How hard is it to make a text adventure game?

Making a text adventure game is easier than most people expect, especially a small one, because modern tools remove the need to program. With a choice-based tool you write scenes and link them with clickable options, so a short game can be built in an afternoon. The harder version is a parser game, where players type commands, which needs a tool like Inform 7 and more care to anticipate what people might type. The real difficulty is not technical, it is design: mapping branches, keeping paths consistent, catching dead ends, and writing tight, engaging prose. Start small, maybe fifteen to twenty-five scenes, and it stays very manageable. A no-code builder lets you focus on the writing instead of the plumbing.