- Joined
- Mar 7, 2023
unfortunately old PC games are kind of like carbureted cars. you need special equipment with specialized knowledge, they're tricky to set up, let alone play, and you might get stuck if you don't have generalized time-period experience (ex. understanding that some older games could not assume you owned a mouse). not only that, but the kinds of people who know how they work now are salty old people or young autistic fruitloops, so take your pick of which unpleasant well of knowledge you'd like to drink from
that said, here are some of my picks
that said, here are some of my picks
Interstate 76 - the "thinking's man" big brother to the simplistic and arcadey Twisted Metal. like it says on the box, it is a simulation game (built off of the MechWarrior II engine) with plenty of 70's style and charm. the sequel is not good but has some good 80's tracks. fun fact: the bad guy is voiced by John de Lancie (that's right, the trickster being with magical powers that stirs up shit for his own amusement in the hit TV show my little pony)
The Specialists & Natural Selection - included together because they are both Half Life 1 mods. The Specialists is a Matrix-themed mod, with a wide array of weapons and a stunt button that lets you flip around the stages to dodge enemy fire and adds some variety in the way you can attack or defend against enemies. probably one of the primary reasons my wrist is as fucked as it is these days. Natural Selection is themed off Star Craft. like in Star Craft you have the marine team, who have a commander that gets an RTS view of the map and can add buildings to the map that the rest of the team needs to build and guard. on the opposite end you have the alien team, who have a basic zergling-type grunt that you start off as but can mutate into different aliens with different abilities. as a solo marine going out to build something there never was a terror like hearing the scuttling of skulks in the distance over the ambient hum noise. you probably cannot play these anymore, since they are multiplayer only and have been abandoned or replaced with new versions
Little Big Adventure 1&2 (EU) / Relentless&Twinsen's Odyssey (USA) - isometric tank control games with charming voice acting and frustrating gameplay. they released an iOS version of the first game and there's currently a team of old developers who have gotten the rights and are trying to do a remake. there's something special about these games. you probably have to see them in action to see why
Alone In The Dark - even though LBA 1/2 were produced by the same guy who made this game (and had the same composer. LBA 1 was the first game Frederick Raynal made after leaving Infogrames and brought some people with him) you've probably actually heard of this game. influenced by Lovecraft and Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu TTRPG (AitD1 was originally supposed to be a licensed game), this game is considered the grandfather of survival horror, if you don't count relatively/completely unknown random japanese things like this stuff or Sweet Home. like a lot of old games zoomers and boomers alike can't stand learning, it's tank controls again
Crusader No Remorse / Crusader No Regret - isometric tank control game with 80s scifi theming and the ability to destroy almost all objects on screen. 90s tracker music. fmv cutscenes. lots of weapons. just all around fun
Teen Agent - you've probably heard of click-and-point greats like Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle. this game is not like those games. the writing is worse. the puzzles are worse. it's very short. but it's interesting enough and a look into what other teams were doing at the time to complete with LucasArts
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast - the goldilocks jedi-simulator game in my book. not too old and janky, not too new and dumbed down. you don't get a lightsaber until 1/3 through the entire game (like all respectable star wars games imo), and there are some parts of the game where using a good old blaster is actually a better option than your lightsaber
Planescape: Torment - this is a gigantic fucking book for nerds cleverly disguised as a top down CPRG with boring mediocre combat. it's a pretty interesting book though
Oni - a 3d beat'em up game set in the near future featuring an anime waifu. interesting set of attacks that i skip over to do the neck-breaker over and over and an interesting set of weapons with a pretty good simplified ammo system. i'd say it could use a remake but they'd find some way to fuck up the nice balance of melee and ranged combat the original pulled off, probably something having to do with takedowns like with the newer Deus Ex games. they'd probably make the anime waifu a troon or something too
Duke Nukem 1&2 - you thought the letters "3D" were going to be at the end of the title? fooled you. Duke Nukem 1 and 2 are interesting little sidescroller shooters in their own right
The Specialists & Natural Selection - included together because they are both Half Life 1 mods. The Specialists is a Matrix-themed mod, with a wide array of weapons and a stunt button that lets you flip around the stages to dodge enemy fire and adds some variety in the way you can attack or defend against enemies. probably one of the primary reasons my wrist is as fucked as it is these days. Natural Selection is themed off Star Craft. like in Star Craft you have the marine team, who have a commander that gets an RTS view of the map and can add buildings to the map that the rest of the team needs to build and guard. on the opposite end you have the alien team, who have a basic zergling-type grunt that you start off as but can mutate into different aliens with different abilities. as a solo marine going out to build something there never was a terror like hearing the scuttling of skulks in the distance over the ambient hum noise. you probably cannot play these anymore, since they are multiplayer only and have been abandoned or replaced with new versions
Little Big Adventure 1&2 (EU) / Relentless&Twinsen's Odyssey (USA) - isometric tank control games with charming voice acting and frustrating gameplay. they released an iOS version of the first game and there's currently a team of old developers who have gotten the rights and are trying to do a remake. there's something special about these games. you probably have to see them in action to see why
Alone In The Dark - even though LBA 1/2 were produced by the same guy who made this game (and had the same composer. LBA 1 was the first game Frederick Raynal made after leaving Infogrames and brought some people with him) you've probably actually heard of this game. influenced by Lovecraft and Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu TTRPG (AitD1 was originally supposed to be a licensed game), this game is considered the grandfather of survival horror, if you don't count relatively/completely unknown random japanese things like this stuff or Sweet Home. like a lot of old games zoomers and boomers alike can't stand learning, it's tank controls again
Crusader No Remorse / Crusader No Regret - isometric tank control game with 80s scifi theming and the ability to destroy almost all objects on screen. 90s tracker music. fmv cutscenes. lots of weapons. just all around fun
Teen Agent - you've probably heard of click-and-point greats like Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle. this game is not like those games. the writing is worse. the puzzles are worse. it's very short. but it's interesting enough and a look into what other teams were doing at the time to complete with LucasArts
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast - the goldilocks jedi-simulator game in my book. not too old and janky, not too new and dumbed down. you don't get a lightsaber until 1/3 through the entire game (like all respectable star wars games imo), and there are some parts of the game where using a good old blaster is actually a better option than your lightsaber
Planescape: Torment - this is a gigantic fucking book for nerds cleverly disguised as a top down CPRG with boring mediocre combat. it's a pretty interesting book though
Oni - a 3d beat'em up game set in the near future featuring an anime waifu. interesting set of attacks that i skip over to do the neck-breaker over and over and an interesting set of weapons with a pretty good simplified ammo system. i'd say it could use a remake but they'd find some way to fuck up the nice balance of melee and ranged combat the original pulled off, probably something having to do with takedowns like with the newer Deus Ex games. they'd probably make the anime waifu a troon or something too
Duke Nukem 1&2 - you thought the letters "3D" were going to be at the end of the title? fooled you. Duke Nukem 1 and 2 are interesting little sidescroller shooters in their own right
