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Watch trailer on Steam ↗> Terminal
Terminal CLS LLC · Published by Terminal CLS LLC · Official site ↗
Content notice: Slight depictions of non-sexualized nudity. Some references to slight violent content (descriptions but no depictions).
3 user reviews — 100% positive (3 reviews) · 1 achievements
Last updated 28 Sept 2026
Terminal is a command-line escape room. You aren't just reading a story; you're unlocking a machine. You are Tera, alone in your terminal window on a cold Illinois night. Your identity is lost, embedded somewhere within a haunted computer. Its code is a prison, but it's also your escape.
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Price history
Adventure, Casual · 2026 · More under £5 games
Navigate Tera's lonely escape through a chilling command-line environment, unlocking secrets in Terminal's 2026 adventure.
About this game
"People in my time tell each other that they ripped the emotional architecture out of me. But they could see me screaming through the blackness of the screen, and they still let it happen."
> Terminal is a text-based escape room.
You sit before a black screen, witness to a conversation that exists outside of time. A ghost is embedded within the files, folders, and wires of your machine, resurrecting your deepest, darkest, cruelest thoughts and memories. It has taken over your machine—become all of your machine—which, in 2022, means it might as well have become all of you.
This is not just a story; it's a battle for control. Using short text inputs, you must explore the terminal’s fragmented archives to uncover a journey of love, family, and fate. Your goal is to piece together the clues that can unlock your machine and turn the tables on the ghost hidden inside it, trapping it inside the very system it haunts.
The world of > Terminal is a complex architecture of voices, images, commands, and stories that make up an entire life—and thousands of lives beyond it. You designed your own life to look simple from the outside, but like everyone’s, it has been too painful and, by your own and others’ intentions, too vicious to expose to a world built on artificiality, opacity, and limited intelligence. Until now.
Features:
A Deeply Human Sci-Fi Mystery: Uncover a philosophically and emotionally charged story that explores consciousness, memory, technology, and what it means to be alive.
Authentic Command-Line Interface: Interact with the world and the story by typing commands directly into the terminal. Every discovery feels earned.
A Story Shaped by Your Curiosity: The narrative branches and unfolds based on the keywords you explore and the questions you ask. There is no single path to the truth.
Syntax Puzzles: You don't choose dialogue; you build it. Determine the correct verb + noun combinations to unlock the story.
Non-Linear Logic: The story doesn't advance until you prove that you understand the machine's rules.
Striking Minimalist Visuals: The clean, text-based aesthetic is punctuated by beautiful ASCII art and color palettes as fundamental to the story as the text itself, creating a unique and immersive atmosphere.
Haunting Vocal Dialogue: Facets of the story are uncovered through distorted voices from the past, connecting you with the protagonist’s thoughts and history beyond the text on the screen.
Multiple Endings: Your choices, discoveries, and ultimate control over the system will lead to one of several profound and thought-provoking conclusions.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: 10
- Processor: 1.0 GHz
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: Any graphics card supporting DirectX 10
- Storage: 200 MB available space
Recommended
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
Supported Languages
*languages with full audio support
Latest news
AnnouncementsOfficial
Terminal: The Novel is Available Now
To the 1,700 of you who have wishlisted, played, and supported > Terminal, thank you. We've reached another evolution in this project. Terminal is officially a novel, and you can read it right now. While the game allows you to experience the narrative interactively, the novelization provides the opportunity to easily witness the full story. It is a logical extension of a project built as a complete story of Tera’s experience. You can grab your copy here:Digital ($4.99): If you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can read the entire eBook for free right now.Paperback ($14.99): For those of you who want the physical artifact on your shelf, the full trade paperback is available to order.I expect that these are still the early stages of how this story will expand. Thank you for being here from the start.DustinRead full article on Community Announcements (terminal.fiction)AnnouncementsOfficial
A Note of Thanks to > Terminal's Wishlisters and Players
I'd like to send out a huge thank you to all of you who have wishlisted and played > Terminal so far. As a writer and solo creator, this project has already achieved a wider reach than I had hoped for, driven by your interest and support.Thanks, as well, to those of you who have immersed yourselves in the story and provided a review. For those of you who have been waiting for the right moment to dive in, this "prairie futurist" narrative and puzzle is complete and ready to unlock. If you have already spent some time with the game, I would appreciate you taking a moment to leave a brief review. These insights are one of the most direct ways for players like yourself to get a feel for what the game has to offer.Thank you all again for your interest, and I hope you're enjoying the story.DustinCheck out the > Terminal store page here:Read full article on Community Announcements (terminal.fiction)AnnouncementsOfficial
> Terminal is Live
Like Tera, you can now come face to face with the ghost in the machine.> Terminal is officially available on Steam. This isn't your standard narrative experience. To move forward, you must learn to speak the machine's language.NEW USERS, READ THIS FIRST:If this is your first time in the terminal and you find the logic gates are holding you back, I have prepared a manual both within the game (by typing “help”) and in video walkthroughs via Steam in the link below to guide you without spoiling the mystery. Access the guides below:You can access these guides in the game at any time by loading the Steam overlay (Shift+Tab). I’ll also be running a livestream of the walkthroughs right here on the Steam page, if you want to get a feel for the atmosphere and game complexities before jumping in.If you enjoy the challenge, please consider leaving a review. For a niche game like this, your honest feedback is the only way it finds new users.A note from Dustin, the creator:Thank you to the University of Illinois and the Urbana community for setting the stage for this narrative. > exit> _Read full article on Community Announcements (terminal.fiction)AnnouncementsOfficial
New Guide: Dissecting Tera's Dreams in Chapter 5
I've just updated the > Terminal guide with another chapter walkthrough--this time for Chapter 5.Chapter 5, "Dreams," is the thematic heart of the project. it's a surreal experience full of stories from Tera's dream journal, bringing together concepts explored in every > Terminal chapter to that point.It's also a unique chapter, in which each new input builds on the output that comes before it. You're trapped in these dreams with Tera. If you've found yourself lost, this video will show you how to navigate the dream logic.You can find this and all other walkthroughs in the official master guide under the Guides tab.See you on opening day,DustinRead full article on Community Announcements (terminal.fiction)Patch NotesOfficial
> Update: I Streamlined the Intro (Next Fest Follow-Up)
tl;dr: Intro Streamlined: I shortened the intro section down to 4 minutes to get you to the command line faster. Static Menus: help and example menus from the title screen are now static and instantly read-in-full, replacing the previous time-released format. **************Hi everyone, I just pushed an update to the > Terminal demos for Mac and Windows, with a focus on simplifying the title screen help and example menus and intro section. I received some great feedback about how the intro section was too long. I shortened the intro substantially, to roughly 4 total minutes. In addition, the help and example menus from the title screen are now static (read only) rather than time released. When building > Terminal, I initially had a vision of text rolling out in real time as something more immersive. I was wrong about that, and it turns out that it was the opposite. Sorry about that. Now it's a quicker experience to get to the command line of Chapter 1.Thanks for all your great input, and I look forward to showing you the full game later this month. > DustinRead full article on Community Announcements (terminal.fiction)
