Abandonware games spotlight
-
The Bard's Tale
The Bard's Tale: Tales of the Unknown was developed by Interplay Productions and published by Electronic Arts for DOS and other systems. The game takes place in the fictional city of Skara Brae, which is overrun by monsters and under the control of the evil wizard Mangar the Dark. Your goal as the player is to assemble a party of adventurers to defeat Mangar and save the city. The Bard's Tale was a first-person, turn-based dungeon crawler where players explored dungeons, recruited adventurers, and engaged in combat. The game was heavily influenced by earlier RPGs like Wizardry and Dungeons & Dragons. -
Rendezvous with Rama
Rendezvous with Rama is an interactive fiction (text adventure) game released in 1984. Telarium, a subsidiary of Spinnaker Software, was known for producing narrative-driven games based on popular literary works. This adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's novel is one of the earlier attempts to translate a science fiction classic into an interactive format. As an interactive fiction game, "Rendezvous with Rama" is primarily text-based, relying on written descriptions and player input to navigate and interact with the game world. Players type commands to explore the environment, solve puzzles, and advance the story.
Retro gaming news and insights
-
The History of adventure games: Zork
Zork is one of the earliest and most influential text-based adventure games in the history of video gaming. Zork was a pioneering work in the genre of interactive fiction.The game began as a project at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science, where the developers created it on a DEC PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original version, often referred to as "Dungeon," was written in a programming language called MDL (a variant ... -
Japanese Role-Playing Games (JRPG)
7th September 2024RPGJRPGs, or Japanese Role-Playing Games, are a subgenre of role-playing video games that originated in Japan. They are characterized by a distinct style of storytelling, gameplay mechanics, and visual aesthetics. JRPGs often place a heavy emphasis on narrative and character development. They frequently feature intricate plots, richly developed characters, and immersive worlds that players can explore. Traditional JRPGs typically use turn-based combat systems where players and enemies take ... -
Interactive Achievement Awards - 1997
The Interactive Achievement Awards (IAAs), now known as the D.I.C.E. Awards, are an annual awards ceremony honoring outstanding achievements in the video game industry. The IAAs were established by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) in 1998 to recognize excellence in various categories within the gaming industry.The awards cover a wide range of categories, including game design, art direction, sound design, storytelling, and gameplay mechanics. ... -
Wizball in a world without colors
Wizball is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Sensible Software and originally released for various home computer platforms in 1987. The game was published by Ocean Software. In Wizball, players control a wizard who rides a magical green ball. The wizard's mission is to restore color to the world, which has been drained of its vibrant hues by an evil force known as Zark. To accomplish this, ...
Featured themes
-
Armored fist
Long before the emergence of modern games like World of Tanks, armored vehicles such as tanks and even trains were at the forefront of many early simulation titles. Tanks, in particular, had their moment in the spotlight, featuring prominently in a variety of vehicle simulation games that focused on strategic warfare and realistic mechanics. These early sims allowed players to command powerful armored units, offering a detailed and immersive experience long before the more advanced multiplayer battles of today’s tank-based games. -
Roller Coaster Tycoon
Compiling a list of the best-selling PC games of all time is no simple task. The reason? The video game market has evolved significantly over the past few decades. A game that sold 100,000 copies 30 years ago might have been considered a best-seller at the time, but the same sales figure today wouldn’t carry the same weight. Here’s an (unordered) list of the best-selling games, based on
Retro gaming: the love for old school games
Where does the love for old abandoned games comes from? Our childhood, perhaps. What's left of that age? What do we miss so much? The long afternoons spent walking in the worlds of Ultima or the hours passed impersonating Duke Nukem. Here we are now, slightly aged, eager to pay homage to all those wonderful DOS games.
After all, it's about the passion for old games and a little bit of nostalgia.
The games listed on Abandonware DOS are no longer supported by their respective developers (as far as I know... I often check sites like Steam and GOG). If you find out that a game is still on sale or "protected", please let me know and I'll remove it from Abandonware DOS as soon as possible.
How to run DOS games on Windows?What does abandonware mean?
Abandonware is a word that describes a software (game or application) no longer supported by its developers or its publishers and is no longer available for sale in any form (digital or retail).
When we talk about abandonware we usually refer to old games for systems no longer available to the public such as DOS, Commodore 64, Amiga, Spectrum, etc.
Some "abandoned" games are still on sale, that's why you will find games tagged as "protected" on Abandonware DOS.
How to run old Windows games on Windows 10?Is Abandonware DOS safe?
There's a misconception about abandonware: since it's about old games, there's no security involved. It's not like that, al least not on Abandonware DOS. Every single Windows and DOS game on this site was personally tested. Every game was played on a computer with all kinds of tools: antivirus, antispam, etc.
That said, there's the possibility of a false positive: your software tells you there's a virus but there's no such thing. I can't speak for other abandonware sites, but I can assure you that I take all the necessary measures to keep the games on Abandonware DOS safe.