Best classic PC games for those after a hit of nostalgia

Every once in a while, you have to roll back the clock and sample some of the best classic PC games. Whether you’re getting in touch with your gaming roots or curious about an era you missed out on, there’s a lot of fantastic digital heritage out there. Every genre owes debts to the brilliant games that came before them, whether it’s the modern FPS that grew out of the likes of Wolfenstein 3D, or heavy hitters like Civilization that continue to influence the entire strategy genre.

While some genres experienced explosive growth after their early successes, others have only recently seen a resurgence, such as the adventure game genre. But that’s all the more reason to explore their origins. Especially when there are more tools than ever to make even the most venerated PC games run on modern systems. Ask yourself what genres you appreciate the most today, and there’s a good chance it owes a lot to a classic you may not even know. So step into the PC gaming time machine and take a look at the best classic PC games.

✓ VideoGamer Summary

• Many of the best classic PC games fall into the strategy and sim genres, which hold up exceptionally well to this day.
• Robust modding scenes and dedicated players keep games like Freelancer and Doom 2 alive and populated with fresh content.
• Remasters and mods can be the best way to experience classic games, like with Icewind Dale and Diablo 2.
• Some forgotten and lesser-known games like MechCommander have ended up as abandonware, which makes them, with a bit of work, free-to-play.
• Some of the best classic PC multiplayer games are still going strong, with active communities in both Freelancer, MechCommander, and Diablo 2.

Doom 2

• Available from: Steam

Choosing between Doom and Doom 2 comes down to personal preference, with the former having tighter level design and the latter having more enemies and the super shotgun. You honestly can’t go wrong with either one, so feel free to disregard my advice and opt for the original if you prefer it. 

Personally, Doom 2 has the added difficulty and diversity to make it a perfect match for those partial to a sport of FPS masochism. If that isn’t enough, it’s at the heart of the legendary modding scene that orbits id Software’s magnum opus, which means there’s a bottomless well of options ranging from stellar new campaigns to metatextual horror classics. 

SimCity 3000

• Available from: Steam

The SimCity series has always lived in the most chill of zones, whether you’re plotting different areas out while listening to relaxing music or flattening terrain and planning out your transportation system. With SimCity 3000, those chill vibes made a huge leap, landing in a sweet spot for sprite-based graphics, adding features like waste management, overhauling zoning tiers, and leaning on an iconic jazz score from Jerry Martin. 

With just how accessible SimCity 3000’s is, it’s easily one of the best classic PC games on Steam. No day isn’t improved by an extended coffee break managing a city and finding the perfect spot to plop down the mayor’s house.

Masters of Orion 2

• Available from: Steam

Managing interstellar empires has never been as stylish and fun as in Masters of Orion 2, with a whole bevy of different species to pick from (or to try to avoid being crushed by) and a huge variety of technologies to research (or be destroyed by). 

Where modern space 4X games task you with managing a real-time fight as your fleet meets the enemy, Masters of Orion 2 drills down into a turn-based brawl where ships can rain plasma cannon fire on each other, or get into point-blank knife-fights inside clouds of missiles. Just don’t sleep on the ability to make your own custom species; the points system for advantages and disadvantages can let you customize things just right once you know how you like to play.

Icewind Dale

• Available from: Steam

The CRPG graduated from the dungeon-crawling era to give us the likes of isometric classics like Baldur’s Gate, but the pinnacle of that era was Icewind Dale. By shelving the character-driven narrative for one that centers the setting and NPCs, Icewind Dale asks you to make a full-on party of your very own to tackle its challenges. 

Driven by combat encounters, Icewind Dale is often knocked for pulling focus away from investigation and social encounters compared to its contemporary, Baldur’s Gate 2, but to me, it’s just what I want. It’s a unique experience to create and journey with a cast of six characters of your own design, shaping how they advance throughout the story.

Heroes of Might & Magic 3

• Available from: GOG

The venerable king of turn-based strategy, Heroes of Might & Magic 3, is packed with strategic choices and variety that still hold up decades on. No matter what starting town you pick, you’ll have to adapt your methods based on what the other heroes do. With strong, unique mechanics and troops tied to each starting town, each time you play can be significantly different/ Necropolis and its hordes of undead play very differently than Conflux’s powerful spells, for example. While there are flimsy arguments that other games in the series take the top spot, Heroes of Might & Magic 3 is the clear winner.

Escape Velocity: Nova

• Available from: Website

Consistently underrated because of its history, Escape Velocity: Nova was originally a Mac exclusive before being ported to Windows. It’s a classic isometric space sim that drops you into the stellar sneakers of a novice space trader with a dream and a tiny shuttle. 

You can trade, mine asteroids, run courier missions for people, get tangled up in factional politics, or even go full pirate and prey on the shipping lanes. Beyond your own ship – which you can replace, upgrade, and customize – you can capture up to six other ships to escort you as you careen across the hundreds of systems and get into (and maybe even out of) trouble.

Quest for Glory 4: Shadows of Darkness

• Available from: Steam

The Quest for Glory games are one of the first successful crossovers for adventure games, incorporating RPG elements such as combat and replay value into the standard adventure game formula. While all four of the original games are excellent, there’s something particularly special about the Eastern European horror setting of Quest for Glory 4, which blends folk tales and Lovecraft with witty puns to make one of the best classic PC adventure games. 

Better yet, if you play all four games, you can import your character into the next, transferring over your progress and maintaining your character, even allowing you to play a secret fourth class if you became a Paladin in Quest for Glory 3. If you need a cherry on top to convince you, consider the following: the entire game is narrated by John Rhys-Davies. 

Diablo 2

• Available from: Battle.net

The addictive nature of smacking enemies and having loot fall out is on full display in Diablo 2, as every single enemy is a new opportunity for a unique or set item that could change everything for your character. With countless ways to build the seven different classes and five acts with distinctive environments and enemies, Diablo 2 is practically a bottomless pit for a sword looter. 

More than any gameplay, what has cemented the demon-slaying fields of this loot casino is the music and atmosphere. Every single act has a distinctive aural and visual style, and the gothic horror lands effectively even when filtered through wildly different lenses. The later Diablo games may have made strides in gameplay, but Diablo 2 trumps them when it comes to style.

MechCommander

• Available from: Website

The early MechWarrior games earned well-deserved praise as excellent in-cockpit mech sims, but their sister game MechCommander is often overlooked. MechCommander has you taking tactical command of a unit of mechs in real-time, directing their movement and attack orders, managing their sensor ranges, and exploring the fog of war as you try to complete mission objectives. 

Aside from the challenges of each mission, MechCommander has you worrying about keeping your pilots alive and your mechs unbroken as you’ll carry all of it over to the next campaign mission. Each enemy mech is a combination of challenge, threat, and opportunity, since you also have a chance to salvage them once you’ve blown them to bits.

Freelancer

• Available from: Internet Archive & HD Edition Mod

Before Elite Dangerous or X3: Terran Conflict, there was Freelancer, a multiplayer space combat and economy sim. While the main plot serves to push you towards new areas and more powerful/diverse ships and equipment, there’s also an entire world of side quests to explore and exploit. 

More impressive than anything else, Freelancer implemented 128-player multiplayer servers where your character was persistent across logins, so you could leave and return later to continue being a menace (or a peaceful trader) with the same group of players. To this day, multiple communities continue to support multiplayer Freelancer over 15 years after official support ended.

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