Top-down perspective sorted by release date
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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Rotox
DOS1991 Creative Materials
Sarakon
DOS1991 Starbyte Software
Sargon V: World Class Chess
DOS1991 Activision
Sherlock: The Game of Logic
DOS1991protected Everett Kaser Software
SimAnt: The Electronic Ant Colony
DOS1991 Maxis
SimAnt is a life simulation and strategy game developed by Maxis, released in 1991, and part of the "Sim" series. Created by Will Wright, SimAnt focuses on simulating the life of an ant colony. In SimAnt, you play as the black ant colony in a backyard and household environment, competing against the red ants, environmental hazards, and even hu...
SkiFree
Windows 3.x1991
Solidarnosc
DOS1991 P. Z. Karen Co. Development Group
The Basket Manager
DOS1991 Simulmondo
The Lost Patrol
DOS1991 Astros Productions
The Lost Patrol is an abandoned multi-type action game set in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam war. The Lost Patrol was developed by Astros Productions (DOS version) and released by Ocean Software in 1991 for DOS, Amiga and Atari ST.
The Magic Candle 2: The Four and Forty
DOS1991 Mindcraft Software
The Perfect General
DOS1991 White Wolf Productions
The Perfect General is a turn-based strategy military game developed by White Wolf Productions and released in 1991 by Quantun Quality Production. The Perfect General gameplay is quite simple compared to other wargames, but it's based on a solid set of rules and let the players progress at their own pace through missions and scenarios. The Perfect ...
The Taking of Beverly Hills
DOS1991 Off The Wall Productions
Tristan Pinball
DOS1991 Littlewing
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.
V for Victory: D-day Utah Beach
DOS1991protected Atomic Games
Vengeance of Excalibur
DOS1991 Synergistic Software
Volfied
DOS1991 Taito
Volfied is an arcade game developed and released by Taito Corporation in 1989. It's a puzzle game that gained popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The game is named after the fictional planet "Volfied", where the gameplay is set.In Volfied, players control a small spaceship called "Challenger" and must eliminate 80% or more of the playfiel...
Wild West World
DOS1991 Software 2000
X-Men 2: The Fall of the Mutants
DOS1991 Paragon Software
Xenopods
DOS1991 Softdisk Publishing
ZZT
DOS1991freeware Epic MegaGames
ZZT (1991, DOS) looks like it was drawn by an enthusiastic ASCII artist with too much time and not enough colors. And yet, it’s brilliant. Part action game, part puzzle adventure, part game creation tool, ZZT is the reason some people grew up to become game developers instead of astronauts. Built by a teenage Tim Sweeney (yes, the Unreal Engi...
A Line in the Sand
DOS1992protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
A Line in the Sand (1992) is what happens when a board game about modern Middle Eastern warfare gets turned into a DOS strategy title with all the subtlety of a cold war memo. You command military forces in a region that is perpetually on fire, and your job is to somehow make that worse - or better, depending on your alignment and ability to read p...
Air Force Commander
DOS1992 Impressions Games
In Air Force Commander (1992), you don’t just fly planes - you run the whole air force. Think of it as being a general with a spreadsheet addiction. Assign squadrons, manage budgets, and try not to start World War III. It's dry in places, but the micromanagement will scratch an itch you didn’t know you had. A game where you’ll spe...
Amberstar
DOS1992 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...
Angband
Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1992freeware
If you’ve ever thought The Lord of the Rings needed more ASCII and fewer hobbit feelings, Angband is your jam. Since 1992, this dungeon-crawling roguelike has been throwing players into a 100-level deathtrap where the ultimate goal is to defeat Morgoth, because why not aim big? With perma-death looming over every decision, this game turns "op...
Bass Tour
DOS1992
Bicycle Bridge
DOS1992
Blitz Draughts
DOS1992 PC Solutions
Bolo Ball
DOS1992 Soleau Software
Bolo Ball is a DOS game from the mid-1990s. It features a physics-based gameplay where the objective is to knock opponent balls out of an arena. When you start the game, you find yourself in a 2D arena set against a starry, space-like background. You control a colorful ball, which, despite being a 2D sprite, appears somewhat three-dimensional due t...
Bomberman
DOS1992 Hudson soft