The most popular 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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Rise of the Triad: Dark War
DOS1994protected Apogee Software
Skyroads
DOS1993freeware Bluemoon Interactive
One Must Fall 2097
DOS1994freeware Diversions Entertainment
One Must Fall: 2097 is a fighting game released in 1994 by Epic MegaGames. Set in a futuristic world, the game features giant humanoid robots known as HARs (Human-Assisted Robots) controlled by human pilots. The storyline revolves...
Alien Rampage
DOS1996
Alien Rampage (1996) is what happens when Duke Nukem gets stranded on a hostile alien planet and decides subtlety is for cowards. It’s a side-scrolling shooter dripping with gore, attitude, and the occasional terrible pun. E...
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...
Grand Prix
DOS1989 Wizard Games
Aldo's Adventure
DOS1987remake
Aldo’s Adventure is what you get when someone squints at Donkey Kong and decides to remake it after four cups of coffee and a long nap. You play Aldo, a brave little guy whose hobbies include climbing platforms, dodging haza...
Hexxagon 2
DOS1993 Argo Games
Captain Comic, The Adventures of
DOS1988freeware
Before space marines were gritty and everything exploded in brown and grey, there was The Adventures of Captain Comic. This is early PC platforming in all its clunky, jumpy, 4-color glory. You collect treasures, shoot baddies with...
CHAMP Galagon
DOS1997remake ChamProgramming corp.
The Aethra Chronicles
DOS1994
The Aethra Chronicles is not a well know fantasy RPG, but it deserves some praise. It was developed by only one person (Micheal Lawrence) and, as the title implies, was intended to be the first volume of a saga. Unfortunately, vol...
Crystal Caves
DOS1991protected Apogee Software
Inner Worlds
DOSLinux1996 Sleepless Software
Sherlock: The Game of Logic
DOS1991protected Everett Kaser Software
Xatax
DOS1994 Pixel Painters Corporation
Jill of the Jungle 3: Jill Saves the Prince
DOS1992 Epic MegaGames
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...
Commander Keen 2: The Earth Explodes
DOS1990protected id software
Epic Pinball
DOSMac OS1993protected Digital Extremes
Jazz Jackrabbit
DOS1994protected Epic MegaGames
In the Dead of Night
DOS1995 Trecision
Seek and Destroy
DOS1996 Safari Software
Seek and Destroy was a shoot'em up published by the well known Epic Megagames in 1996 that tried to change the usual shoot'em up gameplay for the better. Instead of wave after wave of enemies to shoot down, you are given short mis...
Shadow Warrior
DOS1997protected 3d Realms
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...
Bio Menace Episode 2: The Hidden Lab
DOS1993freeware Apogee Software
Snake Logan is back, and this time the lab is... hidden! The Hidden Lab cranks up the challenge with more grotesque mutants, more lethal traps, and slightly improved sarcasm. It’s like episode one, but with less common sense...
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...
Secret Agent
DOS1992protected Apogee Software
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 ...
UnReal World v. 3.20
Windows XP/98/95Mac OS1992freeware
Commander Keen 1: Marooned on Mars
DOS1990 id software
Commander Keen 1: Marooned on Mars is a platform video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software in 1990 as shareware for MS-DOS. The game follows the adventures of an eight-year-old genius named Billy Bl...