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
Read More: Best First-Person Fantasy Games.
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
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 First-Person 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
Blake Stone: Planet Strike
Blakestone planet strike missed it back in the day when it was first released just finished it and i must say its alright play i dont know if my recommendation shame it got panned back when it came out i decided to recommend it as its a game worthy of a something if you love old skool fps games from the 90’s
– Real player with 8.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best First-Person FPS Games.
Never played the sequel until now (10+ years of waiting). Its mid 90’s Blake Stone - simple/fun game. What you see in the pics is what you get, just make sure to press/hold spacebar a lot while hovering around the walls.
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour
This port of Duke Nukem 3D is like rereleasing a classic movie like Casablanca on a 240p resolution. It ruins the smooth, crisp movement of Duke, makes a 25-year old game lag from vsync and ambient occlusion, and replaces the expansion packs from the Megaton Edition with a fourth episode. The best way to play this port is not to, but to install eDuke or BuildGDX and play Duke Nukem 3D that way. While you install them, be sure to install the expansion packs and play them on said ports.
Bring back the Megaton Edition.
– Real player with 24.6 hrs in game
Protozoid fear is a real thing
– Real player with 14.7 hrs in game
Eradicator
This is one of my favourite but sadly underrated shooters from the 90’s. Having played a demo of it at a young age I always longed to play the full version and bought the big box of it a couple of years ago. Now it seems the game is finally on Steam and so you might want to know a thing or two about it.
Eradicator is an oldschool shooter in the veins of Doom and Duke Nukem 3D, to which it shares most of its similarities though it is rather unique for its time. For one, it features multiple characters, each with their own personality. The weapons are also all rather interesting and serve different purposes. Another groundbreaking feature for this game was the ability to use RC cars and other remote controlled devices thanks to something called PIP (picture-in-picture) view. Another enjoyable thing about the game is the ability to switch between third person and first person perspectives at will (or automatically if you so choose) which helps immensely with the platforming sections, of which there are plentiful. The graphics are also really good for their time and give the game a gritty and dirty sci-fi atmosphere I enjoy a lot.
– Real player with 45.5 hrs in game
As a mostly forgotten 90s-era fps, Eradicator holds up pretty well gameplay wise even today. I remember getting the full-blown version as an added bonus for buying the brand new AWE64 Sound Blaster card circa 1996, and I was rather surprised by how good it was. The engine (apparently developed in-house by Accolade) feels very similar to the build engine that powered hits like Duke 3d, Blood, and shadow warrior. There’s even a level of destructibility to the environments here as well. Eradicator seems to place more of an emphasis on puzzle solving and platforming that all-out running and gunning, which can be a double edged sword. I do like the objective completion system in place of traditional key hunting, it’s add a little more variety and interest in the story that it would otherwise. Also, the weapons here (and there are a ton of them) are fairly unique. Every character has their melee attack and standard pew-pew laser pistol, but them you get things like the sonic shock cannon (functional equivalent of a shotgun), death dart (minigun, assualt rifle equivalent) and rover mines (rc car bomb), which makes them more fun to use than your standard fps staples.
– Real player with 11.7 hrs in game
Realms of Arkania 2 - Star Trail Classic
Star Trail follows in the tracks of the original game released two years earlier but is still different in several ways with the graphics and general gameplay being slightly more refined. It is possible to transfer the party of the original game over to Star Trail for an easier start along with their stats and most equipment. Different bugs depending on the game version can still make this annoying though as e.g. weapon skills can become messed up and the money gathered in RoA1 is generally greatly reduced.
– Real player with 52.5 hrs in game
Hands down one of the best games of all time. Any fans of old school or pen and paper RPG’s will enjoy this immensely and I can’t recommend this game enough.
Uncompromisingly difficult with a deep skill and combat system this game has so much to offer. If you’re playing this through for the first time I would definitely suggest using a walkthrough as there are many things that can prevent you from completing the story if missed or done incorrectly which can be frustrating as these queue’s aren’t obvious or even mentioned that they have happened.
– Real player with 33.3 hrs in game
Rise of the Triad: Dark War
Rise of the Triad: Dark War is a classic FPS that tends to be overlooked in favor of other classics such as Doom or Duke Nukem 3D. This is a shame, because ROTT is a great first-person shooter.
The game runs through DOSBox, which can have some problems from time to time, but I had a solid experience on mostly “as-is” settings, with a tiny audio hiccup happening once in a while. The game is really tricky to use the Steam overlay on though, so be wary.
Gameplay is as you’d expect, mostly shooting bad guys and occasionally solving a relatively simple puzzle. In terms of difficulty, it’s comparable to other shooters of that era, the main game is challenging, but not frustrating. The Extreme Rise of the Triad addon pack is there to challenge you if you feel you’ve mastered Dark War.
– Real player with 55.2 hrs in game
Important message
I have only played the hunt begins and Dark War. I will update my review when I have finished extreme rise of the triad (might take awhile).
What I liked about the game
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Has one of the best power ups in any game; one which allows you to become a dog which
allows you to bite people to death.
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Lots of different traps, makes the game quite challenging.
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The levels don’t feel too much like a maze. The levels are big and open, and they take place inside and outside.
– Real player with 49.1 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
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
MadSpace: To Hell and Beyond
Very interesting old-school shooter with great visual and audio style. There’s a lot to take in in terms of controls, and the opening rail shooter segment is pretty meh. The meat of the game however is plenty of fun, and absolutely weird, which is a huge plus for me. The enemies have interesting designs, and there’s more non-Euclidean geometry than you could shake a career theoretical physicist at. A large selection of weapons, 10 of which can be held at once, and 2 simultaneous equips give solid combat variety, and even ‘boss’ weapons can be acquired. Bosses are my main gripe, actually. There’s only a few, but they are all equipped with the ‘Tracker’ which fires a cluster of explosive energy balls that will track you to the end of the goddamn stage and then oneshot you.
– Real player with 14.1 hrs in game
I am probably one of a handful of people to actually sit down and finish this game and let me tell you i am only giving it a thumbs up because steam doesn’t have a meh option in the reviews. It will take about 13 hours to beat.
This game while interesting is kinda frustrating to play. There are 26 levels to the game (Alphabet A-Z) and the main draw of the gameplay is Non Euclidean Geometry (see Lovecraft). The story you are greeted with is a massive wall of text that quickly becomes boring and nonsensical because it scrolls too fast. The game then decides to throw you into a FMV on rails shooter that takes FOREVER to finish and if you die at any point during it you START AT THE BEGINNING! It’s maddening, I can see what he was going for at the time of release, but now you should be able to just skip this part as it’s supremely boring. If you manage to make it through that you will finally get into the more interesting part of the game. This game has some very interesting level design to it and you see quickly why it’s called Madspace, both because of the crazy impossible hard to deal with level layout and how the game just pisses you off. Be prepared to take at least 1-2 hours for some levels depending on how lost you are. There is a map, but for the most part its completely useless especially in some of the later levels with layers. There was a level I can’t remember I think U or V where you are running around a giant square level that has tons of layers, you need to run around this thing looking for 3 switches to open it. It took almost 3 hours for me to find and open that door.
– Real player with 11.8 hrs in game
Master Levels for Doom II
“Master Levels” is an official expansion pack for Doom 2 that comes with twenty maps made by some of the best and well known independent mappers from the Doom community of the 90s!
They are collected into four sort of anthology arcs that tell the stories of different figures from the Doom universe.
The arcs are:
Titan:
By: Jim Flynn
Consisting of two maps.
The mysterious mansion belonging to a UAC Weapons Engineer located on the “Titan” moon of Saturn has become infested with demons due to the Mars Incident. The manor was full of unfinished weapons that would be vital in helping the UAC stop the demonic invasion. It is your mission to recover these prototypes and check for survivors.
– Real player with 20.9 hrs in game
Master Levels for Doom II is a pack of fan-made levels handpicked by id Software and put together for sale as an official product. As the name would suggest, these levels are intended for those who are already familiar with Doom II. I’ve also already reviewed Doom II and its predecessor so if you want more information on those basics then go check those out. If you’re still here, let’s talk about this one, shall we? Note that this is based on the Steam version of the game which runs through the program DOSBox. And additional thing to note is that I played the game with a controller using an extrernal program to map key presses to button presses. This means I can’t speak much for the control beyond how responsive it is to key presses rather than the layout and whatnot. Alright, let’s hit it!
– Real player with 15.4 hrs in game