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Generally, any top rated game from that period which doesn’t rely on “realistic” graphics but instead offers very good gameplay and is kind of timeless and ages well. For example, you shouldn’t play the original System Shock 1 anymore, although it was top tier in 1994, because its graphics are very poor for today’s standards, it’s UI has always been poor, and it’s a game that fully relies on immersion, but you can’t immerse yourself anymore if both graphics and UI are really poor. Instead, play the System Shock remake from Nightdive Studios which came out recently. It’s not the same, but it’s very similar, and much better nowadays. Also why you shouldn’t play the old STALKERs anymore, although they were amazing and it kind of saddens me to write this, but they really don’t offer much immersion today, which is why they didn’t age well. I’m writing this because I didn’t finish part 3 back in the day and intended to finish it like 2 years ago, but I couldn’t stand the dated graphics anymore. For a game which relies fully on immersion, that ruins it.
Here’s my list (not in a particular order), I’m focusing on PC games because I never really play that much console or handheld stuff:
- Command and Conquer up until Red Alert (remastered version available). These are classic RTS games in a sci-fi war setting. Some say Total Annihilation was the best RTS during the 90s but I never played it.
- Starcraft 1 (remastered version available). This game is also still being played competitively in multiplayer, with an active tournament scene, especially in South Korea. Also great in single player. Famous for its balance, at least on modern tournament maps.
- Age of Empires 2 (remastered version available). It’s like a mix between a classic RTS and Civilization. Great game, lots of content by itself already, also tons of added content.
- Jagged Alliance 2 (great community mods available). You can skip part 1, part 2 was absolutely amazing. A great strategy and tactics based game. It’s quite difficult, but great.
- Doom 1+2 (remastered version available, very recently updated again on Steam (this month!)). Plenty of 3rd party engines like gzdoom also available which make them look and feel much more modern. Tons of community-made content as well. Special mention: John Romero, one of the original level designers, also made more content over the years (e.g. “Sigil”), which is great as well.
- Quake 1+2 (remastered version and 3rd party engines available). These were among the first games fully utilizing 3D-accelerated graphics back in the day, so they pushed boundaries and they brought the pseudo-3D games like Doom 1+2 into a full 3D environment.
- Baldur’s Gate 1+2 + its expansions (remastered version available). Also highly recommend version 3 of course but that’s not an old game. Plenty of mods available for them as well. These are all exceptional RPG games with great story and depth that no RPG fan should skip. They also age well because it’s just good 2D art.
- Planescape: Torment (only if you a) liked Baldur’s Gate and b) don’t mind reading (it’s a lot of text) and enjoying a complex story with complex character interactions. Remastered version available)
- Half-Life 1+2 (instead of HL1, play “Black Mesa” which is a great modern remake (not the same, but very similar and much better nowadays). For HL2, there are also some remastered versions or mods available, and Valve updated the game engine from time to time so when you download it today, it’s not the dated version from 2004 anymore). HL1 (1998) was one of the first FPS with a really great story line, voice acting, and stuff like that, which is why it pushed boundaries back when it was released. HL2 was just excellent overall and one of the first or the first game which introduced physics-based object manipulations, so it again pushed boundaries further)
- Sin Gold was a great FPS from 1998 that got brutally overshadowed by Half-Life 1, but it’s still a great story-based shooter, more action-focused. Based on an updated Quake 1 engine.
- Portal 1+2. Best to play them after you’ve played the Half-Lifes. Portal 2 (2012) is THE highest rated game on Steam (https://steamdb.info/stats/gameratings/). Truly great puzzle FPS set in Half-Life’s setting, which is why it’s useful to know about HL before jumping in (but not a requirement). Portal 1 also isn’t far off in rating. Portal 1 was basically a “side game” for the Valve game compilation named The Orange Box, Portal 2 was then a true AAA quality followup because Portal 1 was a huge success.
- Deus Ex 1 (maybe. Graphics are really poor (they were already dated when it launched). But it was one of the first RPG-FPS with stellar level design and the freedom to approach every situation in different ways, so VERY good on the gameplay side). Deus Ex 2 is supposedly bad, so skip that. The newer ones like Human Revolution and Mankind Divided are decent but they’re not classics anymore they’re still “”“fairly recent”“”, around 2010 or so.
