Yes, Dune almost made my list! That’s a design I would love to see resurrected (an strategy game from the point of view of the main character, so story driven and personal). King of Dragon pass is similar, but less character focused (you are not a specific person as you are in Dune).
I agree with what Porousnapkin said, but to add to it:
-For anyone who’s curious about what these roguelike things are all about, this is the game I point them to. It’s traditional in the sense that it’s turn-based and most of its gameplay systems parallel those in Rogue/NetHack/DCSS/Angband/etc., but it’s drastically more accessible due to having quite pleasant graphics and a much more graspable gamepad interface.
-Being more accessible doesn’t mean dumbed down. It still has plenty of teeth and demands very smart resource management, tactics, and item usage. And once you’ve completed the initial 30-floor quest, there are additional themed dungeons available.
-In other words, it occupies a near-unique middle ground combining the gameplay chops of the genre’s landmark pillars and the player-friendliness of modern graphical stuff like Dungeons of Dredmor, 100 Rogues, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, etc.
-The system of some permanent changes taking place in the world and and the ability to store items for use in future runs works really well to add a thread of continuity to subsequent plays without making the later runs dominated by what you bring into them. This is the first stirrings of the ability to keep items and experience levels that would later see the Mystery Dungeon series and most other Japanese graphical roguelikes that followed in their footsteps slide into tedious mediocrity by missing the point of the genre and retreating from what makes it work, but here it is restrained and works very well.
-Unlike the PC games it is following in the footsteps of, Shiren is incredibly focused and bloat-free. Every item and weapon has a niche, and nearly every monster has a distinctive mechanical identity that forces you to play differently around them rather than being just a sack of hit points and attack power.
-In the first town, there’s an NPC who has 100 “problems”, each of which is a tiny pre-constructed puzzle using the rules of the game to teach some interesting mechanic or item interaction. A good chunk of these are also applicable to other roguelikes. Completing one before each attempt at the dungeon gives you a free item as a reward, and once they’re all done, there’s a 99-level “final problem” dungeon that is completely pure in the sense that you always start with nothing.
-The version I recommend is on DS, and is an enhanced port of the SNES original. The PSP version looks to be based on the Wii one, which I also played, and would not recommend anywhere near as highly. It’s one of the latter-day Mystery Dungeon games I mentioned above, with lots of small dungeons, items/experience carrying forward on death, and much more focus on story. I still liked it enough to finish, but it’s nowhere near the same quality. If you don’t have a DS but your PSP has CFW, I would buy the version there so Chunsoft gets some money, but also go find the fan translation of the SNES original.
-The excellent @Play roguelike column did several entries on Shiren that go into much more detail on why it’s so great if you want to read more.
All right, here we go -
1 Starflight
2 Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
3 Planetfall
4 Super Metroid
5 X-Wing
6 Mass Effect
7 Magic Candle
8 Bulletstorm
9 Red Dead Revolver
10 Psychonauts
11 Plants vs Zombies
12 Gradius V
13 Grand Theft Auto 3
14 The Witcher 2
15 Adventure (Atari)
16 Day of the Tentacle
17 Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction
18 M.U.L.E.
19 Galaga
20 Dragon Quest VIII
21 Gabriel Knight Sins of the Fathers
22 Mario Golf Advance Tour
23 A Mind Forever Voyaging
24 Skies of Arcadia
25 Starcraft
26 Choplifter
27 Doom
28 Portal 2
29 Fallout New Vegas
30 Defender
31 Brutal Legend
32 Planescape: Torment
33 Forza Horizon
34 Hardball
35 Picross 3D
36 Interstate 76
37 Tomb Raider
38 Shadow Complex
39 Crimson Skies
40 The Mark of Kri
41 Diablo 3
42 Silent Hill 2
43 The Longest Journey
44 Crackdown
45 Civilization 2
46 Einhander
47 Ultima V
48 Loderunner
49 Rez
50 Okami
51 Bully
52 Advance Wars
53 Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
54 Katamari Damacy
55 Deus Ex: Human Revolution
56 Rock Band
57 Street Fighter 2
58 Wasteland
59 Mirror’s Edge
60 VVVVVV
61 In the Hunt
62 Moon Patrol
63 Castlevania Symphony of the Night
64 Dead Space
65 Tecmo Bowl
66 Halo Reach
67 Final Fantasy III
68 System Shock 2
69 Pitfall 2
70 Donkey Kong (Game Boy)
71 Crusader: No Remorse
72 Autoduel
73 Star Control 2
74 Zuma’s Revenge
75 Blue Max
76 Defender
77 Fallen London
78 Prof Layton and the Unwound Future
79 Timesplitters Future Perfect
80 Dishonored
81 Knights of the Old Republic 2
82 Ancient Domains of Mystery
83 Mark of the Ninja
84 Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando
85 Battlezone
86 Carmageddon
87 Raid on Bungeling Bay
88 Space Pirates and Zombies
89 Bard’s Tale (not that one)
90 R-Type Final
91 Voodoo Vince
92 Fez
93 Burnout Paradise
94 Super Mario World
95 SSX Tricky
96 Ancient Art of War
97 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
98 Driver: San Francisco
99 Parappa the Rapper
100 Star Trek Online
I tried to stick to the rules as given, so no multiples in a set of sequels, I chose the one in a series I liked best such as Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, the first Mass Effect, Ratchet and Clank Going Commando. There was just no way I was going to be able to stick to one platform though.
