The Scoop: Wait! Don’t leave the page, yet. I know you’re thinking “Text adventure? Meh. I’ll come back tomorrow to see what the free game is.” But have you ever REALLY given the text adventure genre a shot? I mean, really-really? I first played Zork only a couple years ago. After Zelda: Twilight Princess. After Final Fantasy 9. After Halo 3. And yet I was still able to enjoy the adventure the game takes players on. I bet you will too. So give the game a shot. A REAL shot.

The game opens with the following now-iconic screen:

West of House
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.

This is a great example of a description accomplishing a whole lot, with very, very little. This brief description presents gamers with a world full of possibility. All gamers, even those that have never played a text adventure, probably instinctively understand that they should find a way into that mysterious house, and to open that mailbox to see if anything is inside.

Without spoiling too much, gamers will quickly find a way inside the white house with the boarded door, and will descend into the Great Underground Empire in order to collect the Nineteen Treasures of Zork. Give the game a shot. It might just surprise you. If you’ve never played an Interactive Fiction game before, use the links below. Better to have a guide walk you through the game than to not experience it at all.

Links:
GameFAQS
Invisiclues (recommended! Gives gradually more-obvious hints to puzzles)
MobyGames Entry
Map

The Scoop: Beyond the Titanic is an obscure Apogee text adventure originally released in 1986. Many large game databases, including GameFAQS, don’t even have a file on the title. It was re-released as freeware in 1998 by 3D Realms, around the same time that the Titanic film was taking over the world.

The game is notable for being one of the very earliest works of the famed Scott Miller, who would go on to be a principal at Apogee/3D Realms, & Gathering of Developers. Miller played an instrumental role in the creation of Duke Nukem, Commander Keen, Max Payne, Prey, and dozens of other titles.

Beyond the Titanic itself is a good, although ultimately unremarkable, text adventure. Make no mistake, though – if you enjoy reading and enjoy gaming, the game is absolutely worth experiencing. The story begins as an attempt to escape off the ill-fated Titanic, but ends up taking a turn for the… weird. The very weird.

If you’re like me you probably don’t have enough patience to successfully make it through a text adventure in this day and age, so I STRONGLY suggest you use a walkthrough like the one linked below. That way you can experience the twists and turns without the all the frustration.
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Links:
MobyGames Entry
DOS Games Archives Write-Up
Freeware Announcement
Walkthrough / Guide

The Scoop: I know, I know. A text adventure? Really? I admit it’s not for everyone. In fact, it’s probably not for most people. But it might be for you, and you’ll never know until you try, right? Hitchhiker’s Guide was one of Infocom’s more popular and beloved text adventures, so if you don’t like this one, odds are the whole genre will most likely never do it for you.

Like other text adventures, you interact with the world via textual commands – “get key,” “turn on light,” “open door,” etc. The output is presented in second person – “You exit the house and a scene unfolds before you…”

Text adventures require a healthy imagination to enjoy, but oddly, they often contain *more* detail than modern titles – similar to a novel’s ability to include a greater amount of detail than a film.

A word of warning – like other text adventures, Hitchhiker’s Guide is devious as hell. So for the love of God if you’re going to make a serious go at clearing the whole game, use a guide. If you enjoy Adams’ humor and can get past the text interface, Infocom’s HGttG remains a very rewarding experience to this day.
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Links:
Wikipedia Entry
PC World News Story
BBC Steve Meretzky Interview