- System Shock 2. It also looks very dated by now but there are some HQ mods available (improving models and textures) which make it more bearable. I’m hesitant to mention it because it relies a lot on immersion and it looks very dated. So according to my own recommendations, I probably shouldn’t list it, but it’s also great in level design and gameplay, and its art style never was ultra-realistic to begin with, so I’ll list this one as an exception. It’s very much worth playing, truly a great sci-fi/horror RPG-FPS and a worthy successor to part 1. Nightdive Studios might be working on an SS2 Remake or Remaster, if so then I’d say wait for that!
- Monkey Island 1 + 2. Remasters available. Classic point-and-click adventures, timeless.
- There are even more great adventure games from LucasArts or Sierra back in the day, but you’ll have to figure them out for yourself. I will only recommend Monkey Island because they were probably the most successful and well-known ones. For some of them, remasters are available, or you can play them using ScummVM. There were also other great adventures not from LucasArts or Sierra, like Simon the Sorcerer. The 80s, 90s and early 2000s spawned a lot of great point+click adventure games.
- Diablo 2 (remaster available). D1 started the whole “genre” of hack&slay action RPGs but it’s rather poor in comparison and aged terribly, D2 is much better in all areas, so skip D1 and instead try D2.
- Z (very unique and fun RTS game from the 90s. If you haven’t played it, you should! It offers very good and unique gameplay that no one else really tried to copy as far as I know, which is a shame. It truly emphasizes unit production time, speed and good timing). It’s also entertaining. And difficult.
- Thief Gold + Thief 2 (remasters available I think, but even if not, despite the graphics being very dated, a lot of it is in shadows anyway and IMHO the general art style kind of ages well, though that may be subjective, and it’s also immersion-based, so YMMV, but I think it’s fine still). Also “The Dark Mod” as a community “continuation” of the series). If you like stealth FPS, you must play them. Thief 3 is also decent. Any Thiefs after that are terrible. There are amazing community-made mods/missions as well.
- Alien: Isolation. This one is from 2012 I believe, so not quite old, but an honorable mention because it’s also an amazing stealth-based game. Its art style (like the first movies) also makes it age better. In fact I’d say this is one of the best horror-based stealth games ever made.
- Heroes of Might & Magic 3 (I think in this case, the remaster is bad. Stick to community mods/patches). This one is still the best of the series, so you don’t need to play any other part. Ages very well because it has very beautiful 2D-based graphics. Great art and design overall.
- There was one old RPG which supposedly aged very well but I didn’t play it yet. Maybe Albion or Lands of Lore, not sure what it was.
- Tomb Raider 1-3 (remaster)
- WH40k Dawn of War 1 is great if you like the universe and RTS games in general. Also the best in the series.
- XIII (Thirteen) - but not the new remake, play the original. It’s a rather unique stealth-based, comic-look based FPS. Ages quite well because of its unique look (utilizes the kind of shading like Borderlands)
- Elder Scrolls 3-5 are very good as well but you need several mods or engine enhancements, otherwise graphics aren’t that good anymore, and these are games which rely on good graphics as well for atmosphere/immersion. So they don’t age well by default, but thankfully they have a VERY active modding community which keeps these games alive. You can even make them look very modern, but it takes time and effort to do so.
- Nethack (somewhat of a nerd game, terrible graphics by design (text-based art style), but amazing and very deep/complex gameplay, very rewarding to get into, if you don’t mind its presentation. In terms of gameplay depth it brutally outclasses most games on the market). There are also some other clones like Slash’Em which I didn’t play. Dwarf Fortress is probably similar in depth and presentation (but very different in gameplay and general type of game) but I also didn’t play it yet. If you know enough about Nethack it’s also not that hard, but getting to that point is very difficult and if you don’t know anything then it’s very difficult. (I’ve done 8 ascensions, i.e. 8 finished playthroughs).
- Honorable mention because it’s technically not old but looks old: Return of the Obra Dinn. Don’t skip this one, it’s one of the best games I’ve ever played, I’m not kidding. It’s truly amazing, and it’s made by 1 guy. It’s a perfect example of why graphics fidelity in games doesn’t matter that much and you can create excellent, modern-feeling, stylish games regardless.
This is a great list.
I agree with your points on System Shock 2, I would also highlight that you could wait for the enhanced edition that Nightdive are doing of System Shock 2, and you could play their remake of the original in the mean time.
Added it, thanks.
Check out the STALKER GAMMA mod, I’ve played it and it’s great! (from a long time STALKER fan)
Return of the Obra Dinn. Don’t skip this one
just passing by to second that one. seriously, play this game.
Katamari Damacy for the spectacle of it. Wait for a switch sale and let your mind be blown.
