Examples include:

N (possibly the best platformer ever?)
Chalk
Torus Trooper
Warning Forever
rRootage

Since most of these are shooters I'm looking for more interesting freeware games to pass some time with. Anyone got any recommendations?

The UrQuan Masters.

Knytt, Knytt Stories and Within A Deep Forest. They're all very gentle, cute and fun.

Just check for something like, "Top 10 freeware linux gmes" on google and you'll get a bunch. I know- I said Linux. But one of my favorites I'm playing right now (The Battle for Wesnoth, a turn based hex grid medieval strategy) is ported to windows along with a lot of others.

Of course, you could just install linux, but that might be asking for too much...

I am going to keep saying this until someone actually plays it "CAVE STORY!" Originally released in Japanese, it's kind of like metroid for gameplay but has one of the most detailed and interesting stories I have seen in a platformer. Wonderfully crafted and in it's own way very modern for what it is.

It's better than Morrowind! Go download it.

If you want a platformer that'll last A WHILE (and kick your butt doing it), check out La-Mulana. Think retro-Castletroid on steroids and you've got a good idea. (Seriously, for size, it's gotta be twice the area to explore that Super Metroid had...) If you hate how modern games spoon-feed you tips and help, check this one out. Like Cave Story, make sure to get the translation ^_^

Check out
www.tigsource.com

Or look for 'Play this thing'.

There's a lot out there. Ur-Quan Matsers (already mentioned) is very good.

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 has to be the funniest game I've played in a long time.

If you're a masochist, check out I Wanna Be The Guy

Dwarf Fortress. If graphics are important to you, don't bother. Otherwise you have one of the deepest most engaging games pretty much ever.

Battle For Wesnoth if you like turn based strategy

And, of course, Yahtzee's Trilby games...

Freespace2 open source!

Its the original game but slightly improved graphics wise... also if you download it you can download babylon 5, battlestar galactica, or wing commander mods (although most of them are works in progress)

other than that, ur-quan masters, although old, is one of the greatest games ever. It's Starcon2 with the name changed but no gameplay changes. Might take a bit to get into, the beginnings a little slow, but if you want open ended gameplay in a ridiculously large galaxy with a good plot, decent 2d space combat, its a great game.

There's a great forum post with just such a list:

Part I: http://forums.facepunchstudios.com/showthread.php?t=199817#
Part II: http://forums.facepunchstudios.com/showpost.php?p=6106727&postcount=1361
Part III: http://forums.facepunchstudios.com/showthread.php?p=6981119#post6981119

Off the top of my head, I highly recommend TrackMania Nations and Cave Story. For TrackMania, there's a great Map Pack torrent that I also highly recommend, available at http://www.mininova.org/tor/278490

wilsonscrazybed:
"CAVE STORY!"

HUZZAH!

On another note, I really like Akuji the Demon, despite the fact that the entire game is one hour long.

And if you're not opposed to emulation, The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang is the classic.

I like Stranded 2. It's a neat survival game, sort of like being Tom Hanks in Castaway, except less realistic. Unfortunately it was originally written in German, so you have to do a bit of digging to find English instructions. Fortunately the game itself is entirely translated.

Thanks guys, these should keep me busy for quite a while :)

Tremulous is a pretty hardcore free multiplayer FPS. I've had it a while and have only notched up a couple of kills.

also,Liero is hands down the best game ever. I think that's a free one.

Heh. I came in here to suggest Cave Story :)

-Nick

j-e-f-f-e-r-s:
also,Liero is hands down the best game ever. I think that's a free one.

Yeah I love that game. Playing it with weapons reload turned down to 0 is pure insanity. Especially if you use the sniper rifle...

I'll have to cast another vote for Dwarf Fortress... for a game with crude graphics, it's got an incredible depth of emotion. For example, I was digging a big trench to defend my fortress from the inevitable goblin siege, when I realized that one of my dwarves wasn't working. She was moping over the loss of her baby and I couldn't find the baby, either.

Turns out the baby fell down into the trench, down three levels. I had to mine in and get him, then the mother rushed frantically to pick him up.

How can you not love that?

