The best party-based games

Secret of the Silver Blades is a fantasy RPG set in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons universe, developed and released by SSI Strategic Simulations Inc. in 1990 for DOS, Macintosh, Amiga and Commodore 64 systems. Secret of the Silver Blades is part of the Pool of Radiance series and uses the same "GoldBox" engine with isometric turn-based combat ...

A direct sequel to Deathwatch, Ancients 2: Approaching Evil is like returning to your childhood neighborhood, except everyone’s still trying to kill you. Released in 1994, it builds on the first game’s formula by adding more monsters, spells, and slightly improved graphics that still look like a dungeon crawler built in a spreadsheet. E...

Hired Guns is an abandoned game developed by DMA Design and published by Psygnosis in 1993 for DOS and Amiga platforms. Hired Guns is a sci-fi RPG in which you control four mercenaries in four individual simultaneous first person sub-screens tasked with destroying all the bad guys from a single planet.

Champions of Krynn is a RPG released in 1990 by Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) and is the first game in the Dragonlance Gold Box series. It is based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ruleset and set in the world of Krynn, known from the Dragonlance novels. Players create a party of up to six characters, choosing from the standard AD&am...

Gateway to the Savage Frontier is a Dungeons & Dragons computer role-playing game released in 1991. It was developed by Beyond Software (later known as Stormfront Studios) and published by SSI (Strategic Simulations, Inc.) as part of their "Gold Box" series; a lineup of D&D games known for their tactical combat and deep adherence to Advance...

After the well-received Ultima VII: The Black Gate, Origin decided to reuse their impressive Ultima engine for one more game. Ultima VII: Part Two - Serpent Isle picks up right where The Black Gate leaves off. This time, the Avatar travels to an entirely new land, far removed from the familiar landscapes of Britannia. Serpent Isle brings its own un...

After publishing a plethora of Gold Box titles, SSI decided to release a fantasy RPG based on the Forgotten Realms scenarios of Dungeons & Dragons where the player could create its own adventures. Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures (FRUA) is the ultimate Gold Box RPG and received praise from everyone who played it. If you loved Dark Knights ...

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I is an abandoned fantasy top-down DOS RPG game set in the The Lord of the Rings universe. The Lord of the Rings I was developed and released by Interplay Productions in 1990. The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I is based on the popular The Lord Of The Rings book by J.R.R. Tolkien and it's focused on the f...

The Magic Candle: Volume 1 is the first chapter of a series of fantasy old school RPGs. The Magic Candle was developed and released by Mindcraft Software in 1989 for DOS but was also published for Apple II and Commodore 64. The whole Magic Candle series is very similar to some of the early Ultima games in every aspect: turn-based combat, top-down v...

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...

Exile: Escape from the Pit is a turn-based role-playing game (RPG) developed by Spiderweb Software. It is part of the Exile series, originally released in the mid-1990s. This game was later remade and re-released as Avernum: Escape from the Pit. The game is set in a massive underground world called Exile, where the Empire banishes criminals, p...

The Bard's Tale: Tales of the Unknown was developed by Interplay Productions and published by Electronic Arts for DOS and other systems. The game takes place in the fictional city of Skara Brae, which is overrun by monsters and under the control of the evil wizard Mangar the Dark. Your goal as the player is to assemble a party of adventurers t...

The Temple of Elemental Evil is a computer role-playing game (CRPG) released in 2003 by Troika Games and published by Atari. The game is set in the World of Greyhawk, one of D&D's most famous campaign settings. The story begins in the small village of Hommlet and revolves around an ancient, sinister temple that serves as the center for ele...

Might and Magic: World of Xeen is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) released in 1994, which is a combination of two games: Clouds of Xeen and Darkside of Xeen. These games were part of the Might and Magic series, a franchise of RPGs developed by New World Computing. World of Xeen represents the merging of these two games into a single, interconnect...

Baldur's Gate a fantasy RPG set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe which is regarded as the RPG that brought new life in a dying genre in the late 90s. Baldur's Gate was developed by BioWare and released by Black Isle Studios in 1998 for Windows, Lunux and Mac. Some of the innovations that Baldur's Gate introduced to the RPG genre are the ...

Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn is a party-based real-time with pause CRPG set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe that shares the same gameplay as the sequel: the much acclaimed Baldur's Gate. Shadows of Amn was developed by BioWare and released by Black Isle Studios in 2000 for PC (Windows) and Mac.

After the success of Ultima 6: The False Prophet, Origin decided to "create worlds" not part of the popular Ultima series (strictly speaking) using the same engine of Ultima 6. They came up with two games: The Savage Empire and Martian Dreams. The Savage Empire is set in a stone age-like world and features prehistoric tribes, dinosaurs, insectoid a...