The freeware version of La-Mulana is worth experiencing: It has a visual aesthetic that is very retro, straight from the era of the MSX computer. In some ways, I find it more appealing than the updated look of the commercial remake. Ditto goes for the soundtrack.

La-Mulana PV #2 - Comparison Edition

Yeah, but as a general quick rule of thumb, it's fine, I think. Like all things copyright and IP, it is very muddled waters

If you're an adventure game fan, you can't go wrong with the hundreds of available AGS games, the vast majority of which are free.
A good place to start (you'll have to avoid the commercial ones, though):
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/allgames/1/rating/desc/

Death Rally is available for free from the developer's site.

Nothing to be seen here, little ankward misconception ....

All games from the magnificent Locomalito:
http://www.locomalito.com/

Daniel Remar has also done a couple of great freeware games:
http://www.remar.se/daniel/games.php

He is now working for Ludosity (Ittle Dew, Card City Nights).

Marathon series by Bungie is available for free and theres a modern port to most platforms. Story is still amazing and gameplay is fun... but im nostalgic so this might be up to debate ;) In general id say if you like Doom and dont mind somewhat slower but more complex gameplay give it a try.

https://alephone.lhowon.org

Sorry, I thought the game had officially become abandoned freeware and openly available as is, I'll edit it out

● The Battle for Wesnoth (http://www.wesnoth.org/)

Turn-based tactical strategy game with a high fantasy theme, featuring both single-player, and online/hotseat multiplayer combat.

● Nehrim: At Fate's Edge (http://www.moddb.com/mods/nehrim-at-fates-edge)

Total Conversion for Oblivion: "Nehrim - At Fate's Edge" is a finished Total Conversion for the RPG The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. That means it is a self-contained game that bases upon the Oblivion game engine, but has no relation to Oblivion's lore. It is a world in which neither Tamriel nor any other TES based name exists. The continent itself on which the game is situated is called Nehrim, it is completely independent from the base game.

no worries, it can be confusing. Per definition, abandonware can never be freeware. It is an either or thingy. Easily available does not mean freeware, just..... pirated a lot....

yup, i have it on AMIGA and on AMIGA cd32,(cd) its old but its better then those games that copied the idea of the game and used ugly 3d engines.
Most of the time the remakes are crap (about 75-90% of remake games are crap) so the original is usually the best.

It has a nice paper manual (cd32 version).
Most of the games that are being created today, (starting after the 90s) is mostly crap and cant compare to old good games,i think 75% or more of the good old games are way better then all that newly released 'crap'.(after the 90s)
Thats very sad, there are so many old games on so called 'free' or abandoned 'or whatever they call it, that are better then many stuff thats made today , worst thing is the fact you just cant run 16bit games on win7 or higher machines that are 64 bits 'thanks' to mickeysoft.
There will always be new games, but there are so many old games 'left out in the cold'....

Basically it cant, and these people should only have a link to the site on the game page showing that the game is NOT available for free , cant be downlaoded on that free site and can only be bought on GOG, steam or other legit website.
Most sites do have a link showing that the game can be bought on GOG or other legit gamesites.

Yeah that sucks, I don't think I can change the thread title myself though