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. 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.

6. 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!

5. 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.

4. 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.

3. 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.

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. 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.

19. 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.

18. 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.

17. 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.

16. 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.

15. 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.

14. 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.

13. 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.

12. 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.

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. Slay the Spire (Megacrit, 2019)

A relatively novel blend of elements, Slay the Spire is one part deck-building card game and one part roguelike, melded together quite expertly.  Building your deck, thinning out your less-useful cards and acquiring various Relics to bolster your abilities (doing everything from restoring HP after battle to damaging enemies every few cards you play) become just as much of a focus as clearing out foes.  As you proceed up floors, defeating progressively tougher enemies, you also get a slew of randomized events - campfires to rest and regain HP or upgrade a single card in your deck, shops, and all manner of random events that can help or hinder you.  Tough and unpredictable as any good roguelike, but with enough of a strategic bent that encourages experimentation and gives it a ton of replayability.

29. Against the Storm (Eremite Games, 2022)

Described as a city-builder crossed with a roguelike, and it's definitely a strange combination, though once you start playing the game you find it works shockingly well.  You're given a selection of several randomly-generated goals to meet, and from there it's down to managing your workforce, keeping their morale up, keeping the forest itself from becoming too hostile toward you, and harvesting and utilizing resources while facing adverse weather and hazards in the stretch of forest you're mining your way through.  It does kind of suck when you spend over an hour on a stage only to fall short at the last minute, but you do at least gain experience for the effort so the next attempt can (hopefully) go better!

28. 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.

27. 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!

26. 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.

25. NetHack (The NetHack DevTeam, 1987+)

Arguably the most enduring RPG of all time, NetHack debuted in 1987 and is still under active development today, continuing to get bugfixes and new features with each patch that comes out. Based on the gameplay of genre-definer Rogue (and a fork of a clone named simply "Hack"), NetHack adds much more to the roguelike format with a much larger variety of playable classes, item types, equipment, monsters and hazards to avoid, as well as mechanics like a pet ally who can become quite powerful if kept alive, a hunger meter to maintain, shops, cursed and blessed items, divine intervention (to be used sparingly lest you offend your god) and the ability to polymorph into other forms to gain advantages. One must also deal with all manner of crippling negative statuses, including blindness, wounded limbs, lycanthropy, strangulation and being turned to stone, which can quickly throw a wrench into your game plan or even bring your run to an abrupt end. NetHack is also legendary for its difficulty - even those who have learned its many intricacies and played hundreds or even thousands of games can count their victories in single digits. Even with all of that in play, though, the game's dense and addictive design, solid sense of humor, and endless replayability keep its appeal strong, and will continue to do so for decades to come.  It may not have top-notch voice acting, movie-like cutscenes, achievements, epic music, amazing sound design or even graphics, but it's got tons of depth and timeless design, and that's enough to make it an immortal classic.

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. Deltarune (Toby Fox, 2018)

Some might call it uncouth to add a game that's only 2/7ths done to my top 100 games list, but I don't care; Deltarune is totally worthy of the honor.  Taking the core gameplay of Undertale to new heights with party-based design, as well as much more challenging encounters (taming most enemies is a multi-step process now, especially bosses), it also never loses sight of what made its predecessor great.  The vivid, colorful environments, the expressive characters who never once fall into being lazy cardboard-cutouts (even the antagonists are very well-realized, three-dimensional characters with their own motives and personalities) and it's not afraid to show its emotional side, running the gamut from hilarious to disturbing to tender while never once feeling forced.  Even with only two chapters done, it's a brilliant experience; hell, even if it never gets finished, it'll still be one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. In an era where 99% of all time and money in the medium of video gaming goes into pretty-yet-empty 3D backdrops, models and textures that'll age about as well as milk and algorithmically-generated bland filler just to meet some arbitrary publisher-mandated length quota, with another 3 years of multi-gigabyte patches to follow just to make it slightly resemble an actual, finished product, it's nice to see developers who still remember what really makes gaming great.

21. 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 to free the galaxy from their grasp.  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 a fantastic updated version (simply called "The Ur-Quan Masters" for copyright reasons) to numerous platforms that's also free to download and play.

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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. 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.

39. System Shock (Looking Glass Studios, 1994)

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 rather than facing them head-on, 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 with its slow-paced gameplay and somewhat clumsy controls and physics, but a very rewarding experience once you adapt to its quirks.

38. Starcraft II (Blizzard, 2010)

 

The original Starcraft was a game-changer with its three very distinct but balanced factions and fast paced, yet surprisingly deep design.  Starcraft II keeps that philosophy intact but also massively improves the original 's clunky pathfinding, AI and interface, adds in many new units, co-op missions and a well-crafted three-part episodic campaign with team customization, branching story paths and many new unit types to experiment with.  Despite lacking a few prominent features of the original (like, y'know, LAN support?), Starcraft II is a brilliant experience both online and solo, and for my money the undisputed king of the RTS genre.

37. 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.

36. Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (BioWare/Beamdog, 2000/2014)

 

There have been a lot of Dungeons and Dragons video games, licensed and otherwise, stretching all the way back to the old '70s mainframes.  For my money, though,  BioWare's Baldur's Gate II is still the best one ever made.  A more linear, though more narrative-driven experience than the original, it had complex characters with their own storylines, tons of depth and strategy, and more challenge than ever, especially with higher-level critters like Beholders and Mind Flayers appearing (and requiring some ingenious, if not downright cheap, tactics to survive their attacks).  The game also gives you over 60 classes to play as (even more in the enhanced edition), and online multiplayer and mod support give it virtually infinite replay value.

35. Dwarf Fortress (Bay 12 Games, 2006+)

Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress (yes, that's its full title) has always been a legendary title among PC gamers despite being in a constantly unfinished state for over fifteen years, and even after getting a paid Steam release in December of 2022, it's still very far from done.  But it is at least considerably more accessible now, with a window and icon based user interface, tile graphics instead of just ASCII characters, Steam Workshop modding support and some quite excellent, moody music and ambient sound on top of everything.  Gameplay-wise it's a bit hard to describe, but I think an apt description is "Simcity plus the Sims, only much more complex".  Basically, you generate a world and its complete history, then start out with a small caravan of dwarves and try to set up a colony, building and maintaining every imaginable thing you'll need to that end - workshops, meeting places, stills to brew liquor, bedrooms, blacksmiths, fields to farm, traps to deter invaders, a trading post and so forth, and you give your dwarves jobs to carry out each of these tasks as needed.  You're also constantly beset by all manner of hazards from both within and without, from goblin raids to illness to subterranean horrors to fits of murderous madness, and you just try to survive as long as you can before things get into a downward spiral and your fort collapses in spectacular fashion.  There's no concrete win condition and all manner of things can and will go cataclysmically wrong, but as the game's motto goes - Losing is Fun!

34. 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.

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 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.

31. 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. 

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