ScummVM
FreeKeeps 1990s adventure games running on today's systems
A reimplementation of the engines behind hundreds of classic adventure games, so titles that only ever ran on DOS or early Windows now run on modern Windows, macOS, Linux, phones and handhelds. You supply the original game data files; it supplies the engine.
Why we picked it
ScummVM does something different from an emulator. An emulator simulates hardware; ScummVM reimplements the game engines themselves — it reads the original data files (scripts, art, music) and executes them with modern code.
The result is that decades-old games run more reliably today than they did originally: no DOS memory configuration, no crashes from a CPU that is too fast, arbitrary window sizes and fullscreen, save anywhere, touch controls on a phone, and independent toggles for subtitles and voice.
The supported list is long — Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, Myst, Broken Sword, Alone in the Dark and most of the defining adventure games of the 1990s. The SCUMM in the name comes from LucasArts' scripting engine, though the project now covers dozens of unrelated engines.
Worth noting that the project also maintains a list of legally free games: some publishers have released old titles or licensed them for free distribution, and those can be downloaded straight from the ScummVM site and played entirely legally. A good place to start.
Things to know:
- It contains no game content. You need the original files — copied from discs you own, or purchased on GOG or Steam, where many classic titles already ship bundled with ScummVM.
- Not every old game is supported. It focuses on adventure games and specific engines; for other DOS-era genres, DOSBox is the right tool.
- The official compatibility list documents each game's status and is worth checking first.
GPL-3.0, maintained continuously since 2001, currently at v2026.3.0. This is software that keeps cultural heritage from disappearing with each OS upgrade.