So, I'm looking to get into text adventure games. Where should I start? The community for them seems to still be quite substantial, and the sheer amount of new(ish) titles surprised me.

Are there any good free or cheap ones that could act as a good introduction to the game type? I'm not too eager to spend too much money on something that I'm not entirely sure I'll like yet. I'm going in with the assumption that you're gonna need a pen, paper and a LOT of patience with some of the older titles.

From the little research I've done, the games are apparently divided into ones focused more on story, and ones focused more on puzzles. Could you give me good recommendations on both types?

There's , which is presented by its author as an introduction to the genre. It seems it has a dedicated iOs app, but if you don't have iOs, you can always play it on your browser ([url=http://eblong.com/zarf/zweb/dreamhold/]http://eblong.com/zarf/zweb/dreamhold/). And further down the page I initially linked to, there is a nifty cheat sheet on the basic commands of interactive fiction. I personally played a bit of it, and it seems intuitive with lots of initial help.

The Starters Guide on the IFWiki might be a good place to start.

And perhaps these:

Interactive Fiction Archive
Interactive Fiction Database

Colossal Cave is a nice early example of a puzzle-based text adventure and was many people's introduction to the genre, mainly because it was the first game in the genre to begin with.

The king of text adventures was <span class="bold">Infocom</span>. The Zork games are here on GOG, along with a few others. I highly recommend Suspended once you are good at text games, because it's one of the most original and difficult ones I've played from them. Leather Goddesses of Phobos is amusing and on the other end of the spectrum.

EDIT: There are various incarnations of the Z-Machine engine that ran Infocom games, such as Frotz. You just need to find the game core files afterward, though some app stores sell the complete packages.

I grew up playing Infocom games, so I have no problem recommending those (and feeling kind of irked that the only ones on GOG are the Zork games and Planetfall...).

I haven't delved too much into newer efforts, but Anchorhead seemed pretty good from what I remember. It's Lovecraftian horror and you can play it through your browser at http://pr-if.org/play/anchorhead/.

I think before you go for a text adventure game first try reading and visualising books.
It helps you to imagine the situation and settings of your character while playing game.
For starters you can try Pac-Man text adventure.

Zork is free on infocom website

Thanks a bunch, everyone! Currently playing through Dreamhold. I'm usually good at visualizing 3D spaces, but god damn, that curved hallway is giving me some serious navigation issues! I didn't even know there were more than 3 directions before I used a hint. I've been drawing a map the whole time, but the curved hallway with its 4 parts and 9(?) exits have my charting skills stumped.

However, I'm still making progress! 2 masks in, and I still can map the other parts of the world. Just gotta do the hallway with a bit of trial and error every time I go through it. So far this hasn't been too frustrating.

Previous IF GOG thread.

Well, right now the Zork-Adventures are on sale, so... ;o)

http://www.gog.com/game/the_zork_anthology

Bump for Infocom Archives released to the public (design documents, not the games themselves).

It was mentioned in the other thread linked here, so don't forget about Sorcery 101!

It's a trilogy that was supposed to have one last sequel which was never made and it's a very funny series of really good and famous text adventure games.

They have an option to turn off the mature content, and I've read it's really hilarious when you play one of the modes and then try the other, and you see how it's changed - especially when you first try the M rated version and then go for PG. You get to do stuff like mop one the lover's room while they're there, telling you what to do, instead of having sexy times. Ha ha! :)

If you have an iDevice (iPhone or iPad), you should get the Lost Treasures of Inform app. It's a collection of some of Infocom's most famous works (including the whole Zork series, i think).The app is free, collections cost $2.99 each, with the whole collection costing $9.99 (they include the latest Zork title as some sort of incentive for buying, which I find unnecessary; it and the other Zorks should be in their own individual collection).These collections are bundles of text adventures of a certain genre (sci-fi, adventure, etc.). I recommend getting the sci-fi collection, as it has A Mind Forever Voyaging, which is a truly brilliant sci-fi story about artificial intelligence. Zork, their first game and claim to fame, is included free, and should serve as a good starting point, as it has both puzzles and a story (told through the game's manuals and other assorted items reproduced in the game's menu, as well as through the game when you come across ruins. Haven't played in a while AND haven't gotten far, so don't know about an other in-game story details.)