Abandonware DOS retro gaming spotlight

GOG Lunar Sale

It's the year of the rat in the chinese calendar and, surprise surprise, there a GOG sale (and a Steam sale... and a Humble Bundle sale... and... more sales on almost every digital distribution online platform). A plethora of games on GOG - old and new, are avaiable at very ...

Abandonware spotlight: Seek and Destroy

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 missions to accomplish with your helicopter or your tank (...

CODiE Awards 1995: Doom 2, Nascar, Under a Killing Moon

In 1995 America Online granted access to the internet. The Oklahoma City bombing and the nervine gas attack in Japan happened. In 1995 Microsoft presented its own operating system Windows 1995 to the world.Some CODiE Awards winners made the history of video gaming. Doom 2 was an excellent sequel to one of the ...

The best abandonware games of 2019

2019 has ended. Each game in the "top abandonware games" chart of Abandonware DOS received many votes. This means that you, dear visitor, care about these games, you loved them when they were released and they left something in you... a pleasant memory, a warm feeling of nostalgia maybe?This ...

Abandonware DOS in 2019: what's changed and what's new

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who donated a few bucks to help me keep working on Abandonware DOS. THANK YOU, THANK YOU and again THANK YOU! In 2019 I changed the way that I usually add content on Abandonware DOS. This means that it takes me less ...

Old school: first-person party-based CRPGs

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, the Bard's Tale and Wizardry series among others. Dungeon Master managed to create a very neat user interface without sacrificing the gameplay.Some ...

Death Sword (AKA Barbarian): the art of fighting slowly

Death Sword (also known as Barbarian in Europe), is a fighting game developed by Palace Software, set in a fantasy world full of huge sword-wielding barbarians. Compared to modern brawlers, Death Sword gameplay may seem slow, but at the time it was considered adequate. Instead of rushing into multiple chain ...

GOG Winter Sale

The GOG Winter Sale is here! And this year, GOG is giving away Wasteland 2 (developed by inXile Entertainment). I'm sure many of you retrogamers, remember the first Wasteland, one of the few post-apocalyptic RPGs for DOS.

Simulation games: Team Yankee, Hill Street Blues, Epic and more

Simulation and vehicle simulation games are often the least remembered video game genres by retro gamers. While many simulations did achieve a certain degree of success back in the day, quite a few fell in the dark pit of forgotten retro games. Let's see how many of these you can ...

CODiE Awards 1994: Myst, SimCity 2000, IndyCar Racing

1994 was the year of Myst. To me, the huge success of Myst was a mystery. Myst was an ok game, different from many other titles, but I didn't see it as a groundbreaking innovative product. I know that many of you will frown reading this, but it really didn't ...

Play abandoned roguelike RPGs in your browser

Roguelikes are peculiar kind of RPG that always intrigued me. Permadeath and procedurally generated dungeons means a very high replayability. The history of roguelikes has its roots in the early age of video gaming. The first roguelike dates back to the 70s!Abandonware DOS hosts a few good old roguelikes, ...

A niche genre: Metroidvania

Metroidvania 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 ...

Hard Drivin' in vector graphics

"Hard Drivin', a fast moving, solid-filled vector graphic racing game, gave you the chance to compete against the clock on two separate tracks: a speed track and a stunt track. And for those skilled enough to get a good enough time on either of these, there was a championship ...

Windows 3.1 classic games

Long before the first successful Windows operating systems, Microsoft developed Windows 3.1 (an "operating environtment"). Games that ran under Windows 3.1 weren't so many. In fact, most of them are little more than puzzle games, card games and simple strategy games. That doesn't mean Windows 3.1 lacked good games; in fact, a few ...

GOG Halloween Sale

Every year GOG hosts an Halloween Sale with lots of scary games on sale. Some of the games on sale this year are: Blood 2, Alan Wake, Sunless Sea, The Last Door, F.E.A.R., the Blackwell Bundle, Gabriel Knight series, Grim Dawn, Grim Fandango, Still Life, the whole Witcher ...

Lesser known old school RPGs for DOS

Ultima, Wizardry, Fallout, Might & Magic are among the most popular old school RPGs that every RPG fan played or know something about. However, lots of RPGs published in the distant past never reached a wide popularity. Some the RPGs uploaded today on Abandonware DOS are not exactly well known, ...

Crusader: No Regret retro review

"Crusader: No Regret is a game that comes close to being perfect, if only the Origin folks could come up with some simpler controls or a way to grow an extra finger this game could have scored 100%." - PC PowerPlay (1996) - Final score: 95%

CODiE Awards 1993: A-Train, Links 386, Wolfenstein 3-D

In 1993 the games awarded by the CODiE Awards weren't exactly important. The only one that stands out after all these years is Wolfenstein 3-D, the father of Doom and its sequels.1993A-Train Best Strategy ProgramDark Seed Best Fantasy Role Playing/Adventure ProgramLinks 386 Pro Best Sports ProgramSimLife Best Simulation ProgramStunt Island: ...

Retro Game Spotlight: SimEarth

SimEarth is a simulation in which you can shape and mold a planet in almost every way you can imagine. In SimEarth our planet is simulated as a whole: life, climate, atmosphere are all aspects of a single Gaia-like Earth. SimEarth can be played in two modes: game and experimental. ...

Minesweeping at the office

The Microsoft Windows 3.x family of operating environment wasn't known for games, but it popularized the Windows software pretty much everywhere. One of the best known Windows 3.x games was Minesweeper.Minesweeper was a simple puzzle game that required the player to clear a field full of mines and numbers ...