Abandonware DOS title

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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Dungeons of Kroz

DOS1989freeware Apogee Software
flightmare-04

Flightmare

DOS1984freeware
skyglobe-01

Skyglobe 3.5

DOS1992
SkyGlobe is an astronomy software that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was a DOS-based planetarium program that allowed users to explore the night sky in real-time or by adjusting dates and times. Some of it...
borderworld-02

Borderworld

DOS1996 Midlothian Software
Borderworld (1996, DOS) is a sci-fi RPG with big ideas, a tiny budget, and enough ambition to fuel a space shuttle. You’re thrown into a galaxy of politics, smuggling, and star-hopping adventure, where everyone has a quest a...
assaulttrooper-2

Assault Trooper

DOS1997 Webfoot Technologies
In Assault Trooper, you're the lone soldier with enough ammo to make Rambo blush, dropped behind enemy lines to shoot first and ask “was that a civilian?” later. This 1997 top-down shooter screams “keyboard-mashi...
8088othello-splash

8088 Othello

DOS1985
There’s something oddly poetic about 8088 Othello, a 1985 take on the classic board game that feels like it was programmed by someone who had a personal vendetta against flashy graphics. The visuals are almost nonexistent, t...
hugo2-02

Hugo 2: Whodunit?

DOS1991protecteddemo Gray Design Associates
Hugo 2: Whodunit? is an old school graphic adventure game designed by David P. Gray, developed by Gray Design Associates and released in 1991 for MS-DOS only. Hugo 2: Whodunit? is the second installment of the Hugo game series.
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Castle Elsinore

DOS1992 Temple Software
tubular-worlds-04

Tubular Worlds

DOS1994
moraffrevenge-2

Moraff's Revenge

DOS1988 Moraffware
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Blackstar: Agent of Justice

DOS1995
In Blackstar: Agent of Justice (1995), you play a noir-style detective in a trench coat so dramatic it probably has its own union. Set in a dark, crime-ridden city where everyone talks like they’ve swallowed gravel, it&rsquo...
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Bolo Ball

DOS1992 Soleau Software
Bolo Ball is a DOS game from the mid-1990s. It features a physics-based gameplay where the objective is to knock opponent balls out of an arena. When you start the game, you find yourself in a 2D arena set against a starry, space-...
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CHAMP Pac-em

DOS1996remake ChamProgramming corp.
clyde-adventure-03

Clyde's Adventure

DOS1992freeware Moonlite Software
kens-labyrinth-05

Ken's Labyrinth

DOS1993freeware
moraff-world-03

Moraff's World

DOS1991 Moraffware
squarez-deluxe-04

Squarez Deluxe!

DOS1993freeware Adept Software
super-zzt-05

Super ZZT

DOS1992 Epic MegaGames
meteor-mission-1

Meteor Mission

DOS1995
space-miner-03

Space Miner

DOS1983
castlekroz-3

Return to Kroz

DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
flying-tigers-2-04

Flying Tigers 2

DOS1994
skyroads-xmas-03

Skyroads: Xmas Special

DOS1994freeware Bluemoon Interactive
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Arctic Adventure

DOS1991 Apogee Software
Arctic Adventure is the sequel nobody asked for to Pharaoh's Tomb, except this time you’re freezing your butt off. As Nevada Smith (not a typo, it’s his real name), you platform-hop through icy ruins in search of... so...
clyde-revenge-04

Clyde's Revenge

DOS1995freeware Moonlite Software