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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One Must Fall 2097

DOS1994freeware4.1/5 Diversions Entertainment

Jill of the Jungle 2: Jill Goes Underground

DOS19924.1/5 Epic MegaGames

Raptor: Call of the Shadows

DOSWindows XP/98/95Mac1994protecteddemo4.1/5 Cygnus Studios

Raptor: Call of the Shadows is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up video game developed by Cygnus Studios and published by Apogee Software. The game was first released in 1994 for MS-DOS and later ported to other platforms. In Raptor, players control a fighter jet through various levels filled with enemy aircraft, ground targets, power-ups and boss...

Flying Tigers

DOS19944.1/5 Ticsoft

Flying Tigers is an abandoned vertical-scrolling sci-fi themed shoot 'em up game developed and released by Ticsoft in 1994 for MS-DOS only. Flying Tigers is the first chapter of the two parts Flying Tigers video game series.

Blake Stone 2: Planet Strike

DOS1994protected4.1/5 JAM Productions

Wolfenstein 3D

DOSMac1992protecteddemo4.1/5 id software

Wolfenstein 3D is the first-person shooter that popularized the whole genre in the early 90s and is considered one of the greatest games ever made. Wolfenstein 3D was designed by John Romero and Tom Hall (id Software) and released as shareware by Apogee Software in 1992 for DOS. Wolfenstein 3D is based on the Wolf3D engine, programmed by John ...

Duke Nukem

DOS19914.1/5 Apogee Software

Duke Nukem 1 was released in 1991 by Apogee Software for MS-DOS, and it marked the beginning of the Duke Nukem franchise. Duke Nukem is a side-scrolling action platformer game with a sci-fi theme. In this original game, players control Duke Nukem, a muscular action hero tasked with saving the world from the evil Dr. Proton. Dr. Proton has taken con...

Chain Reaction

DOS19964.1/5 Webfoot Technologies

Death Rally

DOS1996freeware4.1/5 Remedy Entertainment Ltd.

UnReal World v. 3.20

Windows XP/98/95Mac1992freeware4.1/5

Hexxagon

DOS19934.1/5 Argo Games

Alien Rampage

DOS19964.1/5

Cosmo's Cosmic Adventures

DOS1992protected4.1/5 Apogee Software

Pharaoh's Tomb

DOS19904.1/5 Micro F/X Software

Solar Winds: The Escape

DOS19934.1/5 Stone Interactive Media

Radix: Beyond the Void

DOS19954.1/5

Spacewar

DOS19854.1/5

Spacewar is one of the earliest digital computer games and is often considered the first interactive video game. It was created in 1962 by Steve Russell, Martin Graetz, and Wayne Wiitanen at the MIT. The game was developed on the PDP-1 minicomputer; this is a DOS port, released in 1985.Spacewar! features two spaceships, controlled by players, that ...

DND

DOS19844.1/5

Blake Stone 1: Aliens of Gold

DOS1993protected4.1/5 JAM Productions

Blades of Exile

Windows 3.xMacWindows XP/98/951997freeware4.1/5 Spiderweb Software

Xatax

DOS19944/5 Pixel Painters Corporation

Hexxagon 2

DOS19934/5 Argo Games

Scorched Earth

DOS1991protected4/5

God of Thunder

DOSWindows XP/98/951993freeware4/5 Adept Software

God of Thunder is a classic computer game developed by Adept Software and released in 1993. It's a puzzle platformer with a fantasy theme. In the game, you control Thor, the Norse god of thunder, on a quest to save Midgard (Earth) from the evil god Loki and his minions.The gameplay involves navigating through various levels filled with obstacles, e...