Is there anything lovelier than a studio deciding to give its classic away? Yesterday Lady Combo showed the 1989 SimCity running in the browser, and it made me want to gather other games that their own creators released for free. Everything here is legal, official and asks for no commercial game files.
Minecraft Classic (Mojang)
In May 2019, to celebrate the game’s tenth anniversary, Mojang put Minecraft Classic online, the 2009 version that runs straight in the browser. It has only 32 blocks, no mobs and no survival, just pure building, with the original bugs kept on purpose. You can invite friends with a link and build together. It is an honest portrait of how it all began.
Celeste Classic (Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry)
Before the award-winning Celeste there was Celeste Classic, a PICO-8 platformer about climbing a mountain, made in four days. It runs in the browser on its official itch.io page, with the arrow keys, X and C. The jump, the air dash and that feeling of precise control were already there. What a joy to see the seed of such a well-crafted game.
Cave Story (Daisuke Amaya)
Daisuke Amaya, known as Pixel, spent years making Cave Story alone and released it as freeware in 2004. The original version is still free and does not run in the browser; it is a PC program. Commercial editions also exist today, sold on official stores, and those deserve your money.
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (Bethesda)
In 2009, Bethesda made Daggerfall free, and the download is on the official Bethesda page. The 1996 game runs with DOSBox, and the Daggerfall Unity project recreates the engine using the files from that free download.
For more classics you can play while respecting the people who made them, see our guide to games ported to the browser and PC and the Preservation section.
Where to buy: Celeste for Switch on Amazon
Source: Mojang, Maddy Makes Games and Bethesda.
Lady Combo
