pyramid and its untold riches. Now, alone, you must locate and gain entry to the tomb, decipher its hieroglyphics and unravel its mysteries one by one. Through the Antechamber, the Barge Room, the Chamber of Ra, death will lick at your heels as you race to the shattering climax of this match of wits between you and the most ingenious architects, builders and murderers of all time - the ancient Egyptians.
  Play Infidel Difficulty: Advanced
• Leather Goddesses of Phobos Science Fiction | Humor
  How did you, a regular at Joe's Bar in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, end up on a Martian moon? Can you prevent the hideous space creature from abducting the naked heiress? Why does scratch 'n' sniff no. 2 smell so familiar? How many uses can you find for a rubber hose? Is it easy to remove a brass bikini? Is it hard to outsmart a robotoid sumo wrestler? Can you stop the Leather Goddesses' fiendish plan to turn all Earthlings into sex slaves? Learn the answers to these burning questions in Leather Goddesses of Phobos, Infocom's racy spoof of 1930s pulp fiction. But first, a word from our sponsor: Why put up with only one playing mode, when you can have three? That's right, three! So whether your tastes run to Tame, Suggestive, or Lewd, Leather Goddesses of Phobos can satisfy you!
  Play Leather Goddesses of Phobos Difficulty: Standard
• The Lurking Horror Horror
  A winter night at the G.U.E. tech campus with most students away on vacation serves as the backdrop for this tale of Lovecraftian horror.
  Play The Lurking Horror Forgiveness Rating: Cruel
• Moonmist Mystery
  More ghosts haunt the misty sea-coast and stone ramparts of Cornwall than anyplace else on earth. One such soul roams Tresyllian Castle: a pale phantom with flaxen hair and a luminous, flowing gown. It seems like a fanciful legend... until the spectral "White Lady" threatens the life of your friend Tamara! Arriving at the fog-shrouded castle, you meet a cast of eccentric characters ranging from a blue-blood debutante to an overly helpful butler. Has one of them donned the ghostly guise of the White Lady? Or has the drowned lover of Lord Jack, Tamara's fiancé, returned to haunt her successor? Perhaps the spectre is seeking the valuable treasure hidden somewhere in the lavish rooms and secret passageways of the castle. The solution to the mystery, as well as the location of the treasure, changes in each of the four variations of Moonmist.
  Play Moonmist Difficulty: Introductory
• Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It Wordplay
  Infocom's first collection of short stories takes you to a place where nothing is quite as it seems. It's a place where you really can make a mountain out of a molehill, where "the fur is flying" is taken literally, and where a bow can be turned into a beau. Each of the eight stories in Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It involves a different type of wordplay. You'll find yourself challenging your wits and your memory to come up with the clichés, spoonerisms, and other verbal trickeries needed to complete the puzzles. But don't view this as a hard row to hoe. Nord and Bert contains built-in hints, which you can call upon when the going gets rough.
  Play Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It
• Planetfall Science Fiction
  "Join the Patrol, and see the Galaxy!" You took the poster's advice, bait and all, and marched right over to the recruitment station near your home on the backwater planet of Gallium. Images of exotic worlds, strange and colorful aliens, and Deep Space heroism had danced in your head as you signed the dotted line. And since that day the closest you've come to Deep Space heroism was scrubbing down the radioactive leper colony on Ishmael-3. But suppose that jumbo fortune cookie you got at Qwang's Take-Out Asteroid last shore leave was right. Maybe you will indeed narrowly escape disaster. It's even possible that you'll actually travel to an unknown corner of the Universe, where you'll save a doomed planet - or die in the attempt. In fact, we'll guarantee it - every crumb of it - because that's just the way the cosmic cookie crumbles.
  Play Planetfall Difficulty: Standard
• Plundered Hearts Romance | Pirates
  In the 17th century, the seas are as wild as the untamed heart of a young woman. But when you set out on the schooner Lafond Deux, bound for the West Indies, your thoughts are only of your ailing father who awaits your care. Little do you know that your innocent journey will soon turn to dangerous adventure. You barely survive an encounter with pirates, whose plans for you include a fate worse than death. The explosives, the rocky reefs, the vicious crocodile - all these are obstacles which you must overcome with cunning and agility. True, it's not easy; but at least you can control your fate. What you cannot control is much more dangerous: your passion for Nicholas Jamison, the handsome pirate captain.