Edit: it’s actually 75% off right now in my region.
There are also 3 of them on PC and are quite cheap.
Portal
Surprised to only see this mentioned a couple of times in here. This and the sequel are probably the two games I would recommend everyone play, gamers and non-gamers alike. They’re just that good and easy to get into from a controls perspective.
Most likely because we people >30 don’t see it as an older game. =D
If I’m going to recommend old games, it’ll be mostly games from the age of Intel Pentium 3, before all this newfangled multi core stuff they’re up to these days. Anything that comes after that is someone else’s to go to bat to. Heck I was playing Doom for a few years at a cousin’s house before we had our family computer in 98
Super Metroid because it’s amazing, and Castlevania Symphony of the Night for the same reason. I may be biased because those are two of my favorites ever but I swear they legit hold up.
As someone who didn’t play them back in the day, I feel like SotN holds up but Super Metroid doesn’t. Just as another opinion. I couldn’t really get into metroid fusion either. To me it feels like the moment-to-moment action gameplay is too clunky in the early metroid games I’ve played, even if the exploration element is neat. I did enjoy playing SotN for the first time a couple of years ago though. It’s been a while since I played either, so they’re not totally fresh in my memory - I guess it’s possible that I’m just more forgiving of clunky melee combat than clunky shooting.
Tangentially related, always amuses me how “metroidvania” has become the genre name, when originally it was just a way that reviewers poked fun at the big change between SotN and earlier castlevanias. They were like “this isn’t what I expect from a castlevania, it’s a great game but maybe they should have named it metroidvania”, and the name stuck. Another odd fact about that terminology is that according to interviews, the SotN designer never played metroid - they were inspired by the non-linear exploration with different routes opened up by items/upgrades in Zelda games (although obviously adding that to castlevania’s platformer gameplay makes it more closely resemble metroid). So it should probably be considered a zeldavania.
Ummm do not know who would disagree with you about Super Metriod but that is my go to game when I am sick of the stupid shit that is being pushed out today.
I played super Metroid for the first time in 2019 and it was amazing. Felt like it hadn’t aged at all and the atmosphere was incredible
There are entire genres that I think in many ways have passed younger gamers by.
Point and click adventures were the biggest thing in the world at one point. The classics are the Lucas Arts entries, like Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis, The Dig (both based on unused Spielberg pitches), the Monkey Island games, Full Throttle, Day of The Tentacle and Loom. You’ve also got Myst and Riven (Riven being the far superior of the two), and my personal favourite, The Longest Journey, which has an absolutely stellar story and really compelling protagonist with a lot of depth to her. Also, positive queer representation in a nineties game, holy shit.
The next lost nineties genre is the space sim. The kings of the genre were Wing Commander and X-Wing/Tie Fighter. Then you’ve got Privateer and later Freelancer. For the Wing Commander games read a summary of 1 and 2, then jump in with 3, the first to feature FMV with Mark Hamill as the player character (genuinely an excellent performance too, he took the role really seriously and saw it as every bit as important a scifi property as Star Wars). John Rhys Davies (Gimli) and Malcolm McDowell also make appearances.
And of course, the classic nineties FPS, a genre that feels very, very different from modern FPS games, though there have been some good attempts to recreate it. You know Doom, and Wolfenstein 3D (the latter does not hold up; the former absolutely does), but also check out Heretic, Hexen, Rise of The Triad, and most importantly, IMO, the Marathon games. These were the precedessors of the Halo series, and they combined really solid action with a genuinely amazing story. It’s the kind of big, high concept that you rarely get in movies, TV shows and games, with a world that the writers clearly put a tonne of thought into, and some characters who will stick with you long after the game is over.
Finally, some stuff that doesn’t really fit any of the above. Crusader: No Remorse and Crusader: No Regret are isometric action shooters with some fun storytelling and LOTS of explosions. If you get them on GOG be sure to download and read all the supplementary material, it really fleshes out the world and the characters. System Shock probably doesn’t even need mentioning with the recent remake, but the originals truly hold up, especially with the UI and controls polish Nightdive added. Syndicate and Syndicate Wars are very hard to explain, but they’re really fun (That said, I’ll give an even stronger recommendation to their modern spiritual successor, Satellite Reign, which deepened the gameplay significantly while still retaining all of the spirit).
There’s plenty more, obviously, but that’s what immediately comes to mind as worth checking out.
