Abandonware DOS retro gaming spotlight
-
The Zork universe: an underground empire
7th May 2022adventureZork 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 ... -
A classic roguelike: Linley's Dungeon Crawl
29th April 2022RPGDungeon 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 ... -
Retro racing: Grand Prix 2 by Geoff Crammond
23rd April 2022racingGrand Prix 2 is an abandoned Formula 1 racing game designed by Geoff Crammond and published by MicroProse Software in 1995 for DOS. Grand Prix 2 is the sequel to Formula One Grand Prix and was a one-man project (which was uncommon at the time). Grand Prix 2 was essentially an accurate simulation of ... -
The Origin of The Savage Empire
16th April 2022big box PC games, RPGAfter 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 ... -
From the arcades: Turbo OutRun
9th April 2022action, racingTurbo OutRun is an abandoned DOS action racing game set in North America, developed and published by Sega in 1990. Turbo OutRun is a conversion from the arcade classic of the same name and it's the sequel of the popular OutRun. The OutRun games are regarded as iconic and representative of ... -
The Terminator: Future Shock
2nd April 2022shooterThe Terminator: Future Shock is an abandoned science fiction first-person shooter game based on the popular Terminator movies franchise, set in a dystopian world where machines has taken over the Earth. The Terminator: Future Shock was developed by Bethesda Softworks and released in 1995 for DOS.Game details Genres: shooter,&... -
Cabal: an abandoned shooting gallery game
25th March 2022play online, shooterCabal is an abandoned arcade conversion of a popular shooter game set in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Cabal was developed by TAD Corporation and released by Capcom in 1989 for DOS.Zero Magazine (issue 06) wrote: "The idea in not only to shoot everything that moves but also most of ... -
Civilization 2: an improved sequel
19th March 2022strategyCivilization 2, later renamed Sid Meier's Civilization II, is a turn based 4X strategy game developed and published by MicroProse in 1996. The gameplay is similar to the first Civilization, many aspects were improved and new features were introduced: a new isometric perspective, hit points for units, new civilizations, new wonders of ... -
Post-apocalyptic RPGs: from Wasteland to Fallout
13th March 2022remakes and sequels, RPG, strategyWasteland 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
5th March 2022adventure, RPGQuest 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 ... -
X-COM: Terror from the Deep - The sequel
27th February 2022strategyX-COM: Terror from the Deep is a DOS science fiction tactical strategy game, the sequel of one of the most popular DOS games in history X-COM Ufo Defense. Terror from the Deep was designed by Stephen Gross (the X-COM original being designed by Julian Gollop) and was published by MicroProse ... -
Ascendancy: 4X turn-based strategy game
19th February 2022strategyAscendancy is a science fiction themed turn-based strategy game developed by The Logic Factory and released in 1995 for DOS. Ascendancy is a classic 4X game (eXpand, eXplore, eXploit, eXterminate), similar to Master of Orion, yet with a few differences such as a technology tree.More info about Ascendancy:Genres: strategy, 4... -
Retro game spotlight: The Lost Vikings
5th February 2022action, puzzleI'm not a fan of platformers. I love RPGs, I enjoyed many point & click adventures, I like most strategy games, but I never got excited while playing a platform game. Lost Viking is different. I LOVED the concept of controlling three different vikings in order to solve riddles and ... -
Loom: a fantasy adventure by Lucasfilm
29th January 2022adventureLoom 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 ... -
Bomb Jack: an arcade classic
22nd January 2022action, puzzle, remakes and sequelsBomb Jack is a classic arcade platform game developed and published by Tecmo in 1984. The goal of the game is to collect bombs while avoiding enemies; the whole game takes place in a fixed screen. Bomb Jack for DOS is a conversion from the arcade original version. The arcade and ... -
Knight Games: medieval olympics
15th January 2022sportsOlympic games were something back in the 80s and the 90s: Winter Games, Summer Games, California Games, anything-you-can-think-of games. Some imaginative developer thought that the world needed a different kind of "multisport" game and came up with he idea behind Knight Games."What Knight Games lacks is the feeling of ... -
Amulets and Armor: a lesser known first-person CRPG
7th January 2022RPGAmulets & 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 ... -
Abandonware DOS in 2021: let's say goodbye to a not so great year
2nd January 2022Abandonware DOS updatesFirst 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! I must confess that I didn't put a lot of work in implementing new features these last year. I had ... -
Play Elite online: the birth of space simulations
24th December 2021shooter, simulationThe very first Elite was the kind of game that starts a whole genre. Space sims - I'm talking about the trade-fight-explore kind of sims - started with the creation of David Braben and Ian Bell. Games like Freelancer and EVE Online owe Elite a great deal. The Elite series ... -
DOS game spotlight: Battle Chess
18th December 2021strategyChess is a niche genre in video gaming. There were lots of chess simulations: black and white very old games, licensed games from chess champions, etc. No one ever attempted to broaden the audience until Interplay published Battle Chess. I'm a chess fan (I barely remember the rules), but I ...