Episodi

  • IFComp 2026 Roundup

    IFComp 2026 Roundup
    Oct 16 2026

    Fourteen (!) capsule reviews of games submitted to this year's Interactive Fiction Competition (IFComp 2026), all with at least one claim to neo-retro status. Joining regulars Jason, Tim, and Nick are three guests from past episodes: Robin Raymond, Christian Neuhaus, and Dudley of Yesterzine. Some of this year's entries can be played in ancient languages (Hittite!) and on ancient devices (Atari 2600!)

    Let us know what you think of this experiment and if you'd like to see adjustments made if there is a next-time!

    Games covered:

    Copper Tavern (Tavern Heist) The Rat Demonstration Ruined Temple Bob the Barbarian Forensic Necromancy 9:00 AM Train Gambler’s Quest Meet the Timesheet Wait-Our-Way Tower Ḫattušumna Laḫḫa (Hittite Adventure) The Count and the Communist The Two Seasons: Encounter With a Vampire Logic Land
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    1 ora e 47 min
  • OPEN MAILBOX October 2026

    OPEN MAILBOX October 2026
    Sep 29 2026
    It's our 50th episode! Jason, Nick, and Tim make it a working holiday with news on the peak of competition season (Ectocomp! Introcomp! Iron ChIF! And of course IFComp!), news on developments for Z-Machine developers and Å-Machine players, five new Fairlight releases on C64, and, yes, reverb Ramsberg. Iron ChIF Adventuron wrapup: https://intfiction.org/t/iron-chif-season-one-episode-3-flacrabbit-vs-dee-cooke-using-adventuron/81129/138 Iron ChIF TADS sought: https://intfiction.org/t/iron-chef-looking-for-tads-challengers/75758/36 Introcomp: https://introcomp.org/ ECTOCOMP 2026: https://itch.io/jam/ectocomp-2026 ReZet80: https://rezet80.blogspot.com/p/rezet80-sentinel.html Tiny Text Adventure Engine: https://rezet80.blogspot.com/2026/02/tiny-text-adventure-engine.html Haunted House: https://rezet80.blogspot.com/2023/09/haunted-house.html Adventure Family Tree: https://www.ifwiki.org/Adventure_Family_Tree Adventure Family Tree discussion: https://intfiction.org/t/adventure-family-tree-using-ifwiki-to-record-and-display-information/77211/2 ZigZag: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZigZag_(software) Lantern: https://textadventure.net Swiss Family Robinson/FLT: https://csdb.dk/release/?id=263890 FairLight TV 159 (Synapse cracks): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2x1xYSHCFQ The Demon Jar: https://qladventures.itch.io/the-demon-jar AGI-64/AGI-ANTIC: https://meanhamster.com/games/agi-64 Vanyar: https://johanberntsson.itch.io/vanyar I'm Still a Cannibal For the FBI: https://cannibalforthef.bi/ Dialog interpreter for Apple II: https://intfiction.org/t/help-dialog-choose-a-commodore-64-color-palette/81746/9 SCUMMVM MADS support: https://www.scummvm.org/news/20260826/ Fish on Apple platforms?!: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2026/09/fish Magnetic Scrolls' Upon Westminster Bridge: https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2026/09/upon-westminster-bridge/ DAAD tutorials: https://markhardisty.wordpress.com/ The Greedy Dwarf: https://mjhardisty.itch.io/the-greedy-dwarf/devlog/1674561/the-greedy-dwarf-now-available Adjunct of Computing #1: https://youtu.be/tojYY6hdnNY Plague On the Discovery testers wanted: https://intfiction.org/t/testers-needed-for-new-bdb-project-s-game-plague-on-the-discovery-morgan-tyler-series-3/82097 Dracula Spectrum Next: https://giadacu.itch.io/dracula-english-zx-spectrum-next-illustrated-edition A Spy's Heist: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=au4s1nyuqonq10fw PARANOID blog: https://play-paranoid.online/blog/best-mystery-text-adventure-games Legends: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=3xgiq6kxz60zvff2
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    30 min
  • A Mind Forever Voyaging and PRESTAVBA

    A Mind Forever Voyaging and PRESTAVBA
    Sep 23 2026

    It's Infocom and Iron Curtain classic text adventures from the final years of the Cold War!

