9 Retro PC Games That You Should Try Playing in 2023
If you want to see how far the video game industry has come, look no further than the top classic PC games. When you stop to think about it, modern PC gaming like Minecraft or online casino poker would not be where it is now if it weren’t for these masterpieces that pioneered groundbreaking new directions in the medium.
We have compiled a list of 9 retro PC games that you must play again, and while some may look dated in comparison to newer releases, they are still amazing adventures.
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2, one of the most critically acclaimed PC games ever made, begins a few years after the original game’s events when a mute Gordon Freeman awakens to find that the alien threat from the original game has won. Freeman joins the resistance, acquires some sweet weapons, and even meets a mechanical dog, the pet of his friend Alyx Vance.
It’s been a long time since the game’s release, and despite the community’s repeated requests for Half-Life 3, it doesn’t appear that a sequel is on the horizon anytime soon. Unsurprisingly, the game has been modded to death, so you can fire it up and play through without worrying about going blind from the game’s pixelated visuals.
Diablo 2
Regarding PC games, the Diablo series is among the most well-known, with Diablo 2 often regarded as the series’ pinnacle entry. It improved on the groundbreaking gameplay of its predecessor and didn’t drag players down with tedious elements like Diablo 3’s auction houses or overlong tale. When the Lord of Destruction expansion was released, it provided a brand new act and two new classes—the assassin and the druid—which made the game even better.
Baldur’s Gate
The legendary role-playing game Baldur’s Gate justifiably earns a spot on our list of the finest old PC games. Baldur’s Gate is like peanut butter to role-playing game fans. The isometric role-playing game (RPG) is broken up into chapters. It plays out like a Dungeons & Dragons game brought to life in the Infinity Engine, complete with character progression through battle, side missions, and the main storyline. A new Enhanced Edition with the Tales of the Sword Coast add-on was released in 2012; however, if you like the original game, there are enough add-ons for it that you may still get a satisfying experience.
Deus Ex
Deus Ex is an action role-playing game with cyberpunk elements that deal with issues of social class, technological progress, and human enhancement. Our protagonist JC Denton is a low-level cyborg. His first mission as an anti-terrorist agent is to track down the criminals responsible for stealing a supply of vaccines intended to prevent a global pandemic. Of course, nothing is ever that simple, and he quickly finds himself in the middle of a scheme that pits him against the Illuminati, the Triads, and other shadowy organizations. The game’s graphics, AI, and physics have all been upgraded thanks to mods.
StarCraft
StarCraft is a groundbreaking real-time strategy game set in deep space, released before Activision acquired Blizzard’s parent company, Vivendi. Picking from one of three available races, players build and manage bases to amass enough resources to start stealing from their opponents. The PC version became a phenomenon in South Korea the year it was released, selling more copies than any other game.
Star Wars: TIE Fighter
One of the best space-combat simulators in video games, Star Wars: TIE Fighter has spectacular dogfights set against the backdrop of space. Constantly assessing whether to invest in your ship’s shields, engines, or weaponry keeps the game’s energy management system fresh and exciting. Even more innovative would be a Star Wars game that put players in the cockpit of an Imperial fighter instead of a rebel fighter. TIE Fighter, one of the best old PC games ever, is now available on Steam with significantly better visuals and sound, as well as all of the game’s expansions, for a price of less than $10 / £10.
Thief
Modern stealth games owe a debt of gratitude to Thief for helping to define the genre. They might have arrived sooner, but it’s also possible that it would have taken them longer. In any case, Looking Glass Studios’ 1998 release was a first-person game in which players were encouraged to avoid conflict rather than plunge headfirst into it. The steampunk aesthetic of Thief added a fun dimension. It came to life with emergent gameplay in which players decide whether to use stealth or the less lucrative but viable option of direct battle to progress through the levels.
A decade after Thief: Deadly Shadows (2004), which served as a reboot for the genre, a fourth installment was released; if you’re feeling sneaky, you can experience the underworld in stunning 4K detail with Thief (2014).
System Shock 2
About nine years before he released Bioshock and Andrew Ryan to the world, Ken Levine designed System Shock 2. The game’s setting isn’t the ocean floor, but the depths of space and the player is tasked with stopping the spread of a virus. To some, Bioshock is the natural follow-up to the System Shock games, and its story contains several allusions to the System Shock games’ lore.
Chrono Trigger
Although Chrono Trigger was initially launched for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995, the landmark JRPG has recently received a PC port. Because of Square Enix’s post-launch improvements, it has been greatly cleaned up and is now well worth looking at Steam.
In addition, it was created by some of the best role-playing game designers of the 16-bit era, such as Dragon Quest’s Yuji Horii, Dragon Ball manga artist Akira Toriyama, and Final Fantasy’s Hironobu Sakaguchi.
The game features a time-traveling adventure with numerous outcomes and an original combat system. With its release on PC, one of the best role-playing games ever developed may finally be experienced.
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