About Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter
Space Quest: Chapter I, The Sarien Encounter is a graphic adventure created by Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe and released by Sierra On-Line in October 1986. Crowe also composed the music. It is the first game in the Space Quest series, and it was built on the AGI engine. Versions came out for DOS, the Macintosh, the Apple II and Apple IIGS, the Amiga and the Atari ST.
You play a lowly janitor on a research ship who becomes caught up in stopping an alien race that plans to use a new form of technology for evil purposes. It is a single-player game. Activision, which is now part of Microsoft, holds the rights today.
How it runs in your browser
Hit Play and a new tab opens on the game’s dos.zone page. DOS.Zone boots the MS-DOS release there with js-dos, its open-source take on DOSBox for the browser, which recreates an old IBM PC well enough to run the game. The site provides the files itself, so you skip installing anything, you don’t need your own copy, and no account is involved. DOS.Zone runs without ads.
The listing is titled Space Quest: Chapter I, The Sarien Encounter and shows a rating of 4.9 from 32 player reviews. Its web address mentions October 1986, which matches the original release. The description itself is short and general: it says the game is free to play without registration and that virtual controls let you play on mobile. It doesn’t cover saving, so check DOS.Zone’s page if you want to know whether your progress will be kept.
Controls and devices
The 1986 game was built for a keyboard, so that’s the input to plan on. DOS.Zone doesn’t list the controls for this release, so read the game’s own menus and prompts as you start. Once it loads, click inside the emulator window so it takes your keystrokes.
DOS.Zone shows virtual on-screen controls on phones, but a computer with a real keyboard is the better fit for a game designed this way. Chromebooks haven’t been confirmed.
Who it’s for
It suits players who grew up with Sierra On-Line’s adventures and want to see where Space Quest began, and anyone curious about how graphic adventures looked in the mid-1980s. Because this is Chapter I, it’s also the natural place to start if you’re new to the series and plan to work through it in order.
To compare it with later adventures, Beneath a Steel Sky is a 1994 science fiction adventure that Revolution Software has made freeware, and The Secret of Monkey Island is Lucasfilm Games’ 1990 point-and-click pirate adventure. Both open on DOS.Zone the same way, in a new tab through js-dos.
Is Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter Free, Safe and Official?
Can I play Space Quest 1 online for free?
Yes. DOS.Zone runs the MS-DOS version of Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter free in a browser tab. You don’t install anything, supply game files or create an account.
Which version of Space Quest is this?
It’s the MS-DOS version of Sierra On-Line’s first Space Quest game. DOS.Zone lists it as Space Quest: Chapter I, The Sarien Encounter, and the listing’s web address refers to October 1986, the month of the original release.
Does Space Quest work on a phone?
DOS.Zone offers virtual on-screen controls on phones, but the game was built for a keyboard, so a computer is the better fit.
