TXT Adventures

Photopia is really great. Don't think it's retro though.

There are plenty of other good ones, but that's the first one that comes to mind.

>>2816294
>are there any good ones

The majority of them are. What's your problem with the popular ones? Zork and ADVENT are good introductions to the genre.

The Hobbit on the ZX Spectrum and not retro: Heroes of Ardania are probably tied for my favorite, but the latter is pushing the definition of a text adventure.

Overall though, they're great games and it's hard to mess it up, sure there are bad ones, but there are a lot more good ones that I've played at least.

I remember enjoying Anchorhead and The Lurking Horror

Not OP but I've been thinking of getting into text adventures and I have to ask, is it common for the game to display what your options are or do you just usually have to throw commands at the game to see what sticks? I tried playing Collosal Cave Adventure and had a pretty tough time with it, but that's the first one so I wouldn't be surprised if it's kind of rough compared to others.

Check out The Pawn from Magnetic Scrolls.

Then check out their other games.

>>2816330
Few parser-based adventures tell you what your options are. Some have graduated hints available for when you get stuck, and the better ones will put a lot of effort into making sure that anything you could reasonably think of trying is implemented (including synonyms). You might find Twine or ChoiceScript games more to your liking, though.

>>2816330
BBS text adventures and ones in the same style like the game >>2816308 was talking about usually lay all the options out for you instead of using a parser. I don't know if that's a different genre but there are a lot text games like that, because they're way easier to make.

http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/3cbedqimquselmanehhzxg/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy

Also spot the underages in the comments section.

>>2816758
>I can't get out of the house
>I can't get out of the house
>How do you play this
>I can't get out of the house
>Where's the walk through?
>Where is X item

Jesus wept

>>2816308
holy shit I forgot about heroes of ardania, haven't played in years, gonna play it tonight, I just checked, I have 44,000 turns on my main character.

I'm only 30 so the ubiquity of these titles was well before my time, and I can honestly say I think that certain IF games are some of the greatest experiences you can have in conjunction with a computer. Infocom were gods - the world of Zork is a place deep in my heart.

It's not for everybody and I honestly don't even reccomend going in trying to 'beat' the games. Just try the classics, draw the world in your mind, and explore a dead worlds that never truly were. Immensely romantic.

File: dragonquest-alt-manual.jpg (125KB, 564x461px) Image search: [Google]

125KB, 564x461px

>>2816330
If the game has a manual, it might tell you some or most of the useful nouns/verbs. With magazine type-in games (usually in BASIC) it's pretty obvious too.
Anyway, once you play a couple, it becomes much easier. Infocom even rated theirs based on difficulty, so you can know easily what's a good choice to start off with.

not even video games, let alone retro ones