One day I was thinking about all the games I've played during my long, looooong life and was trying to think of a way to list all my favorites. Then I figured listing them by release year might make the whole arduous process a little easier and a little bit more interesting. I've listed as many favorite games per year as I can, then I've tried to decide which one is my absolute favorite for each year.
I've been almost solely a computer gamer, so all my fave games tend to be c64/amiga/pc. I've left out some console (mainly just NDS) games that might make this list, I'll think about those separately.
So here's my current list, I'll update it as I do more research down the memory lane. Absolute favorite game in bold, several/none bolded if I just can't decide (or haven't decided yet):
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Stryfe's favorite games by release year:1980 - Rogue
1981 - Galaga
1982 - Dig Dug
1983 -
Blue Max, Archon, M.U.L.E., Wizard of Wor, Alley Cat
1984 - Bruce Lee, H.E.R.O., The Ancient Art of War
1985 -
Paradroid1986 - Bubble Bobble, Space Quest I
1987 -
Dungeon Master, Nethack, Skate or Die!, Krakout, Pirates!
1988 -
Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo1989 -
Simcity, Prince of Persia, Laser Squad, Quest for Glory 1, Shufflepuck Cafe
1990 -
The Secret of Monkey Island, Champions of Krynn, Quest for Glory 2, Covert Action, Stunts
1991 -
Civilization, Wing Commander 2, The Secret of Monkey Island 2, Another World
1992 -
Star Control 2, Ultima Underworld, Dune 2, Wolfenstein 3D
1993 - Doom, Master of Orion, Simcity 2000, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max Hit the Road, Lands of Lore, Star Wars: X-Wing
1994 -
UFO: Enemy Unknown (The original X-COM), ADOM, Master of Magic, Star Wars: TIE Fighter, Colonization, Jagged Alliance
1995 - Command & Conquer, Dark Forces, The Dig, Full Throttle, Warcraft 2
1996 - Duke Nukem 3D, Heroes of Might and Magic 2, Quake
1997 -
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 21998 -
Half-Life, Grim Fandango, Carmageddon 2
1999 - System Shock 2, Alpha Centauri, Planescape: Torment, Jagged Alliance 2
2000 -
Deus Ex2001
2002 -
Arx Fatalis, Grand Theft Auto 3, Warcraft 3
2003 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
2004 -
Half-Life 22005 -
F.E.A.R.2006 - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
2007 -
Bioshock, Portal, The Lord of the Rings Online, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
2008 - Fallout 3, Dead Space, Grand Theft Auto IV
2009 -
Left 4 Dead 2, Machinarium
2010 - Civilization 5, Fallout: New Vegas, BioShock 2
2011 -
Terraria, Portal 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution
2012 -
Borderlands 2, Guild Wars 2, The Walking Dead, Legend of Grimrock, Dishonored
2013 -
BioShock Infinite, State of Decay, Wolf Among Us, The Stanley Parable, Saints Row 4, Tomb Raider, Papers, Please, Shadow Warrior, Don't Starve
2014 -
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Legend of Grimrock 2, The Talos Principle, Wolfenstein: The New Order, One Finger Death Punch, Luftrausers, Alien Isolation
2015 -
Life is Strange,
Witcher 3, Tales from the Borderlands, Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide, Dropsy
2016 -
The Witness,
Stardew Valley, Firewatch, Inside, Enter the Gungeon, Oxenfree, Rise of the Tomb Raider
2017 -
Prey, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, Hollow Knight
2018 -
Return of the Obra Dinn,
Warhammer: Vermintide 22019 -
Outer Wilds, Hypnospace Outlaw, Slay the Spire
2020 - Black Mesa, Paradise Killer, Kentucky Route Zero, Genshin Impact
2021 -
Inscryption,
Life is Strange: True Colors, Valheim, Forgotten City, Psychonauts 2
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Thoughts and elaborations on some choices:1980 - RogueMy dad worked with computers back in the 80's, and by that I mean massive, huge, noisy computers. I played Rogue back in the later eighties on his laptop, or perhaps it was at the computer room on a terminal, I forget exactly. But it was surely an impactful experience, as I went on to play numerous Roguelike games during the following years.
1983 - Blue MaxThis is my go-to answer when people ask me what my fave C64 game is. It's a Zaxxon-esque triplane game with bombing, shooting and varied zones that change based on your own success. Still a great, fun game to fire up on an emulator now and then.
1985 - ParadroidYou play a lowly droid that has the ability to take control of other, stronger droids via a mini-game. Simple, yet pretty difficult and fun. Another timeless classic, I still play it on occasion on a c64 emulator.
1987 - Dungeon MasterDungeon Master was ahead of its time and a pioneer of the dungeon crawling genre. The immersion, real-time combat and movement, devious but logical puzzles... Still an amazing experience to this day. If you insist on a modernized version, play Legend of Grimrock 1 & 2.
1988 - Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi YojimboThis was a c64 game based on a comic book... a fun samurai romp with ninjas disguised as beggars, a karma system (if you did too many dishonorable things, you commit seppuku automatically) and some cool details (like failing to bow to someone might just make them angry as shit).
1989 - SimcityI played Simcity first on c64, then Amiga, then a PC... man, they released it for everything. And it was all great.
1990 - The Secret of Monkey IslandOne of the funniest games of all time.
1991 - CivilizationWait, where did the weekend go?
1992 - Star Control 2The definitive space opera of yore, SC2 combined a fun combat system with superb space exploration and writing. The characters and dialogue are easily still some of the best found in games. SC2 has been re-made to work with modern computers as
Ur-Quan Masters, which is completely legal and free. I still play and finish it every few years.
1994 - UFO: Enemy UnknownYou've probably seen this on many "best of all time" lists, and let me tell you, it's not exaggeration. Everything about this game was just amazing. I've been aching to try the reboot and its sequel, but I doubt they can match the effect the original game had on me back in the day. It was that great.
2000 - Deus ExI actually finished Deus Ex maybe a decade after it was released. How well it still held up says a lot about how great this game was. There were so many different ways to get things done, I was pretty blown away. It really felt like the devs had thought of absolutely everything.
2001 - ?Man, this was a weird year. I can't seem to find a single game released this year that I played and really liked. Needs more research, or maybe I just have to... play some of them!
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More blabber to come...