    With special guest Ana Meisel (ana.help), Nick and Jason take on two entertaining political-statement classics of the 1980s. First up is PRESTAVBA, aka PERESTROIKA, a once-anonymous satire set in the Prague Spring of 1968 and published (very carefully and also anonymously) in the former Czechoslovakia for ZX Spectrum. Then it's a not-so-distant flash-forward to Rockvil in the year 2031 for A Mind Forever Voyaging, Steve Meretzky's immersive statement on Reagan-era socioeconomic policies in the United States.

    Does Perry Simm have free will? Is a Soviet lighter reliable in a pinch? It's the first (and last?) time both our games are the standout selections of Aaron Reed's 50 Years of Text Games project: are they worthy? Join us and find out!

    A Mind Forever Voyaging (IFDB)

    A Mind Forever Voyaging docs (code table for Simulation Mode on p31)

    A Mind Forever Voyaging (playable online)

    Přestavba, original Czech and English translation downloads (ZXArt)

    Prestavba (IFDB)

    50 Years of Text Games (features both games as the standout of 1985 and 1988, respectively)

    Gaming the Iron Curtain

    London Permacomputing Club

    Our Friend the Computer podcast

    Bonus - 1980s Czech film recommendations from Ana:

    • Rozpuštěný a vypuštěný (https://www.oneplay.cz/film/1102-rozpusteny-a-vypusteny)
    • Vážení přátelé, ano (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vážení_přátelé,_ano)
    • any Cimrman movies (https://www.themoviedb.org/collection/134221-divadlo-jary-cimrmana-kolekce)
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    1 ora e 50 min
  • OPEN MAILBOX September 2026

    OPEN MAILBOX September 2026
    Aug 30 2026
    Contest deadlines, international reviews, and some Ramsberg groveling lead our news coverage for text adventure enthusiasts this month. Tim, Jason, and Nick bring you the latest for one of the oldest gaming disciplines... aside from that one story we accidentally repeated from last month. Nick's a little heavy on the reverb filter in this one, let us know if you get seasick. Spanish discussion of RetroAdv: https://mastodon.social/@DekaBlack/117166787290154461 https://mastodon.social/@textualizame/117166805431903978 Madman, port of 1983 VIC-20 game by the dread Ramsberg: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=6ymufgd24jnxg256 Wyrmward, Z6 PunyInform title: https://johanberntsson.itch.io/wyrmward Darkwood V: The Lost God found and preserved: https://csdb.dk/release/index.php?id=263342 https://www.facebook.com/groups/EightBitAdventures/posts/28558175203785812/ Inform 6 DM4: https://inform-fiction.org/manual/about_dm4.html Inform 6 Programmer's Guide: https://jxself.org/inform-guide/ OS9 Infocom interpreter: https://github.com/rlucente-retro/infocom-os9-port/releases/tag/v1.0.0 https://www.facebook.com/groups/2359462640/posts/10164528820297641/ Raaka-Tu: https://github.com/DrPitre/raakatu CoCo Nation Podcast Episode 474: Galaxy's Edge, BBC Micro title by Graham Nelson: https://ahopeful.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/galaxys-edge-1984-by-graham-nelson/ Oo-Topos C64 cracked: https://csdb.dk/release/?id=263365 FairLight TV #156: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ewUo92awZ0 Z-Machine BBS details: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1814239092232631 David Youd hacks Secrets of the Pyramid (duplicate, oops): https://youtu.be/OiUZ7qtRHB4 Inform Trail Camera: https://www.twitch.tv/informtrailcamera Zork NES: https://github.com/lupinthird/zorknes AGI-64: https://meanhamster.com/games/agi-64 Beatle Quest Python runner: https://www.amigaretro.com/projects/blakes-7-beatle-quest/ Blake's 7 for Oric: https://defenceforce.itch.io/blakes-7 Wander System for Ubuntu Touch: https://mastodont.cat/@cibersheep/117151878472175318 Clash of the Type-Ins returns: https://rcveeder.net/clash/ The Hobbit for TI-99 4/A: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/392212-the-hobbit-for-ti994a Classic Infocom playable library: https://jamiedurrant.com/infocom/ Iron ChIF Adventuron battle: https://intfiction.org/t/iron-chif-season-one-episode-3-flacrabbit-vs-dee-cooke-using-adventuron/81129 Out of Luck: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=n1y41pmdrk8ikk26 A Bonded Harvester: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=mbsybax9swkzp81o Adventurer's Rest channel: https://youtu.be/fgg_-9Rb2zY PARANOID game: https://www.play-paranoid.online Astaria MUD: https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=6x86ablx3lg3u2y2
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    25 min
  • Invincible Island and Adventure in the Fifth Dimension

