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Some text-based games to play at work? (lemmy.world)

submitted 20 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've played A dark room, and Zork. I'm looking something more like the first one, text-based but able to push some buttons to do things rater than do everything with commands. I've thinking in Dwarf Fortress, but it's too colorish, like Brogue, which I do like a lot.

Do anyone have some recommendations? Thank you.

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[-] [email protected] 4 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

you could explore yourworldoftext its basically an infinite multiplayer word processor, where anyone can put down text anywhere and edit it.

im not gonna spoil too much as that would ruin the fun, but i will say the rabbit hole goes deep.

useful tip: click menu > show coordinates.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 11 hours ago

bitburner!

(a programming-based incremental RPG where you write JavaScript scripts to automate gameplay, hack servers, learn skills, and progress in a cyberpunk world. free on steam or in your browser)

[-] [email protected] 3 points 10 hours ago

Good game

[-] [email protected] 2 points 9 hours ago

i almost ascended NetHack at work playing over Telnet on nethack.alt.org

[-] [email protected] 3 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

not what you're asking for, but it's worth a little fun goofing around with 'Perchance' dungeons and dragons AI.

I got married to a rock.

(it's not that good otherwise, doesn't compare to actual people :/)

[-] [email protected] 3 points 12 hours ago

If you're up for a browser based game, Kingdom of Loathing can be really fun.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 10 hours ago

Fuck yeah. Glad to see them gaining popularity

[-] [email protected] 1 points 10 hours ago

Legend of the green dragon

[-] [email protected] 9 points 17 hours ago

~~corruption of champions~~

[-] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Woah hey now

Not even gonna mention the sequel?

[-] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago

Honestly, I prefer the original to the sequels.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 20 hours ago

Nethack, maybe?

[-] [email protected] 5 points 18 hours ago

That used to be my slacking off game at my first real job. I'd ssh into my computer at home and sneakily play Nethack whenever I got bored. Either that or browse websites with Links.
This was around 2007 and way outside my comfort zone as far as computers were concerned. I felt like such a hacker at the time :)

[-] [email protected] 2 points 13 hours ago

Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead

[-] [email protected] 11 points 20 hours ago

I would recommend Universal Paperclips to anyone who enjoyed A Dark Room.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago

I second this. The background and philosophy behind it, the questions you ask yourself, the thinking it makes are really worth.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 19 hours ago

ugh...

man. I spent way way too much time on that cow clicker

[-] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours ago

Nethack is a command line classic

[-] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours ago

ifdb.org is good for this! i'd recommend Counterfeit Monkey or Lost Pig.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 18 hours ago

MUD’s are poised to make a comeback.

As an aside, how is your thumbnail animated? First I’ve seen that.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago

It's a GIF. You can try it.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 19 hours ago

Not really text-based but https://crawl.develz.org/

[-] [email protected] 2 points 18 hours ago

This got me through so many shifts working in a call center. Could download PuTTY and run it from my user folder without admin permissions and then connect to one of the servers.

Been awhile since I played, but I remember my first ascension was Draconian Skald. I think the rules have changed quite a bit, but I used to love Troll Monk of Cheibriados, too. Stoneskin + Stoneform and a shield of reflection absolutely WRECKED the Elven Halls. For every step I'd take the elves would get like 4-5 turns and fire off a volley of arrows. I'd take practically no damage and a large portion of them would get reflected back and kill the elves themselves. Literally just waltzing through the place. Slow is life.

Transmuter used to be a lot of fun, too, but they changed it significantly over the years. I remember playing as a Felid one time and I died while in spider form. Because Felids get several lives, I reincarnated on the same level, ran back to my corpse and condensed it into a poison potion to chuck back at enemies.

I find it to be one of the simpler roguelikes to learn, but it takes awhile to master and there are some very cool interactions once you get the vibe.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 18 hours ago

Dwarf fortress classic

[-] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago

keep hearing about this game, what makes it so special?

[-] [email protected] 1 points 11 hours ago

It's depth is absolutely outrageous, I would recommend the recent 4 part documentary about the making of.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 18 hours ago

Aardwolf MUD. Hundreds of people online at peak. Lots of replayability. Some color in your terminal.

https://www.aardwolf.com/

[-] [email protected] 5 points 19 hours ago

Dunnet is a good hour-long game. Comes with emacs.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 19 hours ago

Colossal Cave Adventure

Hunt the Wumpus

any MUD

[-] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago

Some similar-ish to A Dark Room:

Civ Clicker

Candy Box

Candy Box 2

[-] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago

This one! It's called Evolve https://pmotschmann.github.io/Evolve/

[-] [email protected] 5 points 20 hours ago

Like Nethack?

Or Angband?

[-] [email protected] 3 points 18 hours ago

Alter Ego! Underrated text-based DOS classic, now easily playable in your browser:

https://www.playalterego.com/index.html

[-] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago

Frogcomposband is my favourite Angband varient. There's a huge amount of classes to pick from, towns with quests and once you get a hang of it, most of the interactions can be done by the number pad.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 19 hours ago

Anchorhead. https://store.steampowered.com/app/726870/Anchorhead/

It's a cosmic horror text-based game that adapts the Cthulhu Mythos. It's fantastic. This is the updated and enhanced Steam version but the original 1998 version is free:

https://dwheeler.com/anchorhead/

[-] [email protected] 3 points 20 hours ago

Pokete is a text based Pokemon-like

Star Trek is a text based strategy game

[-] [email protected] 2 points 18 hours ago

atc from bsdgames. Also vitetris if that counts.

this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2025

130 points (100.0% liked)

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