This Old Neon Forum

Round One of the "Best Freeware Game" side-event includes 2 polls of 10 games each.

• You can vote for UP TO FIVE (5) games per poll, or skip a poll entirely.
• The top 5 games in each poll will advance to Round Two.
• You can't change your votes once they've been submitted, so click carefully. Voting closes on Saturday at midnight ADT.

VOTE HERE

Poll 1 of 2
Ancient Domains of Mystery [ADOM] (1994, PC)
The Battle for Wesnoth (2003, PC)
Cursed Castilla / Maldita Castilla (2012, PC)
Duke Nukem 3D (1996, PC)
Dwarf Fortress (2006, PC)
Epic Pinball (1993, PC)
Katawa Shoujo (2012, PC)
NetHack (1987, PC)
Solar Winds: The Escape (1993, PC)
ZZT (1991, PC)

Poll 2 of 2
Fortnite Battle Royale (2017, PC)
God of Thunder (1993, PC)
Knytt Stories (2007, PC)
La-Mulana (2005, PC)
Little Fighter 2 (1999, PC)
One Must Fall: 2097 (1994, PC)
Rise of the Triad: The HUNT Begins (1994, PC)
Spelunky (2008, PC)
Tyrian (1995, PC)
Wacky Wheels (1994, PC)

What, was Cave Story considered too obvious? At least Knytt Stories is here. I'd like to shake the hand of the person who nominated that.

Cave Story is undoubtedly in a future round.

This Old Neon wrote: ↑15 Apr 2019 02:22 Poll 1 of 2
Ancient Domains of Mystery [ADOM] (1994, PC)
The Battle for Wesnoth (2003, PC)
Cursed Castilla / Maldita Castilla (2012, PC)
Duke Nukem 3D (1996, PC)
Dwarf Fortress (2006, PC)
Epic Pinball (1993, PC)
Katawa Shoujo (2012, PC)
NetHack (1987, PC)
Solar Winds: The Escape (1993, PC)
ZZT (1991, PC)

Some great games in this bracket. Wesnoth is a remarkably full-featured strategy game, not the kind of genre you normally see as (good) freeware.

This Old Neon wrote: ↑15 Apr 2019 02:22 Poll 2 of 2
Fortnite Battle Royale (2017, PC)
God of Thunder (1993, PC)
Knytt Stories (2007, PC)
La-Mulana (2005, PC)
Little Fighter 2 (1999, PC)
One Must Fall: 2097 (1994, PC)
Rise of the Triad: The HUNT Begins (1994, PC)
Spelunky (2008, PC)
Tyrian (1995, PC)
Wacky Wheels (1994, PC)

La-Mulana and Spelunky got decently high-profile remakes for consoles after their initial freeware success, but I'm also giving Knytt a vote, as it's a remarkable little solo-developed adventure.

Here are the winners of Round One:

Poll 1 of 2
The Battle for Wesnoth (2003, PC)
Duke Nukem 3D (1996, PC)
Dwarf Fortress (2006, PC)
NetHack (1987, PC)

Poll 2 of 2
Fortnite Battle Royale (2017, PC)
Knytt Stories (2007, PC)
La-Mulana (2005, PC)
Spelunky (2008, PC)
Wacky Wheels (1994, PC)