List of free closed source games

[MrFlibble]

This is a list of legally free games that do not have their source code available to the public. Liberated (formerly commercial or shareware) games are marked with an asterisk. For non-Windows games, their platform is indicated in bold next to the title (except for those games that are bundled with an emulator like DOSBox).

This list does not include: multiplayer-only games; browser-based games; games with any kind of DRM (Steam etc.); limited time promotional giveaways; abandonware of any kind; and any unauthorised free "remakes" of commercial games that essentially allow to play any substantial portion of such games for free.

For a list of free open source games, please check this thread. A very comprehensive, frequently updated list of all sorts of free games can be found here.

Arcade
Alien Breed: Obliteration
AstroFire* DOS
Carax '95
Cash Invaders DOS
Cybersphere* DOS
Cybersphere Plus* DOS
Disasteroids 3D
The Dungeons of Grimlor I & II* DOS
God of Thunder* DOS
Joe Snow
Kosmonaut* DOS
Legend of the Silver Talisman DOS
Lode Runner Online
Mine Bombers* DOS
Mr. Boom DOS
Obliterator DOS
SkiFree
SkyRoads* DOS
Super ACiD Block Attack DOS
Tower of the Sorcerer
TurboLode
Vyrox

Adventure
The Adventures of Maddog Williams* DOS
Bronze Dragon: Conquest of Infinity* Apple II
Cosmos Quest series
Dragon Side II: The Twisted Speare* Apple II
Eye of the Kraken
Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok
King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown
King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones
King's Quest III Redux
Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire
Robomaze III* DOS [download]

Beat 'Em Up
Battle of the Eras* DOS
The Black Heart
One Must Fall 2097* DOS
Sango Fighter* DOS
Sango Fighter 2* DOS

Educational
BabyType DOS

First-Person Shooter
8bit Killer
Alien Cabal* DOS [Windows upgrade]
Avert Fate
Barista 1
Beyond Life
Bitsturbed
Derelict
The Esc4pe
Gore - Ultimate Soldier Special Edition* [download]
Gun Godz
Hades 2* [download]
Industrial Killers DOS
Invention RPG
The Journey
LineWars II* DOS
Outpost 41
Paranoia 2: Savior
Pencil Whipped
Prism: Guard Shield
Purple Complex
Red Alert: A Path Beyond
Renegade X
Sublevel Zero Prototype [download]
Tiberian Sun Reborn
Tribes series*
Wolfram

Management Strategy
City of Rauma
Valmeria - Villages and Cities

Platform
1213
Alien Carnage* DOS
Bio Menace* DOS
Blackthorne*
Captain Binary
Cyber-Marine DOS [download]
Electro Man* DOS
Eternal Daughter
Giana's Return
The Great Giant Sisters DOS
Giant Worlds [download] [installer]
Happyland Adventures
Heroes of Yggdrasil
Heros I: The Sanguine Seven* DOS
Iji
Inner Worlds* DOS
Maldita Castilla
Robomaze II: The Lobby* DOS [download]
Special Agent
Sint Nicolaas
T2002
Tailchaser*
TSB
Xargon* DOS

Puzzle
Gate
Get Lost!* DOS
The Lost Vikings*
Quadrax*

Racing
Death Rally*
RunOut
Street Rod series

Real-Time Strategy
Command & Conquer Gold
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun*
Enemy Nations*
Ground Control*
Priority: Survive
Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War*
StarCraft*
Subpar Commander
S.W.I.N.E.*

Role-Playing
A Blurred Line
Ahriman's Prophecy
Berserker Quest VI
The Elder Scrolls: Arena* DOS
The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall* DOS
Eschalon: Book I*
Exile: Escape from the Pit* Win3.x
Exile II: Crystal Souls* Win3.x
Exile III: Ruined World* Win3.x
Fire & Dragons
Gates of Destiny
Helherron*
Joyous Rebel* DOS
Perihelion* Amiga
The Provinces of Midland - Argskin
Pyrrhic Tales: Prelude to Darkness
RuneSword*
ShadowFlare: Episode One [discontinued]
Thor's Hammer* DOS
Warrior Dragon

Roguelike
CaRPG
Castle of the Winds* Win3.x
Lords of Doom* DOS
Lost Labyrinth
MageGuild
Ragnarok* DOS
Rogue's Quest
o additional scenarios
UnReal World*

