Best free games ever

I'm not sure what constitutes a "real" game in your opinion, but to quickly name a few that come to mind...

Soldat is a very popular little 2d online shooter with a huge following.

Subspace/Continuum is a very popular 2d overhead shoot-em-up.

The Ur-Quan Masters is a free and opensource remake of the old game StarControl 2, and is made with the backing of the original creators (who released the original source).

Cloud is a bit of an experiment in creating a different type of gameplay and gaming feel. It's different, and not to everyone's tastes, but if you havn't already it's probably worth checking out if only for a look at something out of the ordinary.


Not actually a game, but rather an impressive tech-demo of sorts, kkrieger is quite impressive for what it is, and is freely available.


It's not the actual games, but I'm sure you're aware that id Software release the source to thier old engines, which I think is an excellent contribution to the development community.

There are definately some excellent free games out there, some of which are quite amazing. Oh, and don't be so quick to trivialise the many clones and casual games out there, they're "real" games too.

Oh, and since you mentioned this community, there's some very cool (albeit usually smaller casual type) games in the GDNet Showcase. A couple I liked recently are Pierre and the Fish and F.A.R.T., and there are lots of other excellent games in there as well, not all of which are clones of older games.

There were also some excellent games produced in the recent 4E4 contest, which you can see here. Ninja Loves Pirate and Zirconia 2: Battle (both direct download links) would be my personal recommendations, but many of the others are also excellent.

Don't forget The Battle For Wesnoth

America's Army.

Don't forget the greatest fighting game ever, OMF:2097.

As your name may suggest, you like adventure games ;)

If so, check something like Adventure Game Studio, plenty of free games, a couple nearly reaching the quality of old LucasArts/Sierra games.

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Original post by _goat Don't forget the greatest fighting game ever, OMF:2097.

Holy shit, I had no idea they released the full version for free! I'm downloading it right now! Rate++

Nethack! In fact, IMHO it is pretty much the "best game ever" (or ranks high up there), regardless of price.
(It has nothing to do with cracking computers over the internet or anything bad like that, the name refers to the method of development.)

- Pete

Gunbound -- better like 'cute' though. There is always Maple Story.

I wouldn't say they are "Best", but Gunbound is pretty fun to play,,, and Maple Story attracts a pretty large female base.

I'm pretty sure there are a ton of One Week One Button 2 games to still play. Hell, even I haven't played some of them yet.

While you're at it, play my games by clicking that big Showcase button under my post. Do it now! Stick it to the man!

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory

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Original post by LeChuckIsBack I'm just wondering... Do you know any good free games? I mean something faimous, real stuff, not just a Mario clone or something... I'm asking this because I see people getting so many good result around here, but their finished projects turn into retail or into dust. I realy think every programmer/software company should make at least one gift to the Internet, a small piece of their talent to make the world richer. Money aren't the only language in this world, are they?

agd interactive has remakes of the first two episodes of kings quest. While still a clone (more a remake actually), the graphical difference is very big...
Rockstar has released at least the first two GTA's i think (full versions!) for free to download. I think there are more of these somewhat older but still good quality games made freely available.

What about Drakan: Order of the Flame?

Just found out last week they released it for free too!! :D


... and of course The Tower of Goo and a lot of others on this great page :)

I'm personally quite font of Stick Soldiers.

ElderScrolls:arena is now hosted on the company's website for free download.

Cave Story, Eternal Daughter and obake should be on any best list for 2d side scrollers.

A great Rouge-like, for those who like Rouge-likes is DoomRL, a quicky RL based on Doom. Takes about an hour and a half to beat, once you get a hang of it, if you are lucky enough to get that far.

If you like the top down 2d, SDL_Paradroid is a great clone of a classic console game.

Jardinains! is a brilliant breakout "clone" -- except it's not a clone and is so much better than any other "breakout" game ever.

Mount and Blade


Just curious, what is it about Nethack that makes people like it so much?

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Original post by CaffeineCrusade Mount and Blade Just curious, what is it about Nethack that makes people like it so much?

ah, yeah, mount and blade is NOT free. Sadly, :(

it is however worth the cost, even in its unfinished state.

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Original post by CaffeineCrusade Just curious, what is it about Nethack that makes people like it so much?

It's deceptively deep, has tons of crap to get up to, special goals (like vegetarianism), is a different game every time, is actually difficult, and has a plethora of weapons and items?

Oh, and it looks like real work.