  Play Plundered Hearts
• Seastalker Thriller | Children's
  There's something down there in the ocean, something terrifying. And you have to face it - because only you can save the Aquadome, the world's first undersea research station. The alarm sounds and your submarine, the Scimitar, is docked nearby. But not so fast - you haven't even tested the Scimitar in deep water, and the crew at the Aquadome may have a traitor in its ranks. So be careful! You have many possibilities to consider, mysteries to unravel and life-and-death decisions to make!
  Play Seastalker Difficulty: Junior
• Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels Mystery | Historical | Literary
  Only 48 hours remain to solve the crime. With Scotland Yard failing to make headway, the Prime Minister calls on Sherlock Holmes, the famous consulting detective. But riddles left at the scene of the crime include a direct challenge to Holmes, who suspects a deadly trap. To throw the scoundrel off his guard, Holmes turns the investigation over to you, his trusted cohort, Dr. Watson.
  Play Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels
• Sorcerer Fantasy
  Sorcerer, the second of a spellbinding fantasy series in the tradition of Zork, takes you on a magical tour through the darker side of Zorkian enchantment. Your journey begins with a cryptic diary - the last trace of the now-vanished Belboz the Necromancer, grand and powerful leader of the Guild of Enchanters. It is feared that Belboz is in thrall to evil sorcery. If so, the very existence of the Circle of Enchanters could be forfeit. To rescue the kingdom and locate your mentor in the treacherous mists of time, you must gain the power and cunning of a true Sorcerer.
  Play Sorcerer Difficulty: Advanced
• Spellbreaker Fantasy
  Spellbreaker, the riveting conclusion to the Enchanter trilogy, explores the mysterious underpinnings of the Zorkian universe. A world founded on sorcery suddenly finds its magic failing, and only you, leader of the Circle of Enchanters, can uncover and destroy the cause of this paralyzing chaos.
  Play Spellbreaker Difficulty: Expert
• Starcross Science Fiction
  Starcross, Infocom's science fiction mind-bender, launches you headlong into the year 2186 and the depths of space. And not without good reason, for you are destined to rendezvous with a gargantuan starship from the outer fringes of the galaxy, peopled with both harmful and helpful beings. But the great starship serves a far larger purpose than mere cultural exchange. It bears a challenge that was issued eons ago, from light years away - and only you can meet it.
  Play Starcross Difficulty: Expert
• Stationfall Science Fiction
  By a happy twist of fate, your companion for the journey is your old pal Floyd! That's right, it's the same mischievous little robot, crayons and paddleball at the ready, who was your helpful buddy in Planetfall. Getting to the space station is easy. But once there, you find it strangely deserted. Even the seedy space village surrounding the station is missing its ragtag tenants. A spooky alien ship carrying only an empty pedestal rests in a docking bay. An ostrich and an Arcturian balloon creature are found, abandoned but in perfect health. The commander's log describes the mysterious breakdown of machiner, demonstrated by a roving hull-welder who seems bent on your destruction. And finally even Floyd begins acting oddly...
  Play Stationfall
• Suspect Mystery
  You have walked into a hotbed of deceit and trickery. And now they're accusing you of something you couldn't have done. But they have proof that you did it. "You're a killer," they say. And until you can prove them wrong, you're guilty as charged - murder. Among society's upper crust, murder is the kind of nastiness that must be cleared up quickly. So isn't it convenient that you, a struggling journalist looking for a good time and a good story, end up the scapegoat? The evidence is stacked against you, and you're being forced to prove your own innocence. And someone else's guilt. But no one wants to help you. You're an outsider. And only an outsider could be so rude as to accept an invitation to the social event of the season. Then spoil it all.
