Abandonware DOS title

Abandonware DOS retro gaming spotlight

  • Dungeon Master: a RPG classic

    Dungeon Master: a RPG classic

    2nd January 2024RPG
    Dungeon Master, released in 1987 by FTL for Atari ST and later for Amiga and DOS, is a classic dungeon-crawling role-playing game (RPG) that holds a special place in the hearts of many nostalgic gamers. Dungeon Master is considered the father of first-person, 3D, grid-based dungeon crawlers.
  • Secret of the Silver Blades: a GoldBox RPG

    Secret of the Silver Blades: a GoldBox RPG

    9th December 2023RPG
    Secret of the Silver Blades is a fantasy RPG set in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons universe, developed and released by SSI Strategic Simulations Inc. in 1990 for DOS, Macintosh, Amiga and Commodore 64 systems. Secret of the Silver Blades is part of the Pool of Radiance series and uses the same "...
  • Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

    Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

    11th November 2023remakes and sequels, RPG
    Ultima IV is remembered as one of the best Ultima games ever released, designed as usual by Richard Garriott. Garriott took the Ultima series to a whole new level by introducing the eight virtues: honesty, compassion, valor, justice, sacrifice, honor, spirituality, humility. Ultima IV started the trilogy known as "Age ...
  • Crusader: No Regret

    Crusader: No Regret

    21st October 2023RPG, strategy
    PC PowerPlay (1996) wrote: "The creators of the game obviously had a great time with the concept and as such have produced a very polished final product. For those people who have played the first game there will be no disappointment in the sequel, and for those who have not previously ...
  • Might and Magic 2: Gates to Another World

    Might and Magic 2: Gates to Another World

    1st September 2023RPG
    Might and Magic 2: Gates to Another World is a single-player abandoned fantasy RPG designed by Jon and Michaela Van Caneghem, developed and released by New World Computing in 1988 for DOS, Apple 2 and many other platforms. MM2 is the second chapter of the Might and Magic series and it's an improvement ...
  • An old school RPG: The Magic Candle

    An old school RPG: The Magic Candle

    5th August 2023RPG
    The Magic Candle: Volume 1 is the first chapter of a series of fantasy old school RPGs. The Magic Candle was developed and released by Mindcraft Software in 1989 for DOS but was also published for Apple II and Commodore 64. The whole Magic Candle series is very similar to some of the ...
  • Adventure Construction Set: build your own CRPG

    Adventure Construction Set: build your own CRPG

    17th June 2023adventure, RPG
    Adventure Construction Set is an abandoned application developed by Stuart Smith and published for DOS, Amiga, Apple II and Commodore 64 by Electronic Arts in 1987. As the name suggests, ACS is a game-building system (we're talking about adventure RPGs) that lets you edit maps, items, creatures, etc. Included with ACS is ...
  • Baldur's Gate: the game who revitilized CRPGs

    Baldur's Gate: the game who revitilized CRPGs

    21st January 2023RPG
    Baldur's Gate a fantasy RPG set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe which is regarded as the RPG that brought new life in a dying genre in the late 90s. Baldur's Gate was developed by BioWare and released by Black Isle Studios in 1998 for Windows, Lunux and Mac. Some of ...
  • BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception

    BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception

    14th January 2023RPG, strategy
    According to Infocom, the game is designed for the 13 to 19 year old market and we agree. It could also be used to introduce younger kids into role-playing on the computer. BattleTech is made to be solved in about 35 hours, but it can easily be finished in around 20. It depends on ...
  • Hired Guns: a sci-fi RPG

    Hired Guns: a sci-fi RPG

    16th December 2022RPG
    Hired Guns is an abandoned game developed by DMA Design and published by Psygnosis in 1993 for DOS and Amiga platforms. Hired Guns is a sci-fi RPG in which you control four mercenaries in four individual simultaneous first person sub-screens tasked with destroying all the bad guys from a single planet.
  • Amberstar: an old-school RPG

