Retro games, abandonware, freeware and classic games for PC and Mac
Author: GN Team - Published: 7 February 2022, 2:48 pm
Steel Empire is an action-strategy game created by Silicon Knights for the Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS, released in 1992.
Denis Dyack and Rick Goertz designed this title. It's the precursor of the more famous Fantasy Empires, and it shows all the elements that made this series so loved by the players: you can manage your territories on the map (in a way similar to Risk), invade and occupy other lands, build fortifications, and grow your armies. But, when it's time to go to battle, you will be on the front line.
While Fantasy Empires was set in the fantasy universe of Dungeons & Dragons, with elves and dwarves, Steel Empire is set in a science-fiction world, and your army will be made of different types of droids. Before every battle, you will have to choose the right mix, choosing between small and fast robots or slow and powerful ones. Once the action starts, you will be on the planet, controlling your robot with the joystick or mouse, trying to make the difference.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 3 February 2022, 2:01 am
B.A.T. is a mix of sci-fi adventure and RPG created by Ubi Soft and released initially for the Atari S.T. in 1989. More versions were released the following year, including Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS.
In this game, you are an agent of the Bureau Of Astral Troubleshooters (B.A.T.). You will have to complete several missions to fight corruption and crime inside the Confederation of Galaxies. Exploration, NPCs, dialogues, and puzzles are very similar to the ones you can find in a typical adventure game. The interface is well made and entirely mouse-driven, with contextual menus. On the other hand, combat and character advancements, with many stats and several cybernetic improvements available, make the game more similar to an RPG.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 3 January 2022, 2:10 pm
Enemy: Tempest Of Violence is a platformer action-adventure created by Anachronia for the Amiga and published originally in 1997.
The developer released an improved version, called the "easyplay version", in 2011, and declared the game freeware.
This title, designed and programmed by André Wüthrich, is inspired by classic 2D action adventures like Prince of Persia - you might also add Impossible Mission or Castlevania. But this is a much richer and complete game.
In 2029, human scientists are taken prisoners on three alien vessels orbiting around Mars. As a space marine, your task is to explore the vast starships, divided into 34 levels, and save the scientists. Each level will give you a certain amount of time to solve it.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 29 December 2021, 8:18 pm
DragonStrike is a fantasy flight simulator created by Strategic Simulations Inc set in the AD&D world of Dragonlance. The game was released for the Amiga, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS in 1990.
Quite unusual for SSI, well known for great RPGs, to produce a 3D flight simulator. But this is not a standard flight sim because you can pilot a dragon in this game! You will fly and fight with your lance or with your dragon's breath in a set of different missions. Like any other flight sim, your tasks will involve patrolling areas, defeating enemies, or attacking bases (castles in this case). Just think Wings, but with fantasy settings.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 22 December 2021, 7:01 pm
Hard Drivin' II: Drive Harder is a sequel, for computers only, of the famous arcade by Atari, one of the most popular in the history of video games.
Hard Drivin 2 was released in 1990 for the Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS. Like the predecessor, the game is a 3D racing game with filled polygons. This time, it also includes a track editor, which is one of the best aspects of this release.
The conversion of the first chapter of Hard Drivin' wasn't exactly a masterpiece. This sequel solves many bugs of the first game and improves the framerate, taking it to an acceptable level. This is why many magazines gave high ratings, even though you can find better titles in this genre, like 4D Sports Driving or Stunt Car Racer. Despite this, if you are nostalgic about the old Atari coin-op, this is the version you should choose.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 11 December 2021, 2:19 am
Gnome Ranger is a text adventure with graphics created by Level 9 Computing and released in 1987 on several 8-bit and 16-bit platforms. Releases include Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh, and others.
The game is often compared to Magnetic Scrolls' masterpiece The Pawn, but Gnome Ranger doesn't aspire to be such an epic game. Nevertheless, it's well-written, funny, and not too hard. This adventure, set in a fantastic and surreal world, was written by Pete Austin and developed using Level 9's engine KAOS - the same engine used to produce Knight Orc.
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