Top 111 PC Games, #60-51

60. 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 legions 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. 

59. 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.

 

58. Cave Story (Dōkutsu Monogatari) (Pixel, 2004)

With the internet's explosion in popularity came an interest in indie games old and new, with sites like Newgrounds giving a lot of developers and fans a place to show off their talents and numerous abandonware sites archiving obscure and forgotten classics.  Cave Story is one that came to peoples' attention not long after its initial release in 2004, garnering a lot of attention for its high quality Metroid-like design, presentation reminiscent of 8 and 16-bit retro titles, having a surprisingly engrossing story and being created over the course of five years by a single developer.  Since then it's gotten tons of attention in the form of fan translations, ports to numerous platforms (official and otherwise), a slew of remakes, mods and source ports, and even a fan-created level editor.  

57. Freedom Planet (GalaxyTrail, 2014)

Beginning life as a Sonic the Hedgehog fangame, Freedom Planet quickly turned into something grander - an homage to Sega Genesis era action games in general, working in elements of games like Rocket Knight Adventures and a dash of Treasure style action as well.  There are three playable characters - Sash Lilac (who has a speed dash and a spinning cyclone), Carol Tea (who fights with short-ranged claw swipes and can ride a motorcycle that both makes her faster and gives her stronger attacks) and Milla Basset (who can hover for short distances as well as summon magical barriers and cubes, which serve as both projectiles and a short-ranged but powerful burst attack).  The fast-paced action and fluid animation also fit the aesthetic perfectly, creating a game that's flashy and intense and whose puzzles don't intrude on the fast pace.

56. Simcity 3000 Unlimited (Maxis, 2000)

Simcity was of course a big hit and Simcity 2000 even moreso, so 3000 had quite big shoes to fill to live up to its legacy; moreso because it was the first game in the series that Will Wright wasn't involved in creating.  They did an admirable job, though - initially planned to be in full 3D, those plans were eventually scrapped owing to hardware limitations of the time and the game went back to a 2D style, giving it a substantial visual overhaul and larger maps to compensate.  One prominent new element is that you now have to implement trash collection services, and you have the option to make business deals with neighboring cities - either to offload some of your own problems at a cost or take on some of theirs for extra revenue.  You'll also get proposals for things like golf courses, maximum security prisons or casinos, which bring in a substantial amount of cash but often come with a sizable hit to land value, crime or pollution.  The Unlimited expansion (released under many different names depending on the region) also adds in numerous real-life landmarks to decorate your cities with and even an easy-to-use editor to create your own, letting you put some amazing new touches on your creations.  The third Simcity may not have been a huge leap over 2000 in terms of design, but when it's so well made and fun, I certainly won't complain.

55. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos/The Frozen Throne (Blizzard, 2002/2003)

Warcraft was one of Blizzard's earliest hits; an early real-time strategy game with two long and varied campaigns and plenty of charm and atmosphere.  The sequel offered a vastly improved UI, faster pace and larger-scale battles, and Warcraft III certainly upped the ante too.  The total number of playable factions was raised to four (adding the corpse-manipulating Undead and nature-oriented Night Elves) and some RPG elements were worked into the proceedings - each army gets their own unique "hero units" that power up after defeating foes, carry an inventory of items (like stat boosting equipment or potions to recover HP) and have powerful spells that can quickly turn the tide of battles.  The Frozen Throne is a great expansion too, adding new units for each army, two neutral factions (the Naga and the Dranei), reintroducing naval battles, and of course continuing the storyline from the original game.  It's just a shame that Activision has seen fit to taint its legacy with the absolutely wretched "remaster" called Warcraft III: Reforged, which not only has mountains of bugs and glitches, but you can't even play the original version online anymore AND they get dibs on any custom games you make with their engine.  Nice one, morons!

54. Shadowrun: Dragonfall/Hong Kong (Harebrained Schemes, 2014/2015)

The second and third games in the rebooted Shadowrun franchise, and easily my favorite ones so far, expanding on everything the original brought to the table while losing nothing that made it great.  The story is nothing short of brilliant, bringing together a cast of diverse and complex characters to solve the mystery of their friend's death and the underlying conspiracy behind it.  Throughout the game, every choice you make seems to be the wrong one, making you new enemies and seemingly digging you deeper into a pit you can't escape from, while the combat only gets more intense with enemies bringing out bigger guns, setting up nastier traps and summoning bigger monsters to get in your way.  Stellar stuff all around, and a perfect example of how to do a grim, atmospheric game experience right.

53. Ultima VII Part 2: the Serpent Isle (Origin Systems, 1993)

The direct followup to Ultima VII (and the spinoff game Ultima Underworld II), Serpent Isle was also a callback to the franchise's earliest days, returning to worlds not seen since Ultima 1 and showing a world very different and considerably more troubled than the Britannia we've come to know.  The stakes were higher too; not just with the looming threat of the Guardian and his underlings, but a cosmic imbalance is causing reality itself to slowly unravel, adding considerably to your woes.  Unfortunately the game was also the first to really suffer from the EA buyout, as the world feels much more barren and the latter half in particular very rushed and definitely not up to the series' high standards in design.  Nevertheless, the story is captivating and the solid engine of 7 is tuned up in quite a few ways, making it another very worthwhile Ultima adventure.

52. Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga (Dancing Dragon Games, 2022)

Another example of a game clearly inspired by classics of the genre (Fire Emblem and Ogre Battle in particular), but which ends up being so well-made that it stands out and becomes a fantastic title in itself.  Case in point, you move across the map with your squads (consisting of up to nine units of varying classes), capturing towns, utilizing strongholds and terrain to give themselves an advantage in skirmishes, and exploring characters through mid-battle dialog scenes. Battles get surprisingly large in scale (sometimes overwhelmingly so), though you get powers to do things like grant units extra turns or deal damage over a large area to help speed things up or get yourself out of a jam.  A wonderful and engrossing strategy RPG.

51. Ion Fury (Voidpoint, 2019)

The prequel to the 2016 flop "Bombshell" but thankfully it succeeds in every way its predecessor failed, bringing back the Build Engine with all the panache and clever design that made games like Duke Nukem and Blood great in the first place.  Fast-paced action in surprisingly realistic environments (well, as much as a twenty-four year old engine can muster, at least) with a huge number of interactive objects, secrets to find, clever enemy designs, tons of references to old 3D Realms games and a cool wisecracking protagonist, as well as some new features for the engine like climbable ladders and alt-fire for almost every weapon.  It may not be the modern era's prettiest shooter, but I was having too much fun with it to care.  Ion Fury is the long-lost cousin of all the classic '90s shooters.

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