Nostalgic and video game enthusiasts can relive the great classics of the 90s on modern PCs, playing them online for free in the original version or, when not available, by downloading a version redone by independent developers, identical or almost identical, which uses the same graphics engine. Speaking of shooters, the first name that comes to mind is Doom, one of the first 3D games where you have freedom of movement, with a subjective view and a gun in your hand. In addition to Doom, other historical titles from the 90s that have been republished for free or released in modified versions are Wolfenstein 3D, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake and Half Life . In this article we therefore see how to play Doom and the other 3D shooters of the 90s for free on Windows PC, Linux and also on Mac .
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1) Playing Doom
- The best ported free game of Doom is GZDoom, based on the ZDoom porting, available for Windows PC and for Mac, whose development is still maintained today with the release of new versions. This is a graphically curated, single player game that brings Doom's experience to life, thanks to the OpenGL render.
- To replay an original version of Doom you can instead download the FreeDoom game, for Windows and Mac PC, an almost perfect clone where the environment and the original graphics have been recreated as in the version of the 90s. The beauty of Chocolate Doom is that you can also play in multiplayer mode, connected to the internet, with players from all over the world.
- Zandronum is another Doom port that supports multiplayer mode, to play online against other people. Regarding the multiplayer mode, both for Zandronum and for Doom Chocolate you can install a plugin called Doomseeker to have access to faster and multiplayer servers.
- Another version of Doom not to forget is Brutal Doom, an ultra violent mod of the original game, which can be downloaded for Windows PC in a complete package that also includes GZDoom.
- Finally, for those who don't want to download anything, on the MyAbandonware website you can play online from the browser, without downloading anything, with DOS emulator, the original versions of the games Doom, Doom 2 and The Ultimate Doom. The reduced versions of Doom, Heretic and Hexen (two other games derived from Doom) are in Flash on the Newsground website.
It is worth mentioning here that id Software released a new original version of DOOM in 2016 which can be purchased on the official website.
2) Wolfenstein 3D
The first 3D first person shooter was not Doom, but Wolfenstein 3D, from 1992.
Wolfenstein 3D came out with many controversies, both for the violence present in a video game, and for the setting full of Nazi symbols.
Today you can play Wolfenstein 3D online on the official website, with a remake all in HTML5. The best port is the ECWolf game, for Windows, Mac and Linux.
3) Duke Nukem 3D
Duke Nukem is a 1996 first person shooter, which can be played with the EDuke32 port, for Windows, Mac and Linux PCs. In addition to being actively maintained even now, EDuke32 includes supports for high resolution monitors and OpenGL rendering for modern and dynamic graphics.
4) Quake
Three years after the release of Doom, the same house, id Software released Quake, from 1996. The main difference between Quake and Doom was that Quake concentrated almost entirely on multiplayer mode, so that he could play all world players together. As with Doom, Quake has also had many reissues and porting which we will summarize here:
- DarkPlaces is an original Quake makeover that works well for both single and multiplayer play. The author also improved the graphics over the 90s version, adding effects such as smoke, blood and explosions, with better textures and lighting. DarkPlaces works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux and supports both Quake multiplayer environments, namely netquake and QuakeWorld.
- QuakeSpasm is instead a faithful version to that of 96, with the same pixel-filled graphics of the time. The engine includes bug fixes and general stability improvements, completely preserving the atmosphere of the original version.
The game is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux and uses netquake for multiplayer mode.
- ezQuake (QuakeWorld) or ProQuake (netquake) are multiplayer clients for Windows, Linux and Mac PCs to play online in the two different options.
- Quake 2, the sequel to the Quake game, can be played with Yamagi Quake II and KM Quake II ports.
5) Half Life
Quest is another historical title, 3D shooter from 1998, it was developed by Valve Software (those of the Steam store) and was based on a modified version of the Quake graphics engine. The fame of Half Life is due, however, to Half Life 2 and the Source graphics engine, which then became a standard for all the shooter games to follow (including Team Fortress and other games similar to Half Life 2)
As already mentioned some time ago, thanks to Valve and Steam, you can now play Half Life on PC for free with Sven Co-Op .
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