The best top down games

Top down games were very popular in the 80s and the 90s, when graphic cards were not capable of supporting 3D, and even when 3D started to become popular, 2D games continued to be easier to develop, at least in the infancy of 3D gaming. 2D game offered the player a viewpoint that helped keeping things easily under control (think about top down party-based RPGs or hex-based strategy games).

Sort by:

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers

DOS1992 Interplay Productions

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers is an abandoned fantasy top-down DOS RPG game set in the The Lord of the Rings universe. The Lord of the Rings II was developed and released by Interplay Productions in 1992. The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers is based on the popular The Lord Of The Rings book by J.R.R. Tol...

Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle

DOS1991protected id software

Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness

DOS1987 Origin Systems

Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness is a seminal role-playing video game developed by Richard Garriott and released by California Pacific Computer Company in 1981. It is the first game in the long-running and influential Ultima series. Initially released for the Apple II, it was later ported to various platforms including DOS, Commodore 64, At...

2400 A.D.

DOS1988 Origin Systems

Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed

DOS1992protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed is a CRPG developed by SSI Strategic Simulations Inc. and released in 1992 for DOS only. Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed is the sequel to Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday and it's based on a campaign setting created by TSR in the late 80s. The game uses the Gold Box engine, common to much of the RPGs developed by SSI.

Star Control 3

DOS1996protected Legend Entertainment

240 Racing

DOS1998

Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams

DOS1991 Origin Systems

Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams is an abandoned science fiction RPG designed by Jeff George, developed by Origin Systems and released in 1991 for DOS. Martian Dreams uses the Ultima VI engine to depict Mars in a top down perspective.

007: License to Kill

DOS1989 Quixel

Air Traffic Controller

DOS1985 Cascoly Software

APB

DOS1989 Atari

Ascii Sector

Windows 10/11LinuxDOS2007freeware

Bass Tour

DOS1992

Beyond Castle Wolfenstein

DOS1985 Muse Software

Chess88

DOS1984

Commander Keen 2: The Earth Explodes

DOS1990protected id software

Conflict

DOS1990 Mastertronic

D-Zone

DOS1992

Dark Sun 2: Wake of the Ravager

DOS1994protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Decisive Battles of the American Civil War: Vol. 1

DOS1988 SSG Strategic Studies Group

Decisive Battles of the American Civil War: Vol. 2

DOS1989 SSG Strategic Studies Group

Eight Ball Deluxe

DOSMac OS1993 Littlewing

Emperor of the Fading Suns

Windows XP/98/951996 Holistic Design

Empire Deluxe

DOSWindows 3.x1993 White Wolf Productions

Empire Deluxe is a classic turn-based strategy game that was originally released in the early 1990s. Developed by Mark Baldwin and Bob Rakowsky of White Wolf Productions and published by New World Computing, it is a successor to the game Empire, which was created by Walter Bright in the late 1970s. The game is set on a world map, where pl...