Abandonware DOS retro gaming spotlight

It Came From The Desert: giant ants from the 50s

It Came from the Desert is an abandonware action-adventure game developed by Cinemaware and released in 1990 for PC (DOS) and Amiga. It Came From the Desert is an action-adventure game with a peculiar flavor: it's set in the 50s, in the USA, and it's based on those old monster movies ...

Simon The Sorcerer: point and click humor

Simon the Sorcerer is adventure game designed by Simon Woodroffe, developed and published by Adventure Soft and released in 1993. Often overlooked, Simon The Sorcerer is one of the finest point & click adventure games ever designed for DOS. In an era dominated by LucasFilm Games (later renamed LucasArts) and Sierra, ...

Space Questing with Sierra On-Line

Space Quest games are all somewhat "abandoned". Sierra is defunct and no one is maintaining the old Space Quest games. (Un)fortunately a few digital stores have Space Quest games in their catalog (see GOG) and that's why almost all Sierra games on Abandonware DOS aren't available for download.The ...

The Zork universe: an underground empire

Zork is one of the most popular text-adventures and one of the first interactive fiction games ever created. The first Zork was developed in the seventies and ported on various platform by Infocom in the early 80s. Infocom was one of the most prolific developers of text-adventures for home ...

Quest for Glory 2: Trial by Fire - Adventure and RPG mixed

Quest for Glory 2: Trial by Fire is a the second chapter in the Quest for Glory series. Trial by Fire is an adventure game with RPG elements (at the very start the player must choose a class from the three available: fighter, wizard, thief) set in a fantasy setting inspired ...

Adventure Construction Set: build your own CRPG

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 ...

Loom: a fantasy adventure by Lucasfilm

Loom is one of the first graphic adventures released by Lucasfilm Games. It was designed by Brian Moriarty and it follows a fantasy theme. There's no inventory and it lacks classic commands like "look", "take", etc. You can play tunes using a combination of notes in order to interact with ...

Cadaver and Cadaver: The Payoff

Cadaver (and the expansion Cadaver: The Payoff) is a blend of adventure and platform game developed by Bitmap Brothers. The gameplay reminds me of the glorious Head over Heels with a few differences: a fantasy setting, an inventory and the fact that you can die... and I died a lot ...

Cruise for a Corpse: crime and mystery on a ship

Cruise for a Corpse is a point and click adventure game developed by Delphine Software, the same guys behind Flashback, Operation Stealth and Future Wars.Cruise for a Corpse borrows heavily from Agatha Christie style and it's entirely set on a single cruise ship. If you like detective stories, go ...

Retro game spotlight: Legend of Kyrandia (1992)

Legend of Kyrandia is the first installment of the series of the same name. Kyrandia is a classic point & click adventure game set in a fantasy world; it was developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin in 1992.There are different versions of the original Legend of Kyrandia. One ...

Developer spotlight: Magnetic Scrolls

Magnetic Scrolls was a British video game company active between 1984 and 1992. It was one of the most acclaimed interactive fiction developers of the 1980s and developed games such as The Pawn, Fish!, Guild of Thieves.Based In: United Kingdom United Kingdom Founded By: Anita Sinclair, Ken Gordon, Hugh Steers Established ...

1986 in retro gaming: Archon, Karateka, Space Quest

30 years ago, computer gaming was growing slowly. Computers like the C64 and the Spectrum were the main source of digital amusement among Home Computer owners. Finally after a few disappointing years, in 1986 a handful of interesting games began to conquer the PC public:Archon was an hybrid between an ...

Games set in South America

Video games set in South America usually involve Inca or Aztec cultures and mythology. Typical South American settings and cliches are: the jungle, the Amazon, ancient temples, guerrilla warfare, petty dictators, etc.Here's a few of them:Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures  Windows 3.x 1996 LucasArts Flight of the ...

Telarium: early interactive fiction

Telarium 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

"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

Infocom 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. ...

LA Law: The Computer Game

LA Law: The Computer Game is an abandoned adventure game based on the popular TV series from the 80s and 90s. L.A. Law. LA Law was developed by Synergistic Software and released by Capstone in 1992. LA Law plays like a multiple choice adventure game where you have to build ...

Collector's info: Bureaucracy

Infocom 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

InfoComics 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

Lure 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.