I think it would be a good idea to start a thread where we link good freeware games. Please supply the title and genre of the game as well as a short description if possible. Oh, and don't forget a link!
Iter Vehemens ad Necem (IVAN) - Rougelike/RPG
http://ivan.sourceforge.net
This game is very different from most rougelikes and very fun! Some of the cool things:
Check out the Wiki for more details:
http://a25a.mtalo.ton.tut.fi/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
> Good graphics (for a rougelike, that is)
"Doesn't sweat much for a fat girl".
Freeciv - Turnbased Strategy
http://www.freeciv.org/
It's like Civilization but freeware.
GTA 1 & 2 - Action
http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/
Rockstar has released GTA 1 and 2 as freeware. Both fixed to work with Win XP and both with full soundtrack.
5 Days a Stranger
7 Days a Skeptic (Sequel)
Best adventure games I've ever played.
>>6
Yes, those are quite good!
http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/5days
http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/7days
guys, if you want freeware games from the beginning of time, go here to the-underdogs. seriously awesome, it's got screenshots, descriptions/reviews, and simmilar games for EVERY TITLE. games are devided into innumerable categories, from anime to simulation, and then RE-DEVIDED after that into specific subgroups. i've learned a lot from this site.
www.the-underdogs.info
While I'm at it, though, check out Dwarf Fortress. small, freeware, and incredibly dense with gameplay. I wish i could describe it well, but basically it's like a roguelike, but twisted with a HUGE world map, random of course, where you also have the option of bossing around a set of dwarves into making a giant fortress, which eventually can become a giant, self sustaining city inside a mountain, filled with dwarves. i highly urge you to look into it. it's making waves.
www.bay12games.com/dwarves
opps, sorry. here:
http://www.the-underdogs.info
http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves
I AM A SHITTY THREAD AND I HATH BEEN AWAKENED!!!
oh man, I hadn't even looked at the dates. oh well, it deserved to have the necron lord use his resurrection orb on it, anyway.
I'm surprised Cave Story hasn't been mentioned yet. Anyway, Cave Story is my pick because it's pretty much the best freeware game I've played.
Cave Story (aka Doukutsu Monogatari)
Adventure/Shooter
This is an 8-bit game that plays a lot like the old Metroid games. In fact, it pretty much steals the little tune that plays whenever you pick up a new life container to extend your healthbar except for one note. Still, it's a lot of fun, the music's pretty good, and there's a goofy story with a cast that consists of a robot who gives you her panties, talking dogs, and what everyone else who's played the game seems to think is a living toaster that says "HUZZAH!" a lot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_Story
There's a link with more info and links to downloading the game and the English translation patch.
>>14
I am loving Cave Story. Thanks, Anonymous!
shootthecore.blogspot.com -- Shoot-em-up site, has a large bunch of freeware and demo scrolling shooters. (My favorite one is Cho Ren Sha)
http://openarena.ws - a free, open-source, multi-platform (Linux, OS X, and Windows) FPS with online multiplayer, based on the Quake III game engine. There's no real single-player campaign, but you can still play by yourself with bots that have pretty good AI. There are a few basic game modes: capture the flag, deathmatch, tournament, and team deathmatch. It also has decent graphics, lots of player-created maps, and quite a few active servers listed here: http://dpmaster.deathmask.net/?game=openarena
Glad you like it. Now bow down to Balrog, Lord of the Toasters!
Balrog is a pussy. I wish he'd sit still for a moment so that I can load in some cheese on toast.
Cho Ren Sha. Awesome freeware shmup. Google it.
You can try OpenTTD, an open-source Transport Tycoon Deluxe clone, and you can play online with it very well.
here is my list of cool tetris games:
http://www.3dtris.de -- a 3d blockout tetris clone running in flash and thus in every browser
http://www.gravytris.de a cool windows tetris game in full 3d ( has a gravity gun - strange but cool)
http://www.blockout.net -- a blockout 3d tetris community, including a faithful remake of the original dos blockout from california dreams
http://www.tetrisconcept.com - the finest tetris community
love to play this one
the mods for its are cool, can find them in the forum
>>6
I hate those so very much. The third one is a massive improvement, though:
http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/notes/
And now there's another I haven't played:
http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/6days/
For those picky concerning graphical sophistication and professionalism, there's always the free multiplayer component of F.E.A.R.:
http://www.joinfear.com/main
I fondly remember playing this shmup, Tyrian back in the waning days of DOS Shell; it was awesome shareware.
Now it's free, but damned if I can get it working right.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~vannevar/tyrian/downloads.html
You'll likely need dosbox to run it, if you don't already have it.
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/download.php?main=1
Nikujin,
A Very fun Ninja game, kinda short but worth it!(awesome ending:p)
>>23
doesnt this cost since the last few releases?
>>25
Look for Opentyrian for a delicious SDL port of it.
how about... Super Secret Ninja!
http://www.acid-play.com/download/super-secret-ninja/
or...