Oh yeah, the Crusader games were fun. They probably also aged well. OK, their controls are really annoying and weird, and you kind of have to “cheat” a bit in that game at some points (e.g. by shooting an enemy outside of the screen, so it can’t shoot back, otherwise some situations are really hard). But yeah, fun games, great action, many explosions and mayhem. And since it’s isometric 2D graphics there’s nothing really bad about them either. Except maybe for resolution or aspect issues. Also good sound/music.
shout-out to the crusader games and the badass soundtrack. i always feel like i was the only one who played those games. truly underrated imo.
Starwars Knights of the old Republic 1 and 2 they are on steam and kotar 1 can be played on a phone. AC blackflag. Dragon age origins. If you want a more specific recommendation based on a old gaming system let me know.
The Bard’s Tale - Hilarious, and I am a sucker for anything that involves summoning a squad to fight for me.
Psychonauts - Absolutely delightful. Just cute, funny, weird and imaginative. The platforming itself is good, though it gets really hard towards the end.
Eternal Darkness - By far my favorite horror game. None of the terrible controls, bad cameras, or bullet sponge enemies beating you with a wet noodle to give the impression of danger. Just a lovecraftian horror story full of great atmosphere and character, with the twist that as your character’s sanity meter goes down, shit gets weird, and sometimes breaks the fourth wall.
Skies of Arcadia - I cannot stress enough just how much I love this game. Sky pirates flying between floating islands in endless sky during an age of adventure and exploration.
The Zelda Series - The original is still worth playing, but you’ll want to look up the map that it came with. A link to the past is beloved, but Link’s Awakening is the real nostalgic one for me (I have the switch remake and haven’t had a chance to try it yet). I still think Ocarina of Time holds up, but I understand that many disagree. Majora’s Mask is great in many ways, but it is a game that works best when you have a lot of time to explore and discover things on your own, and as a grown ass adult with a Job and responsibilities, I had trouble going back to it and not just looking stuff up in a guide, which diminishes things… I also don’t have time to list my thoughts on the entire series.
KOTOR 1 & 2 - Pretty much what I wish every new iteration of Star Wars would aspire to be. The second one is a bit more uneven, as it had a vision that was truly inspired, but was forced out on an extremely rushed time frame, so a lot of things got cut, and even the restoration mods can’t add everything back in. (Also, Dragon Age Origins, as long as we’re talking classic Bioware)
Star Wars Republic Commando - A great FPS with a squad that actually knows how to do their jobs, and which does a good job of showing the clone wars from the perspective of a soldier. (Honorable mention to Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy which are still the best Jedi based action games but which had some technical issues the last time I tried to play them)
Castlevania Circle of the Moon - Everyone talks about Symphony of the Night, and I won’t argue with them, but my all time favorite in the series has to be Circle of the Moon. Refined Castelvania gameplay with a unique magic system that is simple but satisfying.
Punchout (with or without Mike Tyson) - The original is a classic and it holds up surprisingly well.
Halo 1, 2, 3 ODST, and Reach - They each hold up in their own unique way. The first one is immersive and is extremely well polished mechanically. The second has a stronger story and adds the bonus of being able to swap weapons with teammates (give them the scoped weapons, keep them alive, live or die as a unit), the third has awesome mechanics but weaker storytelling, ODST is Halo 3 Band of Brothers Edition, and Halo Reach actually tells the best story while taking the gameplay back to its roots.
Cursed Halo - It’s Halo 1, but completely insane. It manages to actually be fun while also being completely ridiculous.
Eh, that’s enough for now.
Man, Star Wars Republic Commando is a great game. Such a shame they cancelled the sequel, Imperial Commando, though.
I would do terrible things for a VR Eternal Darkness.
I also would probably be too scared to actually play it.
Dolphin has VR features, or at least there’s a fork that does.
Rollercoaster Tycoon. Super chill game, you just manage amusement parks and build rollercoasters. Openrct2 is an updated engine for it, which supports modern high resolution screens, but requires a copy of the game for the art assets.
Thanks to the community, you can download all of the RCT1, 2, and expansion campaigns in RCT3
Age of Empires II
The remaster is one of the few remasters that are not just a rip-off.
The C&C remasters also did an excellent job
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Tron 2.0 - A FPS game set inside computers from the early 2000s. There were a lot of great weapons in the game but I always went back with the Disc throwing weapon.
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Homeworld 1/2/Cataclysm- An 3D space RTS series 1999/2000s. During the campaign all units made carry through to the next mission.
Homeworld is fantastic. I heard the new one sucks though and that really bums me out :(
I hear some of the online modes are awesome but the story was a bust. I was looking forward to a good old Homeworld story but I heard enough to know not to buy it.
It’s also one of those games that end up as discord competitive games, like a lot of fighting games. You kinda need to play against people who are really into RTS if you’re gonna play it online a few months after release.
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Thief 1 - 3.
I came here to say this! These games are highly underrated. Amazing story and world building, actually having to be sneaky even with low level enemies, amazing music, these were always my top faves.
I must admit I’ve never seen or played these. They might be a bit too new for me. I listened to an interview with the game designer on the retro hour a while back. It sounded intriguing.
Would you care to give an elevator pitch on why these are must-play?
The open world concepts for each level.
The story is found and told through other characters. A lot of the story is shown rather than told.
Thief 3 has the most horrific level design ever in the orphanage. A game review had a review (really more of a worship piece) just on that one level. (I think this is the review: https://www.pcgamer.com/journeying-into-the-cradle-in-thief-deadly-shadows/)
The stealth mechanics actually require stealth and are multivariate. Most stealth games stealth systems now are actually less advanced.
They’re great games.
They invented sound bouncing off walls as a mechanic to make Thief. Truly a trendsetter
God I remember having to actually disable enemy AI to get through The Cradle as a kid.
Thief 1 and 2 have incredible community made mods that completely overhaul the graphics and make it quite a beautiful game. Said community is still alive and well over on the TTLG forums, making fan missions for the game to this day (including the highly regarded Black Parade, which is basically an entire game made in the dark engine).
The only stealth games I’ve played that come anywhere close are Dishonored 1 and 2 (which, unsurprisingly, had a lot of Looking Glass veterans working on them).
Lots of great suggestions here, but if you’ve never played the original Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 3, and Super Mario World, you should. There is a reason they’re considered classics and everybody should experience Mario’s roots. My 8 year old plays them every so often and he keeps progressing.
SMB 2 is a good game as well, but it’s quite different from the others. It is the origin of a few series staples, though.
parasite eve
vagrant story
fable
command and conquer
starcraft
castlevania - all of them
devil may cry series
kid icarus
mega man series
metroid
metal gear solid
Diablo series
doom
unreal tournament
ultima
morrowind
bladurs gate series
planescape
kotor 1/2
twisted metal black
ico/sotc
deus ex
and on and on and on
This list reads like a who is who of my best gaming memorys. Thanks man.
👍 wish I could play these games all over for the first time to get that excitement all over again
The sheer amount of games available today probably makes it hard to get into many of the older gems. Hell, even I have a 30 year backlog.
I think everyone should explore:
- The Secret of Monkey Island (1, 2 and return)
- Loom
- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
- Street Rod
- Prince of Persia
- The Incredible Machine
- Pokémon yellow/red/blue
- Chrono Trigger
- Worms
- Mega Man II
- TMNT: Turtles in Time
- Diablo II
- Burnout 3/legends/takedown
- Skyrim
Crono Trigger is a real gem for an early SNES RPG. Highly recommend.
There are so many ‘Prince of Persia’ games that you need to add a year to be more specific.
So they finally made a sequel?
I’m thinking about the 1989 version. There’s many ports, but DOS/Amiga/Macintosh are all good. Even the C64 port is great.
Would you recommend a ssoecific Worms game for PC? I have “Worms” (that’s the whole game title) on PS3 which has modern 2D graphics but idk which edition to get on Steam to get a similar experience, there are so many Worms games.
Just Worms that got all the ports.
I haven’t tried the 2007 version that you speak of, but it might be good. I’ve played a couple of rounds of WMD on my switch, and as I recall the gameplay was similar.
Of course, you need one or three friends in your couch to pass the controller around to to get the full experience.
Morrowind is hands down the best elder scrolls. If you want a TRUE sandbox where you can do whatever the hell you want, that’s your game. Some issues include graphics, no quest markers (you have to read the quests and follow directions), the leveling system is not intuitive at all, and combat is heavily stats based.
Upsides are you can craft any spell or enchanted item using any spell effects you know. Ring of permanent invisibility. Spell of lock every door within 50 feet. Summon 3 different daedra at once. Conjure a whole set of bound armor. Explode yourself in fire. Literally anything.
The elder scrolls renewal project is working on recreating morrowind with skyrims engine and I really hope it comes out soon.
OpenMW replaces the engine with an open source one. Runs better on modern hardware, easily moddable, has multiplayer.
