Free Games!

[Foggle]

This is a thread on a forum. In this thread on this forum we shall share our favorite freeware and abandonware games with each other. Mods are okay too, but I know almost no one else here really plays PC games, so I'm leaving 'em out of my initial post. Almost any computer can run the majority of the following games, and a lot of them play better with a controller. Images are spoiler-tagged to prevent clutter.

Cave Story

Spoiler

[close]

Everybody has played this game. It's a really good platformer. You've already played Cave Story to completion multiple times and probably bought one of the paid versions as well, but it's the definitive freeware title. That's why it's first on this list. The perks of being definitive!
Download it!

A Night Where Good Things Are Bound To Happen

Spoiler

[close]

This is an untranslated Korean beat 'em up, but you can still play it because the important stuff was already in English to begin with! There's no music in this release, so just blast the Anarchy Reigns OST in the background or something. It's a great game. And also hard. (Technically this is abandonware and was never intended to be released as a freebie, but it's not like you're ever going to be able to actually buy a copy, so...)
Download it!

Abobo's Big Adventure

Spoiler

[close]

The ultimate tribute to/parody of the NES, this game is just as fun as a real 8-bit title! It's kind of like Double Dragon, except when it's more like The Legend of Zelda, or Mega Man, or Contra, or... you get the idea. The cutscenes are even better than Ninja Gaiden's!
Download it (or play it online)!

Another Metroid 2 Remake (Project AM2R)

Spoiler

[close]

Metroid 2 is a good game, but it hasn't aged well. Kind of like the original Metroid. Project AM2R is Metroid 2's Zero Mission; it turns a cool relic into an awesome experience. The full version is finally out, so feel free to bask in the glory of its Nintendo-quality design. BASK IN IT.
Download it!

Barkley Shut Up And Jam Gaiden

Spoiler

[close]

Has there ever been a better JRPG than this one? No. No there hasn't.
Download it!

Black Mesa

Spoiler

[close]

BUT WAIT FOGGLE YOU SAID THERE WOULDN'T BE ANY MODS - it's actually not a mod! Not anymore, anyway. You only need Steam and the free Source SDK Base 2007 to play this exceptional remake of Half-Life. And the original game was already exceptional, so this is like double fantastic!? (Xen isn't done yet, but Xen sucks and everybody hates it, so yeah.) There's also a new paid version that comes with some fancy extra features like "good difficulty balancing" and "stable frame rates," but who cares about that shit, right?
Download it!
Download Surface Tension Uncut (an essential meta-mod)!
Download On A Rail Uncut (an essential meta-mod)!

Hurrican

Spoiler

[close]

This is an unofficial sequel to Turrican. Turrican is a great game. Hurrican is too. There is platforming, and also shooting. What are you waiting for!?
Download it!

Sonic Before & After The Sequel

Spoiler

[close]

These unfortunately-titled Sonic The Hedgehog fan games are pretty cool. Certain things about them do feel slightly off, but they're still very fun and will bring great joy to all 2D Sonic fans who play them. A first class effort all around!
Download Before The Sequel!
Download After The Sequel!

Street Fighter X Mega Man

Spoiler

[close]

This fan game is so good that Capcom has basically made it part of the Mega Man canon. Deservedly so at that; it feels like an official release. If you like Mega Man, play it. Seriously.
Download it!

Streets Of Rage Remake

Spoiler

[close]

This is probably the best 2D beat 'em up ever made, and certainly the best Streets Of Rage game. Do you like punching dudes in the face and groovy music? Then why haven't you downloaded this yet!?
Download it!

The Suffering

In 2008, the US Air Force turned the PC version of this game into a freeware title... for some reason. What's that expression about the gift horse's mouth? Anyway, The Suffering is all kinds of messed up, but in an undeniably cool way. Creepy atmosphere, disturbing visuals, moral dilemmas, and fast-paced action make this horror shooter a winner on all fronts. Unfortunately, the free version is no longer available and won't boot up anymore if you try to run it. It's still an awesome game, though, so be sure to pick up a copy if you're ever able to!

----------

Have fun with these games, guys! They're all completely free, and come Foggle-approved! Seriously, try some of these out. You'll enjoy them, I promise.

Talk about the aforementioned titles and post your own below! Let's get a nice discussion and listing of quality free games going!

[Dr. Insomniac]

Surprisingly enough, I just played a little of Abobo. Very much of what I enjoy in fiction. Shooter Gavin is such a cheap boss though. Or maybe my gaming has atrophied so much that the first level boss has become a bitch for me.

[Foggle]

Indeed, Abobo's storytelling is masterful!

Shooter Gavin can be cheap, yeah, and the overall game's pretty hard in general. Just circle around him until there's a break in his shooting, then rush in and punch/kick him a lot. You might need at least one disposable life to beat him, I usually do. Keep trying though, the game gets a lot better as it goes!

[gunswordfist]

A Night Where Good Things Are Bound To Happen sounds right up my alley. Why are good indie beat em ups so hard to find?

Cave Story my favorite one. I still need to get through Hell one of these days.

Good to hear the Metroid 2 remake is out. I've never played the original.

Hurricane looks good. More shooter platformers, please.

I have/had Sonic Before The Sequel. It made the first level in Sonic CD's music get stuck in my head.

Never played a bad Mega Man fan game so I'm sure I'll like SFXMM.