In cases where the version of the game was in question, I tried to clarify. For instance, there have been many version of Donkey Kong released on many platforms, but I love the old Game Boy version best. So many levels.
I admit I did poach a couple off other folks’ lists, but not many. I already had Planetfall and A Mind Forever Voyaging on my list before I saw them show up so many times on other folks’, but I guess we all pray at the altar of Steve Meretzky.
I was surprised in the tally that there were so many JRPGs, which I don’t really consider myself a fan of. But Skies of Arcadia and Dragon Quest VIII are a couple of the best games ever, and who can deny Final Fantasy III and Chrono Trigger?
Anyway, it was a fun thought experiment even if nobody reads it. That’s enough wankery out of me for the next few minutes at least.
I hope you like it. It’s more there for it’s narrative and visuals then anything else, so it may not be up your alley, but it is directed by Hideki Kamiya (who directed Bayonetta and Viewtiful Joe). Also, unrelated, but I entirely share you feelings on Dredmor. I understand why it’s appreciated, but I feel like it misses some fundamental aspects of what makes the genre work and no amount of interesting abilities or well written humor can recover from that.
Whoa, Bulletstorm in the top 10 and Brutal Legend in the top 50 are some pretty interesting picks. Bulletstorm was such an interesting game, I hope its ideas get explored again somewhere.
Also awesome to see Mark of Kri on there. That was an excellent game I’d forgotten about. Definitely one of my favorite action-games on the PS2. (And Defender! Not sure how I missed that one.)
Well said. Shiren was right around the top third of my list, and it’s probably my favorite roguelike because of how tight and polished the design is. Also how nice everything looks compared to most other serious roguelikes.
I don’t know why I never played Skies of Arcadia, aside from the fact that I forgot it existed. I’ve heard a lot of good things. I should get on that someday.
Pogue – Magic Candle is a stand-out to me. I got that on my Apple II in absolute end-days of the system. I probably got a PC a year or less later. I remember trying it and it being challenging and hard to get into. So what did I miss? What makes it such a high-ranking RPG for you?
Suddenly that triggered a memory of a game I probably should have had on my list: Battletech - Crescent Hawk’s Inception. No one else has mentioned it! Was it actually really terrible? I remember it being kinda amazing.
What’s Voodoo Vince??
Well you didn’t!! Did you ever try the Genesis/Mega Drive version of Starflight??? It has combat and planet exploration more akin to Star Control but with all the underlining mechanics and story of Starflight. I got to these games very late, and despite the promise, I found it very hard to get into the PC versions, but when I found the Genesis one I became a convert.
These are all games I feel very strongly about. I had such a huge time playing Bulletstorm, probably my favorite FPS of the last gen. And Brutal Legend had so much going for it that I could easily overlook its minor flaws. And I’m not even really a metal fan. Mark of Kri, man what can I say about that? One of the earliest games I played with “stealthy” sections, but occasionally you can cut loose with the lumbering behemoth of a character you play. I liked the sequel quite a bit too, just not quite as much.
So many things I loved about this game. I loved that it had a defined end point, a ticking clock. It wasn’t the first game to do this, but that weighed in to this feeling of impending doom and all the tasks you have to accomplish to keep the demon-imprisoning candle from burning out all feed back into that feeling. Plus that you could split up your party, have a couple of hunters gathering food, wizards learning spells, tailors and blacksmiths pursuing their trade for extra cash, all the player characters felt like people. They had lives and pursuits. And back to that candle, I loved that the end game was not some massive boss fight, but a huge ritual requiring many spells, rings, reagents and words of power to regenerate the candle. I’m not a big fantasy guy, but this felt immense and very satisfying to finally accomplish. I sunk months of my life into this game and felt like I got just as much fun back out of my investment. My favorite RPG.
I saw Crescent Hawk’s Inception on someone’s list, drawing a blank whose at the moment. But that was a really great game. I played it on the C64 (same as Magic Candle) and never got to try the sequel because it wasn’t released on that platform. Wonder if it was any good.
Well … it’s a game I really enjoyed. Pretty much just a 3D platformer from the original Xbox era, may have only been released on that platform. I thought it was a hoot, you played as a voodoo doll (named Vince, as you may have guessed) who can poke himself with needles, set himself on fire, etc. in order to defeat his enemies. I loved the setting in New Orleans, the music, the voices, the levels, the humor. It may not hold up well, I haven’t played it in quite some time. But I really enjoyed it.
Funny, that - I actually own a copy of Starflight for Genesis that I picked up at a second hand shop cheap, and I don’t own a Genesis. Just wanted to have it. I played the game on my C64 back in the day, many many hours sunk into that game. Definitely top of the heap for me.
On Magic Candle:
I have Magic Candle in my list so far also, but couldn’t remember some of these details why. Thanks for reminding me! I still have the original game box stuffed full of hand written notes and maps somewhere stored away in the basement.
One more thing about Magic Candle - I played that game over a period of months from late 1989 to early 1990, my senior year of high school. Honestly, I don’t know if I could get back into the game 25 years later, the graphics would probably hurt my eyes and the game definitely required time and effort and attention to detail such is not really required anymore these days. But the fact that this game made such a huge impression on me that still stays with me, that’s why I rank it so highly.
I can understand that. Many games I am coming up with I tried to rank based on the impact they made on me at the time I played them and the memories I have from them. I wouldn’t want to play most of them extensively today.
Magic Candle sounds awesome! I love that idea of a big, multi-element ritual as the final challenge of the game. Thanks for sharing, Pogue.
I think it’s been long enough that I can say that while I might not use quite that wording, I agree with the sentiment.
A simple example from some point in development, 1. our noted strength was ridiculous items so we had to leverage that as much as possible, but 2. adding more items throws off game balance more and more, and is unmanageable to the player anyway due to the limited inventory & item manipulation system and … other reasons, surely. So: Leverage the winning feature and damage control as best you can, or cut the content and do a massive systems overhaul?
(As for the OP- A list of 100 games is going to take some thinking, BRB.)
Thanks for the perspective.
To give credit where it’s due, part of the reason I am harsher on Dredmor than other games that disappointed me is that there was real potential there. The humor and art worked well, the character building skill system was quite good, there were some other clever ideas scattered throughout, and it had the mindshare to serve as a great genre ambassador/entry point. A game that’s just bad or uninspired all the way through is easily written off and never thought of again, but this was a case of real, unique strengths let down by holes in the mechanical foundation underneath them – all icing and no cake.
Anyway, good luck on Clockwork Empires.
This was pretty straightforward. At Backloggery I’ve rated all 389 PC and freeware games I’ve played or replayed since 2007. I built my list from the 21 five-star and 87 four-star games, then added a few old favorites from the 90s. It helped to group them into tiers of roughly 20 games and rank those internally before appending them together. Then I moved a handful of games that were obviously out of place.
Not to be a wet blanket, but the ranking process was a little too arbitrary and pointless for me. I chose to balance nostalgia with modern sensibilities rather than pick one method or the other. It’s still very silly. I could tinker with it to no end. I prefer my vague 5 star rating system. Anyway, it was worth going through the exercise to remember all the spectacular PC games I’ve played over the last two decades. This list is truly mind-boggling.
001 Doom 1/2
002 Fallout
003 X-Com
004 Quake (QWCTF)
005 Deus Ex
006 Ancient Domains of Mystery
007 STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl
008 FreeSpace 2
009 Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin
010 Dark Souls 2
011 Rise of Flight
012 Company of Heroes
013 Fallout 2
014 GTR 2
015 Dragon Age: Origins
016 The Witcher 2
017 Battlefield 3
018 Jagged Alliance 2
019 Batman: Arkham City
020 Cave Story
021 System Shock 2
022 Torchlight 2
023 Skyrim
024 Unity of Command
025 Mount & Blade
026 Starcraft
027 Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition
028 DoomRL
029 Crimzon Clover
030 Knights of the Chalice
031 Korsun Pocket
032 STALKER: Call of Pripyat
033 Mass Effect 3
034 Richard Burns Rally
035 Temple of Elemental Evil
036 One Finger Death Punch
037 Enemy Engaged: Comanche vs Hokum
038 Napoleon: Total War
039 TIE Fighter
040 Baldur’s Gate II / Throne of Bhaal
041 Battlefield: Bad Company 2
042 Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms
043 Knights of the Old Republic 2
044 Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines
045 Jamestown
046 Guitar Hero 3
047 ArmA 2 (DayZ)
048 Aces Wild
049 Crusader Kings II
050 Wargame: AirLand Battle
051 Amnesia
052 Fallout 3
053 La-Mulana
054 Puzzle Quest
055 Space Marine
056 Civilization IV
057 Armageddon Empires
058 VVVVVV
059 AI War
060 Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge
061 Thief
062 Bioshock
063 Alpha Protocol
064 Portal 2
065 Space Rangers 2
066 Bastion
067 Steel Panthers (winSPWW2)
068 Oblivion (Nehrim)
069 Batman: Arkham Asylum
070 Portal
071 Dwarf Fortress
072 Planescape: Torment
073 Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden
074 Silent Storm
075 Fallout: New Vegas
076 Braid
077 Dawn of War II
078 The Walking Dead
079 Hotline Miami
080 Dragon Age II
081 Deus Ex: Human Revolution
082 Xenoblade Chronicles
083 UnReal World
084 Cortex Command
085 Baldur’s Gate
086 Might & Magic VI
087 Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight
088 Mass Effect 2
089 Rainbow Six
090 Myth
091 KAMUI
092 Panzer General (PGF)
093 Cho Ren Sha 68k
094 Space Pirates and Zombies
095 Bioshock 2
096 Jets 'n Guns Gold
097 GTR Evolution
098 Zombie Smashers X2
099 Virtual Pool 3
100 Quake 3
The top 6 were part of my core PC gaming experience in the mid-to-late 90s, along with a few other games that dropped down because they don’t hold quite the same place in my heart 20 years later.
A lot of the other games in my top 20 were my gateway into a genre I never knew I’d love so much, such as GTR2 for race sims, Rise of Flight for flight sims, and Arkham City for 3D brawlers. I’ll cherish games like that for a long time. There are also some all-time favorites I wish I had played at release but never did: FreeSpace 2 and Jagged Alliance 2, for example.
I still have a handful of games in my backlog that could push into the top 20. And the only game that fell victim to early access was race sim Assetto Corsa. I’ve played enough to know that might hit 5 stars depending on the full release, but I’m not ready to rank it.
I almost forgot about a few old favorites from the 90s until I sifted through my binder of installation CDs. It’s hard to rank them against modern games, but I had to put them in there to represent the joy I had playing games during that decade.
Kind of heavy on the older titles, which is more a reflection of how much time I have these days for big games. I’m sure Call of Juarez: Gunslinger and Dishonored will make the top 30 if I ever get around to finishing them.
- X-COM:UFO Defense/Terror from the Deep
- Descent 1/2
- Carmageddon 1/2
- Planets Edge
- Planescape: Torment
- Fallout: New Vegas
- Outlaws
- Freespace 2
- Borderlands 2
- IL-2: 1946
- Homeworld 2/Cataclysm
- Mark of the Ninja
- GTA: San Andreas
- Heroes of Might & Magic III
- Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe
- Battlezone 2
- Red Baron 3D
- Space Rangers 2
- Archimedean Dynasty
- Jagged Alliance 2
- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
- Monaco
- Out of the Park Baseball
- X-Wing/TIE Fighter
- Skyrim
- Star Control 2
- Mig Alley
- Total Annihilation
- Vessel
- Sentinel Worlds I: Future Magic
- Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed
- Privateer
- Just Cause 2
- Deus Ex
- Fallout 3
- XCOM Apocalypse
- Duke Nukem 3D
- Rollercoaster Tycoon 3
- Half Life 2
- GTA: Vice City
- Age of Empires III
- B-17: The Mighty Eighth
- Rise of Nations
- Spellforce 2
- The Swapper
- Doom
- Gunpoint
- Red Baron
- Baldur’s Gate 1/2
- Portal 2
- Age of Empires II
- Dungeon Keeper 2
- Tornado
- Paraworld
- Bulletstorm
- Battle for Middle Earth II
- X-Wing Alliance
- Jedi Knight
- Age of Mythology
- The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing
- Sea Dogs
- Trine 1/2
- Rainbow Six
- Warlords Battlecry 1/2/3
- Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis
- Stealth Bastard Deluxe
- Overlord
- Terraria
- Creeper World 3
- Rollercoaster Tycoon 1/2
- Test Drive Unlimited 2
- Magic & Mayhem
- Hexen
- Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
- Defense Grid
- Nox
- FTL: Faster than Light
- European Air War
- Rock of Ages
- World of Goo
- Tron 2
- Bioshock
- Psychonauts
- Port Royale
- US Navy Fighters
- Tomb Raider (original)
- Star Wolves
- Beat Hazard
- Dungeon Siege
- Far Cry
- King’s Bounty
- The Godfather
- Shadow Warrior (original)
- Steamworld Dig
- Heretic 2
- Zombie Driver
- Hoard
- Broforce
- Dark Reign
100.Delve Deeper
Oh, man! So many cool things I’ve never heard of!
Sorry, what?
And WHAT?
And this is…?
Is that a thing?
What I did was list as many games as I could think of from memory and then browse my Steam list and all my old game manuals to see if I missed anything. I also threw in a few old C64/early PC games from memory that I wanted to include. Most people will also notice how many great classics (modern or older) I don’t have on my list and that is because there are so many I have never played. These include most FPS and games like Portal.
I tried to stay away from sequels, but in a few cases I included more than one when they were either far apart in years or quite a bit different in some areas. I believe I removed most of them in the end, though.
Next I went through the list one by one assigning an approximate number that came to my head immediately and put it next to it in Excel. When I was done, I auto sorted them and then fixed the numbers so that they were sequential and this is what I came up with. I was really tempted to go through and agonize over which ones to shift up or down, but there was a reason I picked the numbers when I did so I have decided to stick with the list as is.
I have a heavy influence on MMORPGs, RPGs, some sports and puzzle games, and lots of strategy. I tried to rank them on the experience I had with them at the time and the impact they have made on me even today. I will try to elaborate more on a few of the picks, but am anxious to get this list out!
1 Everquest
2 Links 386 Pro (Links Tour)
3 Ultima 4
4 Dominions 4
5 Dark Age of Camelot
6 Gold Box AD&D Games
7 Magic: The Gathering
8 Might & Magic 1
9 Warcraft II
10 Diablo
11 Borderlands
12 Diablo III
13 Ultima Online
14 Heroes of Might and Magic V
15 Meridian 59
16 Bioshock
17 Dungeon Siege
18 Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
19 Rise of Nations
20 Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager
21 Warlords IV
22 World of Warcraft
23 Eador: Masters of the Broken World
24 Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon
25 Hexen
26 Impossible Mission (1984 - Epyx)
27 Freespace 2
28 Magic Carpet
29 Rift
30 Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
31 Hardball III
32 Star League Baseball
33 Fantasy General
34 Baldur’s Gate II
35 Civilization IV
36 Tritryst
37 Starcraft II
38 Icewind Dale
39 Star Wars Galaxies
40 Descent II
41 Links LS
42 Red Baron
43 Sim City 2000
44 Dwarf Fortress
45 Crusader: No Remorse
46 King’s Bounty: The Legend
47 Magic Candle
48 Dungeons of Dredmor
49 Terraria
50 Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
51 M.U.L.E.
52 Alpha Centauri
53 Guild Wars 2
54 You Don’t Know Jack
55 Galactic Civilizations II
56 Pinball FX2
57 Shadowbane
58 Telengard
59 Warhammer Online
60 Master of Magic
61 Occult Chronicles
62 Sacred 2
63 Nascar Racing (Papyrus)
64 Front Page Sports: Football Pro
65 Imperialism II
66 City of Heroes
67 Perpetuum
68 Theme Hospital
69 Age of Empires
70 Conquest of Elysium
71 The Secret World
72 7th Guest
73 Master of Orion
74 Anarchy Online
75 Battle Chess
76 Blade Runner
77 FTL: Faster Than Light
78 Ultimate Yahtzee
79 Worms
80 Brogue
81 Distant Worlds
82 EVE Online
83 Myth
84 Power Poker (1994 - EA)
85 Puzzle Quest
86 Avadon
87 Realms of Arkania series
88 Phantasmagoria
89 Dungeon Hack
90 Trophy Bass (1995 - Sierra)
91 Jumpman
92 Atomic Bomberman
93 Archon
94 Dungeon Keeper
95 Path of Exile
96 Blood & Magic
97 Duke Nukem 3D
98 Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller
99 Fate
100 Tales of Maj’Eyal
I was very close to including these on my list. The crusader series is sadly forgotten.
What’s this?