    Invincible Island and Adventure in the Fifth Dimension
    Aug 26 2026

    Pack your phrasebook and get ready to defend democracy as Ben and Jason take on a pair of quirky early 1980s adventures. For an appetizer, we order Infocom legend Brian Moriarty's early effort, a type-in published in ANALOG Computing Magazine no less: the Nicolas Cage-coded Adventure In the Fifth Dimension.

    The feature game is Invincible Island by Pete Cooke... that's Cooke with an e, sadly, although Ben and Jason do find time for a little Derek & Clive discourse which steers clear of the need to flag this episode for adult content. Both games have mindbending maps, but do they have anything else in common?

    Also, there's quite a bit of listener mail and news... from the summer of 2025, which is how long this episode has been waiting for publication! Thanks to Nick for breathing life into this one. If nothing else, let it serve as a reminder why we've created the monthly >OPEN MAILBOX series!

    Invincible Island (IFDB)

    Invincible Island (playable online, ZX Spectrum)

    Adventure In the Fifth Dimension (IFDB)

    Adventure in the Fifth Dimension (playable online, Atari 8-bit)

    The Guild of Thieves, Hit It With a Hammer! playthrough (YouTube)

    Encounter HD

    Asimov's The Black Widowers
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    54 min
  • OPEN MAILBOX August 2026

    OPEN MAILBOX August 2026
    Jul 31 2026
    No rest for retro adventuring news this summer as Tim and Jason bring you lots of news: contest developments (don't delay, some deadlines are very very very soon!), Visible Zorker updates which aren't as stark as they seem, lost games and a lost development environment unearthed, and really quite a bit more. Special thanks to Andrew Johnson for permission to use ZorkPBX demo audio. ParserComp 2026 voting closes soon https://itch.io/jam/parsercomp-2026 IFComp entries accepted (closing very soon!) https://blog.ifcomp.org/post/821438949798084608/ifcomp-2026-now-accepting-intents-entries Visible Starcross https://blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/visible-starcross Arcturus Z-Machine compiler https://github.com/ByteProject/Arcturus/tree/main https://intfiction.org/t/arcturus-a-new-programming-language-compiler-for-the-z-machine/81091 pdp10 issues in Z1/Z2 Zork https://intfiction.org/t/frotz-and-bocfel-cant-parse-pdp10-in-v1-v2-zork-a-shift-lock-z-machine-spec-3-7-1-easter-egg/81002 Game console Linux ports https://github.com/LinuxMD/linuxmd https://cakehonolulu.github.io/linux-for-jaguar/ Zork-PET / BitShifter interpreter work resumes https://codeberg.org/root42/zork-pet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wznA6SHQnMQ https://youtube.com/live/IvGJ7XQSHcc?feature=share https://youtube.com/live/Ywp51hY5GDo?feature=share https://github.com/Edilbert/BSA R.A.I.L. language unearthed https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2026/07/r-a-i-l/ Iron ChIF Adventuron https://intfiction.org/t/iron-chif-season-one-episode-3-flacrabbit-vs-dee-cooke-using-adventuron/81129 https://intfiction.org/t/volunteer-to-beta-test-flacrabbits-game-in-iron-chif-s1e3-aug-23-27/81255 Catacombs and Goblin Towers for Commodore PET recovered https://www.commodoregames.net/catacombs.asp ZorkPBX https://github.com/aejx00/zorkpbx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvIENNmuUlY Babelmap interpreter https://intfiction.org/t/babelmap-rust-z-machine-glulx-scott-tui-w-graphics-and-sound-linux-macos-windows/81213 https://github.com/sharkusk/babelmap Review-a-Thon https://intfiction.org/t/review-a-thon-2026/80860 Never Gives Up Her Dead on Steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/4815350/Never_Gives_Up_Her_Dead/ Mega Adventure Creator https://theoasisbbs.com/mega-adventure-creator-adds-new-menu-system-and-status-bar/ https://github.com/lipi650/MAC Multiple Choice Adventure Engine https://solhsa.com/mucho/mucho.html https://github.com/jarikomppa/speccy/tree/master/mucho Adventure Coder Magazine https://www.flickr.com/photos/christopherhester/albums/page2 https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22Chris+Hester%22 The Fool and His Money recovered https://blog.zarfhome.com/2026/07/the-fool-and-his-money-returns David Youd Enhances Secrets of the Pyramid of Light https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiUZ7qtRHB4 Atari games optioned by major film studio -- what about Infocom? https://bsky.app/profile/neilpolowin.bsky.social/post/3mre5rfptgk2x Interactive Fiction Discord Server (visit #retro-adventurers-podcast !) https://discord.com/invite/8jrbVptACc TREK37 on IFDB https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=a026gnl4v2aclec2 Skull Island on IFDB https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=jrvu7excy55dtjuu
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    29 min
  • Gruds In Space and Steve Silver Adventure #1

