Retro games, abandonware, freeware and classic games for PC and Mac
Author: Tasha - Published: 15 March 2018, 1:41 am
Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager is a fantasy RPG and sequel to Dark Sun: Shattered Lands, developed and published by Strategic Simulations. It was released in 1994 for DOS only. It’s an officially licensed Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game.
Picking up the storyline from the end of Shattered Lands, Wake of the Ravager follows the four gladiators who liberated themselves and defeated the army of Draj. The group finds themselves in the city of Tyr, which was recently freed from the reign of their evil king. However, now the city is vulnerable to the conquest of the Dragon. The ex-gladiators now find themselves embroiled in a fight to save the world from an even larger evil. Starting out you can either use a randomly generated team, create your own, or import from Shattered Lands. There are multiple races and classes to choose from, as well as important stats for each. The game borrows the engine and gameplay from the original while improving the graphics. Wake of the Ravager also utilizes details unique to the Dark Sun D&D setting, such as the certain races and magical abilities. The game uses a 3rd person bird’s-eye view to move your characters around and explore environments. Combat is turn-based and does not require the loading of a separate screen, it simply takes place wherever enemies are encountered. Wake of the Ravager has a much more linear storyline to follow. While you can roam somewhat freely, certain areas do not become accessible until you have completed certain tasks. There are also several side quests available if you don’t feel like following the story all the time.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 9 March 2018, 5:33 pm
Gradius is a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up developed and published by Konami, initially in 1985 as an arcade. The game was ported to MSX and NES in 1986 and released outside Japan with the name "Nemesis." One year later, the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and other versions saw the light.
Gradius was famous for his peculiar power-up system: instead of different collectible power-ups with various effects, you can collect only one object. Once you get it, the weapon bar moves to the next position, highlighting a new choice. This way, the player can decide the improvement he wants to activate: speed, missile, double, laser, option, and shield.
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Author: Tasha - Published: 7 March 2018, 8:54 pm
Impossible Mission II is the sequel to the first Impossible Mission game. It was developed by Novatrade Software and published by Epyx in 1988 for the Amiga, Apple II, Commodore 64, and others. It was also ported to NES in 1989.
Picking up just after the conclusion of the original Impossible Mission, the previously foiled baddie Elvin Atombender is back for revenge. The game takes place inside the lair of Mr. Atombender as you try to make your way through his multitude of towers to stop his evil plan. You do, however, have a time limit of just 8 hours in which to do this. Utilizing a similar playstyle as the first one, it plays like a side-scrolling platformer but does not recycle any code from the original. Built from scratch, IMII adds new robotic enemies and new bombs and mines to help you forge a path to Atombender. Along the way, you have to collect a set of musical keys that go together to unlock the elevator to reach your target. But be careful, some of the pieces are duplicates, and you have to make sure you record over them with a non-duplicate key.
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Author: Tasha - Published: 28 February 2018, 1:16 pm
Space Rogue is a 3D space flight RPG developed and published by Origin Systems in 1989 for the Apple II, Commodore 64, DOS, and Mac. It was ported in 1990 to the Amiga, PC-98, and a few others. This title paved the way for Origins Systems’ later Wing Commander series. The game was designed by Paul Neurath (author of the Ultima Underworld series).
As a crew member onboard a merchant's vessel, your ship follows a distress signal to what appears to be an abandoned ship. You are sent off to explore the craft alone. While there you see dangerous raiders destroy your merchant ship, leaving you stranded. You now have to find a way to survive and exact vengeance. From this point on your destiny is yours. You can become a pirate, a political cohort, a bounty hunter, or just revert to your original job as a merchant trader. Space Rogue mixes different play styles in that it is a part flight simulator and part RPG. There are two types of space flight. The first is viewed from the inside of the ship out of the cockpit viewport and the second is a birds-eye perspective from the outside of the vessel. You can fly about aimlessly using the cockpit view if you wish. However, it is probably best to use the “Chart” to plot a course. It is also possible to dock your ship and walk your character around different outposts, speaking to people, gaining information, purchasing cargo, or ship parts. You can also engage in a little sticky-fingered thievery if you like. Combat also comes into play during your space exploration. Defend your ship, save other ships, or just take them out and plunder their hold.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 24 February 2018, 9:23 pm
Space Empires is a series of galactic conquest and turn-based strategy games created by Malfador Machinations in the 90s. The first two titles, included in this package, were developed for Windows3.x.
Space Empires I, released in 1993, was a real "indie" competitor of the more famous Master of Orion. Instead of being released for MS-DOS, the game was developed for Windows3.x, using the native UI elements, like the RPG Castle of the Winds. Space Empires II, still for Windows 3.1, was released in 1995, introduced many improvements.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 21 February 2018, 2:23 pm
Times of Lore is an action RPG created by Chris Roberts - author of Wing Commander - and published by Origin Systems. It was released for Commodore 64, Apple II, and DOS. Later, it was ported to Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, and NES.
The game, inspired by The Legend of Zelda, is considered one of the most influential computer role-playing games ever created. It has influenced Richard Garriott's Ultima VI: The False Prophet and Ultima VII: The Black Gate, but also Diablo and many others.
Times of Lore is also a masterpiece of programming on the Commodore 64; it features a massive world made of 13 thousand screens, shown without any need for loading, plus it uses a very advanced technique to display highly detailed sprites (combining a hi-res monochrome sprite plus a low-res multicolor sprite).
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