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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Ken's Labyrinth

DOS1993freeware

Bio Menace Episode 2: The Hidden Lab

DOS1993freeware Apogee Software

Ant Attack!

DOS1994freeware Dataware

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 around a tournament organized by the multinational corporation WAR (World Aeronautics and Robotics), where pilots compe...

Pharaoh's Tomb

DOS1990 Micro F/X Software

Blackstar: Agent of Justice

DOS1995

Secret Agent: The Escape

DOS1996 PhreAk Software

Commander Keen 2: The Earth Explodes

DOS1990protected id software

Commander Keen 3: Keen Must Die!

DOS1990protected id software

In the Dead of Night

DOS1995 Trecision

Inner Worlds

DOSLinux1996 Sleepless Software

Amazing Maze

DOS1983

Moraff's Dungeon of the Unforgiven

DOS1993 Moraffware

Moraff's World

DOS1991 Moraffware

King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table

DOS1994 MVP Software

Nitemare 3D

DOSWindows 3.x1994protected Gray Design Associates

Nitemare 3D is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by David P. Gray under the Gray Design Associates label. It was released in 1994 as a follow-up to the earlier adventure games in the "Hugo" series. The protagonist, Hugo, embarks on a mission to rescue his girlfriend, Penelope, who has been kidnapped by the evil Dr. Hame...

Traffic department 2192

DOS1994freeware P Squared

Caverns of Kroz

DOS1989freeware Apogee Software

Bolo Ball

DOS1992 Soleau Software

Bolo Ball is a DOS game from the mid-1990s. It features a physics-based gameplay where the objective is to knock opponent balls out of an arena. When you start the game, you find yourself in a 2D arena set against a starry, space-like background. You control a colorful ball, which, despite being a 2D sprite, appears somewhat three-dimensional due t...