The best shareware games
Shareware is a type of software distribution model that allows users to try a program before purchasing it. It's a marketing strategy and distribution method that was particularly popular in the early days of personal computing, primarily during the 1980s and 1990s.
Shareware games were released for free with limited functionality (for example: no saving, missing levels, time limit), often via a BBS (Bulletin Board System), a floppy disc or a CD included in a printed magazine or by direct download (when internet was in its infancy). If the user liked the shareware product, they could pay to obtain an upgrade and unlock the full game. When digital distribution started to become popular, shareware games slowly faded into oblivion.
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Hugo 3: Jungle of Doom
DOS1992protecteddemo Gray Design Associates
Hugo III: Jungle of Doom is a point-and-click adventure game released in 1992. It is the third game in the Hugo adventure series, developed by David P. Gray for MS-DOS. Hugo and his girlfriend, Penelope, crash-land in a jungl...
In the Dead of Night
DOS1995 Trecision
Battlestar
Windows 3.x1996freeware
No, not that Battlestar. Battlestar (1996) is more obscure than a reboot that never happened. Set in deep space with a top-down view and UI only a Windows 3.x user could love, it mixes tactical combat and sci-fi storytelling like ...
Bubble Pop
DOS1997 Software of Sweden
The name screams “budget shareware,” and Bubble Pop delivers. It’s the digital equivalent of popping bubble wrap, except someone decided it needed high scores and obnoxious MIDI music. You click. Things pop. You ...
Exile III: Ruined World
Windows XP/98/95Mac OSWindows 3.x1997freeware Spiderweb Software
Traffic department 2192
DOS1994freeware P Squared
Tetris (Academysoft)
DOS1996 AcademySoft
Exile II: Crystal Souls
Windows XP/98/95Mac OSWindows 3.x1996freeware Spiderweb Software
Azalta: Cult of the Raven
DOS1996
Azalta: Cult of the Raven is what happens when a lone developer says, “I can make an RPG better than Ultima!” and sort of does. Released in 1996, this DOS dungeon crawler features deep customization, open-ended quests,...
CHAMP Centipede
DOS1993remake ChamProgramming corp.
Inner Worlds
DOSLinux1996 Sleepless Software
Epic Pinball
DOSMac OS1993protected Digital Extremes
EGA-Roids
DOS1986freewareremake Designer Software
Shooting Gallery
DOS1990 Arcanum Computing
In Search of Dr. Riptide
DOS1994 MindStorm Software
Catacomb Abyss
DOS1992protected Softdisk Publishing
Before Doom, there was Catacomb Abyss, where you throw fireballs down corridors at zombies who all apparently graduated from the same school of slow shuffling. It's a first-person shooter without the “shooter” part&mda...
Sango Fighter
Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1993freeware Panda Entertainment Technology Co.
Ant Attack!
DOS1994freeware Dataware
Released in 1994 (long after it originally debuted on other platforms), Ant Attack! is what you get when you mix isometric graphics, giant ants, and questionable urban planning. You play a brave soul navigating a crumbling city to...
AlphaMan
DOS1995
Ever wondered what would happen if a roguelike and a B-movie had a radioactive baby? AlphaMan is the answer. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where mutant banana slugs might be your best friend—or your worst enemy—you p...
Ancients 1: Deathwatch
DOS1991 Farr-Ware Software
In Ancients 1: Deathwatch, you gather your pixelated party and set off to cleanse a city of evil, or at least try not to get mugged by slimes. It's a dungeon crawler in classic DOS fashion — grid movement, turn-based battles...
CHAMP Galagon
DOS1997remake ChamProgramming corp.
CHAMP Pac-em
DOS1996remake ChamProgramming corp.
Hovertank One
DOS1991 id software
Kingdom of Kroz
DOS1988freeware Apogee Software
Legend of the Red Dragon
DOS1989 Robinson Technologies
Moraff's Morejongg
Windows XP/98/951992 Moraffware
Paganitzu
DOS1991protected Apogee Software
Paganitzu is a classic puzzle-adventure game released in 1991 by Apogee Software. Set in an ancient pyramid, the game follows the exploits of its protagonist, Alabama Smith, who must navigate through a series of increasingly compl...
Xargon
DOS1993freeware Epic MegaGames
Monopoly
DOS1985
Caverns of Kroz
DOS1989freeware Apogee Software