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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Quake
DOSWindows XP/98/951996protecteddemo id software
Quake is a first-person shooter (FPS) video game developed by id Software and released in 1996. It is the successor to id Software's immensely popular "Doom" series and is known for its groundbreaking 3D graphics, fast-paced gamep...
Hocus Pocus
DOS1994protected Apogee Software
Doom
DOS1993protecteddemo id software
Doom was released by id Software in 1993. It is widely regarded as one of the most influential and groundbreaking video games of all time, particularly within the first-person shooter (FPS) genre.Set in the future on the moons of ...
Heretic
DOS1994protecteddemo Raven Software
Blood
DOS1997protected Monolith Productions
Ah yes, Blood (1997)—the cheerful little game where you rise from the grave, wield a pitchfork, and quote evil-sounding movie lines while setting cultists on fire. It’s a first-person shooter soaked in gore and dark hu...
3D Cyber Blaster
DOS1992remake HomeBrew Software
If Doom and Laser Tag had a baby raised by dial-up modems, it would be 3D Cyber Blaster. Released in 1992, this shooter has you blasting neon enemies in a world that looks like a Tron-themed laser maze. The sound effects are glori...
Hexxagon
DOS1993 Argo Games
Joust VGA
DOS1990remake
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...
Castle of the Winds
Windows 3.x1993freeware SaadaSoft
Castle of the Winds is a fantasy roguelike role-playing game developed by SaadaSoft in the early 1990s. It was designed for Windows 3.x and is notable for being one of the earliest graphical RPGs for that platform. The game featur...
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...
Tank Wars
DOS1990
Duke Nukem 3D
DOS1996protecteddemo 3d Realms
Duke Nukem 3D is a classic first-person shooter that was developed by 3D Realms (formerly known as Apogee Software) and published by GT Interactive. It was released in 1996 for MS-DOS and later for various other platforms, includi...
Tyrian 2000
DOS1999freeware Eclipse Software
Tyrian 2000 is an old DOS science fiction classic shoot'em up, developed by Eclipse Software and designed by Alexander Brandon, Jason Emery, Daniel Cook. Tyrian 2000 is one of the most popular shoot'em ups ever published for ...
Sherlock: The Game of Logic
DOS1991protected Everett Kaser Software
Digger
DOS1983 Windmill Software
Often mistaken as a Dig Dug clone, Digger is more like its eccentric cousin who insists on bringing a disco soundtrack to every family gathering. Released in 1983 for DOS, it combines digging with a jewel heist, tossing in some en...
Commander Keen 3: Keen Must Die!
DOS1990protected id software
Commander Keen 3: Keen Must Die! is the kind of title that makes you wonder what this kid did to tick off an entire alien race. After foiling their plans twice, Keen takes the fight to the Vorticon home planet, where enemies are s...
Slicks 'n' Slide
DOS1993
Jill of the Jungle
DOS1992 Epic MegaGames
Joyous Rebel
DOS1996freeware
Commander Keen 6: Aliens Ate my Baby Sitter!
DOS1991 id software
Billy’s babysitter has been abducted by aliens, and he’s not having it. Commander Keen 6: Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter! is the series at its most Saturday-morning-cartoon absurd. The Shikadi are back, the humor is dialed ...
Bio Menace Episode 3: Master Cain
DOS1993freeware Apogee Software
The trilogy concludes in Master Cain, where Snake Logan faces the ultimate evil: a villain with a name that sounds like a Bond bad guy and a plan straight from Saturday morning cartoons. Expect one last hurrah of mutant-blasting m...
Scorched Earth
DOS1991protected
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...
Othello
DOS1986
Radix: Beyond the Void
DOS1995
Skyroads
DOS1993freeware Bluemoon Interactive
Raptor: Call of the Shadows
DOSWindows XP/98/95Mac OS1994protecteddemo 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 Rap...
Pharaoh's Tomb
DOS1990 Micro F/X Software
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...