Gothic II: Gold Edition
The Gothic series and Gothic 2 (w/ addon) has a cult following in both Germany as well as Eastern Europe. Developed by a tiny indie studio it featured absolutely fantastic storytelling in a fantasy world without any of the usual high fantasy bullcrap. The entire Gothic series is low Fantasy, similar to the Witcher series, but not as grim. What makes Gothic 2 really shine, isn’t grittyness, but roughness. It is an unique RPG in the way that there is a difference between knocking someone out and actually killing them, meaning that bashing in a few heads is a viable strategy for many quests, without actually having to become a mass murderer. This allows for very intricate quest design and many memorable moments. It also spoils the inner child in me when I once again have the ability to verbally announce that the player character is going to plant his fist into the face of someone and most of the time, for good reason.
– Real player with 342.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Atmospheric Singleplayer Games.
With most of the games what you see is what you get. But this isn’t the case. Gothic is a great game but Gothic 2 takes it on a whole new level. The amount of content, creativity and how much work the devs put into it is amazing. Another reminder that quality world building is important in games. Majority of devs don’t realize that having shit world design is a gamebreaker, so they just copy and paste same locations in a huge but empy world, make quests with obvious outcomes and no variety and dumb everything down. With this game though the bar was set so high that the devs from PB never managed to get close again. And likely they never will after Risen\Elex.
– Real player with 196.4 hrs in game
Thief™ Gold
I can’t believe I played this game 20 years ago and it’s still a blast. Well, it’s my number one game, just look at my avatar.
Technology:
The way this game is meant to be played is with TFix + HDMod. I repeat !!!TFix!!! (not TGTool). I can safely say that now the game looks better than ever, even compared to its original release back in 98. The reason why is pretty simple - the hardware limitations at that time were quite significant. TFix patches the game with the unofficial New Dark Engine lifting the limitations imposed by the original Dark Engine. There are many improvements: support for higher resolution, the in-game objects have significantly more polygons, bugfixes, HD textures.
– Real player with 71.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Atmospheric Stealth Games.
It is amazing how as computing technology improves and new tools such as VR are introduced that consumers continue to pine for ‘better’ and ‘more immersive’ games, as though immersion is some ideal we may hope to one day achieve once the graphics are good enough and the gadgets we attach to our forehead become more effective. However, one need only look back to the late 90’s, when a developer known as Looking Glass studios was already forging the path for immersive simulators decades ahead of time.
– Real player with 61.2 hrs in game
Thief™ II: The Metal Age
This is going to be a long one! As my name entitles, this is probably one of THE best stealth game ever made! I will go in depth why it is and why you should be playing it:
Let’s start off with a list. What makes a stealth game one of the greats? In my own personal opinion it is: Have engaging, functional, and consistent stealth mechanics. Provide the player with alternate routes and methods of completing an objective. have interesting, unique levels. Have said levels progressively provide harder challenges to overcome. little to no combat, and have an engaging story and setting that makes the player want to progress. Every stealth game I have ever played usually doesn’t have all of these things checked marked on the list. MGS has forced combat and has a questionably written story. The first two Splinter Cell games were far too linear and also forced combat at times. Not to mention the sub par stories. Conviction tries way too hard to un-check every thing on this list. Dishonored’s story is cliche and is WAY too easy any way you play it (Yes, even the non lethal no powers run is too easy). The list goes on. That’s why everyone’s favorite stealth games usually are Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, the Hitman series, Death to Spies, and other games that manage to check the checklist. What about Thief 2?
– Real player with 238.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Atmospheric Stealth Games.
Intro
Thief II The Metal Age is easily one of the best games of all time and the pinnacle of not only stealth in video games, but level design and story telling. I may be in the minority in saying that I prefer both the original and Deadly Shadows more, but goddamn if this isn’t a worthy successor in every way, continuing the series and building upon the world that you helped shape by the end of the last game.
The Great:
++The sound design in this game is phenomenal. The propergation engine, the voice acting, the ambient effects… it’s totally unique (to this day!), and hugely innovative in its connection to gameplay, etc. Everything is just at the highest standard possible, which is to say, totally unmatched.
– Real player with 237.4 hrs in game
Arx Fatalis
Highly recommended for those that have played and liked games like Ultima Underworld or Dungeon Master (Legend of Grimrock).
The developers wanted to created Ultima Underworld 3 but were unable to get the license from you know who, which is a shame. With stronger resources this game could have been very special indeed. For an old game (2002), the graphics are pretty good and sound in some instances quite amazing, the game engine has aged well. I played the game of Steam and in Windows 7 and it was more or less playable apart from some memory crashes - I learned to save often using all the save slots - you need to do this too, especially when you move between levels. It is best to play the game without any background noise such as the TV/ music or radio - believe that. Not only will you get immersed in the game world, beautifully crafted by the designers, you won’t miss key information said aloud by your character and then never repeated!
– Real player with 44.3 hrs in game
Anyone who has played Dishonored 2 will have trouble believing that the same company that made that game also made this one, a few decades ago, and I mean that in the best of ways (in the best of ways for Arx Fatalis, the comparison doesn’t favor their later projects). And just to be clear, this was the first time I played Arx Fatalis, I had no nostalgia goggles to affect my judgment.
Arx Fatalis is a metroidvania First Person action-oriented RPG, that “can” be played entirely as a First Person Stealth game, similar to the Thief series, but equal focus has been put into its other playstyles. The medieval fantasy world of Arx is an underground network of caverns and tunnels, as the world goes through an apocalyptic winter above-ground. Goblins, Trolls, Humans, sexy Snake Ladies and recently genocided Dwarves call this place their home, and somewhat coexist.
– Real player with 37.7 hrs in game
Disciples II: Gallean’s Return
!!!!! ON WINDOWS 7/10: !!!!!
Run with Direct3D turned on, stretch to fullscreen, and 800x600 res. Trust me btw, the 800x600 res looks INCREDIBLE b/c of the awesome textures in this game.
70 hours in at the time of this review, I just finished the 2nd campaign (there are 4, and this isn’t even the expansion set) on Average (normal) difficulty. This is a game that will challenge you, but also reward you. Whether you build massive armies or put all of your time and energy into one unit, you will be surprised how difficult it is to stop moving those little bastards around. Buy this game if you have the opportunity.
– Real player with 213.3 hrs in game
One of the all times favourites games : Diablo2, Age of Empires 1&2, Disciples 1&2. Special mention for Civilizations 3 Heroes of might and magic 3. There was nothing like them at that time, and there still isn’t.
For fans of the genre and disciples 2 in special, i recommend checking Atlantica Online (cashgrabber and if you are not in an active strong guild there is no way to have the top mercs and craft top equipment, but the game itself is so much like Disciples 2, only mmorpg)
Disciples 2 had lots of room for improvement, but is a fantastic game, simply amazing. Disciples 3 unfortunately turned away from the style of the game, moving units in battle ruined the tactical pre-battle arrangement of troops.
– Real player with 135.3 hrs in game
Gothic 1
Gothic is an open world RPG created by Piranha – Bytes, and today it’s a classic cult title recommended to everyone who enjoys a role playing game, or an action title for that matter.
The player takes control of our hero, the nameless hero, who just happens to be imprisoned and sent into the colony. For those who don’t know, the colony is the king’s solution to the war with the orcs. In order to keep extracting the precious ore from the mines, but saving manpower, his highness ordered the magicians to create a dome surrounding the ore mines. Convicts are sent in, and when trying to leave the magical barrier kills anyone who dares to cross it.
– Real player with 67.8 hrs in game
Ambition unfulfilled
Disclaimer – Steam version of Gothic is flatout broken. It is likely that you will have to manually install patches just to get the game started. If you don’t mind such a thing, a little tinkering is recommended as community-made fixes greatly improve the game’s performance on newer hardware.
Gothic is an almost 20 years-old open-world RPG created by German studio Piranha Bytes and published by JoWood interactive. The game stars a classic fantasy setting with a fun little spin to it. The kingdom of man is invaded by an orc horde, and the only thing holding the line is wondrous equipment made out of magical ore. To fuel the war effort, a penal mining colony is established – no matter the crime, the punishment is mining of ore. In order to keep the convicts dedicated to the task a magical barrier is created over the mining colony. A blue dome that allows all things to enter, but no living thing to exit. Long enough a steady stream of magical ore leaves the colony, a steady stream of supplies flows inside. If you ever wanted to see a fantasy adaptation of the 1981’s Escape from New York, this is probably as close as you can get.
– Real player with 65.3 hrs in game
Unreal Gold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etYFb8eLVYs&feature=youtu.be
Intro
Unreal Gold is the definitive first-person shooter and sadly overlooked by other lesser FPS games of 1998 as well as other genre defining classics. This game stands heads and shoulders above all other shooters with a believeable and intriguing world, easily some of the best design in gaming history, incredible sound design with a killer soundtrack and some seriously fantastic visuals that more than hold up 20 years later.
– Real player with 137.1 hrs in game
–Story–
[Unreal]
As Prisoner #849 of the Vortex Rikers ship, your shuttle makes an emergency crash landing on a mysterious planet of Napali, from there on you must then escape the damaged shuttle with all your crew dead and venture off to find your escape route out from the planet fighting hordes of interesting, aggressive, funny, but horrific creatures such as the Brutes, Mantas, Gasbags, enormous giant Titans, and Alien Mercanaries. But most importantly the deadly ferocious Skaarge: a capital alien race seeking complete control over Napali’s resources and claiming it for their own ideal purpose as their planet with its innocent 4-armed inhabitants called the Nali, using them as slaves for their corrupted tasks. The Nali fear the skaarge and the terrors of Napali but they seek and pray for their savior where ever they may be to save them from their control from the skaarge and the threats of Napali to bring them hope and haven to their race, who is you (duh). As an ally to the Nali people they’ll aid you in any way possible providing ammo, items, secret routes, and sanity from whatever that was left that they had in their home planet that is now the Hell’s Sanctuary. Progressing through the vast beautiful world of Napali you’ll encounter many fascinating yet horrific locations such as ancient sky temples, abandoned vandalized villages, other crashed humanoid piloted ships, and finally finding the Skaarge Mothership in order to find and destroy the “Source” and ending the Skaarge race once and for all making your escape from Napali with a low fueled but reliable escape pod and float seemingly in space hoping for someone to rescue you to safety..
– Real player with 88.8 hrs in game
Mafia
Oh boy where do I even start, “Mafia” is an old classic, a very underrated game by today’s standards. I remember playing this game when i was in grade school, much later in 2011 I bought this game on Steam too and I have never actually wrote a review for this game.
Reading through other reviews by people, the media and even newer “retro” reviews I was glad that people do still remember this great game even after more than 16 years since it was released. On the other hand I was annoyed a bit that people still try to compare “Mafia” to the “Grand Theft Auto” series which just blows my mind, this game isn’t GTA and it was never meant to be a “GTA” game. Just because there is a semi-open world with a bit of driving involved, a character that you control in 3rd person doesn’t mean it’s automatically a “GTA” clone.
– Real player with 59.4 hrs in game
Nothing to complain about Mafia, this is objectively a masterpiece that came out in 2002. The game tells the story about a Taxi Driver, Tommy Angelo. Tommy, while working at night in the 1930s, stumbled across 2 gangsters from the Salieri’s Family. Since that night, his life changed entirely.
Sound and Music:
While playing Mafia, the player will completely dive in the atmosphere of the game: perfect sound and music experience (I’ll talk more technically about sounds and music later in this review). I highly recommend playing the game with Stereo Headphones. Just as an example, during the “A Trip To The Country” mission, that thunderstorm effect really makes you feel like you’re in the game during the whole chapter.
– Real player with 48.6 hrs in game
Thief: Deadly Shadows
I’m an unabashed long-time fan of the Thief series. I was excited to hear my favorite video games were getting a third installment. Then I played this…
The first time I played through this game, at every turn I sighed and thought bitterly about how such and such was different from this or that in the first two games. And almost every instance was different for the worse, not better. I finished the game with an unpleasant taste in my mouth. I’ve played it again before writing this review, this time deliberately putting the high expectation bar out of mind. The result has been a more enjoyable experience. It’s a shame but I suppose what I’m saying is that I enjoyed this game more when I lowered my expectations for it, ahaha. NOT RECOMMENDED.
– Real player with 91.2 hrs in game
I write this on the basis of not having played previous Thief games in the series. However, Thief: Deadly Shadows proved itself a firm favourite and true classic on my list (I owned the game on disc when it was first released but had to re-purchase on Steam so it was compatible with my current PC). It’s true that the graphics are now very obsolete compared to more modern titles - but it has been around for over ten years! - and I still have fond memories of exploring, stealing, sneaking, and eavesdropping.
– Real player with 79.1 hrs in game
Tilesweeper
Tilesweeper
…is a logic puzzle game. Remove all the tiles from the level, one by one, flagging and avoiding those armed with a bomb.
⚙ Game Description & Mechanics ⚙
As any clone of Minesweeper, you’re presented with a tile board, here represented by a dungeon, balcony or other location. The objective of the game is to either correctly flag every tile armed with a mine, or clear out all the tiles that aren’t - either will result in a success, just as long as no mine is detonated.
– Real player with 56.9 hrs in game
It is hard to be too critical of this as it does what it does well enough. It is a nicer looking version of Minesweeper. I could stop there but I have to point out this is one of those games that 10 hours playing it (which is what it took to get to the easy 39/60 achievements) feels like 100 in a more compulsive game. Most of the remaining achievements are for “grinds” - the worst is to break 1 million tiles. In 10 hours I have broken 25k. Sheesh.
Still, we all loved Minesweeper. This is just….more. And more.
– Real player with 42.6 hrs in game