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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Hocus Pocus
DOS1994protected Apogee Software
Hexxagon 2
DOS1993 Argo Games
Rockstar!
DOS1989 Wizard Games
Kingdom of Kroz 2
DOS1990 Apogee Software
EGA Trek
DOS1988remake
Capture the Flag
DOS1993
Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle
DOS1991protected id software
Dark Designs 2: Closing the Gate
DOS1990 Softdisk Publishing
Ack-Ack Attack!
DOS1995remake PLBM Games
Ancients 1: Deathwatch
DOS1991 Farr-Ware Software
Xenophage: Alien BloodSport
DOS1996freeware Argo Games
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.
Last Half of Darkness
DOS1989 SoftLab Laboratories
Galactix
DOS1992 Cygnus Studios
Terminal Velocity
Windows XP/98/95DOSLinuxMac OS1995protected Terminal Reality
Arctic Adventure
DOS1991 Apogee Software
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...
Radix: Beyond the Void
DOS1995
ZZT
DOS1991freeware Epic MegaGames
Gateworld
DOS1993 HomeBrew Software
UnReal World v. 3.20
Windows XP/98/95Mac OS1992freeware
Secret Agent
DOS1992protected Apogee Software
CHAMP Centipede
DOS1993remake ChamProgramming corp.
Invasion of the Mutant Space Bats of Doom
DOS1995 Pop Software
Aleshar World of Ice
DOS1997
Jumpman Lives!
DOS1991remake Apogee Software
Exile III: Ruined World
Windows XP/98/95Mac OSWindows 3.x1997freeware Spiderweb Software
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.
Tetris (Academysoft)
DOS1996 AcademySoft
CHAMP Kong
DOS1996remake ChamProgramming corp.