5 Sites Where You Can Download Old PC Games for Free
1. Abandonia
Abandonia includes an alphabetical index to abandonware “dedicated to classic DOS games.” These are games (or software) with copyright expiration or older games that are not being supported by their publishers. ( What is abandonware what exactly is it?)
Abandonia was launched in 1999, at a time when the concept of abandonware was just 2 years old. After a couple of years of inactivity, Abandonia blossomed into one of the top sites on which it is possible to download favorite old games. As of the writing time, Abandonia features nearly 1,400 games available for download, and more than 800,000 registered users.
Abandonia provides each abandonware game with a complete review, including images, as well as an editor and rating by users. You can search and download older PC games by name year, year, rating, and category. Since the site is primarily exclusively focused exclusively on DOS games, it is likely that you will not discover any “newer” abandonware games here however the huge DOS archive will satisfy the majority of your older gaming requirements.
2. Abandonware Dos
Abandonware Dos is a different abandonware site that is focused on –you probably guessed it — old DOS games. It also has a decent selection of Windows games, but not a lot of modern ones. It begins to taper off around 2002. This means you can download all-time classics like Sid Meier’s SimGolf and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds There are also newer titles starting to show up.
Abandonware Dos is an active website, as well. Every title has a rating of the site, description of the title (e.g. abandoned ware, protected status freeware) dates of publication, screenshots and a recent(ish) video walkthrough, and short snippets of information related to the game.
Additionally, you’ll find helpful information and lists that will help your search for the most popular old games available for download.
What I enjoy what I like about Abandonware Dos is their openness to abandonware status. The site’s owner clearly states that they are in acceptance of take-down notifications. Additionally, the site offers direct hyperlinks directly to GOG.com. They are accessible on the game’s direct page and featured titles on the homepage.
When you begin creating your library of abandonware, it can be difficult keeping track of every game you own. If this sounds like you, check out these video game launchers that allow you to choose the games you would like to play.
3. RGB Classic Games
RGB Classic Games features a variety of classic DOS games, previously released games, and even titles that are “modern” DOS titles. The entire website can be described as “dedicated to preserving classic games for defunct PC operating systems” including DOS, CP/M-86, OS/2, Win16, and Win9x, and making them playable on modern computers. If the download of old DOS games is your goal, RGB Classic Games is an excellent choice.
You can search for games by the operating system and genre and also the name of the company, its legal standing, when it was of release, and, most intriguingly video mode. Additionally, as evidence of the purpose to support RGB Classic Games, you are able to play a variety of games on a web-hosted emulator, such as Keen Dreams, Hexen, and one of my absolute favorites, Transport Tycoon.
Of course that some of the most popular old games aren’t abandonware. Take a look at the most popular games from the past that are still fun to play for a trip down the nostalgia road.
4. My Abandonware
My Abandonware is an excellent location to download old PC games, and some of the latest games added to the list of abandonware as well.
You’ll find listings for more than 15,000 titles, and include “some very rare titles found in the deep web,” and “some sent by our awesome visitors.” The team of a few members running My Abandonware actively maintains the site, adding updates and improvements, as well as the addition of new titles, games from abandonware as well as older DOS games, and many more.
One of the most useful My Abandonware features is the variety of options for searching. You can browse through the huge catalog of games by using the names, names, year of publication, genre, the game’s platform as well as the theme for the game the publisher, and even a specific developer. Developers are a great option since if you discover games that you like, then you are able to explore different games by the same team. There are also a few old DOS games to download as well.
5. Games Nostalgia
Our journey through your childhood concludes in Games Nostalgia. Games Nostalgia features hundreds of stunning games that hit on the scene between the years 1985 between 1985 and 1995. The Games Nostalgia website is simple to navigate, allowing you to search games by categories, tags, latest releases, popular, and many more.
Games Nostalgia also goes the extra mile by packaging every game with its own emulator that is which is compatible with the OS of Windows (and in some instances, macOS, too). This way, Games Nostalgia removes any extra steps needed to play your old favorites. Download, unzip and play! Each game that is packaged in a neat box allows for players to play these classic and old-fashioned games which isn’t always the case with modern computers.
Honorable Mention: The Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit institution that is dedicated to protecting one of the fundamental principles of the internet which is universal access to all information. Old video games definitely need security in which case The Internet Archive agrees.
The year 2014 was the first time The Internet Archive brought the classic arcade games of 900 into our web browsers keeping some of the greatest old games. In 2015, a year after that, The Internet Archive announced it would save over 2300 traditional DOS game titles.
