The most popular 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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A-Maze
DOS1989 New Era Software
If you’ve ever thought, “What if Pac-Man got lost in a modernist art gallery?”, then A-Maze is your oddly specific dream come true. Released in 1989 for DOS, this game is a labyrinthine puzzle fest where the grap...
Pinball Dreams
DOS1993protected Digital Illusions
Phantasie 1
DOS1987protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Storm
DOS1987 Mastertronic
Stone Age
DOS1992
Mad Mix
DOS1988 Topo Soft
Global Effect
DOS1992 Millennium Interactive
Blood & Magic
DOS1996 Tachyon Studios
From the people who brought you Dungeons & Dragons, here's Blood & Magic (1996), the RTS that nobody remembers but definitely deserves a second glance. You summon golems from magical “blood forges” because appa...
Goal!
DOS1993 Dini & Dini Productions
Ascii Sector
Windows 10/11LinuxDOS2007freeware
Ascii Sector is what happens when someone takes Privateer, removes the graphics, and replaces them with pure ASCII and sheer willpower. It’s open-world space sim meets roguelike: you trade, fight, explore, get stabbed in sha...
Super Pac-Man
DOS1982 Namco
The Civil War
DOS1987 Avalon Hill
Batalia
DOS1986 The Right Brothers
Batalia (1986) is what happens when war games and spreadsheet programs fall in love. This early DOS strategy title throws you into tactical battles with graphics that would struggle to impress a calculator. But don’t be fool...
Questron 2
DOS1988protected Westwood Studios
Questron II is a role-playing game (RPG) developed by Westwood Associates and published by Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) in 1988. It serves as the sequel to the original Questron (1984) and builds upon its predecessor’s f...
Panzer Battles
DOS1990 SSG Strategic Studies Group
Dark Sun 2: Wake of the Ravager
DOS1994protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Ant Attack!
DOS1994freeware Dataware
Released in 1994 (long after it originally debuted on other platforms), Ant Attack! is what you get when you mix isometric graphics, giant ants, and questionable urban planning. You play a brave soul navigating a crumbling city to...
Robotron 2084
DOS1983 Williams Entertainment
Prophecy of the Shadow
DOS1992protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Star Wars 2
DOS1989
Dungeon Explorer
DOS1990
Football Glory
DOS1995freeware Croteam
High Command: Europe 1939-45
DOS1992 Colorado Computer Creations
The Civil War
DOS1995 Dagger Interactive Technologies
Operation Europe: Path to Victory 1939-45
DOS1994 KOEI
Berlin 1948
DOS1989 Time Warp Software
Berlin 1948 throws you into post-war Germany as a secret agent on a noir-flavored mission through a city drenched in trench coats and suspicion. It’s one part spy thriller, one part historical fiction, and three parts trying...
Dragons of Flame
DOS1989protected U.S. Gold
Oxyd
DOS1992 Dongleware
Kasparov's Gambit
DOS1993 Heuristic software
Lords of Conquest
DOS1987 Eon Software