Modern DOS Games

[TigerQuoll]

#4645

As promised in another thread, I got my thinking cap on and came up with a few ideas for recent(ish) DOS games we could play.

* Retro City Rampage:
I’m sure we’ve all heard of this one. It’s a lot like the original GTA, but more cartooney. Coming from 2012 it’s not the newest DOS game out there, but it definitely still counts as modern.
https://www.vblank.com/RetroCityRampage/

* The Curse of Rabenstein:
This one is a parser based text adventure from 2020. It’s quite short unfortunately, but the graphics are very nice and it’s very professionally done, with a very nice boxed version full of goodies.
https://8bitgames.itch.io/rabenstein/devlog/131073/the-curse-of-rabenstein-out

* Post Apocalyptic Petra:
Also from 2020, and also quite short. It’s got a tomb raider crossed with system shock vibe. Again very well polished and quite impressive.
https://bad-sector.itch.io/post-apocalyptic-petra

* Shaw’s Nightmare:
OK, hear me out on this one. This is one of the few games I’ve heard of that you could call “outsider art”. The graphics are childish and terrible and the sound is probably worse.
It has been made, as far as I can tell, with complete sincerity and naivety, no post-modern irony or self-awareness.
Nobody really knows what to make of it, but it has something of a cult following.
Apparently it’s been in development since the mid 2000s, and has been restarted once or twice. It’s made in the build engine, but it’s not just a slapped together mod. The engine itself has actually been tinkered with fairly extensively.
https://shawsnightmare.ucoz.com/index/shaw_39_s_nightmare_ii/0-6

* Mixed bag
There are heaps of games for DOS that have come out in the last few years which, while impressive in their own right, probably don’t have quite enough meat on their bones to do a whole episode on. Magiduck, Dust Fury, Death Taxi, Mini Prince and Dungeons of Noudar 3D are just a few that come to mind. Oh yeah, and some game called SlipSpeed 😉
We could do another roundup episode on a few of these.
There’s a huge list on http://www.doshaven.eu

[Evil Taco]

#4670

This would make an interesting month + podcast!

[Mike]

#5222

I’d really love occasional episodes highlighting modern DOS games. It would be a nice way to help give indie games more exposure.

[Dave]

#5741

I love these, thanks TigerQuoll – there’s a whole load on itch too although you have to work through which ones are DOS inspired and which actually run on DOS.

It would be great to have another episode on modern DOS culture for sure!

[watchful]

#5745

IMO “Retro City Rampage” deserves its own month and episode. I’d like to try it.

Others which are smaller could be lumped together in one month and episode. It may help to consolidate several vintage DOS games which are smaller and simpler, such as High Octane.