Abandonware DOS title

Top-down perspective sorted by release date

Top down games were very popular in the 80s and the 90s, when graphic cards were not capable of supporting 3D, and even when 3D started to become popular, 2D games continued to be easier to develop, at least in the infancy of 3D gaming. 2D game offered the player a viewpoint that helped keeping things easily under control (think about top down party-based RPGs or hex-based strategy games).
rollo-1

Rollo and the Brush Brothers

DOS19833.6/5 Windmill Software
sleuth-1

Sleuth: A Murder Mystery

DOS1983freeware4.2/5 Norland Software
ultima2-08

Ultima 2: Revenge of the Enchantress

DOS19834/5 Origin Systems
The second chapter of the Ultima saga is much similar to the first one (same top down visual, same dungeon 3d visual, same gameplay), although there are many small improvements. The series begins to take the shape of the detailed, deep, rpg saga that gamers will always remember.
archon-3

Archon: the Light and the Dark

DOS19844.2/5 Free Fall Associates
Archon: The Light and the Dark is an abandoned DOS fantasy blend of strategy and action game, developed by Free Fall Associates and published for DOS by Electronic Arts in 1984. Archon and its sequels are a unique mix of chess-like turn-based strategy and arcade action games. Take chess and add the fact that every time two pieces land on the same s...
backgammon-1

Backgammon

DOS19843.1/5 IBM
beast-01

Beast

DOS19843.8/5
castle-adventure-04

Castle Adventure

DOS1984freeware4.2/5
castle-wolfenstein-04

Castle Wolfenstein

DOS19844.1/5 Muse Software
chess88-1

Chess88

DOS19844/5
diplomacy-1

Computer Diplomacy

DOS19843.6/5 Avalon Hill
dnd_text-02

DND

DOS19844.1/5
felony-02

Felony!

DOS19844/5 BrainBank
flightmare-04

Flightmare

DOS1984freeware3.6/5
froggerjr-2

Frogger Jr.

DOS19843.6/5
gremlins-1-01

Gremlins

DOS19842.8/5 Atari
hack-5

Hack

DOS1984freeware3.8/5
icon-ring-04

ICON: Quest for the Ring

DOS19843.6/5 Macrocom
Murder_on_The_Zinderneuf-03

Murder on the Zinderneuf

DOS19843.3/5 Free Fall Associates
mychess-1

Mychess

DOS19843.8/5 The Software Toolworks
rogue-1

Rogue

Windows XP/98/95DOSLinuxMac19844.2/5 Artificial Intelligence Design
Rogue is one of the first RPGs in the history of video gaming. It's a text-based dungeon crawler in which you have to fight your way in the dungeon to recover the Amulet of Yendor. Rogue became popular around 1980 on mainframes and later ported to various platforms, including DOS in 1984. Rogue is simply the father of all the roguelike games that c...
shamus-1

Shamus

DOS19843.7/5 Synapse Software
sokoban-1

Soko-Ban

DOS19844.1/5 ASCII Corporation
spyhunter-1

Spy Hunter

DOS19843.7/5 Midway Manufacturing Company
styx-1

Styx

DOS19843.9/5 Windmill Software
ancient-art-of-war-01

The Ancient Art of War

DOS19843.9/5 Evryware
The Ancient Art of War is a classic video game that was released in the late 1980s. Developed by Evryware and published by Broderbund, it was available on various platforms, including Apple II, Atari ST, Amiga, and MS-DOS. The Ancient Art of War is a strategy game that takes place in various historical settings, such as ancient China, Greece, and t...
xonix-1

Xonix

DOS1984remake4.1/5
8088othello-4

8088 Othello

DOS19853.5/5
air-traffic-controller-02

Air Traffic Controller

DOS19854.2/5 Cascoly Software
antix-05

Antix

DOS1985remake4.2/5
auto-duel-05

Autoduel

DOS19853.8/5 Origin Systems
Autoduel is an abandoned top-down open world post apocalyptic RPG/driving game hybrid designed by Chuck Bueche and Richard Garriott of Ultima fame. Autoduel was developed by Origin Systems and was released in 1985 for DOS, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, C64, Apple II, Macintosh, Amiga. Autoduel is based on a board game designed by Steve Jackson himself.