    Gruds In Space and Steve Silver Adventure #1
    Jul 23 2026

    "I don't want to suggest this is a more obviously American game than some others, but I will say you do solve one problem by shooting a tree." - Dudley of Yesterzine

    Jason and special guest player Dudley from the Yesterzine YouTube channel take on two curiosities from the early 1980s. First up is a Spectrum-exclusive adventure with few champions but a lot of rooms: Steve Silver Adventure #1 by Colin Webb and Jim Bennett.

    The main course is Sirius Software's Gruds In Space by Chuck Sommerville and Joseph Dudar. It's one of many Sirius titles featuring the gremlin alien Gruds, a graphic/text puzzler with many similarities to the later Tracer Sanction as covered on Episode 4 of The Retro Adventurers.

    Gruds In Space (IFDB)

    Softalk November 1983 review of Gruds In Space

    Steve Silver Adventure #1 (IFDB)

    Your Computer September 1983 review of Steve Silver #1

    Atari ST on Yesterzine

    Amiga Batman Pack on Yesterzine
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    1 ora e 6 min
  • OPEN MAILBOX July 2026

    OPEN MAILBOX July 2026
    Jun 30 2026

    Classic text adventure news so late-breaking that we have to interrupt our news to bring you new news about that news! Presented again this month by Retro Adventurers Nick, Tim, and Jason.

    University of Winchester alumnus

    https://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/26175575.university-winchester-alumnus-won-award-game/

    ABP: Help preserve Amstrad Infocom interpreter source code!

    https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CwYXQ6FiV/

    Oo-Topos Commodore 64 copy protection

    https://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=89439

    SchoolAdventure, adapted to Inform

    https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=6duybkh9bo1oq5s4

    NAIL: Not An Inform Library

    https://github.com/fredrikr/nail

    Iron ChIF ZIL contest entries

    https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=v2b896mwtwf5mhwt

    https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=b3vcdy1s1ukd5xcw

    PunyInform 6.7

    https://github.com/johanberntsson/PunyInform/releases/tag/v6_7

    Puny BuildTools

    https://github.com/ByteProject/Puny-BuildTools#build-targets

    Eclipse (Bonaventura Di Bello Project)

    https://bdb-project.itch.io/eclipse

    https://ifdb.org/viewgame?id=03enp9z2oszblv5h

    Text Adventure Literacy Jam 2026 Results

    https://itch.io/jam/talp2026/results

    IntroComp

    https://introcomp.org/

    Strange Stories RPG

    https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/ed994b09-71cf-4128-88bc-e45f89cf7d1b/landing

    Zork Zero for Mac VoiceOver users

    https://intfiction.org/t/looking-for-mac-voiceover-users-to-test-zork-zero-in-spatterlight/80791

    Mysterious eyeglasses-cleaning game (?!)

    https://bsky.app/profile/retroadventurers.bsky.social/post/3mnryqxe5k22e

    Interactive Fiction Discord Server (visit #retro-adventurers-podcast !)

    https://discord.com/invite/8jrbVptACc
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    19 min