They’re shareware but I think Pocket Tanks and Super DX Ball have been on every computer of mine since 2002
I play Shareware
What shareware do you play?
Different Lemmy denizen here: for a long time I was quite sucked into Soldat, though I haven’t touched it in a decade. Been thinking about it as of late, though…
Soldat was awesome, I loved the Rambo mode lol. That game had such good movement.
Don’t tempt me… or else I’ll have to take you down with my SPAS-12!
OpenTTD is open source, so not sure that fits.
Older? Check.
Free? Check.
Software/game? Check.Checks out in my book!
I had to google as I was wondering what was so fun about Touch Tone Dialing. I’m old.
I happened upon the original for $20 in Wal Mart in 1995 and I’ve been playing it on and off ever since!
One of the best games ever made.
Not freeware, but currently $2.39 on GOG:
Master of MagicIts like Civilization with wizards and dragons.
Desert strike? Not sure if it was free tho. Also road rash
Neither were free, both were amazing
The SNES game published by EA based loosely on the Gulf War? I’m pretty sure that one was payware.
Beyond All Reason!
Tyrian is still fantastic 30 years later!
I’ve probably played this game for over a hundred hours. Great soundtrack too, by Alexander Brandon. I also loved the minigame hidden behind the DESTRUCT cheat code.
And it’s open source too!
The soundtrack really is fantastic…I spent many an hour as a kid listening to it in the jukebox mode with its super groovy visualizations!
Beneath A Steel Sky (though I kinda prefer the grungier aesthetic of the Amiga floppy version)
Available free on ScummVM!
Has an excellent plot and wry sense of humour. Fun game.
“Einstein puzzle” by Flowix games, copyright 2004-2005
I play it from time to time, to see if I can still complete it in under 4 minutes and my brain isn’t slowing down too much with age.
Technically, Dwarf fortress is the oldest game I still play, but I only got fully into it thanks to the non-free Steam version.
If we’re sticking strictly to free, I’m not sure Doom mods work if you only have the free version installed. Either way, people basically never stopped making wads since the game came out, and I try various ones out from time to time.
There are tons of them, so if you’re interested you can see what won the annual Cacowards throughout the years and start there.
Squarez Deluxe
Makes Tetris seem like a children’s toy
Haven’t played recently, but this one came to mind’
I missed the original, but Scorched 3D was a big hit at my high school.
For the longest time I thought Minecraft was free because I only ever pirated it. Lol
PlanetSide 2 is the free-to-play I keep going back to
Heck, I still pirate it even though I bought it. (I didn’t want the hassle of migrating my account after the Microsoft buyout.) PollyMC ftw!
Irisu Syndrome! is a favorite of mine. It’s only from 2008, so I personally don’t consider it retro. It’s tricky to learn at first since it doesn’t tell you anything about how to play and I don’t recall there being a manual. It’s also one of those games that you can’t really say too much about without spoiling things.
Super Crate Box. An incredibly addictive, simple 2D shooting game! It’s free on Steam!
