The Best Text Games for Linux

Update : Dr. What & Detective Son added at rank #23.
1

Roadwarden (2022)

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89
Review score
Logo of Roadwarden Screenshot of Roadwarden Screenshot of Roadwarden Screenshot of Roadwarden

Linux PC Windows Mac OS

Roadwarden is a text-adventure set in a downbeat fantasy world of magic, monsters, and grinding poverty. As a newly minted roadwarden, you are tasked with patrolling the highways and byways of a peninsula while also exploring its commercial possibilities for your mysterious paymasters. You have to manage your time carefully to get everything done in the 40 days before autumn sets in.


What we like:
  • Unique take on text adventuring
  • Choices that really matter and an organic sense of muddling through that feels lifelike
  • Nuanced and low-key atmosphere
What could be improved:
  • Depending on choices things can feel relentlessly downbeat
  • Lack of quest tracker can seem perverse
  • Very text heavy and not suitable for those who aren't into reading or plot

  • text
  • rpg
  • fantasy
  • adventure
  • visual-novel
  • choices
  • pixel
  • fiction
  • interactive

2

Ord. (2019)

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93
Review score
Logo of Ord. Screenshot of Ord. Screenshot of Ord. Screenshot of Ord.

IOS iPhone Linux Mac OS Nintendo Switch Playstation 4 Xbox One PC Windows

Ord is a captivating text-based adventure game with five unique stories to choose from. Choose your own adventure as you become a god and create your world or take on an evil warlock in a thrilling quest. With fast-paced narratives, your choices matter, and you'll be engaged in no time. Plus, create and share your own stories with Steam Workshop support. Available in multiple languages.

Buy

What we like:
  • Cleverly conveys changes in atmosphere and mood with minimalistic visuals and sound effects
  • Multiple scenarios with vastly different outcomes provide high replayability
  • A fun and creative take on the text adventure genre
  • Multiple languages supported
  • Workshop support allows for user-generated content and experimentation with storytelling
What could be improved:
  • No save-states or continues, with every death resetting the player to the beginning
  • Poor controls and other quirks make the game feel more like an art project than a polished video game experience

  • text
  • minimalist
  • adventure
  • experience
  • story
  • narrative
  • perma-death
  • rpg
  • experimental
  • innovative
  • casual
  • book
  • fast-paced

3

I doesn't exist - a modern text adventure (2023)

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74
Review score
Logo of I doesn't exist - a modern text adventure Screenshot of I doesn't exist - a modern text adventure Screenshot of I doesn't exist - a modern text adventure Screenshot of I doesn't exist - a modern text adventure

Linux Mac OS PC Windows

Classic Zork meets Existential Crisis. A modern text adventure that explores themes of control, isolation and mental health while levelling up the genre with beautiful pixel art.

Buy

  • text
  • short
  • artificial
  • intelligence
  • text-adventure
  • interactive
  • pixel
  • fiction
  • conversation
  • psychological
  • modern
  • old-school
  • horror
  • atmospheric
  • adventure

4

Open Sorcery (2017)

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99
Review score
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PC Windows Mac OS Linux IOS iPhone

BEL/S is an Elemental Firewall: a fire elemental bound with C++ code to protect a network of people and places. She can learn things, develop relationships, and even gain sapience. Or she can burn everything with fire. It's up to you.

Buy

  • text
  • cyberpunk
  • interactive
  • rpg
  • fiction
  • adventure
  • fantasy

5

Shape (2023)

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84
Review score
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Linux Mac OS Xbox One Android PC Windows

A minimalist style but inside a complex-minded With connecting word mechanism, you can make a rule for your rooms and solve the problem. Solve the puzzle and go to the door to the next room. explore new mechanism


  • atmospheric
  • platform
  • minimalist
  • surreal
  • exploration
  • psychological
  • narration
  • philosophical
  • walking-simulator
  • 2d
  • psychedelic
  • text
  • first-person
  • puzzle
  • emotional

6

Fallen Hero: Retribution (2023)

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98
Review score
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Linux Mac OS PC Windows

So you're a villain now? Let's see if you survive the experience.

Buy

  • text
  • rpg
  • casual
  • sci-fi
  • action
  • choices
  • adventure
  • protagonist

7

The Sin (2021)

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77
Review score
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Linux Mac OS PC Windows Nintendo Switch

The depressing pictures of a dying village and its inhabitants to the dark ambient music of the underground performers make those who are still trying to survive in places where everything has long died, to plunge even deeper into the world of mystical horror and deep despair

Buy

  • idler
  • horror
  • crime
  • psychological
  • fiction
  • visual-novel
  • text
  • empire
  • mythology
  • narration
  • detective
  • demons
  • thriller
  • management
  • hand-drawn

8

The Wild Case (2021)

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80
Review score
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PC Windows Nintendo Switch Android IOS iPhone Mac OS Linux

Embark on a journey to an eerie village shrouded in mystery in The Wild Case. Solve puzzles, negotiate with inhabitants, and uncover supernatural occurrences in this atmospheric adventure. With stunning hand-drawn graphics and haunting sound effects, immerse yourself in an open world that will keep you on edge. Unravel the secrets of the forgotten village if you dare.


What we like:
  • Short but well-rounded gameplay
  • Intriguing mystery with satisfying ending
  • Beautiful hand-drawn artwork
  • Atmospheric music and sound effects
  • Adequate price point
What could be improved:
  • Lack of motivation for replayability
  • Rough English translation
  • Story not frightening for adults

  • detective
  • point-and-click
  • story
  • puzzle
  • hand-drawn
  • atmospheric
  • 2d
  • adventure
  • text
  • supernatural
  • exploration
  • first-person
  • investigation
  • linear
  • narration

9

Athanasy (2022)

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93
Review score
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Linux Mac OS Windows Phone / Windows 10 Mobile Nintendo Switch Android PC Windows

Deep beneath the surface of the dead Earth, the City, the last refuge of humanity, hides. Engineering genius and efforts of all mankind; a giant structure of steel, concrete, and biopolymers. It keeps the remnants of civilization one step away from total extinction.

Buy

  • narration
  • horror
  • visual-novel
  • dynamic
  • sci-fi
  • lore
  • text
  • lovecraftian
  • cyberpunk
  • conversation
  • post-apocalyptic
  • psychological
  • surreal
  • choices
  • multiple-endings

10

Fallen Hero: Rebirth (2018)

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97
Review score
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Linux Mac OS PC Windows IOS iPhone

They called you a hero; you call them fools. Use your telepathy romance old friends and fight new enemies as you become the greatest villain Los Diablos has ever known!

Buy

  • text
  • novel-quality
  • choices
  • villain
  • protagonist
  • novel
  • rpg
  • interactive
  • romantic
  • adventure

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