Spoony Plays Grandia, Part 13

Two sad farewells and a new dawn in our big adventure.



This also marks the end of Disc 1!

Top 111 PC Games, #10-1

10. Deus Ex (Ion Storm, 2000)

Ion Storm was a company as well-known for the names on its payroll as for its comically extravagant office space and outlandish development costs. But despite some questionable management decisions, they managed to turn out several high profile titles in their short existence.  The one that easily stole the show was Deus Ex - a dystopian science fiction tale set in a world where every conspiracy theory imaginable is real.  It was also an early example of a game where one's choices actually matter, with significantly different play styles depending upon the player's choice of skills, story events changing based on choices and even three different endings.  A compelling dark tale in a surprisingly credible future, there's a good reason that it's the centerpiece of a meme: "Every time someone mentions Deus Ex, someone reinstalls Deus Ex. "

9. Half-Life 2 (Valve Software, 2004)

Valve Software's followup to the massively successful and innovative Half-Life, and it managed to be quite a landmark in itself.  Not only for its advanced visuals and engine, but for its creative enemies, oppressive atmosphere and some very clever weapon types (including the famous Gravity Gun, which allows you to weaponize virtually anything in the environment).  Half-Life 2 is also a testament to excellent level design, requiring you to do everything from puzzle-solve to last through intense shootouts to numerous vehicle-based obstacle courses, and even face off with building-sized monsters on occasion.  Brilliantly designed in every moment of its gameplay, it's just a shame that more first person shooters didn't follow in its mold.

8. Duke Nukem 3D (3D Realms, 1996)

If Doom took first person shooters into a more realistic, yet still gameplay-centered experience, Duke Nukem 3D pushed that formula to perfection.  Yes, there are still plenty of key hunting and switch-flipping puzzles in the game, but the sheer genius of the level design also makes it a great experience.  Taking place in a dystopian America overrun by aliens, the game has you running through relatively realistic environments like a supermarket, a prison, a strip club, flooded skyscrapers and, in the expansions, even the White House, all rendered in a surprising amount of detail.  The game's artillery was also surprisingly innovative for its era, with creative weapons like detonator-activated pipe bombs, a "freezethrower" that freezes enemies (leaving them vulnerable to being shattered with a kick or bullet) and a plethora of useful gadgets to navigate levels, including portable medkits, night vision goggles and even a jetpack.  Of course, the game also attracted plenty of controversy for containing no shortage of nudity, crass humor and over-the-top gore, but that all took a back seat to the sheer amount of fun it provided.

7. Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (Origin Systems, 1988)

The Ultima series surfaces again on this list, but that shouldn't surprise anybody by now as I absolutely adore the franchise; it was an incredible innovator for its era and continues to be a major influence on every game that followed it thanks to the merits of its wonderfully-realized concepts and strong writing.  Ultima V is no different - taking place in Britannia after it has slowly been turned into a brutal dictatorship under the corrupted ruler Lord Blackthorn, the player must follow a trail of clues to reunite with their former allies, recover the crown jewels of Lord British, free him from his prison and restore him to power.  Of course, with a very ambitious development team also comes a very high demand on the player, and Ultima V doesn't pull any punches in terms of difficulty - getting started in the game is a very steep task since you're frequently outnumbered and have little in the way of decent equipment, and it only gets tougher once you venture into the dungeons and start meeting reapers, demons and dragons who can lay waste to your entire party in no time flat.  Ultima V is a harsh experience, but ultimately an extremely compelling and rewarding one once you're used to it.

6. Simcity 2000 (Maxis, 1993)

I'm not really a big fan of simulation games, but Simcity 2000 managed to win me over in a big way, in part due to its uncomplicated interface, intuitive gameplay and open-ended structure lending to all sorts of creativity.  You could create almost anything that you wanted, from a utopian metropolis to a small island city to something downright Orwellian, and it was all perfectly valid.  Hell, you could even unleash disasters like fire storms and UFO attacks on your town and rebuild it in a completely different way, or if you wanted more of a challenge, take on the Scenarios where you have to rebuild cities after major disasters with a limited amount of time and resources.  Simcity 2000 is just a blast to play; its only real fault is that they made it too good, leaving the sequels with almost nothing to improve on.

There also exists a rare, network-enabled online edition of the game that allowed up to four players to act as 'city commissioners', operating on the same map and exchanging resources with one another to work toward their own goals.

5. Planescape: Torment (Black Isle Studios, 1999)

Black Isle Studios was another big name in the late 90s, bringing us several beloved RPGs known as much for their deep gameplay as their intricate writing.  Planescape: Torment is probably the best example of the latter, being a game that contains over one million words of dialog for the player to experience.  That may sound like it makes for a boring experience, but thanks to the fantastic writing, it's anything but - it's a journey of bizarre characters, settings and experiences from start to finish, and you know what?  That's a lot more compelling and memorable than endless gore-spilling, gold gathering and equipment upgrading topped off with "LOL BOOBS because we're adults really honest".  If only more modern CRPGs took notes from this one!

4. Thief 2: The Metal Age (Looking Glass Studios, 2000)

Thief 2, as one might expect, is a brilliant followup to the original game, improving many elements of the gameplay and introducing some new items and elements.  That's all well and good, but the real draw to me was the atmosphere of the game, which is bizarre and downright eerie.  In contrast to the supernatural bent of the original game, Thief 2 is much more steeped in steampunk, with robotic security cameras, security robots and creepy cyborgs all playing a part in the story and lending themselves to the gameplay in some very clever ways.  Of course, the newfound setting also lends itself to some clever new gameplay elements like scouting orbs (allowing you to see around corners without endangering yourself) and "vine arrows" that can stick in metal grating as well as wooden planks, letting you climb to places you couldn't otherwise reach.  Thief 2 is a great experience all around.

3. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (Blue Sky Productions, 1992)

A game that was built from the ground up to not just be a more realistic kind of puzzle-driven dungeon crawler, but a full blown life simulation too.  To that end, you had skills not just oriented around combat and spellcasting, but for swimming, conversing, identifying items and bartering with NPCs among many others.  It had a lighting system and rudimentary physics for platforming, letting objects bounce off of walls (and activate switches) and no single set solution for most puzzles, letting the player take an innovative approach to solving the game's mysteries.  Downright mind-blowing stuff for 1992, and the influence it's had on the industry since is immeasurable, inspiring games like Elder Scrolls, Half-Life 2, Deus Ex, and numerous others.  It's a bit clumsy and awkwardly slow to play today, but it's nevertheless a great game and an important building block for gaming as a whole.

2. System Shock 2 (Looking Glass Studios/Irrational Games, 1999)

Looking Glass made some incredible games in their heyday, but by far my favorite of the bunch has to be the last game they ever contributed to - System Shock 2.  A followup to the original innovative classic that managed to improve upon its predecessor in just about every way - a horrifying alien atmosphere, menacing enemies, fantastic characterizations and gameplay that expertly combined elements of first person shooting, survival horror and even a touch of RPG as you had to upgrade your skills and statistics throughout.  All the while being menaced by mutated people, alien horrors and the ever-creepy AI SHODAN, whose hostile demeanor, yet calm and neutral voice is downright chilling.  System Shock 2 is my choice for one of the finest games ever made, and one of the few games I find legitimately unsettling even sixteen years after its original release.  Bioshock certainly tried, but it couldn't match up on even half the ideas System Shock 2 brought to the table...

1. Ultima VII: The Black Gate (Origin Systems, 1992)

Yep, here it is, my pick for the best PC game of all time.  And while many may disagree with me on where it's placed, there's no denying that Ultima VII is an incredible title, especially for its time.  An open-world game that gives the player an unprecedented amount of freedom and interactivity with the environment (from exploring dungeons to baking bread to spinning cloth), Ultima VII was utterly amazing for a 1992 release.  Top that with Origin's usual brilliant world-building and characterizations, as well as strong yet intuitive gameplay and an intriguing plot centered around a string of mysterious murders and the rise of a mysterious new brotherhood in Britannia, and you also have a thoroughly engrossing experience.  Of course, this all came at the cost of being exceptionally difficult to run on computers of the time (having very high hardware requirements, conflicting with Windows and not even having the courtesy to supply a mouse driver for a mouse-driven game being chief concerns), but it was all worth it because the game was such an unforgettable experience.

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Top 111 PC Games, #20-11

20. System Shock: Enhanced Edition (Looking Glass Studios/Nightdive Studios, 1994/2015)

System Shock was another early Looking Glass title that was highly acclaimed for being innovative and surprisingly deep (big shock there).  It utilized the same engine as Ultima Underworld; however, it took things into the future instead, putting the player on a space station overrun by mutants and cyborgs and having them fight to survive and thwart the machinations of the mad AI SHODAN.  In contrast to many other shooters of the time period, though, System Shock is comparatively slow paced and methodical - not quite stealth-based, but you'll do a lot of crouching and peering around corners to take potshots at enemies while avoiding their fire, and you'll also collect a number of upgrades for your cyborg gear - from a camera that sees behind you to speed-boosting leg enhancements to a shield that absorbs some damage you take.  There is also a heavy focus on storytelling, puzzles and mission objectives - hunting down crew logs, keycards and passwords, finding ways to skirt around traps, and solving wiring puzzles are commonplace.  You'll also have to hop into cyberspace which, as in many 90s depictions, is a surreal world full of 3D shapes and vague space shooter elements.  Very much a product of its time for both good and ill, but the Enhanced Edition smooths out its interface a bit and gives it a performance lift, so that's the version to play nowadays.

19. Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (BioWare/Beamdog Software, 2013)

Probably the best-known and beloved of the Infinity Engine games, and it isn't hard to see why - the game has a ton to offer with its 60+ playable classes, a great storyline with some very memorable characters (all of whom have their own questlines) and just some downright frantic combat, putting the high challenge of D&D into a game with plenty of creative tactics.  It can get frustrating at times with overpowered enemies that all but require using engine exploits to succeed (Beholders and Illithids in general) but as far as RPG experiences go, this is one of the best you're likely to find for D&D games.  As well as BioWare's best game by far.

18. Quake (Id Software, 1996)

Quake is a game with a complex history, beginning its life as an action-RPG titled "the Fight for Justice", slowly changing over the years to incorporate a 3D engine and ultimately turning into a shooter with some fantasy and Lovecraftian elements.  That ended up being no bad thing, though, as Quake was a great, fast-paced experience with a creepy atmosphere (in no small part due to featuring audio design by Trent Reznor) and some creative level design.  It even brought us elements like "Rocket Jumping" which lent themselves to all sorts of crazy (and impressive) speedrunning stunts, as well as some killer mods that would become successful franchises in their own right like Team Fortress.  Even with its chunky, blocky 3D models, grainy textures and choppy animation overall, Quake is another classic title from Id.

17. Divinity: Original Sin II (Larian Studios, 2017)

I never had much interest in the Divinity series; they all just seemed like mediocre knockoffs of games that came before them at a glance, and judging from the unimpressive reviews most of them have gotten, I'm not too far off in that assessment.  Original Sin was allegedly their big breakout title, but I didn't much care for it either; the constant bugginess and jank, inane dialog and slow, tedious combat just wore on me before long.  However, Original Sin II is where they finally got things right.  It takes the inventive and playful ideas of the original game and puts them in a smooth, responsive engine, and it actually becomes a ton of fun to explore the world, discover its densely-packed secrets and find clever ways to acquire out-of-reach items, and battles are used much more sparingly so you don't get utterly sick of combat within the first few hours of gameplay.  But when it does happen, it's a thrill to turn the field of battle to your advantage at every opportunity - dropping oil and setting it ablaze, teleporting enemies into spikes or acid/fire fields, channeling lightning through steam clouds, knocking foes out with chloroform and backstabbing their friends, to name just a few.  The narrative is also vastly improved this time, with far less grating party banter and voiceover, genuinely engaging and witty dialog and a plethora of well-written and interesting pre-fab protagonists who are all fully customizable (and you can still create your own characters if you choose).  Some of the other mechanics are also unique and downright inspired; conversing with animals, eating the dead to see their memories; even the ability to choose the dominant instrument in the music is something I've never seen in another game.  Hell, I don't even mind the crafting as much now - it actually feels intuitive and doesn't just turn the game into a tedious scavenger hunt as most similar systems tend to.  It took a long road to get here, but Larian made a damn fine RPG with Original Sin II.

16. Half-Life: Alyx (Valve, 2020)

Having lived through the brief fascination with virtual reality in the '90s (as well as a few very underwhelming forays into it like the VFX1 and the Virtual Boy), I scoffed at VR's return in the 2010's as being desperate and gimmicky.  All that said, Alyx was the game that made me a believer.  It incorporates Half-Life's brilliant blend of puzzle solving, creativity and good old gunplay in fine fashion and its atmosphere is top-notch, dropping you right into the oppressive and dangerous world of City 17 armed with only a few firearms, your Gravity Gloves (not quite as powerful as the good ol' Gravity Gun, but still a lot of fun to tinker with) and your wits.  The controls are surprisingly natural,  the dialog is wildly funny, and it had me absolutely hooked throughout its entire runtime.  It still isn't the proper third entry we've been clamoring for, but it's a wonderful new addition to the Half-Life universe and well worth getting immersed in if you have the means.

15. Thief Gold (Looking Glass Studios, 1998)

Looking Glass returns to the list with the first entry in what is unquestionably my favorite stealth franchise of all time: Thief.  Thief Gold is an update of Thief: The Dark Project, adding in three new levels as well as some minor tweaks to existing ones to make things more in line with the revised storyline.  But what makes Thief so great?  Well, the gameplay, for one, which requires the player to use shadows and diversions in order to draw enemies away so they can slip past unharmed.  To that end, the player also has a wide variety of tools to utilize - flash bombs, gas arrows, mines, rope arrows and noisemakers to name a few.  Also adding a nice twist to things was the fact that it was one of the first objective-based games out there - instead of just killing everything in your path, you now had specific goals to carry out in each stage, and the less attention you attracted along the way, the better off you were (not to mention that the higher difficulty levels forbid you from killing people anyway).  Of course, beneath it all was also a menacing atmosphere and pretty solid storyline involving the resurrection of a dark god whose existence is a threat to the world itself, but that tends to take a backseat to the thrill of the heist the game so effectively pulls off.

14. Baldur's Gate III (Larian Studios, 2023)

A third entry in the Baldur's Gate franchise was originally planned to be developed by Black Isle back in 2002, but was canceled when Interplay ended up falling into financial turmoil.  Several other D&D-licensed games popped up to fill the void, but in my eyes at least, they were all lacking in one way or another.  Larian Studios, fresh off the success of the Divinity Original Sin games, eventually picked up the mantle, taking their penchant for intricate tabletop-like mechanics and deep turn-based combat to tell a new story.  Set 120 years after the events of 2, the player is abducted by a mindflayer airship and infected with one of their young, and must seek a way to free themselves from it while surviving all manner of other trials.  The sheer number of options you have available make combat and exploration quite enjoyable and ripe for roleplaying, and as in the classic BG games you have a huge number of playable classes and races, ensuring no shortage of replay value.

13. Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (Origin Systems, 1985)

Ultima IV is very possibly the most unique CRPG ever made, and that is saying a lot.  Rather than having you quest to defeat some big bad guy, this game instead proves to be a journey of self-improvement, having the player atone for some of their more... questionable actions in the previous Ultima titles by embodying the eight virtues, venturing into the stygian abyss and recovering the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom to push Britannia into a new age of prosperity and spiritual guidance.  And yes, this does entail actually being a good person in the game - righting wrongs, resisting the temptation to steal and kill, and showing compassion, valor and humility whenever needed.  Of course, there are still plenty of puzzles to solve along the way and quite a bit of combat to endure, but that takes a backseat to the overall theme of being a virtuous character.  A great concept with a fantastic execution.

12. Undertale (Toby Fox, 2015)

Taking inspiration from the SNES classic Earthbound for its simple yet charming visual style, quirky sense of humor and sincere charm, Undertale also adds an element of player choice to the proceedings.  The player is given full reign over their actions in this world - they can fight their way through everything, or resolve battles more diplomatically (which entails all sorts of silly dialog options), and each choice is perfectly valid and can lead to one of several endings.  The game's combat system is also innovative in itself, being based on timed button presses to land attacks and a shoot-em-up styled bullet dodging experience to avoid enemy attacks (which you will have to get very good at in order to reach the Pacifist ending).  The game is also overly short, but in an era of 50+ hour games that are that long just for the sake of being that long, I don't mind this fact one bit.  Undertale is a stroke of genius and deserves all the acclaim it's gotten.

11. Fallout 2 (Black Isle Studios, 1998)

An excellent title from Black Isle, and one of my favorite games of all time to boot.  The original Fallout definitely had charm to spare with its open-ended character development, multiple ways to complete objectives, heavy world lore and a wry sense of humor despite itself, but Fallout 2 took all of that and expanded upon it tenfold.  Bigger guns, new monsters, a wide variety of recruitable characters, and tons of new locations to explore and characters to interact with - some lovable, some you just love to hate.  There's also a reworked Perk system and a very handy new feature in the form of a drivable car, which makes transportation around the landscape more convenient and gives you plenty of extra carrying capacity to boot.  A stellar RPG experience from beginning to end and, again, one of the finest games in the CRPG genre.

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Top 111 PC Games, #30-21

30. Diablo II (Blizzard Entertainment, 2000)

The followup to Blizzard's mega-hit Diablo, the second game in the franchise upped the ante in almost every way.  Featuring faster gameplay, a choice of five new classes (seven in the expansion) each with their own variety of skill sets and equipment choices, and of course a plethora of new quests, items, bosses and challenges to undertake.  It also featured multiplayer for up to eight simultaneous players, who could choose to tackle dungeons, gain levels or just duke it out in battles to the death.  Other new features, like "Rune words" and the ability to combine items and reroll equipment properties would also become staples of other games in the genre.  Once again, a major hit for Blizzard that continues to be fun even today.  There are even a few killer fan mods available for those tired of the stock game.

29. DOOM (Id Software, 1993)

DOOM was an amazing title at the time of its release for its realistic 3D environments, fast-paced action and varied gameplay, combining elements of puzzle-solving with run and gun action against hordes of enemies.  But when you added on online deathmatches and the ability to create custom maps, the game's replay value rocketed through the roof, and even today it remains an incredibly fun experience, spawning hundreds of thousands of custom maps and countless player mods that remix the experience into something completely new.  Surpassed in technology but still unmatched in gameplay, DOOM is a truly immortal game.

28. Scorched Earth (Wendell Hicken, 1991)

At a glance, Scorched Earth isn't much to look at - a game with tiny sprites and simplistic VGA graphics where tanks shoot missiles and try to blow each other up.  But then you take a closer look and find that this game is steeped in clever mechanics and surprisingly deep tactics.  From MIRVs to Funky Bombs to Sandhogs, the game has a variety of interesting weapons to utilize, some of which can devastate everything on the screen (even their user) in short order.  Further adding to the fun are defensive items like shields and options like having shots wrap around to the other side of the screen, bounce off the ceiling or radically shifting winds making aiming shots more difficult.  In short, it's a game with a lot of options and endless replayability, especially in multi-player combat.  The only real crime is that it never got an online play option!

27. Tetris (Alexei Pajitnov, 1984+)

Tetris had its beginnings all the way back in 1984 for the Electronika 60, and its popularity was (and still is) such that it's gotten numerous updates, ports, rereleases and remakes across just about every platform imaginable.  But before Nintendo got the license and created the monstrously popular Game Boy port, several companies made their own computer versions (the one depicted in this screenshot is the 1987 Spectrum Holobyte version).  While each had minor variances and change-ups, there's no denying one thing - it's a fun, addictive puzzle game that's easy to learn, but nearly impossible to master.  Not that it's stopped any of us from trying for the last thirty years.

26. X-COM: UFO Defense (Mythos Games/Microprose Software, 1995)

Also released as "UFO: Enemy Unknown", UFO Defense served as the first game in the strategic simulation X-COM series. The game expertly combined elements of base building, turn-based combat and business sim as the player had to manage their limited resources, reverse-engineer alien technology and keep their squads well-equipped (and alive) enough to deal with escalating alien attacks across the globe, with their ultimate goal being to take the fight to the alien base on Mars and defeat their leader in a final assault.  It also found just the right blend of gameplay elements, providing plenty of depth and challenge while not overwhelming the player.  X-COM had a remarkably good multi-platform remake in 2012 (which had an incredible sequel a few years later), but the original is certainly nothing to sneeze at either.

25. Unreal Tournament 2004 (Epic Games, 2004)

Unreal made a big splash in the 90s with its polished engine and stunning 3D visuals, and its spinoff franchise, Unreal Tournament, only continued its legacy with its fast-paced gameplay, a ton of crazy weapons to use and clever game modes like Capture the Flag, Mutant and Domination.  UT2004 continues the trend but adds vehicles and gun turrets into the chaos, building a new layer onto the gameplay without disrupting its balance.  All of that, plus modding support that allowed players to create custom weapons, maps, models and even game modes and basically tweak almost every aspect of the game to their own liking, make this an excellent experience both in multiplayer and solo play against bots that's still incredibly fun today.  Sadly Epic now subscribes to the harebrained theory of "well if people can't play our old good games then they'll have to buy our new not-so-good ones lol" so it was pulled from all digital storefronts and their matchfinding server was shut down in 2023; thankfully there are ways around this though.

24. Tyrian 2000 (Eclipse Software, 2000)

I was never a big fan of shoot-em-up games; many of them start to feel very samey to me after a while, not to mention the fact that they feature one-hit deaths and swarming enemy patterns that are generally extremely trial-and-error based and require spot-on precision, and I don't really have the patience for that kind of thing.  Tyrian 2000, however, is more my speed.  An updated re-release of 1995's Tyrian, the game also features a lot of elements not normally seen in the genre - an in-depth storyline told between stages, a wide variety of customizable ship parts, weapons, sub-weapons and ship types, and even a pretty good sense of humor as you play through various minigames and collect giant fruits for points and have the option to pilot a ship that fires bananas and hot dogs at its enemies.  Of course, the colorful graphics and sweet soundtrack also help, as does the fact that you actually have a health bar (in the form of a shield meter that regenerates over time and an armor meter that can only be restored via powerups).  It still manages to be quite a challenge, but it's one that I can get into.  Tyrian 2000 is a standout title and, for my money, the best top-down shmup ever made.

23. Maniac Mansion (Lucasfilm Games, 1987)

Graphic adventure games were a staple of early computer gaming, with countless examples throughout the 80s and into the mid-90s and several big companies that are still going today building their name on beloved franchises.  One of the earliest I recall playing, and still my favorite of the genre to this day, is one Maniac Mansion, a game unique from most in the genre in that it actually had quite a lot of replay value - you could pick two additional characters (out of six) for each playthrough, with each having differing dialog and solutions to particular problems, and there were eleven different endings to see based on the player's choice of characters and actions taken throughout.  Top all that with a lack of cheap deaths (characters still can be killed, but you need to do some really dumb stuff to get there) and a sharp sense of humor that would become the trademark of all following Lucasfilm adventure games, and you've got a true classic.

22. Star Control II: the Ur-Quan Masters (Toys for Bob, 1992)

An undisputed classic, Star Control 2 is an ingenious blend of Starflight's open ended exploration and top down combat inspired by one of the very first video games ever made (Spacewar!).  Set in a future where the nefarious Ur-Quan empire has enslaved countless races, you return home after a lengthy scientific exploration journey aboard an alien ship to find Earth similarly enslaved, it's citizens trapped beneath an impenetrable force field; from there you set out to gather resources, upgrade your ship, make alliances with other races across the galaxy and eventually take the fight to the Ur-Quan.  A great concept for sure, and the quirky sense of humor and excellent music make it a captivating journey.  The game has also since had the 3DO version's source code released, resulting in an excellent modern update (simply called "The Ur-Quan Masters" for copyright reasons) to numerous platforms that's also free to download and play.

21. Starflight (Binary Systems, 1986)

A game as groundbreaking as it was fun to play, Starflight puts you in the role of a galactic explorer, roaming the galaxy in search of habitable planets and tradable resources and searching for a way to stop a series of devastating solar flares that have left numerous star systems barren of life.  To that end you'll also interact with a number of alien species both friendly and hostile, collect artifacts and gradually uncover a plot that proves a grave threat to all life in the galaxy.  And even though the game shipped on a floppy disk, it certainly did not suffer in terms of scope, providing hundreds of randomly-generated planets for the player to get immersed in.  A stellar game for its time and still an amazing one today, Starflight is the gold standard for the space exploration genre.

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Spoony Plays Grandia, Part 12

We meet up with Mullen and Leen again, and the adventuring life starts to take its toll...

Spoony Plays Ultra Despair Girls: Danganronpa Another Episode, Part 5

Monaca is the next Tyler Durden, destined to be worshipped and emulated by 13 year old assholes the world over.

Top 111 PC Games, #40-31

40. The Oregon Trail (MECC, 1985)

If you're of a certain age you probably remember playing this one in your school days, mostly because it's one of those rare educational games that was actually fun.   In fact, it was actually rather like a roguelike in many respects - you picked one of three career paths (determining your starting money and score multiplier at the end), dealt with a lot of randomized hazards and splitting paths, and tried to reach Oregon with as many resources intact and people still alive as you could.  There were a lot of updates, remakes and rereleases over the years (still continuing to this day) and several spinoffs including Amazon Trail, Africa Trail, Yukon Trail and the controversial Freedom!, but the fact that this game still remains popular despite having iterations going all the way back to 1971 speaks to its timeless charm.

39. Monomyth (Rat Castle, 202?)

A small indie game which draws obvious inspiration from titles like Ultima Underworld, and for my money it's the best attempt to recapture its magic since the 90s (especially in light of the massive disappointment that was Underworld Ascendant).  Fitting together a complex tale through context clues and environmental storytelling, you're also largely left to your own devices to get past most obstacles - find a key to a door, using your lockpicking skills and tools to open it, blowing it off its hinges with a powder keg, searching for an alternate route to bypass it entirely, or smashing it down with raw strength are all perfectly viable options.  Of course it's often to your advantage to not solve every problem with violence, as you can discover useful clues and resources you wouldn't otherwise, and the environment is a surprisingly realistic one, letting you interact with even mundane objects like musical instruments and ovens that let you bake bread or grill meat for extra health restoration.

38. Torchlight II (Runic Games, 2012)

There are quite a few Diablo-styled action dungeon crawlers on the PC, but for my money, one of the absolute best is Torchlight II.  Created by a team partly made up of former Blizzard North (Diablo I) staff, Torchlight 2 takes everything that made Diablo a hit and cranks it up to eleven.  Combat is fast and frantic, the four playable classes in the game can be customized in any way the player wishes, and online multiplayer (sorely missing from the first game) is now back in full force.  The game even has full support for player mods which can even be used in online games, though all players must have the same set of mods installed in order to play together.  Some other clever tweaks, like each player finding separate loot drops and being able to send your pet back to town with a haul of items to trade in for cash or potions, also make sure that the action remains constant throughout.  Torchlight II is just pure fun.

37. Lemmings (DMA Design, 1991)

A popular puzzle game that spawned a horde of rereleases, updates, sequels, expansions, clones and parodies, Lemmings is a simple concept - get a quota of the little rodents safely to the goal.  To this end, one picks a few out of the crowd and assigns them jobs meant to help the others avoid danger or bypass obstacles - whether simply stopping and forcing them to go the other way, digging through dirt, climbing up walls, parachuting down long drops, or blowing themselves up to clear an obstacle from the others' path.  Once enough are safely through the exit door, the next stage begins.  Simple enough in concept, but many of the later stages get deviously difficult, requiring some very fast thinking to succeed.  Given just how prolific and popular the series was, if you owned basically any game platform out in the early '90s, you probably played or at least saw Lemmings or one of its sequels/spinoffs/expansions at some point.  And thankfully, most of them were pretty damn fun.  Key word being "most"; skip Lemmings Paintball and All New World of Lemmings aka Lemmings Chronicles, they're really lame.

36. Wartales (Shiro Games, 2022)

A game that obviously draws inspiration from the old cult classic "Darklands", Wartales is very similar in concept - a small band of adventurers traveling around the land in search of fame (or infamy) and fortune.  Unlike that game, though, it does have a bit more of an involved class system; characters earn sets of skills depending upon their chosen vocations and interact with the world in different ways, too.  As you travel and face danger you'll not only power up your characters, but learn new tools to craft and abilities that benefit the entire group like rationing food (slows food consumption), outrunning enemies to avoid fights, carrying more weight or even more ghoulish options like being willing to resort to cannibalism to survive.  There's no real overarching story to go through - you carve out your own.  But it's deep and engaging enough to keep you coming back for a good while.

35. AM2R (Some awesome fans, 2016)

Nintendo's Metroid series is one that has been oft-copied, but puzzlingly sat idle in Nintendo's own hands for nearly a decade.  AM2R is a stellar fan-created remake of Metroid II for the PC, combining excellent visuals and audio design, spot-on controls and polished gameplay on par with the top games in the franchise.  Naturally, Nintendo quickly became green with envy for said fans doing something better with Metroid than they had in years and had it pulled from the internet, once again reaffirming their philosophy that "If people can't play high-quality fan games or even our old games that were good, they'll just have to buy our new games that aren't so good instead".  Which just seems like terrible business practice to me, but oh well.  If you can get your hands on this piece of forbidden treasure, you should, because AM2R is a game with more polish than most professionally released games, and perfectly captures that feeling of isolation in an eerie alien world that the classic Metroid games provided.

34. Unreal Tournament (Epic MegaGames, 1999)

Multiplayer first person shooters have a pretty long history going all the way back to the '80s with MIDI Maze and gaining a lot of popularity with games like Doom, but Unreal Tournament is widely regarded as one of the all-time greatest even today.  Taking the fast-paced gameplay of Unreal and adding numerous new game modes, including Assault (capturing a fortress point by point while the other team defends), Capture the Flag, Domination (team battles) and Last Man Standing (giving each player a limited number of lives).  Several map packs were released, and being moddable also meant there were plenty of weapons packs, maps, new game modes and endless gameplay tweaks that give it unlimited replay value.

33. Day of the Tentacle (Lucasarts, 1993)

The sequel to Maniac Mansion and Tim Schafer's first game as project lead, Day of the Tentacle was another hilarious and well-made point and click adventure from LucasArts.  Starring Bernard and two of his college roommates as they attempt to foil the Purple Tentacle's scheme for world conquest, the setup is quite a clever one - each of the three characters is trapped in a different time period, able to pass objects between one another but otherwise unable to directly interact, and changing things in the past will affect things in the future, opening paths for puzzles to be solved. This, plus the sharp writing, acting and animation, make for a truly fun and creative adventure. Though it sadly lacks the multiple paths and endings of the original game, Day of the Tentacle is nonetheless a worthy sequel to a classic. 

32. Ultima VI: The False Prophet (Origin Systems, 1990)

It seemed that every Ultima title did its best to up the ante over the previous one, and Ultima VI was no different in that regard. While the previous games had a recognizable world to venture through with a lot of surprising nods to realism, Ultima VI set out to create an immersive, realistic world that you'd live an alternate life in.  You could hunt animals for food, milk cows, load and fire cannons, move furniture around and so forth, and creative solutions to get around problems often work. The story was another great one too, starting with what appears to be a hostile invasion but having you looking at things from a very different perspective by the end.  The somewhat clunky UI and limited viewpoint don't make it my favorite Ultima to play, but even with the annoyances of constantly running into dead-ends and getting lost in towns, it's another fantastic RPG from Origin and a very worthwhile entry to a legendary franchise. 

31. Ultima Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams (Origin Systems, 1991)

Ultima 6 is a game as known for its intriguing story as its inventive gameplay, putting the player into a world more intricately designed and realistic than any other seen to that point - cows could be milked, doors could be lockpicked, blown up or smashed down, and virtually every object one saw could be moved around, stacked atop one another or used in surprisingly intuitive and realistic ways.  Naturally, this engine cost Origin a ton of money to develop, so they decided to try and recoup costs with some spinoff games.  The end results, while lauded by critics, were not financial successes, leading to the Worlds of Ultima franchise being cancelled after only two entries. Shame, that, as Martian Dreams isone of the best games in the entire franchise.  Set in a fictionalized Victorian era on Mars, it has the player and a number of real-life historical figures unearthing the remains of a long-lost civilization on the red planet, and having to endure a lot of surprisingly realistic obstacles - low oxygen, radiation and an ever-constant struggle against limited supplies.  While it is frustrating to navigate at times, the tale told here is a creative and memorable one, and proof that Ultima remains an important milestone for both design and storytelling in video games.

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Killer7 Target 03: Encounter

Amusement parks and anime.

Spoony Plays Ultima IX: Ascension, Part 5

We sort things out in Moonglow and then patch it up with Raven so that we can continue our quest.

Spoony Plays Castle of the Winds, Part 10 (Finale)

Surtur is slain, the Helmet of Storms is recovered, and we claim our birthright.

Spoony Plays Castle of the Winds, Part 9

Resistant to all elements and highly efficient at killing.  Surtur's days are numbered!

Spoony Plays Castle of the Winds, Part 8

Old dragons and demons are nasty, man.

Top 111 PC Games, #50-41

50. Betrayal at Krondor (Dynamix, 1993)

A groundbreaking and influential title in the genre, Krondor was based in the same universe as Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar novels and made a strong attempt to replicate their style, with in-depth descriptions and well-written prose for even the most mundane of interactions.  It also featured open-ended exploration with quite a lot of hidden secrets and side-quests to experience, tactical turn-based combat, and is among the earliest games I know of to do away with a traditional experience system, instead giving each character a variety of skills that must be improved either through use or training with various NPCs.  It later had a spiritual successor of sorts (Betrayal in Antara) and an actual sequel later on (Return to Krondor), though the original team was involved with neither game and the quality definitely suffered as a result.

49. Half-Life (Valve, 1998)

First person shooters were the new hotness in the '90s, and it seemed like every new one was upping the ante, trying to maintain a fun, fast-paced style but working in more story elements and realistic environments to play in.  Half-Life was certainly no exception, and for 1998 it was nothing short of mindblowing.  Set in a research laboratory overrun by hostile aliens (and later soldiers trying to cover up the incident that unleashed them), the environments you trekked through had a ton of personality and danger in themselves.  From tram tracks to vats of toxic waste to all sorts of hazardous industrial equipment, there was just as much of a puzzle element in safely navigating them as there was in defeating the enemies.

48. Toonstruck (Burst Studios, 1996)

I've played more than a handful of point-and-click adventure games that operate on cartoonish logic, but it always felt rather out of place when they were trying to build a serious atmosphere and story.  Toonstruck definitely broke that mold by putting the player in, well, a cartoon.  Bright, colorful and slightly off-kilter environments, professionally animated characters voiced by big-name actors like Tim Curry, Tress MacNeille, Dan Castellaneta and April Winchell, and starring none other than Christopher Lloyd, digitized and superimposed atop the action like Roger Rabbit in reverse.  There's a lot of genuine talent and brilliant humor on display throughout; it's just a shame that it ends on a very abrupt cliffhanger and, owing to copyright issues, the second part of the story has yet to be released.

47. Sam & Max Hit the Road (LucasArts, 1993)

One of the many LucasArts point-and-click adventure games that surfaced in the 80s and 90s, and still regarded as one of the best in the genre even today.  Sam and Max was nothing short of hilarious with its kitschy American setting, irreverent protagonists and some surprisingly good voiceover throughout adding to the ridiculous scenarios.  They worked in quite a few minigames too - some required to progress while others are just for fun.  As popular and successful as it was, it was little surprise that people were pining for a followup; however despite numerous attempts one never actually came to be until 2006, when Telltale Games got ahold of the license and produced three episodic sequels.

46. Blood (Monolith, 1997)

The Build engine may have looked just a bit dated by 1997, especially since Quake was the hot new game on the market, but Blood proved that superior design could more than make up for older tech.  Blood is a master class of horror elements, with a grim, creepy atmosphere and enemies like giant spiders, gargoyles, cultists and flame-spewing cerberus dogs, all with the same immersive and surprisingly realistic level design that made Duke Nukem 3D work so well.  The weapons are equally inventive, with mundane options like a shotgun and tommy gun taking a back seat to weapons like a flare gun or a spray can/lighter to ignite enemies, a voodoo doll that inflicts extra damage to undead/magical enemies (but will damage you if you stab it when no enemies are onscreen) and a crazy-looking skull staff called the Life Leech that doubles as a stationary sentry gun.  The game was exceptionally tough (not aided by a bug that would cause the difficulty level to cycle every time one loaded a save), but the sheer inspiration behind its design is something that must be seen.  Oh, and grab the Deathwish map set too, which is a fantastic fan-made addon that rivals, if not surpasses, the main game in quality.  It's just a shame the sequel (Blood II: The Chosen) was such a mess.  As for the sequel's expansion pack... well, "avoid at all costs" is about the most apt thing that can be said for that.

45. Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment, 2001)

Max Payne was the game that put Finnish developers Remedy Entertainment on the map. The game at its core is a tale of revenge as a New York cop goes on a killing spree, gunning down the mobsters who killed his family and partner.  What made it into something really special, though, was the strong writing in the game thanks to Sam Lake; equal parts disturbing, visceral and funny, Max Payne was an experience unlike any other to that date.  Of course, the gameplay also had an innovative element of its own thanks to incorporating "Bullet Time", allowing the player to take on large enemy forces with relative ease by slowing down time in order to effectively dodge enemy fire and draw a bead on them before they could even react.

44. StarCraft (Blizzard, 1998)

The game that tore the real time strategy genre down and rebuilt it from scratch, Starcraft was quite a sight to behold at the time of its release.  Not content to have just two armies with mostly identical units, Starcraft has three to control, and despite having very different playstyles, all are relatively balanced and require quite a bit of differing strategy. The Zerg mostly rely on weaker units that excel in swarming tactics and harassment, the Protoss have powerful but slower and costlier units that require careful micromanagement to use effectively, and the Terrans fall somewhere in the middle, utilizing their versatility and resilience to their advantage.  Starcraft also sported an incredible map editor that allowed for scripting, enabling complex new gameplay dynamics and even entirely new games at times.  An incredible experience in 1998 and still the best of the genre today.

43. Worms: Armageddon (Team-17, 1999)

Just one game in the long-running Worms turn-based warfare strategy series, and the one widely regarded as the best in the franchise.  Unlike many of its sequels, it gives players the option to have teams larger than four worms (six or eight, depending on the number of players in the game), allows for custom team voices and terrain to be imported and has just the right blend of weapons, gadgets and options to make for lengthy, yet engaging online battles - from airstrikes to poisonous skunks to flamethrowers to Street Fighter style martial arts, you won't be wanting for ways to lay down the pain.  Not to mention that it's always more fun dropping a concrete donkey on a bigger group than a smaller one, of course.  A standout in the turn-based artillery combat genre.

42. Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game (Interplay, 1997)

Drawing heavy inspiration from their earlier hit "Wasteland" (with the license having fallen to EA years prior), Fallout's creators set out to create a bleak post-apocalyptic landscape for the player to explore, and did so admirably, combining a grim atmosphere with a sly sense of humor throughout.  What really sold the game, though, was the sheer amount of thought put into its story and design - rather than encourage the player to just mindlessly blast everything as so many RPGs of the time were wont to do, the player is given many choices to deal with every questline put before them - a combative approach, stealthy approach and even pure diplomacy will work in almost any situation.  Hell, it's even possible to complete the game without firing a single shot or witnessing a single death.  The first in a great series of games.

41. Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (Looking Glass Studios, 1993)

The followup to the groundbreaking original game, which definitely tried to up the ante, taking place across numerous worlds rather than one big, sprawling dungeon.  Each has a pretty distinct feel to it, with some fairly similar to Britannia and others just downright bizarre, but all with one thing in common - they're under the thumb of the megalomaniacal Guardian, so it becomes a matter of rallying what resistance you can to try and turn the tables on your persistent and powerful foe.  The game plays much as the first one did, though it wasn't as well-refined owing to being developed under heavy crunch.  Even with that, though, Labyrinth of Worlds is nevertheless a worthy sequel that's still well worth playing.

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