Game preservation, or lack thereof, is a hot topic among gamers and developers at the moment. So it’s good to hear that the owners of an important bit of gaming history are both aware that their games are being shared online for free and explicitly endorsing it.

Unreal and Unreal Tournament, the first two titles to use developer Epic Games' now hugely popular Unreal engine and which spawned an entire FPS franchise, are now available to download and play for free via the Internet Archive. And yes, it's with Epic's permission.

So, it is big news to learn that Epic allowed fans to redistribute some of these Unreal games again. As shared on Twitter by Brazilian user Vinícius Medeiros, the fansite OldUnreal received permission to redistribute Unreal Gold and Unreal Tournament GOTY Edition.

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Gosh, I've heard such good things about the classic 1998 shooter Unreal and sure would like to try it, but I just don't know where to get it these days?" If so, I have good news: The Internet Archive has made it free,

Epic Games was supposed to allow Old Unreal fans to make Unreal and Unreal Tournament available for free, though not unconditionally.

Game of the Year Edition, two boomer shooters that helped propel Epic Games into the spotlight back in the late 1990s, are now available to download for no cost on Archive.org.

Iconic shooters Unreal and Unreal Tournament, which helped establish Epic Games as a shooter powerhouse, are now free for everyone to download and play.