What Is Planedrift and What Can You Do on It?

Updated

Planedrift is a browser-based player for classic Infocom text adventures. You can start Zork I, II, or III directly on the site, or open your own .z3 story file to play other Infocom titles. It is designed for calm, unhurried, pick-up-and-put-down sessions rather than long, demanding play.

What Planedrift offers

The site presents itself as a way to “indulge in classic Infocom interactive fiction” with a focus on readable presentation and convenience. Its main features, as described on the page, are:

  • Built-in Zork games — Zork I: The Great Underground Empire, Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz, and Zork III: The Dungeon Master.
  • Bring your own game — open a .z3 story file or resume a previous game.
  • Nice fonts and colours — presentation is treated as part of the experience.
  • Light and dark themes — choose the reading style that suits you.
  • Auto-saves and rewinds — return to a session or step back when needed.
  • Searchable transcript — find earlier text in your play session.
  • Capture to-dos while you play — note tasks without leaving the game.

Playing the built-in Zork games

If you want to try classic interactive fiction without finding files yourself, this is the simplest path. The page lists Zork I, II, and III as ready-to-play options. Select one and begin; the site’s auto-save and rewind features are intended to make short sessions practical.

Loading your own Infocom story file

Planedrift plays story files ending in .z3. The page points to the Obsessively Complete Infocom Catalog as an archive of many Infocom releases from the 1980s. It specifically recommends looking for the Masterpieces of Infocom releases, which are the versions Planedrift is tested against.

To use your own game:

  1. Obtain a .z3 story file, for example from the Masterpieces of Infocom releases in that catalog.
  2. Use the “Bring your own” option on Planedrift.
  3. Open the .z3 file or resume a previous game.

The expected result is that the story runs in the browser with the same reading and session features as the built-in games. A common snag is file format: Planedrift is described as playing .z3 files, so other Infocom file types are not covered by the page.

Who it suits

Planedrift fits players who want short, low-pressure sessions with classic text adventures and appreciate readable typography, theme choices, and session tools like auto-save, rewind, transcript search, and in-game to-dos. If you already own Infocom .z3 story files, the bring-your-own option lets you use the same player for them.