And one more:
In the same vein as “Candy Box” and “A Dark Room”, here’s “Gold and Gems”… This one is not ASCII, but it’s close enough!
This one is more similar to “Candy Box”, but more “serious”…
I wonder if everyone on the web has had the same idea all of the sudden, or if they’re all cloning each other, but it’s a very good trend (at least for now)… Now, if someone could make an X-Com this way, I’d be happy… 
Lately, there’s been a new fad in games: ASCII-based browser games…
And this is awesome!
These are games that you play on a browser that only use text characters to express everything in them, using a clever combination of incremental design (functionality is unlocked during play), simple mechanics and some humor/nonsense!
These games take me back to simpler times, and I’ve sunk more time in them that I care to admit… 
First of all, Candy Box:
This was the first one I’ve found, and I had tons of fun playing it, although it’s quite short (it takes a lot of real-world time, but you don’t have to pay much attention to it except when you go on quests).
Quests are just linear progressions in which you can use potions, scrolls, etc, to help you… some of the levels are quite challenging, but all are possible (even if they don’t look like it at first sight: they might be a question of getting better gear in previous quests or by getting more lollipops to pay the witch for upgrades).
Then I found “A Dark Room”. This one is more complex, more “gamey” and longer, although I haven’t had so much fun with it (the building the village part of it takes some of the fun for my taste, but the adventuring part is way better than Candy Box)… Questing takes place on a map and you search for resources, accounting for provisions and such. To get provisions (and upgrades to your capabilities), you’ll have to manage a small village.
The amazing thing about both of these games is the amount of engagement they manage to pull off the player, specially considering the simplicity of the graphics… goes to show that graphics are just a small part of making a great game!
Both these games reminded me of another classic: Dwarf Fortress, in which I spent more time than I should some years ago… Give it a spin, if you don’t fear getting sucked into it!
Dwarf Fortress is randomly generated, so you can keep playing it until you’re fed up with it, which might take a long time, since it has so much stuff happening in it… This one isn’t browser-based, just a normal game… would love to see this on a tablet!
On another note, next week I’m off to Germany for work and small vacations, going to the Rockharz Festival! Woot, metal!
…and yet I did!
Hacker Evolution is a game that combines the “coolness” of hacking with the nerdiness of it all…
It’s not a hacking simulation (that would be super-boring), it’s a simplification of hacking mixed with some puzzle elements…
In the game, you have a console and you have to hack different systems, gaining more and more access, to move forward a simple cyberpunk storyline (which gets a bit silly at times)…
The game had everything to be boring and fail miserably, but it doesn’t! The game design gives a big sense of satisfaction when you crack a code, or more importantly, when you read a file on a server somewhere and you find out the next breadcrumb, while trying to manage your resources (servers from which to bounce, computer upgrades, detection level, money, etc)…
This is a highly niche-market game that kind of works perfectly…
There are two sequels that I’ve bought but not played yet (Hacker Evolution: Untold and Hacker Evolution: Duality), but the first one was great… My only complaint is that the game builds up on your success on the previous level, which means that if you screwed up somewhere on the way (expended more money than you should, etc), you can become unable to progress (not enough money to dump your detection level, for example, because you didn’t access the servers in the correct order in some previous mission, or you upgraded a piece of hardware)… and if that happens, you have to either use a “cheat”, or restart the game…
Still, it was a very enjoyable experience and a very good surprise!
You can get Hacker Evolution for cheap either in Steam or Exosyphen Studios’ website.