Shooter
CS2D
Dark Rage* DOS
Evasive Maneuvers* DOS
Hell Fighter
Hydorah
Janitor Dan the Spaceman
Katakis* Amiga
Major Stryker* DOS
Mission Cobra 98 DOS [download]
Molez* DOS
Operation Carnage* DOS
Operation Spacehog
PixelShips
ProtoType
R-Type* Amiga
Rocketz* DOS
SideLine* DOS
sk0r Spaceshooter
StarFight series
Stargunner* DOS
Tapan Kaikki DOS [download]
Tapan Kaikki Bloodshed
TerraFire* DOS
Theseus - Return of the Hero
Tiger's Bane* Win3.x
Transcendence
The Ultimate Tapan Kaikki DOS [download]
Xenon 2000*

Simulation
Elite: The New Kind
Orbiter
RiftSpace* [download]
Star Wraith 2* [download]
Star Wraith 3: Shadows of Orion* [download]
Starion 2010
Universal Combat Free Full Singleplayer*

Third-Person Shooter/Action
G-Sector
Hidden & Dangerous Deluxe*
Noxious
Path of Shadows
The Times Exclusive Tomb Raider Level

Turn-Based Strategy
Battles of Destiny* DOS
Conquest of Elysium II* [download]
Great Nations
Palm Kingdoms 2*
Wargame Project

Turn-Based Tactics
1821: The Struggle for Freedom
1848
Battlelords DOS
Rapid Response* DOS [download]
The War Engine*
winSPMBT*
winSPWW2*
Steel Panthers: World at War
X-Force: Fight for Destiny

[MrFlibble]

Just found this really huge blog dedicated to liberated games:
http://juegosliberados.blogspot.com/

It's in Spanish, but everything is pretty self-explanatory. The blog seems to feature quite a few really obscure games too. Here's some of the interesting games from the database that caught my attention:

• Tecno - The Base - a futuristic FPS made in the early 2000s style, although apparently it was released much later than that.
• PaybackTime 2 - an obvious X-COM clone, which was distributed as shareware in the nineties (here's their home page from back then), released for free in 2011.
• Cosmos Quest series, obviously inspired by Sierra's Space Quest games.
• StarFight series shmups.
• A huge number of games produced by the German developer Motelsoft, ranging from Amiga and DOS adventure and RPG games to Windows FPS titles.

[Cire]

That Spanish blog was a great find indeed. Sadly, some of the download links are broken. I have been able to find most of them though, thanks to mirrors and The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. A few of them I haven't been able to find anywhere. From what I remember, those include:
-Wild Metal Country
-Chris Unarmed
-Lucid
-Baseball Mogul 2009
-Sticky Wicket
-Smiley Fruit Machine 2008
-World Cup Cricket
-Psychodelic
If anyone know of any working links for them, I would be interested.

[MrFlibble]

-Grand Theft Auto 2
-Grand Theft Auto

Shouldn't those be available from the official website?

[Cire]

I can only seem to find the demos at the official website?

[Hallfiry]

CHIP still has them:

http://www.chip.de/downloads/Grand-Thef ... 07686.html
http://www.chip.de/downloads/Grand-Thef ... 15291.html

[Cire]

Thanks!

[blinkingboythe]

Interesting note: Amulets and Armor uses the Doom wad format for the level data, so it shouldn't
be a huge step creating a level editor for it.

[blinkingboythe]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... s_freeware

They list BC racers as one of the liberated games but I'd like to
confirm this.

[MrFlibble]

Released as freeware in 1995? That sounds very suspicious, especially since there has been a 1996 commercial PC release in the UK, according to MobyGames.

The archived copies of Core Design's website doesn't seem to contain any information on the freeware release of the game.

It is very probable that due to some misunderstanding this false information was published on some "freeware"/shovelware website and then widely repeated by other, similarly careless sources.

There could have been some limited promotional distribution (like with Sierra's Red Baron), but it's very unlikely this would happen the same year as the game was released.

[Litude]

Regarding GTA and the other liberated Rockstar games, IIRC the license states that they may only be distributed through http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/ but since they are currently unavailable from there I don't really know if they can be called liberated at this state.

As for BC Racers; from what I've gathered it seems that the PC release was freeware from the get go. I have a bunch of old shareware discs from a Finnish company and the BC Racers disk is the full version of the game. As for there being a commercial release, you have to remember that even shareware games were sold in boxes back in the day.

[MrFlibble]

As for BC Racers; from what I've gathered it seems that the PC release was freeware from the get go. I have a bunch of old shareware discs from a Finnish company and the BC Racers disk is the full version of the game. As for there being a commercial release, you have to remember that even shareware games were sold in boxes back in the day.

Interesting, thanks for providing this valuable info!

Here's another recently liberated game, and a quite obscure one:

Fighting

• Battle of the Eras

[MrFlibble]

Just found what seems to be the GTA1 distributive here.

[MrFlibble]

Added SideLine to the list.

[Cire]

I'm wondering if there is any chance of also getting A.D. Cop (made by the same Company as SideLine) liberated, or is the copyright to it held by someone else?