Safe site to download older games?
DessertStorms@kbin.social to 
E: archive.org gave me some options which I need to test, but for now I'm calling it SOLVED, thanks!
I know I'm not meant to ask for a specific title, but it's the second in the series where you age up your empire wink wink..
Looking for the HD edition in English, so far I just keep getting Russian versions, if I risk downloading at all, since most the sites that are coming up in my search look dodgy af..
archive.org has a flourish of ROMsets for old machines!
@JoeBidet
@DessertStorms
There’s even a a Python API to download files as you please, even more convenient than torrenting
They have a flourish of everything. Fastest torrents I’ve ever seen.
I'll give it a look, thanks!
Depending on the age, myabandonware and a guy named Vimm who has a lair are solid places.
Just one DL at a time from the latter, but it's worth it. Also it's not that bad of a hassle, go from small to large games and it's over in no time.
Unfortunately myabandonware just links back to steam and Vimm only has the PS version, but thanks!
You could always run it in a sandbox if you’re not sure.
Unpopular opinion: for executables, I purchase everything. It’s no longer worth it to me to risk a ransomeware attack. The game you’re looking for is $20 on steam which certainly isn’t free, but worth it imo.
I really have no interest in using steam.
There's a reason I asked in this specific community.
An admirable sentiment.
The fact that a game is Steam-only is good enough reason to pirate it.
Yeah, the other day I'd gone to play another older game I had already pirated and played loads, but not for a while, and it suddenly wouldn't run without steam. Like tf? So I deleted it and pirated an updated copy that runs fine lol
I refuse to use these kinds of 3rd party services, I just want a copy of the game that I know is safe on my machine.
E: speaking of which - I've just been testing the games I downloaded off the back of this post, and one is now stuck looking for steam subscriptions before it will run, on to the next!
I do wonder how pirated games can somehow stop working after a while. I'm guessing there's some sort of anti-piracy thing that hasn't quite been fully removed. I had this experience with one game which was known to have Denuvo; a newer crack fixed it.
Fair enough! Not trying to guilt or pass judgement.
Have you used windows sandbox before? I’ve used it with success back when I used cracked executables.
Windows sandbox? What is that? Like a VM?
A VM that is cut off from the rest of the computer so that malware cannot pass to your computer.
Not exactly a VM but a desktop environment.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/application-security/application-isolation/windows-sandbox/windows-sandbox-overview
I appreciate it.
And no, I've not used the sandbox before, I generally just scan the file for viruses and hope for the best (terrible practice, I know, but I so rarely download anything), but I would be happy to try it out, problem is all the versions I've downloaded so far have been in Russian (even when selecting English), so even if I do test them in the sandbox, I still don't know what any of the UI is saying lol
I agree. I've stopped pirating games on PC as well because the risk is simply no longer worth it. I can afford games and can pay for the ones I need on PC. They're also not as overpriced as console games.
Not sure if this has what you're looking for, but check out the r/Roms Megathread https://r-roms.github.io/
Doesn't look like it, but might come in handy if I find anything in the archives that gives me trouble, thanks!
Try fitgirl; read all the features/directions. For other older games, gog-games is a places I like to browse.
If you're wanting to go down the emulation route for older console games vimm.net is where it's at
Have you tried cs.rin.ru?
GazelleGames