I of course already drooled all over Streets Of Rage remake. It would be easy money if Sega just remade this remake and made it as a downloadable title but yeah....

I recommend the freeware version of Spelunky. http://spelunkyworld.com/original.html Of course you'll never beat the game but you'll have fun trying.

[gunswordfist]

Started Cave story Deluxe a few minutes ago. Not sure how it's supposed to be different.

[Foggle]

I've updated the initial post with new links and altered descriptions for people just now finding this thread. I'm also going to bump it every time I find normally-paid titles being made free via storefronts like GOG and Steam. So here's one to start with!

Starpoint Gemini 2 - I've never played this one but it's free and you're under no obligation to download it immediately so you might as well grab it, right? There's a free DLC for it too! (Thanks Dalek!)

And here are some more permanently free games I found enjoyable:

The Dark Mod - Thief 4 by any other name would play as sweet. This isn't actually a mod anymore, but a standalone game filled with wonderful user-made levels that make the official Thi4f look like a piece of shit. The development team didn't really need any help with that, though.

House of Dead Ninjas - I'm not really a roguelike (or roguelite) guy, but there's something very addicting about this one's speedy platforming and awesome music. The paid sequel, Super House of Dead Ninjas, is even better.

Imscared - This one does some real cool shit with meta horror, fucking with the player in fairly unexpected ways. There's also a paid version with about twice as much content, but I personally found the stuff in the original release much more compelling.

Kenjivania: Cripple Tears - This is a mean-spirited and potentially offensive parody of Katawa Shoujo, but it's also really funny and a damn good Castlevania clone.

Khimera: Destroy All Monster Girls - One of the best and funniest 2D action-platformers in recent memory, this completely free game will give you around five hours of fun and potential frustration. It's almost like stealing!

The Legend of Scarlet Devil Castle 2: Stranger's Requiem - Also known as Touhouvania 2 in some circles. Rynnec introduced me to this one and it's really good! I'm, uh, not sure if it's supposed to actually be free, but let's pretend it is so that I'm not breaking my own forum's rules of promoting piracy.

Let It Die - Grasshopper merges Dark Souls and roguelikes with awesome (but grindy) results.

Lisa The First - Okay, this one really isn't that great, but it's a fairly interesting prequel to the absolutely amazing Lisa The Painful, a masterpiece which you should go buy right now.

Momodora 1 & 2 - The first game is a pretty good (but frustrating) Cave Story clone and the second one is a great short Metroidvania-style platformer. There are two more paid sequels - Momodora 3 and Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight - which I haven't played yet myself but have received universal acclaim.

Off - Do you like weird games that may or may not prevent you from getting a good night's sleep? Play this masterpiece and discover that not all RPG Maker games are inherently terrible!

Phantom Dust - The classic Xbox game is now free on both Windows 10 and Xbone! I've never played it myself and know absolutely nothing about it, but free's free, right?

Pink Hour / Pink Heaven - Small and cute advergames for Kero Blaster, the newest release by the Cave Story developer. The hard modes are brutal!

Radiator 2 - Your car is gay and you jack off its gearshift. I'm very, very sorry.

Self Destruct - Certainly not the greatest space shoot 'em up of all time, but I've kept coming back to it for over five years, so it must do something right!

Sonic Dreams Collection - By far the best Sonic game released since Sonic & Knuckles.

StarCraft: Brood War - Yep, Korea's national sport is freeware now. Fire it up!

The Static Speaks My Name - This is one of those "walking simulators," but it's only around 10 minutes long and takes as many seconds to download, so it's definitely worthwhile. A charming story about a day in the life of an ordinary man just like you and me!

Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea - I would hesitate to call this one a favorite, but once I realized that trying to do all the field battles is nothing more than a futile exercise in tedium, I found myself really enjoying the rather unique story. Be warned that it's very anime.

White Day - A classic Korean horror game that is as terrifying as it is buggy. Technically abandonware at this point, the game has gone through a million and one revisions by fans and now works pretty damn well. There's also a paid remake coming soon, but much like the Fatal Frame 2 remake, it looks a little too "cute" to me.

Started Cave story Deluxe a few minutes ago. Not sure how it's supposed to be different.

I know this is an extremely old post, but I think the only differences are new graphics, new translation, and (godawful) new music.

[gunswordfist]

I need to play more than a free minutes of Phantom Dust.

[Foggle]

Rising Storm is free on the Humble Store right now.

[Foggle]

Outland is free on Steam right now.

I haven't played this one but it looks really, really good. Highly recommend picking it up.

[Foggle]

This made my night: Marble Blast Ultra has been ported to PC and it's free! If you aren't familiar with this game, it's a classic Xbox 360 title from 2006 that was removed from the store in 2011 for shady reasons. I never got to play the full version but I was absolutely enamored with the demo when I was 13. So excited I can finally play it for real!

[Nel_Annette]

This made my night: Marble Blast Ultra has been ported to PC and it's free! If you aren't familiar with this game, it's a classic Xbox 360 title from 2006 that was removed from the store in 2011 for shady reasons. I never got to play the full version but I was absolutely enamored with the demo when I was 13. So excited I can finally play it for real!

Hell yes! I remember loving it so much on my old XBox 360 that I bought the full version. Fun game. Chill soundtrack.

[gunswordfist]

Heh, I believe I have Outland on my 360 but never played it *downloads it on Steam*