  Play Suspect Difficulty: Advanced
• Suspended Science Fiction
  They said you would sleep for half a millennium - not an unreasonable length of time, considering you'd be in limited cryogenic suspension. Your body would rest at the planet's nerve center, an underground complex 20 miles beneath the surface. Your brain, they told you, would be wired to a network of computers; your mind would continue to operate at a minimal level, overseeing maintenance of surface-side equilibrium. And you would not awake, so they promised, until your 500 years had elapsed - barring, of course, the most dire emergency. Then, and only then, you would be awakened to save your planet by strategically manipulating six robots, each of whom perceives the world differently. But such a catastrophe, you have been assured, could not possibly occur. Good morning.
  Play Suspended Difficulty: Expert
• Trinity fantasy | Time Travel
  You're neither an adventurer nor a professional thrill-seeker. You're simply an American tourist in London, enjoying a relaxing stroll through the famous Kensington Gardens. When World War III starts and the city is vaporized moments after the story begins, you have no hope of survival. Unless you enter another time, another place, another dimension.
  Play Trinity Forgiveness Rating: Nasty
• Wishbringer Fantasy
  It's an ordinary day in your ordinary little town, and you've been performing your ordinary mail clerk's duties in an altogether ordinary way. But there's something quite extraordinary in today's mail. It's a ransom note for a kidnapped cat, and it will lead you through unbelievably harrowing adventures to Wishbringer, a stone possessing undreamt-of powers. For though the note in question is addressed to someone in your ordinary little town, it's postmarked for Special Delivery to Parts Unknown. And its true destination is somewhere beyond your wildest dreams, c/o the magic of Infocom's interactive fiction.
  Play Wishbringer Difficulty: Introductory
• The Witness Mystery
  February 1938, Los Angeles. FDR's New Deal is finally rolling. Hitler's rolling, too; this time through Austria. But as Chief Detective for a quiet burgh on the outskirts of L.A., you've got other fish to fry. One gilt-edged society dame is dead. And now it looks like some two-bit grifter is putting the screws to her multi-millionaire old man. Then you step in, and the shakedown turns ugly. You're left with a stiff and race against the clock to nail your suspect... unless you get nailed first! Nobody said a sordid family affair like this was going to be a cinch. Everyone from the knock-out heiress to the poker-faced butler may end up in the slammer before it's over. Ahead of you is a Gordian knot of motives and alibis. And the only testimony you can trust is that of your own eyes - because you are The Witness.
  Play The Witness Difficulty: Standard
• Zork I: The Great Underground Empire Fantasy | Cave Crawl
  Many strange tales have been told of the fabulous treasure, exotic creatures, and diabolical puzzles in the Great Underground Empire. As an aspiring adventurer, you will undoubtedly want to locate these treasures and deposit them in your trophy case.
  Play Zork I: The Great Underground Empire Forgiveness Rating: Cruel
• Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz Fantasy | Cave Crawl
  The Wizard appears, floating nonchalantly in the air beside you. He grins sideways at you. The Wizard incants "Fantasize," but nothing happens. He shakes his wand. Nothing happens. With a slightly embarrassed glance in your direction, he vanishes. Expect the unexpected when you take on Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz. As you explore the subterranean realm of Zork, you'll continually be confronted with new surprises. Chief among these is the Wizard himself, who'll constantly endeavor to confound you with his capricious powers. But more than that, you'll face a challenge the likes of which you've never experienced before.
  Play Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz Difficulty: Advanced
• Zork III: The Dungeon Master Fantasy | Cave Crawl
  An old, oddly youthful man turns toward you slowly. His long, silver hair dances about him as a fresh breeze blows. "You have reached the final test, my friend! You are proved clever and powerful, but this is not yet enough! Seek me when you feel yourself worthy!" Zork III: The Dungeon Master draws you into the deepest and most mysterious reaches of the Great Underground Empire. Nothing is as it seems. And the one responsible for the shadow and darkness - the Dungeon Master - embodies the greatest mystery of all. In this test of wisdom and courage, you will face countless dangers. But what awaits you at the culmination of your odyssey is well worth risking all.
  Play Zork III: The Dungeon Master Difficulty: Advanced
• Zork: A Troll's-Eye View Satire
  Have you ever wondered how the life of a guard troll is? Find out in this game!
  Play Zork: A Troll's-Eye View