Abandonware DOS retro gaming spotlight

Amberstar: an old-school RPG

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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 ...

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 ...

Amulets and Armor: a lesser known first-person CRPG

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 ...

A classic RPG for Windows: Castle of the Winds

Castle of the Winds is a perfect example of an atypical roguelike (no ASCII, runs in Windows) turned into a liberated game. Surprisingly, Castle of the Winds is still very playable to this day, if you can make it run under recent Windows editions.Genres: RPG, dungeon crawl, roguelike ...

Abandonware spotlight: Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures

After publishing a plethora of Gold Box titles, SSI decided to release a fantasy RPG based on the Forgotten Realms scenarios of Dungeons & Dragons where the player could create its own adventures.Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures (FRUA) is the ultimate Gold Box RPG and received praise from everyone who ...

Retro game spotlight: Ultima 7 part 2 - Serpent Isle

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

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 ...

Rogue: the first roguelike

If you're into roguelikes, you already know what Rogue is. Rogue is one of the first RPGs in the history of video gaming. It's a text-based dungeon crawler in which you have to fight your way in the dungeon to recover the Amulet of Yendor. Rogue became popular around 1980 ...

System Shock 2: shooter, RPG, action-adventure

System Shock 2 is a Windows science fiction cyberpunk game developed by Irrational Games, designed by Ken Levine and published by Electronic Arts in 1999. System Shock 2 is a blend of more than one genre: RPG, action-adventure, shooter, stealth game.

RPG spotlight - Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

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 ...