Adventure games are a mix of different elements including puzzles, arcade sections, RPG Mechanics, and so on. The dominating ingredient of the gameplay mechanics defines the individual type of the game. I have not mentioned the term graphic adventure in the list, since now it is the default standard for most of the adventure games.
In a text-based adventure game, there are no graphics, only text elements (graphics may play the role of minor ornamentation). This is a tribute to the legendary Colossal Cave Adventure and its analogs. It may seem that such types of games are an ancient atavism, but remember that there are some handheld devices that are not quite adapted for quick graphics, such as e-book readers with the screen based on electronic paper. Interactive adventures can be ideally adapted for such platforms, being directly compatible with the general functional paradigm of the e-book devices: displaying text on a screen and...