    Amberstar: an old-school RPG

    3rd December 2022RPG
    Amberstar is an old school RPG very similar to Ultima 6 that uses a top-down view for interiors and small locations and a first person pseudo 3D view for everything else. Unfortunately, the sequel (called Ambermoon) was available for Amiga only and no version existed for DOS or Windows.
  • Jagged Alliance 2: like X-Com in South America

    Jagged Alliance 2: like X-Com in South America

    30th November 2022RPG, strategy
    I'm a fan of the original X-COM. I think it's one of the best turn-based tactics games ever released for DOS. Unfortunately, games like X-COM are not many. Jagged Alliance 2 has a similar tactical component: you give turn-based orders to a team of mercenaries, mission after mission. There's no management ...
  • Retro RPG spotlight: Bloodwych

    Retro RPG spotlight: Bloodwych

    15th October 2022RPG
    Bloodwych is an abandoned RPG set in the fantasy world of Trazere. Two players can play at the same time in split screen mode, a feature that was unusual at the time, especially for an RPG. Bloodwych was released in 1989 by Image Works for DOS, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ...
  • The Aethra Chronicles Volume One: Celystra's Bane

    The Aethra Chronicles Volume One: Celystra's Bane

    30th July 2022RPG
    The Aethra Chronicles is not a well know RPG, but it deserves some praise. It was developed by only one person (Micheal Lawrence) and, as the title implies, was intended to be the first volume of a saga. Unfortunately, volume two and three were never made. For a shareware game, ...
  • Daggerfall: the second chapter of the Elder Scrolls

    Daggerfall: the second chapter of the Elder Scrolls

    23rd July 2022RPG
    The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall is an old school first-person 3D RPG developed by Bethesda Softworks and released in 1996 for DOS. Daggerfall is the second chapter in The Elder Scrolls Series. The open world gameplay, the procedural generation of dungeons and the freedom of exploring and taking on the quests at ...
  • The best first-person party-based RPGs according to you

    The best first-person party-based RPGs according to you

    18th June 2022RPG, top games and awards
    Party-based role-playing games with a first person perspective became popular after the release of Dungeon Master in 1989. Before Dungeon Master only a handful RPGs used first-person as a point of view, the Bard's Tale and Wizardry series among others.Dungeon Master managed to create a very neat user interface without ...
  • The beginning of Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss

    The beginning of Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss

    14th May 2022RPG, top games and awards
    Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss is a first-person 3D RPG set in the Ultima universe created by Richard Garriott. Ultima Underworld was designed by Paul Neurath, developed by Blue Sky Productions and released by Origin Systems in 1992. It was followed by Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds.More info about ...
  • A classic roguelike: Linley's Dungeon Crawl

    A classic roguelike: Linley's Dungeon Crawl

    29th April 2022RPG
    Dungeon Crawl (also known as Linley's Dungeon Crawl from the name of the original programmer: Linley Henzell) is a classic roguelike: an RPG with permadeath, procedural generation and high replayability. Dungeon Crawl was released on 1997 but it's not maintained anymore. The spiritual successor of Crawl is DCCS (Dungeon Crawl Stone ...
  • The Origin of The Savage Empire

    The Origin of The Savage Empire

    16th April 2022RPG
    After the success of Ultima 6: The False Prophet, Origin decided to "create worlds" not part of the popular Ultima series using the same engine as Ultima 6. They came up with two games: The Savage Empire and Martian Dreams. The Savage Empire is set in a stone-age-like time period and features ...
  • Post-apocalyptic RPGs: from Wasteland to Fallout

    Post-apocalyptic RPGs: from Wasteland to Fallout

    13th March 2022remakes and sequels, RPG, strategy
    Wasteland was an early party-based top-down RPG set in a post-apocalyptic world that filled a gap in RPG video games at the time (we're talking about the late 1980s): sci fi RPGs weren't many and post-apocalyptic ones were even less.There are two series of games that are part to ...
  • Amulets and Armor: a lesser known first-person CRPG

