Game Saturday: play golden age PC games on Classic Reload
Classic Reload is a free online site that lets you play thousands of classic PC games and computer games directly online in your web browser.
The site features Windows and DOS games, console games, as well as classic home computer games.
The archive hosts more than 5000 games currently sorted into genres such as sports, strategy, or action. You can browse any category on the website, or use the built-in search engine to find a game that you are interested in this way.
The game engines use HTML5 and not plugins which means that the games will run in any modern browser.
Tip: the following resources let you play classic games online as well:
- Play classic games at Archive.org’s Console Living Room and Internet Arcade
- Play thousands of classic Amiga games in a browser
- Play classic Atari arcade games in your browser
- Tons of Classic Arcade Games
Classic Reload
You can enable full screen mode with a click on the fullscreen button, and if you have a supported gamepad connected to the computer, you may use that as well.
Most games require that you click with the mouse on the game's area to activate the controls. You can then use a mouse in the game and/or keys on the keyboard for actions. There is no general mapping of keys to certain actions, e.g. movement for instance. Generally speaking, you may want to try the arrow keys, Enter, Shift, Ctrl or Space for actions.
Here is a list of games that you can play on the site:
- Doom II: Hell on Earth
- Sid Meier's Civilization
- Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
- Turrican II: The final fight
- Defender of the Crown
- The King of Chicago
- Moonstone
- Day of the Tentacle
- Ultima Underworld
- Darklands
The site hosts thousands more, and while it does not host them all, chance is good that you may be able to play a game that you played in your childhood again. Or, if you are not stoneage-old in the age of the Internet, you may have an opportunity to play classic games for the firs time.
It appears that you need to sign in using a free account to save game progress. The process is described here. The option to backup games and restore backups becomes available then. Backups are stored on the local device and can be loaded again using the restore option. These saves are independent from any save game mechanic in the game, so that you can save the state at any time to start exactly at the position of the save.
Closing Words
Classic Reload is a huge online archive of PC Dos, console and home computer games that you can all play in the browser. It hosts many classic games and invites you to take a trip to nostalgia land or experience games that defined whole genres (or not) for the first time.
Now You: What are your favorite PC DOS or home computer games?
Lemmings! I was crazy about that DOS game back in ’93 I think it was. I didn’t even have a mouse back then and managed to finish it using just the keyboard. Only had a black & white monitor too! Those were the days…..
Cool, another site hiding behind the “abandonware” excuse and playing fast and loose with their own interpretations of the DMCA.
Wonder what the likes of (to name just two among dozens) Bethesda and Gearbox would say about it serving up their titles (even if Gearbox doesn’t sell the old Dukes, it still made a very visible fit over anyone BUT them distributing the titles in any fashion).
Hiding??? Take a moment to look that word up in the dictionary. Classic Reload couldn’t be more open in their presentation, and we are all better off for their presence. Now, grab a moist towlette, and scrub that L off your forehead.
Get the **** out of here with you bull**** DMCA crap.
Dude shut up
“…for the firs time.” Whoops.
I used to like Mega Lo Mania, I just found it onliune, I wonder if I will still like, giving it a go anyway.
In DOS I used to like
Duke Nukem 1-3
Commander Keen
Prehistorik
Settlers II
and on PS1 I used to like Crash Bandicoot.
DOOM (1993) – to be the best FPS ever made.
I tried to like Doom 3, but there was so much storyline and the controls weren’t intuitive to me. I suppose the classics are just better.
I loved Duke Nukem 3D and Blake Stone