If you want a JRPG style game Barkleys Shut up and jam gaiden is the way to go :)

Cibbuano:
Turns out the baby fell down into the trench, down three levels. I had to mine in and get him, then the mother rushed frantically to pick him up.

How can you not love that?

I think I'll have to give this a try based on this, I did download it at work once but didn't have time to give it a proper go.

I WANNA BE THE GUY
http://kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg/

Samarost 1 and Samarost 2 are cute, nifty online games. Hardly the mostcomplex titles, but charming enough to beguile the inner child for a wee while

Gearhead

This game has eaten way too much time from my life for a freeware game. The second one isn't finished, the first is though.

If you want the closest thing to an interactive drama, check out Facade ( http://www.interactivestory.net ). It's a somewhat sizable download (167 MB) but very worth it.

[quote=[HD]Rob Inglis]I WANNA BE THE GUY
http://kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg/[/quote]

EVIL.

I would reccomend PatchCon
a small japaneese game about defending a libary
And i would also reccoment playing Momentum missile mayhem 2 and Onslaught 2

Battle for Wesnoth is a great hex-based strategy game.

And, of course, Desktop Tower Defense.

wilsonscrazybed:
...but has one of the most detailed and interesting stories I have seen in a platformer.

You play as a humanoid robot with amnesia who wakes up on a floating island somewhere and tries to stop an evil professor from creating an enormous by force feeding rabbits with some mystical red rabbits that will turn them into killer machines.

Still, awesome game!

If you want something that will last, I'd agree with Khell_sennet and recommend the Ur-Quan masters, based on the SNES game Star Controll II. Some parts are utterly hilarious, and the complexity is unrivaled when it comes to 640*480 games.

For something completely different; I'd highly recommend the fighting/strategy (I'm serious) game Toribash http://www.toribash.com/downloads.html . Technically it's turn-based combat, but you controll the guy by giving each specific limb a command (contract, expand, stiffen etc) and although a bit confusing at first, you'll learn quickly.

I would put Cortex Command up here, but it's quite far from free with the latest builds :(.

a really good strategy series is 12-13.
you wake up in a lab and have to escape, very similar to resident evil

ADOM,
Scorched earth,
and I think X-com is available for legal free download at various places at this point, like file planet

Eye Spider:
You motherfuckers!

I just installed Cave Story and now I'm hooked. Like I need to waste more hours of my life playing games.

I need help - I'm stuck at the frog boss in the Gum Room. I can survive for a while by continuously using the jets to jump over him, but I keep running out of missiles (I have 20 so far) and I can only seem to get him down to 3/4 energy. Nothing else hurts it and killing the small monsters doesn't seem to drop enough missiles to replenish my stock before he wears me down.

I feel like I'm doing it wrong, any tips?

Shoot his mouth when it opens. Also, if you shoot the things that come out of his mouth, they'll be destroyed, causing less aggro for you.

I was actually quite interested in the Ben Jordan series for a little bit. Granted, the original 1 through 3 were kinda awkward with the graphics. 4 picked it up a little bit and 5 seemed to get it just right, the remake of 1 following it.

As mentioned already, the Chzo Mythos along with 1213 are good games by Ben. Give The Galaxy of Fantabulous Wonderment a try, too. One of my favorites that Ben's done.

If you want to hurt your self esteem, see if you can get a hold of the Super Mario Bros hacks of the near-impossible levels. If you thought you knew how to Mario, you'll be proved wrong.

I think Granado Espada/Sword of the New World both went free to play recently if you want to play a Momorpuhguh.

Can't really speak for much else, though. Hope that helped out.

Freeware, abandonware, ROM hacks, open source- there is an interesting selection of games out there for free. What have you played? Anything so good you would have payed for it?

First thing that comes to mind for me is Studio Pixel's Cave Story, a Metroidvania free game that was simultaneously really cute, rather dark (poor Toroko and King...), and had some kick-ass weapons. Balrog won my heart pretty effectively as well. :D

(I'm not sure what the forums policy is on ROMs, but surely discussion of them is fine? No links, folks.)

I also hated/loved a Zelda ROM hack called Parallel Worlds. Fiendishly difficult and irritating, but challenging in the sort of way that made you want to beat it just to have the last laugh.

What about ya'll? What have you played and loved?