DOOM
1993id Software
The granddaddy of first-person shooters. Rip and tear through hordes of demons on Mars. Changed gaming forever and spawned a million mods.
FILTER:
FPS
// 8 titlesDOOM II
1994id Software
Hell on Earth. Double-barreled shotgun. Super shotgun became the gold standard for satisfying video game weapons. More demons, more carnage.
Quake
1996id Software
True 3D. Rocket jumps. The NIN soundtrack. Online deathmatch that defined competitive FPS. Trent Reznor did the sound design.
Quake II
1997id Software
Strogg invasion. Colored lighting. The railgun. OpenGL acceleration made everything gorgeous. CTF mod was legendary.
Quake III Arena
1999id Software
Pure multiplayer perfection. No story needed. Just frags. The id Tech 3 engine powered a generation of games.
Half-Life
1998Valve
Gordon Freeman. Black Mesa. No cutscenes, just seamless storytelling. Crowbar became iconic. Modding scene birthed Counter-Strike.
Unreal Tournament
1999Epic Games
M-M-M-MONSTER KILL. Flak cannon. Facing Worlds. The announcer voice lives rent-free in every 90s gamer's head.
Duke Nukem 3D
19963D Realms
Hail to the king, baby. Interactive environments, one-liners, and attitude. The Build engine pushed boundaries in ways nobody expected.
RTS
// 7 titlesStarCraft
1998Blizzard
Three perfectly balanced races. Became a national sport in South Korea. "You must construct additional pylons" echoes through eternity.
Warcraft II
1995Blizzard
Orcs vs Humans, perfected. Naval combat. "Your command?" The RTS that made Blizzard a household name before StarCraft took the throne.
Command & Conquer
1995Westwood Studios
GDI vs Nod. Tiberium harvesting. Full-motion video cutscenes that were peak 90s cheese. The RTS genre exploded because of this game.
C&C: Red Alert
1996Westwood Studios
Einstein, time travel, Tesla coils. Hell March is the greatest RTS soundtrack ever recorded. Soviets vs Allies never gets old.
Age of Empires
1997Ensemble Studios
From Stone Age to Iron Age. Wololo. Ensemble Studios created the historical RTS genre that spawned a franchise lasting decades.
Age of Empires II
1999Ensemble Studios
Medieval warfare perfected. Still has an active competitive scene 25+ years later. The definitive historical RTS experience.
Total Annihilation
1997Cavedog
Massive scale warfare with true 3D terrain. The physics engine was years ahead of its time. Commander explosions were nuclear.
ACTION_RPG
// 2 titlesDiablo
1996Blizzard North
Click. Loot. Repeat. The dungeon crawler that spawned an entire genre. That guitar riff in Tristram still gives chills.
Diablo II
2000Blizzard North
Stay a while and listen. Five acts of loot-driven perfection. Baal runs. Mephisto runs. Trading SOJs. The ARPG king.
CRPG
// 4 titlesBaldur's Gate
1998BioWare
D&D brought to life. The Sword Coast. Minsc and Boo. BioWare's first masterpiece that revived the CRPG genre from the dead.
Fallout
1997Interplay
War never changes. Post-nuclear California. SPECIAL system. Vault 13 needs a water chip and you're the one to find it.
Fallout 2
1998Black Isle
Bigger, darker, funnier. The Chosen One. New Reno. The Enclave. Pop culture references everywhere. Peak isometric RPG.
Planescape: Torment
1999Black Isle
What can change the nature of a man? The most well-written RPG ever made. The Nameless One. Sigil. Pure narrative brilliance.
FPS/RPG
// 2 titlesSystem Shock 2
1999Irrational Games
Look at you, hacker. SHODAN returns. Survival horror meets RPG meets FPS. The spiritual predecessor to BioShock.
Deus Ex
2000Ion Storm
JC Denton. Conspiracies within conspiracies. Multiple solutions to every problem. The immersive sim that defined player choice.
STEALTH
// 1 titleThief: The Dark Project
1998Looking Glass
Garrett. Shadows. Water arrows. The game that invented the stealth genre. Sound design so good you played with headphones cranked.
STRATEGY/TACTICAL
// 1 titleX-COM: UFO Defense
1994Mythos Games
Alien invasion. Permadeath squads. Base building. The tension of fog-of-war turn-based combat has never been matched.
STRATEGY
// 2 titlesCivilization II
1996MicroProse
One more turn. Just one more. Built empires from 4000 BC to the space age. The game that ate weekends and ruined sleep schedules.
Heroes of Might & Magic III
1999New World Computing
Turn-based strategy perfection. Castle sieges. Artifact hunting. The most replayable strategy game of the decade.
SIMULATION
// 3 titlesSimCity 2000
1993Maxis
Isometric city building perfection. Water pipes. Arcologies. "You can't cut back on funding! You will regret this!" Reticulating splines.
RollerCoaster Tycoon
1999Chris Sawyer
Hand-coded in assembly language by one person. Built coasters that launched guests into orbit. Guest 437 is lost and can't find the park exit.
The Sims
2000Maxis
Virtual dollhouse. Remove the pool ladder. Simlish. Will Wright created a cultural phenomenon. Everyone's guilty pleasure.
MECH_SIM
// 1 titleMechWarrior 2
1995Activision
Timber Wolf. Clan Wolf vs Jade Falcon. That opening cinematic. 3D accelerated mechs stomping across alien landscapes.
ADVENTURE
// 1 titleMyst
1993Cyan
A mysterious island. Cryptic puzzles. Pre-rendered beauty. The best-selling PC game until The Sims. CD-ROM showcase.