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).
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Legions
Windows 3.xMac OS19944/5 Mindscape
Motor City
DOS19944/5 Max Design
Navy Seal
DOS19894/5 Cosmi Corporation
Pango
DOS1983remake4/5
Power Dolls
DOS19944/5 Kogado Software Products
Reaping The Dungeon
DOS19934/5 Frontline Software
Robot Odissey
DOS19854/5 The Learning Company
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 3: Dragon of Destiny
DOS19934/5 KOEI
Socrates
DOS19934/5
Sorcerer Lord
DOS19874/5 Personal Software Services
The Taking of Beverly Hills
DOS19914/5 Off The Wall Productions
Traders
DOS19924/5 Linel
Uncover It
DOS1994NSFW4/5
Spacewar
DOS19854/5
Spacewar is one of the earliest digital computer games and is often considered the first interactive video game. It was created in 1962 by Steve Russell, Martin Graetz, and Wayne Wiitanen at the MIT. The game was developed on the PDP-1 minicomputer; this is a DOS port, released in 1985.Spacewar! features two spaceships, controlled by players, that ...
Pizza Tycoon
Windows XP/98/95DOSLinuxMac OS1994protected4/5 Software 2000
Dark Sun 2: Wake of the Ravager
DOS1994protected4/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Angband
Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1992freeware4/5
Dungeon Crawl
Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1997freeware4/5
Dungeon Crawl (also known as Linley's Dungeon Crawl from the name of the original programmer: Linley Henzell) is a classic roguelike: an RPG with permadeath, procedural generation and high replayability. Dungeon Crawl was released on 1997 but it's not maintained anymore. The spiritual successr of Crawl is DCCS (Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup).
Pirates! Gold
DOSWindows 3.xMac OS1993protectedremakedemo4/5 MicroProse Software
Pirates! Gold is an open world game designed by Paul Murphy, developed and released by MicroProse Software in 1993 for DOS, Windows 3.x, Mac and also Sega Genesis and Amiga CD32. Pirates! Gold is a remake of the game Pirates, created by Sid Meier in 1987. Pirates! Gold gameplay is a unique mix of action, strategy, pirate life simulation, ...
Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams
DOS19914/5 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.
Wizard's Crown
DOS1987protected4/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
SimLife
DOSMac OSWindows 3.x19924/5 Maxis
SimLife is an abandoned simulation game focused on managing a ecosystems and experimenting with genetics. SimLife was designed by Ken Karakotsios, developed and released by Maxis in 1992 for DOS and later also published for Macintosh, Amiga, Windows 3.x and Amiga.
Amberstar
DOS19924/5 Thalion
Amberstar is a fantasy old school RPG very similar to Ultima 6 that uses a top-down view for interiors and small locations and a first person pseudo 3D view for everything else. Unfortunately, the sequel (called Ambermoon) was available for Amiga only and no version existed for DOS or Windows. Amberstar was developed and published by Thalion for DO...
Escape from Hell
DOS19904/5 Electronic Arts
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers
DOS19924/5 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...
Lords of the Realm
DOSWindows XP/98/951994protected4/5 Impressions Games
Lords of the Realm is top-down kingdom simulation game set in medieval Europe (England and Germany), designed by Christopher J. Foster and David Lester, developed by Impressions Games and released 1994 for DOS, Windows and Amiga.
Nectaris
DOS19954/5 Hudson soft
Rampart
DOS19924/5 Atari
Rampart is an abandoned mix of strategy and shooter game designed by Dave Ralston and John Salwitz, developed by Atari and released by Electronic Arts in 1992 for DOS. Rampart was converted from the original arcade version to a number of platforms, including Amiga, Atari ST, C64, Game Boy, Genesis, Lynx, NES, SEGA Master System, SNES. Rampart is a ...
Austerlitz 1805
DOS19894/5 Cornerstone Software
Star Command
DOS1988protected4/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.