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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Jill of the Jungle 2: Jill Goes Underground

DOS1992 Epic MegaGames

Duke Nukem

DOS1991 Apogee Software

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

Skyroads

DOS1993freeware Bluemoon Interactive

Flying Tigers

DOS1994 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.

Wolfenstein 3D

DOSMac OS1992protecteddemo 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 ...

Scorched Earth

DOS1991protected

Chain Reaction

DOS1996 Webfoot Technologies

Hexxagon 2

DOS1993 Argo Games

Cap Man

Windows XP/98/951999

Cosmo's Cosmic Adventures

DOS1992protected Apogee Software

Death Rally

DOS1996freeware Remedy Entertainment Ltd.

DND

DOS1984

ZZT

DOS1991freeware Epic MegaGames

Alien Rampage

DOS1996

Solar Winds: The Escape

DOS1993 Stone Interactive Media

UnReal World v. 3.20

Windows XP/98/95Mac OS1992freeware

Blake Stone 2: Planet Strike

DOS1994protected JAM Productions

Exile: Escape from the Pit

Windows XP/98/95Mac OSWindows 3.x1995freeware Spiderweb Software

Exile: Escape from the Pit is a turn-based role-playing game (RPG) developed by Spiderweb Software. It is part of the Exile series, originally released in the mid-1990s. This game was later remade and re-released as Avernum: Escape from the Pit. The game is set in a massive underground world called Exile, where the Empire banishes criminals, p...

Xatax

DOS1994 Pixel Painters Corporation

Rockstar!

DOS1989 Wizard Games

Spacewar

DOS1985

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 ...

Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine

DOS1991protected id software

Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine is a science fiction action oriented platform game designed by Tom Hall, developed by id Software and released by Apogee Software in 1991 for DOS only. Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine is part of the Commander Keen game series, specifically it's the second episode of Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy.