80. Sid Meier's Civilization IV (Firaxis Games, 2005)
Sid Meier's Civilization series has always been a genre defining classic, and many fans consider IV to be the pinnacle of the series. It isn't hard to see why, either, as it takes everything great about its predecessors and gives it an immaculate level of polish and balance. It supports player customization for virtually every element and a number of high-quality expansions; Beyond the Sword in particular adds fun things like corporations that can generate tons of resources (and gum up your opponents' economies when used well). Still, the core concept remains much the same - build cities and armies, research new technologies, build world wonders, and reach one of the win conditions before your opponents do. But as the old saying goes: Don't fix what ain't broken! Plus, it has
Leonard Nimoy doing the narration; you just can't argue with that kind of awesome.
79. I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (CyberDreams, 1995)
A point-and-click adventure based on the Harlan Ellison story, which sparked quite a lot of controversy for its twisted themes that depicted all the worst elements of humanity. While the protagonists are far from innocent (one notably being a Nazi doctor with a story set in a death camp), its themes of redemption and overcoming failure won out, turning it into a very compelling story even if its puzzles were not always the best and the voice acting was, as per the period, mediocre (save for AM, voiced by Ellison himself, who is clearly having a lot of fun with the role). It's recently gotten a number of modern ports thanks to Nightdive, and the original is playable in both DOSBox and ScummVM, so it's well worth a look for fans of good stories.
78. Beyond Shadowgate (Zojoi, 2024)
It took a decade to get done, but 2014's Shadowgate reboot finally got its sequel - Beyond Shadowgate. Bearing virtually no resemblance to the action-adventure Turbografx-CD title of the same name, this is based on the originally pitched design document is very much a callback to the point-and-click style titles of the '80s, even recreating the familiar interface, dry sense of humor and pixel art with very limited animation of the classic titles. There are also numerous callbacks to those titles, from lines of dialog to straight-up cameo locales returning, which I quite liked as a long-time fan. Thankfully they also avoid a lot of the annoying trappings of frustrating old '80s adventures, with logical puzzles and no ways to make the quest unwinnable (none that I could find at any rate). If you're a fan of the classic ICOM titles, this is one you don't want to miss.
77. 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 deaths and the underlying conspiracies behind them. 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.
76. Severed Steel (Greylock Studio, 2021)
A fast paced, frenetic shooter that feels like a mashup of Max Payne, Vanquish and Superhot. Hop, slide and wall-run while mowing down waves of soldiers with head-shots and explosions. You also get an arm cannon that lets you blast through walls to get the jump on foes or make shortcuts, so it's just pure unadulterated shooting action and fun. Admittedly it is rather short - the campaign only runs about 4 hours - but there's daily challenges and bonus stages aplenty too, so it's great fun for just picking up for a few minutes and going on a wild power trip whenever the mood strikes.
75. Worlds of Ultima: the Savage Empire (Origin Systems, 1990)
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. Savage Empire was the first of these two spinoffs and it's a pretty intriguing tale, telling the story of a prehistoric valley where several of Earth's lost civilizations have appeared and must seek a way home while uniting the tribes against a common enemy. It's a fairly short adventure, but the addition of cutscenes (as still frame images), some clever puzzle solving and item crafting and a different but effective magic system make it a tale worth experiencing nevertheless.
74. Shadow Warrior (3D Realms, 1997)
3D Realms famously abided by a philosophy of only releasing games "When they're done", even to the point of restarting development multiple times to stay on the bleeding edge. But while Duke Nukem Forever became infamous for this, Shadow Warrior was the first to really showcase it - prototype builds of this game dating all the way back to 1994 were made available on Steam, showing just how much was changed and added as development dragged on. By the time it finally debuted in 1997 it was just a bit too late to impress gamers, as the fully-3D Quake was out by then and Quake II wasn't far off. Still, stuff like voxel models, turrets, vehicles, dynamic environments, reflective surfaces, true room-over-room and multiple firing modes for each weapon were pretty novel at the time, and of course the game is absolutely awash in 3D Realms' irreverent and often juvenile humor. From fortune cookies full of double entendres to pervy anime references to Lo Wang's constant wisecracks (voiced by John Galt doing a bad faux-Asian accent), it's an incredibly absurd and fun experience. It's also free to play nowadays, so anyone with an interest in silly '90s shooters owes it at least one go.
73. The Incredible Machine (Jeff Tunnell Productions, 1993)
A puzzle game built on a great concept, having you solve various objectives using a collection of parts, each with unique properties and applications, to construct elaborate Rube Goldberg devices. So something as simple as "guide the mouse to the mousehole" can involve pulleys, rope, balloons, scissors, pipes and a springboard, and that's just one of hundreds of scenarios spread across the series. The first game later had an expanded release (The Even More Incredible Machine), two sequels that got expanded versions themselves, and a spiritual successor (Contraption Maker) that added even more goals to complete and parts to experiment with, so fans of logic puzzles had quite a lot to enjoy from this series.
72. The Incredible Toon Machine (Jeff Tunnell Productions, 1994/1996)
The Incredible Toon Machine is an offshoot of the Incredible Machine series which adds cartoon logic into the mix, pitting the titular characters against one another on the backdrop of a series of puzzles. To this end, you'll fire catapults, utilize lights and magnifying glasses to burn things, use elaborate systems of ropes, pulleys and conveyor belts to transport objects, and, of course, cause mayhem with anvils, dynamite, revolvers and bombs. The between-level cutscenes in the CD release were also a lot of fun, having Sidney Mouse and Al E. Cat (voiced by Rob Paulsen and Jim Cummings respectively) explain your objectives with bits of animation and plenty of jokes. Oddly the game also had a Japan-exclusive
reskin for the Playstation and Sega Saturn, changing the objects and characters to ones from the Ghosts n' Goblins franchise.
71. Grim Fandango (LucasArts/Double Fine, 1998/2015)
Another highly-acclaimed tale from Tim Schafer and Lucasarts; unfortunately critical acclaim doesn't necessarily translate to strong sales, so they began to wind down their adventure game development shortly after this one's release (only releasing one more Monkey Island game after). Still, it attracted enough of a fan following to get a remaster and remains acclaimed for its clever premise, inventive art style and strong sense of humor. Starring Manny Vargas, a "travel agent" for the Land of the Dead, he seeks to unravel a conspiracy and restore the natural order of the afterlife. It does use tank controls and fixed camera angles so moving and navigation takes some getting used to, but once you get it down you're in for a high-quality adventure.
