Guides · How to play
How to Play Text Adventure Games
The loop, in one minute
The game prints a room. You type an action. It prints the consequence. That is the entire interface. You do not need to write sentences — parsers want verb + noun, occasionally verb + noun + preposition + noun.
Start every room with LOOK, then EXAMINE each noun the description mentions. That habit alone solves most of the genre.
The full text adventure command list
| Command | Short form | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| LOOK | L | Re-describe the room you are in |
| EXAMINE thing | X thing | Inspect one object closely — the most useful verb in the genre |
| TAKE thing | GET thing | Pick something up |
| DROP thing | — | Put it down |
| INVENTORY | I | List what you are carrying |
| OPEN / CLOSE thing | — | Doors, drawers, boxes, envelopes |
| READ thing | — | Letters, labels, notes, diaries |
| SEARCH thing | LOOK IN thing | Look inside or under, which EXAMINE may not do |
| PUSH / PULL / MOVE thing | — | Furniture, rugs, panels |
| UNLOCK thing WITH key | — | The standard two-object form |
| TURN ON / OFF thing | — | Lamps, taps, radios, televisions |
| TALK TO person | — | Start a conversation, where supported |
| ASK person ABOUT topic | — | The interrogation verb in mysteries |
| SHOW thing TO person | — | Present evidence |
| WAIT | Z | Let time pass — often required in mysteries |
| AGAIN | G | Repeat your last command |
Movement and directions
Type a direction on its own: N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, SW, UP, DOWN, IN, OUT. GO NORTH and NORTH mean the same thing; N is faster. ENTER and EXIT work for cars, cupboards and beds in most games.
In modern games the map is deliberately small. In eighties games, keep paper beside you.
Meta commands: save, undo, help
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| SAVE / RESTORE | Store and reload progress |
| UNDO | Take back the last move |
| HELP or ABOUT | The game's own instructions and credits |
| HINTS | Built-in hint system, where one exists |
| SCORE | Progress, in games that keep score |
| VERBS or COMMANDS | Some modern games list their own verbs |
| QUIT | Leave — save first |
Browser games generally save into your browser's local storage, so avoid private windows and do not clear site data mid-story.
How to read a room
- Every named noun is a promise. If the author bothered to mention the wallpaper, EXAMINE the wallpaper.
- Adjectives are clues. "A recently moved chair" is not scenery; it is a plot point.
- Revisit rooms. In a good mystery the same room is never described identically twice.
- SEARCH is not EXAMINE. Looking at a mattress and looking under it are different actions.
- Ask people about the nouns. ASK ANNA ABOUT PHOTOGRAPH is how mysteries open up.
What to do when you are stuck
- LOOK again — you may be remembering an older description.
- EXAMINE every noun in the room, then everything in your INVENTORY.
- SEARCH, MOVE and LOOK UNDER the furniture.
- Go back to rooms you considered finished.
- WAIT a few turns; timed events are common in mysteries.
- Try simpler wording, and use the exact nouns the game used.
- Type HELP or HINTS — using them is not cheating, it is reading.
Text adventures vs visual novels
| Text adventure | Visual novel | |
|---|---|---|
| Input | Typed commands or choices | Advance text, occasional choice |
| Art | None — prose only | Character art, backgrounds, music |
| Puzzles | Central | Rare |
| Length | 30 minutes to 10 hours | 10 to 50 hours |
| Feels like | Searching a place | Watching a story you nudge |
Where to practise tonight
PARANOID is a good first parser game: a dark suburban mystery in one Nordic family home over one night, a forgiving parser, no dead ends, two to three hours, two endings, $5.99 once with tax included and nothing to install. It runs in a browser on phone, tablet or desktop.
Then browse the best interactive fiction games for free classics, or the complete guide for where all of this came from.
Frequently asked questions
How do you play a text adventure game?
You read a description of where you are, then type a short command saying what you want to do — LOOK, EXAMINE DESK, TAKE KEY, GO NORTH — and the game responds with more text. Repeat until the story resolves. Six verbs cover most of any game: LOOK, EXAMINE, TAKE, OPEN, USE and a compass direction.
What commands do text adventures understand?
Almost all parser games accept LOOK (L), EXAMINE (X), TAKE, DROP, INVENTORY (I), OPEN, CLOSE, READ, SEARCH, PUSH, PULL, UNLOCK X WITH Y, TURN ON, TALK TO, ASK ABOUT, WAIT (Z), AGAIN (G), plus the directions N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, SW, UP, DOWN, IN and OUT, and meta commands like SAVE, RESTORE, UNDO and HELP.
What do I do when I am stuck?
Re-LOOK at the room, EXAMINE every noun in its description, check your INVENTORY and examine those items too, try SEARCH on furniture, revisit rooms you thought were finished, and remember WAIT. If nothing moves, type HELP or HINTS — most modern games include one.
Why does the game not understand what I type?
Usually because you named something the author did not implement, or used a longer phrase than needed. Say EXAMINE PHOTO rather than 'have a closer look at that photograph on the shelf'. Use nouns exactly as the room description spelled them.
Should I map a text adventure on paper?
For big eighties games, yes — Zork expects it. For modern games like PARANOID, no: the world is one house, and the game keeps the geography small enough to hold in your head.
Can I lose or die in a text adventure?
In old games, easily and without warning. Most modern games avoid sudden death and unwinnable states, though they can still reach different endings. PARANOID has two, depending on the choices you make.
How is interactive fiction different from a visual novel?
A visual novel adds character art, music and voice, and you mostly advance text and pick occasional choices. Interactive fiction has no art and asks you to act — typing or choosing your way through a place. Visual novels are watched; text adventures are searched.
Where can I practise?
PARANOID is a good first parser game: forgiving input, one house, two to three hours, browser only, $5.99 once with tax included. Free classics on the Interactive Fiction Archive are the next step once the verbs feel natural.