There are some solidRoguelikesout there these days, likeEnter the GungeonorRisk of Rain 2, just to name a few. If you’re like the vast majority of gamers, though, you probably take two things for granted: modern graphics and sleek graphical user interfaces.

If you’ve ever wondered what it was like before these modern standards, prepare to be introduced to the world of text-based Roguelikes, a highly accessible format and experience for both developers and gamers alike. If it’s your first time playing this type of Roguelike, give yourself time to adjust; it can feel a bit overwhelming and strange in the beginning.

A player finding an orange scythe made from ASCII characters, with its stats shown just below.

All games listed are playable on PC, with most being free to play. Text-based refers to any Roguelike with minimal, oftentimes simplistic graphics and GUI elements, typically using ASCII or no more than extended ASCII and limited tilesets as graphical assets.

8SanctuaryRPG: Black Edition

Instead of downloading the nextCall of Dutygame, which will certainly ask for hundreds of gigabytes of storage space, you could jump back to a simpler time with SanctuaryRPG: Black Edition, a full ASCII Roguelike withJRPGinfluences that only requires 200 megabytes of disk space.

Funny, but no less strategic, this game offers a rich, roleplaying, dungeon-crawling experience with over 160 class and race combos to tinker with, over 1400 weapons and armors to discover and equip, and plenty of new runs to begin after each death.

A top-down perspective of a cave made of ASCII assets, showing a large orange vision cone in the center.

7Brogue

Brogue can be a pretty daunting experience at first, but if you give yourself some time to learn the ropes and acclimate to how enemies, items, and your character look in this ASCII environment, you’ll be well on your way to retrieving the Amulet of Yendor at the 26th floor of the dungeon.

True to a classic RPG-Roguelike experience, you’ll have to make do with what the dungeon gives you, including great items like Scrolls of Enchantment or Staves, to less desirable finds, like cursed weapons and armor, equipment with negative enchantments, or the remarkably volatile Potion of Incineration.

A top-down view of various rooms and connected pathways made from ASCII assets, largely in black and white colors.

6Nethack

While Nethack is a revered ASCII Roguelike, choosing this game as your first text-based experience is not advised. To be absolutely clear, unless you’re looking up everything, it’s not an understatement to say it may take you up to a couple of years to figure out every secret in the game, and master its mechanics.

But hey, if you’re okay with dying over and over, like inDark SoulsorElden Ring, then this could be a challenging but fun learning curve with the reward of becoming proficient in a legendary, but pretty obscure Roguelike; weird flex but okay.

A close, top-down view of a small room and the player’s character, which is represented as a white “@” symbol.

5Dungeon Mercenary

Dungeon Mercenary is incredibly simple, at least in terms of looks; walls are hashtag symbols, the letter “g” represents goblins, and so on. If you have a decent imagination or enjoy cracking open a book on occasion, though, this isn’t a big barrier whatsoever.

Every run offers procedurally generated dungeons, potions, spells, bombs and other throwable items, the pushing and pulling of objects, special attacks, dodging, and plenty of other items and mechanics in a turn-based format. Beware Ogre Artillerymen, the almighty Lich, and the dreaded Master of Rats.

A zoomed out, top-down perspective of a player exploring a dungeon level made of mostly white ASCII assets.

4DeliveryRL

In a refreshing twist, DeliveryRL doesn’t ask you to go on a killing spree just to nab an artifact at the end of a dungeon and walk out as a hero. Instead, you’re tasked with delivering pizzas for a fantasy pizza shop, and on occasion, one of those customers is an ancient dragon.

In typical delivery person fashion, you’re racing against the clock to deliver pizza, but instead of dealing with traffic and lousy tips, you’ll have to use your wits and urgency to get to the 10th floor of the dungeon as you fight off or flee from monsters on the way.

A split image of Omnius gameplay, showing extended ASCII assets in largely bright green and dull purple colors.

3Omnius

Omnius throws you into a procedurally generated universe where you’re allowed to be practically anything you’d want to roleplay as, be it a soldier, farmer, bounty hunter, or something else. Just… try not to get too attached to a character, because this game has permadeath.

As you explore, all the interactions and movements happening around you can feel similar toDwarf Fortressif you’ve played that. If not, you’ll just have to take things one step at a time after you emerge from the wreckage of your humble spacecraft.

A detailed world made of extended ASCII assets, showing trees, water, stones, grass, and an RPG style GUI at the bottom of the screen.

2The Temple Of Torment

The Temple of Torment looks a bit better than the typical text-based Roguelike, but that doesn’t change the core experience. Heck, you might as well consider yourself a bit spoiled, since you don’t have to imagine the trees, water, and other environmental features.

Ultimately, the “meat and potatoes” of the game is made up of over 15 classes to choose from, offensive weaponry and capabilities like guns, swords, and spellcasting, over 100 monsters and items to come across, and plenty of quests, world map locations, and dungeons to explore.

A retro-style dungeon crawling environment made of extended ASCII assets, showing a room with a few green trees and an enemy firing an orange laser beam at the player.

1Caves Of Qud

Caves of Qud is a wild game. It offers highly complex, simulated environments and interactions in a sci-fi inspired world filled with lore, culture, and ancient civilizations. Indeed, this game is all about doing anything and everything. That is, if you can manage to defeat obstacles in the way of your goals, of course.

Thankfully, you have lots of options to achieve your goals, including but not limited to: