PC

/v/'s PC games

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(Welcome to the Master Race of PC Gaming)

The Damn List

Picture	Title	Genre	Year Released	Description
	Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura	RPG	2001	Steampunk RPG set in a world where magic and technology coexist in constant conflict. With no set classes you can set up any character you want, from gun-slinging thief to magic-powered diplomat.
	Age of Empires	RTS	1997	Quality Microsoft (HAH HA! Irony.) RTS, Advance your tribe from the stone age to the medieval age while fighting off rival civilisations and managing an RTS economy. BEST FUCKING RTS YOU WILL EVER PLAY.
	Age of Empires II: The Conquerors	RTS	2000	The sequel takes you through the next 500 years or so, from the decline of the Roman civilisation to the invention of guns. AOE III takes over from here, but it just doesn't have the charm of the first two. More detail, more customisation, pretty much awesome all around, as long as you're into the RTS genre. Getting this with the expansion is recommended.
	Age of Mythology	RTS	2002	Step back from Empires II and embrace yourself in the mythic age.
	Aliens Vs Predator 2	FPS	2001	Play as either the aliens, predators or humans, each with very different abilities and tactics. The campaign is very atmospheric, especially the Marine campaign which does a very good job of bringing the feeling from the movies. The radar's filled with white dots closing in, you just have your flashlight spinning in circles hoping to see them before they jump you. They're right on top of you according to the radar. Silence. Then hell breaks loose.
	American Mcgee's Alice	Action	2000	Remember Alice in Wonderland? Well, take that, and run it through the mind of psychotic killer on a bad acid trip, and you've got American McGee's "Alice". Lots of dark, weird, twisted imagery and gameplay, with surprisingly enjoyable twists on all your favourite characters from the classic story. Official sequel has been recently announced by EA.
	Anno 1404	Sim, RTS	2009	An RTS set in the early 1400's (big leap there), good for anyone who enjoys the building aspect of RTS games. Build your own city from scratch, progress socially, and get more stuff and better stuff to build. The whole game is played out on islands, leading to competition over resource-rich islands. Combat is less ZERG RUSH and more focused on territorial expansion and economic disruption. Watch out, it's super-easy to get locked into over three hour long campaigns while playing.
	Another World	Platformer	1991	A simple platformer where you take the role of a human who's teleported to a hostile alien world and needs to find a way out. The gameplay is reminiscent of the gameplay in Prince of Persia but the experience is much more cinematic. Warning: You WILL die a lot, even if it's a pretty short game.
	Audiosurf	Rhythm	2008	A block-matching puzzle-type game, where the levels are generated completely from whatever music tracks you choose to play. Fast music gets you quick and hectic stages, while slow music lets you ride easy. Excellent replay value, because unlike other music games, you're only limited by the size of your music collection. Also comes with a set of downloadable music updated regularly if you're a boring person and don't have your own music.
	Arx Fatalis	RPG	2003	Arx Fatalis is set on a world whose sun has failed, forcing the above-ground creatures to take refuge in subterranean caverns. The action in Arx takes place in one of these large caves, where inhabitants from all races such as Trolls, Goblins, Dwarves, Humans, etc. have made their homes on various levels of the cave. The player awakens inside a prison cell and, after making his escape, eventually discovers his mission is to subvert and imprison the God of Destruction, Akbaa, who is trying to manifest itself in Arx.
	Baldur's Gate	RPG	1998	Medieval Adventure game where you use magic and combat to solve quests.
	Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn	RPG	2000	You control a party of 6 characters, each with their own extensive personalities. If you carry both Good and Evil NPCs in the same group, or if you heckle them, they will often leave or try to kill you/each other. High charisma generally avoids the more extreme actions, however. D&D rules are in effect, giving you the option to choose from almost any fantasy class or multi or dual class. A pause feature allows for perfect management of the 6 (or less if you want for fewer for some reason) characters in your control. There are well over 100 different spells and 20 levels in the original, more in the expansion.
	Battle Engine Aquila	FPS/Flight	2003	Walker mode, kill stuff while on land. Jet mode, kill stuff while in the air. Watch your shields, attack factories and blow shit up on an epic scale as a one man army, piloting the Battle Engine from island to island, fightin' the bad guys and participaring in dynamic battles. If you like FPS games, and you like freedom of movement in all three dimensions, you will drool like a senior over this mean motherfucker.
	Battlefield 1942	FPS	2002	Team-based FPS with a WW2 theme and the possibility of games with 48(?) humans or bots at the same time.
	Battlefield 2	FPS	2005	Class-based territory control with a modern theme, where upwards of 64 players at a time vie for control of capture points in deserts, jungles, and industrial areas around the world in a fictional global conflict set slightly ahead in the future. Combating factions are the USMC, PLA, EU, and MEC, each with different weapons, restricting the player from having a universal favorite, unless he unlocks one, using the games rank system, which doles out rewards based on universal player points, gained by kills, point captures, and rounds won. This title brings some fun new options to the battlefield line of games, such as UAV, which spots enemies on the player's map, but BF2 also improves upon the use of vehicles with this title, allowing the player to be highly mobile, keeping the pace fast and fun. One note: grenades can be a frustration with this one.... The new 1.50 patch that was just released also includes the two booster packs Armored Fury and Euro Forces and addresses a lot of gameplay issues, making this one of the better values on the PC since you can buy it pretty cheap.
	Battlezone	FPS/RTS	1998	The game has two campaigns, the American NSDF campaign (Stars and Stripes Missions) and the Russian CCA campaign (Red Brigade Missions). The game takes place in an alternate version of the 1960s in which the United States and the Soviet Union use alien technology to wage a secret war across the solar system, fighting for control of the rare resource bio-metal.
	Betrayal at Krondor	RPG	1993
	Bionic Commando Rearmed	Platformer	2008	A remake of the 1988 classic for Nintendo Entertainment System. Features HD graphics.
	Bioshock	FPS	2007	System Shock-style gameplay (survival FPS with light RPG elements), set in a failed undersea city. Very atmospheric.
	Black & White	RTS	2001	Play as God as you bring your chosen people through several different worlds.
	Blood	FPS/Action	1997	Old school Build-engine horror FPS, lots of gore and black humour. Multiplayer (deathmatch and co-op) were tremendous fun but hard to get working nowadays. Also tons of snappy one-liners similar to Duke Nukem.
	Blackthorne	Platformer	1994	Interesting platrform shooter, somewhat like the old Prince of Persia games, but with shotguns and ugly orcs.
	BloodRayne	Action	2003	Play as an unrealistically huge-breasted female half-human,half-vampire, who somehow got lost in the plot of every Wolfenstein game. Boobs, insane amounts of gibbing and some cool gameplay ideas make up for rather unimaginitive level design, muddy graphics at points and frustrating and unclear semi-puzzle elements.
	Call of Duty	FPS	2003	WW2 game that started a rampage of sequels that are blown out of proportion.
	Carmageddon	Racing	1997	Sensationally violent racing game with upgradeable cars and lots of humour and gore.
	Commander Keen	Platformer	1990
	Company of Heroes	RTS	2006	3D World War II European-Theater themed RTS. Single player campaign covers Normandy to the final defeat of Nazi forces in Germany from the American's perspective. Known for its destructible terrain, intelligent infantry squads, and use of tactical elements such as suppression, cover, and territory control.
	Counterstrike	FPS	1999 (Mod), 2000 (Retail), 2004 (Source engine version)	Competitive Multiplayer FPS with huge numbers of players, servers and mods of all kinds. May cause rage due to most of the servers being rife with faggots.
	Cube	FPS	2005	An open source game engine for FPS games. The game Sauerbraten is close to DOOM while ASSAULT CUBE is closer to Counterstrike.
	Daikatana	FPS	2000	A single and multiplayer FPS where you use a magical sword to travel back in time to right the wrongs of evil doers. Not actually a good game, just here for lulz.
	Dawn of War	RTS	2004	Polished Warhammer 40K-themed RTS with a bunch of expansions allowing players to play as any of the Warhammer races.
	Day of the Tentacle	Adventure	1993	Adventure game with lots of quality art, puzzles, humour and story.
	Dead Space	TPS	2008	A well-made third person shooter set in space (of all places) fighting space zombies (of all things). Notable for its dismemberment mechanic, where to kill an enemy, you have to cut their limbs off. Also, it has no HUD, instead displaying all relevant information inside the game. Uses some good scare tactics, but misses out on some opportunities it had. Also on 360 and PS3.
	DEFCON: Everybody Dies	RTS	2006	An very well-done independent RTS based around just what its name suggests: Nuclear War. The player strategically places (can't stress how important planning is here) units like radar stations, and fleets of ships to gain the upper hand and destroy his opponent(s) countries. Deeply atmospheric, even with only the simplest of graphics.
	Deus Ex	FPS/RPG	2000	FPS/RPG with a brilliant story based on various conspiracy theories, level design that favours multiple routes/character types/strategies, ranging from pacifism (sort of) through stealth to blowing everything up. Good by itself but mods are available to make it even better. Won lots of awards because it's awesome.
	Diablo 2	RPG	2000	Sort of like a roguelike with a very easy to use interface, Diablo and Diablo 2 are rpg dungeon bashes that use random generation of maps and items to provide a lot of variety to players.
	DOOM	FPS	1993	While DOOM was not the first FPS, it single handedly kick-started not only one of the most popular genres of gaming, but also multiplayer gaming. Blasting demons has never been more fun.
	DOOM II	FPS	1994	Super-shotgun.
	Duke Nukem 3D	FPS	1996	Always bet on Duke.
	Dune 2	RTS	1992	Old school RTS, one of the first (if not the first). Dated interface but fun for its age. Will run on fucking old machines.
	Dungeon Keeper	RTS	1997	Dungeon Keeper is a strategy video game released for the PC in which the player attempts to build and manage a dungeon or lair while protecting it from (computer-controlled) 'hero' characters intent on stealing the user's accumulated treasures and killing various monsters.
	Dungeon Keeper 2	RTS	1999	Another old RTS, this one with a focus on playing evil. Has a wicked sense of humour, like tortuting masochist girls to increase their happiness level. Recommended for lan play as its fun but not alot of people play it anymore.
	Dwarf Fortress	Sim	2006 (initial) 2008 (current)	Comes with 2 game modes, adventurer: Roguelike with no purpose(yet) and building: set off with a bunch of dwarves and make your fort in the wilderness. Addicting gameplay, very in depth damage system(even keeps track of how much damage each FINGER receives), and a game so confusing to newcomers it is recommended to read its wiki thoroughly before playing. It's definitely the most complex game you've ever played, and probably the most complex game you will ever play. It's worth the endeavor though.
	Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind	RPG	2002	A sprawling RPG featuring a surreal and imaginative setting. This is open world gameplay at its best. Despite the gameworld's huge size, it is painstakingly detailed. The game allows for many different playstyles. Be warned however, that the combat is rather clunky and dicebased. Regardless, if you let it, Morrowind will immerse you like no other game out there. This game also has a very devoted modding community. Be sure to check out planetelderscrolls.com for mods that strike your interest. A vanilla playthrough is recommended for new players.
	Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion	RPG	2006	As compared to the fantastical setting of Morrowind, Oblivion is set in a rather plain western Europe-esque land (supposed to be a jungle, according to lore). Still, the game is a solid sandbox-style RPG, and plays much more action-oriented than its pen-and-paper-based predecessor. As always with Bethesda's Elder Scrolls games, there are mods out the wazoo for those that want them--mods to fix the leveling system, to increase variety in monsters and in the game world, to improve the graphics, and to add quests. The various add-ons to the game are nothing big, but the expansion pack, The Shivering Isles, shows the same level of creative genius that went into Morrowind.
	Elona	Roguelike	?	Wacky eastern roguelike/fantasy life sim that pretends its from the west. Easier than probably every other roguelike, but offers a shit ton more stuff to do other than dungeon crawl. Also, Shena's ass is the best.
	Empire: Total War	RTS/TBS	2009	Empire Total War is a mixture of Real Time Strategy and Turn Based Strategy. In campaign mode, you play as one of 13 or so major nations starting at the year 1700. From there you manage economy, build improvements, be diplomatic, and attack people. When you attack, it switches to a RTS, with the troops you have at your disposal. Unfortunately, it's plagued with a shit load of bugs, even after The Creative Assembly released THREE goddamn patches. Interesting game, but don't start here, go for Medieval, or Rome first.
	Evil Genius	Sim	2004	Similar to Dungeon Keeper. Fun and quirky management game with a cartoonish style similar to Team Fortress 2. You must go about your plans for world domination while averting attention from the rest of the world. Carve a secret lair out of a mountain on a deserted island (giant skull shape and volcano not included). Notable for its humour and references to the spy drama genre, most specifically the James Bond movies.
	F.E.A.R.	FPS	2005	Scary FPS by the company that made Blood. Good atmosphere and strong AI make the game quite tense and exciting.
	Fallout	RPG	1997	The first and the best Fallout game. Developed and released by Interplay in 1997.
	Fallout 2	RPG	1998	Developed by Black Isle Studios and released by Interplay in 1998. Both this and Fallout are isometric RPGs with tons of choices regarding character development and general gameplay.
	Fallout 3	FPS/RPG	2008	Fallout taken in a completely different direction. The slower turn-based battles are switched for a first person real-time action RPG. The bleak Capital Wasteland will either make you weep for the fragility of our culture or feel proud of the tenacity of human existance. A quality sandbox-style RPG, the quests will keep you going for hours and hours. As with other Bethesda games, there are a ridiculous number of user-made mods to pick up, as well as some decent DLC. Protip: without the Broken Steel DLC, the ending will hit you like a brick wall and make little sense.
	Far Cry	FPS	2004	Tropical Island based FPS. Good looking with a cliché story and interesting AI. Challenging with some interesting gameplay concepts.
	Freelancer	Sim	2003	Open-world fighter simulation. In space. Plenty of replay value and a relatively smart plot to go along with it.
	Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War	Combat/Sim	1998	The story places the player in the role of a human pilot in the Galactic Terran Alliance, as it engages in war with the alien Parliamentary Vasudan Empire. This war is interrupted by the appearance of the enigmatic and militant Shivans, who begin slaughtering Terrans and Vasudans alike. Putting aside their differences, the Terrans and Vasudans form an alliance, and the player is assigned to missions to stop the Shivans' genocidal advance. The player pilots a starfighter, and alongside competent AI wingmen, completes these missions to determine the fate of two races. Important battles in the story feature capital ships, which dwarf the fighters piloted by the player, and explode spectacularly on destruction.
	Freespace 2	Action/Sim	1999	Excellent 3d space shooter boasting epic battles with enormous capital ships, a decent plot and great dogfighting gamelay.Quite possibly at the top of its genre.
	Full Throttle	Adventure	1995	You're Ben--beaten, framed for murder and left for dead on the roadside. You've got a lump on your back and a feeling in your gut that the road you're on is about to get a lot rougher. Full Throttle features an amazingly simple interface and fast-paced action. Brilliant graphics and animation provide a strong cartoon feel, while the voice acting is powerful and cinematic. Players find themselves racing to the finish to help Ben find the bad guys.
	Fury³	Flight/Comb at	1995	Players assume the role of a pilot named Councilor flying a fighter craft to eight planets (many based on real places, like Mars and New York) controlled by a militant robotic force called the Bions. Players fight three missions on each planet. Each of the missions involves destroying vital military targets in order to halt the Bions' progress on the planet. Players must then destroy either one or two Guardians who are the commanders of the particular Bion invasion force. Once players are done with one planet, they then move on to the next one.
	Garry's Mod	Sim	2006	Sandbox physics simulator for the source engine. Freeform gameplay revolving around creating scenes and contraptions using the characters and props from Half-Life 2 and other source games. Ridiculous number of mods and extensions available. Free and paid versions available through steam.
	Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved	Shoot 'Em Up	2007	Fun and flashy arcade-style shooter with graphics that might just give epileptics something to wave their arms about.
	Giants: Citizen Kabuto	Action	2000	3rd-person shooter vidya game with real-time strategy elements.Good blend of the genres, lots of humour one damn fine game!
	Gods	Platformer	1991	Great platformer with unique atmosphere of pseudo-Greece. Avarage rating 93%.
	Golden Axe	Platformer/Action	1990	Old ass side-scrolling fighting game with a fantasy theme and co-operative gameplay. Consider all of its sequels too. Solid arcade coinop. Timeless.
	Gothic	RPG	2001	War has decimated the land, Orc Hordes are invading human territory and the king of the land needs a lot of ore to forge enough weapons for his army to stand against this threat. Prisoners from all over the empire are imprisoned in a large magical sphere where they have to work in the mines for the king. You are thrown into the sphere to give a letter to the high mages, this letter may be the turning point on the war against the Orcs.
	Grim Fandango	Adventure	1998	Set in a day of the dead themed afterlife, Grim Fandango involves a Film-Noir style plot revolving around a salesman and a conspiracy in the Department of Death, an organization that helps guide souls from death to their eternal rest. Well known for its excellent in story, art style, music, characters, and dialog, this 3D adventure game is considered one of the finest in the genre.
	Ground Control	RTS	2000
	Half-Life	FPS	1998	Excellent Sci-fi shooter that's aged decently. Interesting story and combat featuring a variety of military, scientific, and box opening weapons. Varied maps make for a must-play multiplayer experience.A metric fuckton of mods exist for this.
	Heart Of Darkness	Platformer	1998	A brilliant platformer from the maker of Another World. You play as a boy who enters a land where darkness rules over all to save his captured dog, Whiskey. Even if it is a bit hard and sometimes unforgiving, it's a classic to have if you love late 90s platformers.
	Hearts of Iron 2	RTS	2005	Big ass real time strategy game made by Paradox Interactive. Takes place during WW2 and allows you to pick any fucking country that existed during that time(except shitty ones like Liechtenstein). Build huge panzer armies and fuck shit up, deal with dissent in your nation if you screw up, research bigger and badder tanks and planes, and generally have fun conquering the world.
	Heroes of Might and Magic 1-3 & 5	TBS	1 (1995) 2 (1996) 3 (1999) & 5 (2006)	Great games where you control an army of creature in turn based combat again another team (AI or and other person), on a hexagonal battlefield (games are all in 2D goodness, up until 5).Each new title bringing something new to the table, 5 finally making the transition from 2D to 3D successfully. Heroes 3 has a gold edition with all the expansions and the original game all on one disk, as does 5, so it's recommended you grab these. 4 is considered absolutely SHIT by most people, so don't touch it.
	Hitman: Blood Money	Stealth/TPS	2006	As a bald hitman, you sneak into... everywhere in the entire world, steal the clothes of various people on-site to blend in, hide your equipment in various discrete places, plan your shit out so you can make a perfectly-executed move when the time is just right. Very fun if you get into it/don't suck.
	Homeworld	RTS	1999	Probably the first strategy game of its kind (released 1999), Homeworld places you in control of a space armada in three-dimensional space, which makes for more strategic opportunities (like attacking your enemy's Mothership from two separate points on the z-axis). Gather resources from nearby asteroids, dust clouds, and nebulae, develop awesome technologies ranging from fast-tracking turrets to gravity well generators, and build space craft ranging from the fast but weak Scout, to the lumbering Heavy Cruiser. The game's single-player campaign places you in the control of a race of Exiles from the desert world of Kharak as they journey through the galaxy to find their once and future Homeworld, Hiigara, and reveal the past they have long forgotten.
	Homeworld 2	RTS	2003	(See Homeworld.) Over a century ago, the Exiles returned to their Homeworld, Hiigara. Follow them once more in their quest to stop the savage and determined Vaygr from conquering the galaxy. Retaining the atmosphere of the first game, Homeworld 2 adds new gameplay elements, such as fighter and corvette squadrons, upgrades, and capital ship hardpoints, modules, and subsystems, adding more variety to gameplay(like disabling a Battlecruiser's engines, for instance). The game also has a good modding community.
	Heavy Gear 2	Sim/Combat	1999	Set in a alternative world where two opposing factions fight for control using mechs, they now have to unite to fight a common enemy (eh). Awesome customization, good quantity of mechs and weapons for you to use, and pretty fun side missions. Mandatory for any /m/an.
	Hexen: Beyond Heretic	FPS	1995	A new series feature introduced in Hexen is the choice of character class. Players may choose to play as a fighter, cleric, or mage. Each character has unique weapons and physical characteristics, lending an additional degree of variety and replayability to the gameplay. The fighter relies mainly on melee attacks and is tougher and faster than the other characters. The cleric uses specialized weapons, some of which have limited range or healing effects. The mage uses long-range weapons, whose reach is counterbalanced by dealing relatively little damage and the fact that the mage is the most fragile of the classes.
	Icewind Dale	RPG	2000	(See Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn and PlaneScape: Torment) You have the ability to custom create your entire party. While this makes for a fun combat group, it takes away the unique character personalities that are present in other Black Isle games.
	Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business	TBS/RPG	2000	A turn-based, squad-level strategy game with a roleplaying aspect Excellent mechanics. High initial learning curve, but very solid gameplay once you're familiar with it. Good storyline.Its prequel, Jagged Alliance 2 has also an active community (Jagged Alliance 2 v1.13) that refurbishes the game with a fuckton of weapons and improvements. Great for satiating you inner /k/.
	Killing Floor	FPS/Survival Horror	2009	Co-op zombie killing. Originally a Unreal Tournament 2004 mod. A bit deeper and more challenging than Left 4 Dead.
	Knights Of The Old Republic	RPG	2000	Based on the engine for Neverwinter Nights (and, conseqently, a modified version of D&D rules), this game is a fun Star Wars RPG. As with Neverwinter Nights, gamers who prefer action may find the dice-roll based battle system slow and boring, but despite that, it's a solid Star Wars experience with a good story.
	Knights Of The Old Republic II: The Sith Lords	RPG	2005	Same as KOTOR, but the writing was done by another company and isn't as good(Although some argue that it's a deeper game than the original, just marred with bugs and lacking a conclusive ending. Still worth playing.)
	Left 4 Dead	FPS	2008	Co-operative multiplayer FPS involving zombie hordes and an AI "Director" that creates situations intelligently based on the players' conditions and actions. Headshots are superb, and the game can feel wonderfully epic when the numbers of attacking zombies reaches its peak. Casual, but due to being easily accessible for all gamers, lots of unobtrusive hand-holding and non-competitive gameplay make it a great entry point for getting friends and family away from the Wii and into 'real' gaming.
	Maniac Mansion	Adventure	1988
	Marathon	FPS	1994	Marathon takes place in the year 2794 aboard a large, multi-generational colony spacecraft called the UESC (United Earth Space Council) Marathon. The ship was converted from Deimos, one of Mars' two moons. The plot of the story sets the player as a security officer and focuses around an invasion of the ship and (to a much lesser extent) a colony on the near by Tau Ceti by hostile extraterrestrials. The plot is primarily revealed through various computer interfaces called terminals, which relay crew logs, maintenance documents, historical accounts, and stories. It is through these terminals as well that the player receives mission information from Leela, the ship's artificial intelligence, as well as Tycho and Durandal, the science and utilities AI in Marathon respectively. The relationship between and history of these artificial intelligences serves as a significant plot device in the story.
	Magic Carpet	FPS	1994
	Master of Orion 2	TBS	1996	Old-ass space 4X game with well-balanced and varied gameplay. Lots of tech and economy management, with optional tactical battles. Many different valid strategies to win the game.
	Max Payne	TPS	2001	This Noir-styled shooter was the inventor of bullet-time. Tense story, cool action scenes. Graphics a little dated but surprisingly still manage to convey atmosphere, even alongside newer games.
	MDK2	Action/Adventure	2000	Fun 3rd Person Shooter with huge environments and 3 different player characters. Humour and satire all throughout. Fans of Earthworm Jim may appreciate this.
	Mechwarrior	RPG/Action	1989	Pilot 3 mechs (you can switch between them to take it off computer control), kill other Mechs, salvage their parts and proceed. The lack of terrible Japanese influence means this is a very good game. The newest one is shit.
	Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor	RPG	1999
	Curse of Monkey Island, The	Adventure	1997	One of the greatest adventure games of all time, you take on the role of Guybrush Threepwood on his quest to become a pirate. Poison poodles, trespass everywhere, and kick everyone's ass at Insult Swordfighting.
	Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge	Adventure	1991	Just like Monkey Island 1, but longer, funnier, and all around better. Get a job by tainting soup with a rat, kidnap two large animals for your twisted machinations, practice voodoo against your foes, and cause two huge explosions while stealing everything that's not nailed down. (Fun Fact: Pirates of the Caribbean stole a lot of stuff from this series.)
	Mount & Blade	Action/RPG/Sim	2008	A very good medieval combat system. One key thing about the combat system is that it compares the speed at which both combatants are moving toward each other into the damage of each hit.
	Myst Saga	Adventure	1993 (Original), 1997 (Riven), 2001 (Myst 3), 2004 (Myst 4), 2005 (Myst 5), 2003 (Uru: Ages Beyond Myst).	Some of the best games in the adventure genre. The first two are must-plays, while the others are simply a good bit above average. If you're into the story, you should go ahead and play the other four games; there are also several Myst novels that greatly expand upon the in-game multiverse (yes, MULTIverse).
	Myth II: Soulblighter	RTS	1998	Like previous the installment, Myth II is a real-time tactics where players are given a pre-determined selection of units with their own strengths and weakness, without the option to recruit any further units later in battle, emphasizing the strategy aspect of the gameplay.
	Nethack	Roguelike	2003	Imagine Dungeons and Dragons in a very difficult, video game form. Death is permanent, the dungeon is always randomly generated, and you aren't going to win for a very long time. This is the game that basically made the roguelike genre. (No, that was Rogue, stupid).
	Neverwinter Nights	RPG	2003	Do you like third edition Dungeons and Dragons? Well, this game is basically that, but in computer form. Play as whoever you want, read nice big blocks of text, and enjoy slow, somewhat lengthy turn-based battles. Plenty of mods out there for those who want them and (maybe) some persistent world games still online.
	No One Lives Forever	FPS/Stealth	2000	60s Superspy themed FPS. Play as a Cate Archer, a petty thief turned secret agent, and fight an evil organization attempting to take over the world. Game is known for its humor, very wide array of gadgets, and setting.
	Nox	Action RPG	2000	Very good Diablo clone, character class making a large difference to the game experience. Multiplayer is spiced up with customisable magic traps and co-op scenario levels. Quirky art and story that will stick with you.
	Omikron	Adventure	1999	Go around a futuristic city possessing people. < pretty much thatDavid Bowie makes an appearence in the game, as does his wife (you can possess both lol)
	Operation: Inner Space		1994	The Inner Demon and its viruses have invaded the player's computer and infected its icons. Then the Inner Demon set up a lair in a black hole which changes position. Guarding this lair are 4 dragons each holding one of the Inner Demon's powers. Using a little spaceship, the player goes into the computer's "Inner Space" to collect the uninfected icons and stop the Inner Demon, while simultaneously improving his ship and maintaining relationships with the population of Inner Space.
	Painkiller	FPS	2004	All you really need to know is that there's a gun that shoots shurikens and lightning.
	Pajama Sam	Adventure/Puzzle
	Perimeter	RTS	2004	Perimeter's tagline, "Real Time Strategy Reinvented", speaks volumes about this game's innovative gameplay. It features gameplay mechanics which had never before been implemented, unique unit and base building methods and a deep sci-fi plot [if you can follow it, which may at times be difficult]. Challenging until you have mastered the gameplay, full of replay value, and graphics which look shiny and cool despite its age.
	Planescape Torment	RPG	1999	This is a very dark, story driven game. D&D rules are present, with a world where good verse evil is replaced with Law verse Chaos. (See Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn and Icewind Dale) The writing in this game is absolute gold.
	Postal 2	FPS	2003	Ever wanted to kill a blockish sprite of Gary Coleman? With a can of gasoline? Want to piss on him to put out the flames? Well, look no further than Postal 2!You can do all this and more in the wonderful city of Paradise, Where the character, Postal Dude, (lol creativity) spends the majority of his time murdering the shit out of various people in surprisingly limited ways, ("oh wow i set him on fire. oh wow i shot him in the face." x 1000000), and not much else. Despite all the murderin' you could do, it's possible to go through this game as a complete pacifist. Lots of low-brow humor and a contrived, XD-RANDUM story. About 10 NPC models, repeated over and over again to fill the map. Good for you Columbine types.
	Psychonauts	Platformer	2005	Play as an carnival escapee who runs away to a summer camp for psychics.Original storytelling and well written humor compliments this game. Hailed as one of the best platformers of the PS2/XBOX generation, now "out of print" but available for download on steam and other places on the net. Whilst the game can be incredibly frustrating due to bugs and/or camera, the sheer brilliance of the music, visuals, level design, retarded amounts of originality and a feeling of childlike joy eclipe any problems it has.
	Prehistoric
	Quake 1,2,3, Live	FPS	1996 - 2005	The original arena FPS. Kinda. It's fun, go play.
	Ragnarök Online	MMORPG	2002 - present day	The best MMORPG you can find. Many different classes to choose from, great music, good story for a MMO and addictive grinding if you don't want to do quests. Feel free to choose server that suits you best since there are no popular good low-rate servers at this moment. There's always the offical server but playing there requires more grinding and has monthly fees. TL;DR: Diablo combined with Seiken Densetsu.
	Return Fire	Combat	1995, 1996	Return Fire has four selectable vehicles, each one more suitable for one kind of mission. Each one can carry a limited amount of fuel and ammo (which can be refilled at ammo tents and fuel depots) and can take different amounts of damage.
	Rise of the Triad	FPS	1995	Old-ass FPS with a ridiculous variety of weapons, enemies and levels. Entertaining for its age.
	Road Rash	Racing	1991	A great motorcycle racing game. You can hit people with crow bars 'n such.
	RollerCoaster Tycoon	Sim	1999	You own a crappy theme park, it's up to you to add new attractions and build awesome roller coasters, while (usually) managing money, to make the park better. While a sandbox would've been nice, there are a lot of scenarios to triumph over, so this one will last a long time.
	Rome: Total War	RTS/TBS	2004	A great RTS/TBS where you take control one one of three Roman factions fighting over control of Rome and the surrounding countries. Campaign mode has a world map where you manage your army, cities, and economy, but the real fun is when you encounter enemies. You switch to an zoomed in view of your troops and control them like an RTS.
	Runes of Magic	MMO/RPG	2009	One of the best free MMOs out atm. The pvp is good and rewarding with a decent raiding system.
	S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl	FPS	2007	A very scary game. Amazing FPS with freedom being the key gameplay element. Explore the forbidden zone scavenging and bartering for weapons and items etc, taking missions, and trying to avoid all the seriously fucked up shit that is going down near Chernobyl. Has some great mods, such as L.U.R.K or Oblivion Lost, that overhaul the game. Hard as balls.
	Sacrifice	RTS/Action	2000	Sacrifice provides a truly fresh approach in the 3-D RTS genre, allowing players to act as both commander and combatant over huge, real-time, generated landscapes in single or multiplayer modes. Wizards will not be disappointed as Sacrifice serves up over 50 spells and creatures
	Sam and Max: Hit the Road	Adventure	1993	Pretty crazy adventure featuring a detective dog and his partner, a cute homicidical rabbit on their mission to find a disappeared yeti. Puzzles are sometimes TOO crazy, but the game's a lot of fun nevertheless.
	Serious Sam: The First Encounter	FPS	2001	Action packed FPS probably intended to be played at LAN parties more than anything. Huge numbers of enemies requiring all the basic FPS tactics and weapons to dispatch. A must have for LANs, or a quick blast with an online friend.
	Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri	TBS	1999	Same folks who made the Civ. games. essentially Civ 2 in space, with a nice little story to it for the hardcore fans. No single player campaign, but the gameplay is so much fun it doesn't really matter. Play as one of a variety of factions (12 humans and 2 aliens, with 5 humans and the aliens coming in the expansion), VERY slow game, especially on multiplayer modes, but still a great game.
	Sid Meier's Civilization (series)	TBS	1991 - 2005	Big TBS series, comprising four games and a bunch of expansions. Play as any number of civs with a leader and build armies to conquer other dipshits. Or, play as a nice guy and win with nice cities, or ally everyone and win that way. Pansy.
	Sim City 2000	Sim	1993	Take control of a city as its Mayor, and try to expand whilst keeping the residents happy.
	Sims, The (series)	Sim	2000 (Original), 2000-2003 (All seven expansions)	Holocaust: The Game. If you have ovaries, you will love this game.
	Sins of a Solar Empire	RTS	2008	Epic scale RTS, definitely for the seasoned RTS veteran.
	Star Control 2	RPG	1992	Unique Space-Tripping-RPG where you play as a guy who has to organise an alliance of alien races to fight off galactic assholes, the ur-quan and kohr-ah. In addition to the marvelous plot and music, the game has a funky arcade-style battle game blended into the main quest that makes the fighting a lot of fun.
	Starcraft	RTS	1998	Well-balanced RTS with probably the most challenging online/competitive scene of any game ever. This game is the national sport of South Korea. Despite its reputation as a hardcore RTS, Starcraft is relatively accessible for newcomers to the genre.Fun turret defense and other scenario maps popular online. Active community.
	Star Wars Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight		1997
	Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast	Action/Adventure	2002	One of the first SW games with comprehensive lightsaber combat, as well as plenty of fun force powers to play with. Fairly typical SW story, but it's entertaining enough to get you through. Has great multiplayer.
	Star Wars: Republic Commando	FPS	2005	One of, if not THE, manliest Star Wars game out there. As a member of an elite squad of clone commandos, your orders are to fuck shit up. It is also one of the few games to do squad combat correctly, making it feel like each member has something to contribute to the mission.
	Survival: The Ultimate Challenge	RTS	2001
	System Shock 2	FPS	1999	Survival Horror FPS. Very scary and atmospheric. Most people will be pretty freaked out if they play this at night, with good speakers/headphones. Those who find this too hard/scary/dated should look to Bioshock.
	The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay	FPS/Action/Adventure/Stealth	2004	Perhaps the best movie-to-game ever created, because Vin Diesel likes video games, so he made his own studio and told them to make a video game based on his movies that didn't suck. Basically, you break a lot of fucking necks. Play this game.
	The Graveyard	Adventure	2008	A wonderful game that consists of an old lady walking through a graveyard.More of a nice interactive painting.
	Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards	Adventure	1987 (Original Release) 1991 (Remake) 1997 (Re-release)	Set in the fictional city of Lost Wages, the story follows a middle-aged virgin named Larry Laffer who resolves to sleep with a woman before midnight. Land of the Lounge Lizards establishes several elements which recur in later games, including Larry's out-of-date attire, perpetually bad luck with women, and penchant for double-entendres.
	The Last Express	Adventure	1997	Set on the Orient Express in 1914, the player takes on the role of Robert Cath, an American doctor on the train's final journey from Paris to Constantinople (nowadays Istanbul) before World War I. Cath, already wanted by French police as he is suspected of the murder of an Irish police officer, is contacted urgently by his old friend Tyler Whitney, to join him on the Orient Express, gateway to the East, and a possible exit from all his troubles. Cath boards the train via a motorcycle and looks for Whitney, who is already on board (seen during the introduction). But as soon as he steps onto this luxurious train, Cath becomes involved in a maelstrom of treachery, lies, political conspiracies, personal interests, romance and murder.
	Dreamfall: The Longest Journey	Adventure	2006	What Funcom was known for BEFORE the atrocity that was Age of Conan.
	The Mystery of the Druids	Adventure	2001	The cover art is arguably the best there is, but info for the game is limited, because no one has ever played it. (See: Daikatana)
	The Orange Box	FPS	2007	Comes with 5 games. Team Fortress 2: arguably the most fun of any multiplayer game with cartoonish graphics and game-play filled with constant explosions and pure chaos. Goes great with loud music. /v/ has an active server as well.Portal: a game that just about everyone loves involving unique gameplay and a strange plot where you play a sort of lab rat being run through a series of sadistic test chambers by a PMSing computer overlord. The Half-Life 2 games still offer a splendid single player experience after all these years. And all of that for a pretty good price. Although available on consoles, the PC version is highly preferred as there are frequent free updates whereas the 360 version may be receiving updates as paid content and the PS3 version will never be updated.Also available on Xbox 360 and PS3. This also now come with Left 4 Dead, but only when bought from Steam.
	The Oregon Trail	Edutainment	1971, 1974, 1985, 1992, 1996, 2001, 2008, 2009	Just like you remember. Or don't, if you're too young to have played this back in elementary school.
	The Witcher	RPG	2007	One of the best Hack-and-Slash RPGs to come out in recent years. Great combo based battle system, and a very well done story make this game well worth playing. Protip: get the Enhanced Edition as it fixes the loading issues and makes the game much better.
	Thief 3: Deadly Shadows	RPG/Stealth	2004	Not the best of the series, but it's prequels are getting very old. This is the best stealth game I've managed to find.
	Thief: The Dark Project	RPG/Stealth	1998	This is the game that made stealth games a viable genre. Play as cynical wisecracker Garrett as he goes around stealing shit from rich assholes and getting involved in big conspiracies. Great stealth mechanics.
	Tomb Raider II	Action/Adventure	1997	Awesome gameplay, music and stuff. The Venice level is amazing.
	Total Annihilation	RTS	1997	Very popular/good RTS up there with Starcraft, but released a year earlier. Expect huge, epic battles to huge and epic music.
	Tribes	FPS	1998	A overall great FPS featuring jetpacks and massive maps. It's also (now) free. Go download it.
	Star Wars: TIE Fighter	Sim	1994	A fuckwin flight sim where you fly around in your tie fighter fucking up the Rebel Alliance
	Unreal Tournament	FPS	1999	Very fast paced
	Unreal Tournament 2004	FPS	2004	Fast-paced arena FPS, based heavily on acrobatics and aim, recommended for its complexity and variety. Gametypes range from vehicle-based Onslaught mode to football-like Bombing Run. Unreal Tournament 2004 is commended for consistent developer support, and a once-massive mapping/modding community that produces quality content to this day. The single-player is boring but the AI is rather intelligent in all maps, especially deathmatch.
	Uplink	Strategy/Sim	2002	Computer hacking simulation.
	Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines	RPG	2004	Sort of like Deus Ex with Vampires. Good story, satirical humour throughout. Quite unique, and worth multiple playthroughs.
	Warcraft: Orcs & Humans	RTS	1994	Starcraft is better for rated games. Warcraft has more features and better custom games.
	Wolfenstein 3D	FPS	1992	VERY brown, but good fun. Take on Nazis, then Zombies, then other weird occult things (such as a flying monster torso), all within the time frame of WWII.
	Worms Armageddon	Combat/TBS	1999	You play as a team of worms with lots of guns, grappling hooks, etc., taking turns to blow the hell out of the enemy team of worms, similarly armed. Lots of fun, especially with someone else to play with.Online community plays a wealth of creative and fun gametypes.
	X-Com: UFO defense	TBS	1993	Turn-based, squad-level strategy with management aspect too. Tense sci-fi atmosphere.Practically the creator of its genre, and still one of the best offerings of it.
	Ys: The Oath in Felghana	Action/RPG	2005	A masterful remake of Ys III, which was already good. Not only has the music been rearranged to levels surpassing the PC Engine version, but some plot details have been added, stages have been redesigned and become a bit more challenging, and some extra modes were also added. In addition to all of that, Adol has gained ALOT more moves from the 2D entry, which you WILL need to take on this bigger, better game.
	Zeno Clash	Action/Fighting	2009	Innovative first-person brawler. Surreal and artistic. Sadly rather short, but quite tough. May be too weird for some people, but the more open-minded gamer should find something of interest here.
	Silver	Action/RPG	1999	There's a bad guy called Silver who's kidnapped your wife right in front of you, and it's your job to get her back, and what better way than to kill every bad guy in sight using swords and magic? This isn't your average Action RPG. The controls based on mouse movements and button combinations makes it just that much better. As you can tell it isn't the story that is the drawing-point but rather the lovely characters, Fat Bob, and the enjoyable gameplay.
	Z	RTS	1996	You're a troop of red robots on a campaign to beat all the other colored robots in the universe. On your side you have a screaming robot-sergeant ready with a cigarr in mouth and a cowboy-hat. This isn't Halo, it's hardcore robot RTS-massacre. Everyone's got good voice acting and it's another take on RTS where your unit-building is limited by a timer which decreases with the amount of territories you acquire.
	Warhammer: Dark Omen	RTS	1998	There's an eclipse that has awakened some bad motherfuckin' undead all over the warhammer fantasy universe. You're a mercenary out after some cash so you lead your army throughout the country chopping up the undead, goblins and bandits on your way to unravel the mystery for the emperor. The gameplay is similar to the Total War series but there is more focus on smaller amounts of units with special abilities. Be wary, though, this game is merciless, extremely fun, and hard. If you're a strategy enthusiast, then play this.
	Death Rally	Racing	1996	Sure, it's a rally, but it's a DEATH rally. Load up the car's guns, put spikes on your fronts and sabotage your opponents' cars beforehand. Featuring racers such as Duke Nukem and Farmer Ted. It's a race you don't want to miss.
	Men of War	RTS	2009	The ARMA of RTS-games.
	Neverhood, the	Adventure	1996	You play as Klayman wandering through The Neverhood solving puzzles to save the creator of The Neverhood
	King of Dragon Pass	Strategy	1999	You've got the responsibility of your own village in Dragon Pass and your goal is to become the king of it. To your disposal you have a council that give you advice and a large quantity of options of how to control your village. It's all done using a text-based interface. Every time time passes it will occur an event which you will have to deal with. This can go from dealing with a duel-dispute to having your male villagers being kidnapped by females, then them being released after being raped, then the females coming back with the children.
	Warcraft 3	RTS	2002 (Reign of Chaos), 2003 (The Frozen Throne)	If you like RTS, you should fall in love with this game. Play as four different races (Humans, Orcs, Undead and Night Elves) and attempt to destroy each other in a similar gameplay to Starcraft. Apart from the Human one, it has a fuckwin campaign. And the expansion makes the game even better, balancing it and adding four other campaigns. Win online, fun custom games with user made maps.
	Master of Olympus: Zeus	Sim	2000 (Original), 2001 (Poseidon)	Sierra goodness. Build a city in ancient Greece, protect the inhabitants from diseases, enemy armies and obtain the favour of the gods. Call in heroes to kill mythical creatures that estabilished on your land, and stuff like that. Expansion adds a couple of tweaks.
	The House of the Dead	Rail-way Shooter	1997 (PC)	One of the games that founded the rail-way shooter genre. Play as Agent Rogan (PC version has a mode where you can choose different characters with different guns too) and his team-mate G as they stop the plans of Dr. Curien, intent at unleashing a zombie apocalypse upon the world. Fun to play.
	The House of the Dead 3	Rail-way Shooter	2002	Screw the guns, now you've got shotguns. Set years after the first & second game and a zombie apocalypse, Agent G and Lisa Rogan (The daughter of the character from the first game) go and look for Rogan, who has recently dissapeared. Hilarious cutscenes and laughable bad voice acting, especially the ones when Dr. Curien talks to his son. Many, many zombies, nice levels.