Text-based online games: what they are and where to play for free
A text-based game describes the world, events and the results of your actions in words, and you choose actions with buttons, lists or short commands. There are no heavy graphics: your imagination draws the picture. Here are the main kinds of text games, why people still play them in 2026 and where to play new text-based online games for free right in the browser.
Published on 22 October 2026. Author: Andrey Malin.
What a text-based game is
In a usual video game you see the world on the screen. In a text game the world is told to you: “You are in the Bramirne-327 system. A trade ship is docked at the station. Pirates demand a ransom.” Then you decide what to do: trade, fly on or fight. The game answers with new text, and that is how your story grows.
Early text games made you type commands such as “go north” or “take lamp”. Modern text-based online games usually give you buttons and lists of actions, so they are easy to play on a phone too.
A little history
Text games are one of the oldest genres. Colossal Cave Adventure appeared in the mid-1970s, then came Zork and the whole genre of interactive fiction. In 1978 MUD appeared, one of the first multiplayer text games where people met in a shared world. Modern online RPGs trace their roots to games like that.
Kinds of text games
- Text adventures and interactive fiction: a story where your choices shape the ending.
- Text RPGs: a character with stats, gear, skills, battles and quests.
- Multiplayer text-based online games and text MMORPGs: one world for many players, chat, trade, alliances and wars.
- Text strategy and economic games: you run a ship, a city, a state or a company.
- Board and card games in text form: familiar rules, with everything described in words.
Why people still play text games
- They run on any device, in the browser of a computer or a phone, with no download and no powerful graphics card.
- They are easy to play in short sessions.
- Imagination draws the world better than any graphics, and the world can be huge: thousands of systems, races, characters and events.
- A screen reader can read text aloud, so blind and visually impaired people play text games on equal terms with sighted players.
Where to play text-based online games for free
The Blind Can site has three free text-based online games. They all run in the browser on a computer or a phone, with no ads and no purchases. The games themselves are in Russian for now, except Demon Invasion, which is available in 10 languages including English.
- Infinite Space — a new text-based online space game: a multiplayer sandbox like FTL, but with an open world and one shared universe for all players.
- Demon Invasion — a cooperative text game inspired by the board game Eldritch Horror for one to eight players.
- Star Powers — a space deck-building card game inspired by Star Realms, against the computer or online.
- Stiks — a text-based online survival game in the S-T-I-K-S universe: a huge shared world of rebooting clusters, creatures, immune survivors, stabs and trade between players (in Russian for now).
If you like classic text adventures, the IFDB database keeps a huge catalogue of interactive fiction, and itch.io has many small games tagged text-based.
Frequently asked questions about text games
What is a text-based online game?
A game where the world and events are described in text, you choose actions with buttons, lists or commands, and you play over the internet, often with other people.
Where can I play a new text-based game for free?
For example on The Blind Can site: Infinite Space, a new multiplayer text space game; Demon Invasion, a co-op game inspired by Eldritch Horror; and Star Powers, a card game. All are free and run in the browser.
Are there text-based MMORPGs?
Yes. Multiplayer text games have existed since the late 1970s. A modern example is Infinite Space, where all players live in one shared universe.
Can blind people play text games?
Yes. A screen reader reads the text aloud, so well-made text games are accessible to blind and visually impaired people.
Another article: Games for blind people: what to play online with a screen reader. All articles.