Abandonware DOS retro gaming spotlight
-
Telarium: early interactive fiction
5th June 2021adventureTelarium was known for interactive fiction adventure games with graphics. Their adventure games were almost all based on novels such as Farenheit 451 and Rendez Vous With Rama. Telarium often cooperated with the authors of those books.Based in: U.S.A. Established in: 1984 Closed in: 1987 gamegenrereleasedAmazonadventure1984Dragon Worldadventure1984Farenheit 451... -
Plan 9 From Outer Space: inspired by a B movie
29th May 2021adventure"There was so much potential for a decent game within Plan 9's dire plot and general naffness that the game seems a real cop-out. I'm a real fan of all those awful B-movies, and likes of The Creature From The Black Lagoon and King Kong are just gagging for ... -
Collector's info: Leather Goddesses of Phobos
15th May 2021adventure, big box PC gamesInfocom interactive fiction games are fondly remembered by fans not only for their quality, but also for the sheer number of "feelies" (physical items) you could find in each original big box.Leather Goddesses of Phobos, a sci-fi humorous text adventure, came with some of the most peculiar feelies ever. ... -
Collector's info: Bureaucracy
11th March 2021adventure, big box PC gamesInfocom interactive fiction games are fondly remembered by fans not only for their quality, but also for the sheer number of "feelies" (physical items) you could find in each original big box.Bureaucracy is an abandoned text-adventure game designed by Douglas Adams (yes, the writer of The Hitchhiker Guide of ... -
The Infocom InfoComics
8th January 2021adventureInfoComics was an engine developed by Infocom, used for a series of adventure games that today would be described as visual novels (something like non-interactive comics). InfoComics weren't much popular and, apparently, were one of the causes that lead to Infocom demise. Infocom published four games based on the Infocomics ... -
Lure of the Temptress: the first game made with the Virtual Theatre engine
31st October 2020adventureLure of the Temptress is an DOS fantasy adventure game, developed by Revolution Software, designed by Dave Cummins and published by Virgin Interactive in 1992. It's available for download. Lure of the Temptress was the first game to use the Virtual Theatre engine, also developed by Revolution Software. -
Collector's info: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2nd October 2020adventure, big box PC gamesInfocom interactive fiction games are fondly remembered for their quality, but also for the sheer number of items contained in each original big box. They also got a name for them: "feelies".The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a text adventure based on the Douglas Adams novel by the same ... -
Italian videogames in the 90s
5th September 2020adventure, racing, sportsItaly wasn't a prolific nation if you think about video games in the golden age of personal computers. There were a few valid software houses (Simulmondo, Milestone, Trecision, etc.) but they all disappeared leaving behind lots of mediocre games. Only a few of them are worth playing, but that doesn't ... -
Graphic adventures with a text parser
5th June 2020adventureThere's a fine line between a "text adventure" (also called interactive fiction) and a modern graphic adventure. Before the advent of point & click adventure games such as Monkey Island, Gabriel Knight or Day of the Tentacle, designers first attempted to create graphical adventure games with a text-based interface. You ... -
Abandoned games set in the 19th century
2nd May 2020adventure, RPG, simulationThe 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 ... -
Al Lowe: the father of Larry Laffer
25th April 2020adventureAl Lowe is an American video game designer, programmer, and musician who developed several adventure games, mostly for Sierra On-Line. He is best known for creating the Leisure Suit Larry series.Name: Al Lowe Born on: 24/07/1946Occupation: video game designer, game programmer, musicianKnown for: Leisure Suit LarryWiki page: http://en.... -
A niche genre: Metroidvania
23rd November 2019action, adventureMetroidvania is a made up word born from the merge of two game series titles: Metroid and Castlevania. Both games share gameplay and design elements that defines the genre. Metroidvania games are platform games featuring a game world that is freely explorable. Certain areas can be accessed only with player ... -
Video games can educate people
23rd August 2019adventure, simulationEducational games are a peculiar kind of video games of various genres. Gameplay, graphics and sound are still important aspects of educationals, but the mail goal of the developer is to teach the player something: math, history, ecology, anything! Some educationals are created with a young audience in mind, other ... -
More adventures: point and click, interactive fiction, etc.
24th May 2019adventureAnother week, another update. This time I added a bunch of adventure games still missing from Abandonware DOS, pretty different one from the other.Hook and Ween: The Prophecy are two fairly well know point and click adventure games; I'm sure you heard about both of them. Arthur, Legend of ... -
Horror-themed games from the past
30th March 2019adventure, RPGSometimes I like to spend quite some time looking at Google Analytics statistics of Abandonware DOS. I'm amused that "horror" (and variants) is a much searched keyword.What is that you like in horror games of the past? Did they scare you? I remember that the game that scared me ... -
Police Quest: 1, 2, 3 and "4"
3rd November 2018adventureSierra On-Line published lots of games back in the 80s and the 90s and was famous for the various "Quest" series. Think about King's Quest, Quest for Glory, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry ("Love Quest"?). I'm sure you remember a few.Police Quest wasn't perhaps one of the most popular ... -
Dizzy, by the Oliver Twins
20th October 2018action, adventureEvery gaming platform has its video game mascotte: Mario, Sonic, etc. Codemasters came up with their own character: an egg shaped... thing... called Dizzy. This strange fellow was the protagonist of a series of action adventure games on Spectrum, C64 and many other systems, PC included. Here are some Dizzy ... -
Text only gaming: it's not always about interactive fiction
8th September 2018adventure, simulation, strategyText only games are a curious phenomenon. Unlike other kind of old games, they survived to this day in one form or the other. Maybe that's because it doesn't take a huge team to develop a game completely (or partially) devoid of graphics. When I say text-only games, some of ... -
Comics and superheroes in videogames
14th July 2018action, adventureWhen I think about superheroes and supervillains what comes to my mind are comics, big budget movies, cosplayers. And then, and only then, videogames. If you think about it, the superhero theme wasn't that popular in old videogames. Nonetheless, there are a few DOS games about super-men in tights.With ... -
More adventure games: ecology, horror, comedy...
20th March 2018adventureI added every possible Sierra Online adventure to the Abandonware DOS database... and then I found out that I missed something: EcoQuest. I never liked the EcoQuest series, I never even really played them much, but they deserve a place on Abandonware DOS. I also missed Last Half of ...