// 9 games · play in your browser

Retro games online, free in your browser

Classic games online, from city building to the first person shooter: open source and freeware classics, compiled for the web and carefully remastered. Sharper picture, modern controls for keyboard, touch and gamepad, saves on your device. The game logic stays exactly as in the original.

Choose a game
9
games, all free
0
installs, no account
8
with full touch controls
Abuse: Nick Vrenna shoots a mutant on a ramp, an explosion lights up the corridor

Run and gun platformer · 1995

Abuse

Play now Details
Screenshots from the browser versions

01 // Games

Pick your game

Every game opens in a new full page player with fullscreen, a controls overview and, where the game has savegames, a backup. Click Details for screenshots, controls and licenses.

02 // Faithful to the original

Better to play, still the original

The rule for every game: improvements only touch the picture and the controls. Higher frame rates never speed up enemies, physics or the game world.

  • Original game speed

    Logic and display are kept apart. Hurrican and Abuse were measured against the original speed, Tyrian on 30 to 144 Hz screens, Freedoom on 30 to 240 Hz.

  • Sharper, smoother picture

    Rendering at your screen's pixel density, original aspect ratios, crisp pixels and fullscreen. Abuse is interpolated from 15 to 60 frames per second.

  • Keyboard, touch and gamepad

    Each game got controls built for it: virtual sticks, drag to fly, pinch to zoom. Abuse, Tyrian, Hurrican, Jetstorm and Freedoom also take a gamepad.

  • Saves stay on your device

    Savegames and settings are stored in your browser and never sent to us. Every game with savegames can export a backup file.

03 // Three steps

How it works

  1. Pick a game

    Press Play now. The game opens on its own page, there is nothing to install.

  2. It loads once

    The first start loads between 2 MB and 59 MB. After that your browser keeps the files and starts quickly.

  3. Play and save

    Your progress is saved in the browser. Export a backup to keep it or move it to another device.

04 // Retro games in the browser

Retro games in the browser: what is different

These games were made for PCs of their time. Here they run in a browser tab, and a few things work differently than with a download or an emulator.

  • One download, then the cache

    There is no installer. The first start loads the game data once, between 2 MB and 59 MB depending on the game, after that your browser starts it from its cache.

  • Original speed on modern screens

    Old games count time in fixed steps, Freedoom 35 per second, Abuse 15. These steps stay as they were, only the picture is smoothed, so a 144 Hz screen never makes a game faster.

  • The browser keeps some keys

    Esc first releases a captured mouse, and outside fullscreen shortcuts such as Ctrl+W stay with the browser. Every game page lists the controls for keyboard, touch and gamepad.

  • Free licenses, no abandonware

    Every game here is open source or freeware whose license allows sharing it. There are no ROMs or copies of abandoned commercial games, and the source code of the ported versions is published next to each game.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Are these games really free?

Yes. All nine games are open source or freeware and free to play here, with no account, no ads in the games and no in-game purchases.

Do I need to install anything?

No. The games run in a current browser, most of them compiled to WebAssembly. The first start downloads the game data once, after that it comes from your browser cache.

Can I play on my phone or tablet?

8 of the 9 games have full touch controls for phones and tablets. Warzone 2100 works best on a tablet or computer, on phones its interface is scaled down. So far the touch controls were tested with phone emulation in Chrome, tests on real iPhones and Android phones are still open.

How do I play fullscreen on an iPhone?

Safari cannot switch web pages to fullscreen on the iPhone. Open the game in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen and Add. Started from the new icon, the game runs without the address bar. On Android the fullscreen button inside the game works directly. Step by step guide with pictures

Where are my savegames stored?

Only in your browser (IndexedDB or local storage), they are never uploaded. Clearing the site data in your browser deletes them, so use the backup export of each game to keep a copy.

Is there online multiplayer?

No. The browser versions are single player. Online features of the engines are not available here, the games make no requests to other servers.

Which languages are available?

Warzone 2100, OpenTTD, Hurrican, Flare, Micropolis and Jetstorm start in German on the German pages and in English otherwise. Tyrian, Abuse and Freedoom are in English only. None of the games is translated into Spanish yet, only the start screen of Freedoom is.

Licenses and source codeThe CC0 license of the Grab3D model library does not apply to the games. Each game keeps its own license.