Warning Forever (it's a topdown shooter, but it's only bosses. the bosses evolve randomly depending on how you killed the last one)
n.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warning_Forever
>>10
Dwarf Fortress is indeed really awesome. I haven't played the roguelike adventure mode, but the fortress building mode is great.
If you try the Fortress mode don't be confused that it's not a roguelike, it plays like a sandbox Settlers meets Dungeon Keeper. You need to learn and experiment a lot to make any decent fortress, so read the wiki a lot.
Sandbox games without any quests and difficulty in trying out new things can become a bit boring, but a new version coming soon should make things more interesting.
4chan's /jp/ current game-of-the-month obsession, Elona, is quite nice. It's a roguelike with decent graphics and a few JRPG aspects. http://homepage3.nifty.com/rfish/index_e.html (screenshots on http://homepage3.nifty.com/rfish/elona_top.html)
Nethack - addicting roguelike. You can finish this game in about 1h... But staying alive whole hour is almost impossible.
Knytt Stories and Within a Deep Forest, they're both beautiful games whose gameplay revolves primarily around exploring.
One hour!? I would like to see you TRY
maybe, MAYBE a few hours, if you knew what you were doing.
I picked up elona on a whim visiting /jp/, it's great but I regret it--it's kind of addictive.
But chat is down now as well as 4chan and the official board is temporarily down so ... well.
use the opportunity to steal back your life from the chans
On Elona, playing as a pianist with high charisma is pretty awesome/broken. Get tons of money and "Great"+ equipment thrown at you by the audience, buy a lot of slaves, use the equipment to outfit your goons, and let them do all the dirty work.
Thank goodness being a hot pianist is balanced in real life!
Silly little multiplayer Super Mario Bros game (no scrolling, mind you), that has a lot of fanmade content available and can be quite entertaining.
Aquaria isn't freeware.
Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is pretty fun. Mountain Dwarf or Troll Berserker is an easy class to start with.
Kenta Cho's games are pretty awesome. Abstract bullet hell.
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/index_e.html
Narcissu is an awesome freeware VN.
Urban Terror is a Q3A realism mod and standalone game with Action Quake-style (faster, more action-oriented) play as opposed to CS-style play (slower, more tactical). Bid for Power (English Bid for Power is the "expanded" stand alone version of the original mod), which is pretty much DBZ as a third person shooter.
I find it hard to qualify Narcissu as a game as it's a visual novel with not even a single branch in the story to be called gameplay.
Not fully freeware, but heck I played it for like 2-3 years (ages ago though), back then there wasn't really any big advantages of becoming a registered player. Still used to be really fun game for such genre.
On the nethack newsgroup there was this guy called Martin. The years that I browsed it, he was pretty much the top dog of all the tournaments and everything. iirc he claimed he could ascend 75% of his characters and he could do it in three or four hours. 12k total turns I think. Personally, I'm lucky to make it through the dwarven mines and sokoban in an hour. Even skipping those branches and being lucky with finding potions of gain level, it's damn hard (for me) to get a high enough level for the class quests. If you think you can do it for an hour, I'd love to watch you try on one of the public servers that allows spectating.
http://agtp.romhack.net/project.php?id=lamulana
La-Mulana. So hard, but SO FUN.
i think the hell dungeon is just too mean. filled with cruel tricks
Lord Monarch
it's kind of a mix of puzzle and kingdom management.
you basically can just let the game go automatically, and for the first few levels you'll win, but sometimes you'll need to intervene in key situations. it was originally made in japan, but the company translated it for free.
www.falcom.co.jp/monarch/index_e.html
also, try Vantage Master - a hex based fantasy summoning tactics game with great graphics, by the same folks as above.
www.falcom.co.jp/vantage/index_e.html
Second Life
Whats the difference between shareware and freeware?
>>53
Shareware asks for payment and distribution of the game if the game is enjoyed, and often is a full game. More recently shareware is known to have features, limits and/or time restrictions are unlocked.
Freeware means a game does not need any form of payment in order to enjoy its features to the fullest.
---
>>44 here.
Smokin' Guns (formerly Western Q3) is a western-influenced standalone game built upon the Q3 engine. It was also formerly a mod. It plays on the same premise and has the same speed as CS. Pistols can be wielded akimbo, and many shots go through walls. Dynamite explodes when shot, and molotoves can be used to set traps by breaking bottles on the ground and then lighting it up with a lit one. The game also has a charming hit-detection system. If you kill a person by hitting a specific body part, then an appropriate animation will be displayed.
Falcom has made some pretty damn good games, so I'll try these out.
there's a faq someone did for Lord Monarch once. It's uber hard to find, i always lose it, but it really help put in mind the strategy required for each stage. some stages you have to pause every few seconds to do some micro. I wasted away a whole day at work once... felt kinda bad :S
http://home.comcast.net/~SupportCD/XPGames.html
Found this during my web design class.