    Amulets and Armor: a lesser known first-person CRPG

    7th January 2022RPG
    Amulets & Armor is a first-person RPG with a fantasy setting. It was developed and published as shareware for DOS by United Software Artists in 1997. Amulets & Armor became freeware in 2013. Gameplay is mission-based; the player can take up quests in any order and even complete the same quests over ...
  • Retro game spotlight: Ultima 7 part 2 - Serpent Isle

    Retro game spotlight: Ultima 7 part 2 - Serpent Isle

    14th August 2021RPG
    After the well received Ultima 7 The Black Gate, Origin decided that the new Ultima engine could be used for one more game.Enter Serpent Isle.This time the Avatar travels to a whole new land, far away from the usual Britannia. Personally, I prefer The Black Gate, but Serpent Isle ...
  • 1994 in retro gaming: The Elder Scrolls: Arena

    1994 in retro gaming: The Elder Scrolls: Arena

    7th August 2021RPG, deals and free games
    The Elder Scrolls: Arena is the first chapter in the popular fantasy RPG series "The Elder Scrolls" developed by Bethesda Softworks. Like the other games in the series, Arena takes place in the continent of Tamriel and allows the player to roam freely in an open world scenario.The Elder ...
  • RPG spotlight - Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

    RPG spotlight - Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

    17th April 2021RPG
    Ultima IV is remembered as one of the best Ultima games ever released, designed as usual by Richard Garriott. Garriott took the Ultima series to a whole new level by introducing the eight virtues: honesty, compassion, valor, justice, sacrifice, honor, spirituality, humility. Ultima IV started the trilogy known as "Age ...
  • J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers

    J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers

    16th January 2021RPG
    J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers is an abandoned fantasy top-down DOS RPG game set in the The Lord of the Rings universe. The Lord of the Rings II was developed and released by Interplay Productions in 1992. The Lord of the ...
  • Icewind Dale: better than Baldur's Gate?

    Icewind Dale: better than Baldur's Gate?

    4th December 2020RPG
    When I played Baldur's Gate, I knew that RPGs weren't dead. There was this feeling that a new wave of RPGs was coming. I loved Baldur's Gate, but I found some parts of the story and the NPC's a bit too naive. What I loved of Icewind Dale, was that ...
  • The Magic Candle series: almost like Ultima

    The Magic Candle series: almost like Ultima

    21st November 2020RPG
    The Magic Candle is a series of old school RPGs developed by Mindcraft much like Ultima. You control a party of adventurers in a top-down perspective environment. You can explore towns, fight monsters, talk to people, manage your inventory and even get someone of your party to work for a ...
  • Retro company spotlight: Strategic Simulations Inc.

    Retro company spotlight: Strategic Simulations Inc.

    29th August 2020RPG, strategy
    SSI (Strategic Simulations Inc.) was one of the most prolific game companies of the 80s and the 90s. SSI was founded in 1979 and developed and/or published more than one hundred games. SSI was popular among video games players for two things: wargames and RPG goldbox games.Strategy games developed ...
  • What is your favourite dungeon crawler?

    What is your favourite dungeon crawler?

    31st July 2020RPG
    Dungeon crawlers are RPGs in which the player has to explore one or more dungeons (or similar non-open world environments), fight hordes of cunning monsters, looting treasure, gain experience and levels and so on. Usually, dungeon crawlers have simple storylines and a linear progression. A lot of rogue-likes can be ...
  • Abandoned games set in the 19th century

    Abandoned games set in the 19th century

    2nd May 2020adventure, RPG, simulation
    The 19th century was the age of steam, railroads and remarkable discoveries. It was the age of literary masterpieces like the Sherlock Holmes novels, Dracula and Jules Verne's sci-fi stories.Some of the most popular games set in the 19th centurey are:The Oregon TrailThe Lost Files of Sherlock HolmesMartian ...