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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Burntime

DOS1993 Max Design

Post-apocalyptic survival meets real estate management in Burntime, where the world is ruined, but you still need to hire employees and secure water rights. It’s like Mad Max if Max decided to open a franchise of fortified r...

Soviet

DOS1990 Opera Soft

Dark Reign 2

Windows XP/98/952000protected Pandemic Studios

The Taking of Beverly Hills

DOS1991 Off The Wall Productions

Kaiser

DOS1992

Donkey BAS

DOS1981 Microsoft

Zoop

DOS1995 Hookstone

Imagine if Tetris, Columns, and a pack of highlighters had a baby. That’s Zoop. You’re in the center of the screen, and colorful shapes are marching toward you from all sides like angry abstract art. Your job? Blast th...

Empire II: The Art of War

DOSWindows XP/98/951995 White Wolf Productions

Arnhem: The Market Garden Operation

DOS1988 Cases Computer Simulations

Arnhem is the kind of wargame where you spend more time reading hex maps than shooting anything. It’s all about recreating Operation Market Garden — you know, that WWII battle where everything went spectacularly sidewa...

Waterworld

DOS1997 Intelligent Games

RAPCON: Military Air Traffic Control Simulator

DOS1989 Wesson International

Clash of Steel

DOS1993protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Aspar GP Master

DOS1989 Dinamic Multimedia

Aspar GP Master is a 1989 motorcycle racing game that invites you to tear up the track with the same grace and control as a caffeinated squirrel on rollerblades. Loosely inspired by Jorge “Aspar” Martínez, the g...

Tiny Skweeks

DOS1992 Kalisto Entertainment

Block O Mania

DOS1989 Crystal Shard

Block O Mania is what happens when a Rubik’s Cube and a sliding puzzle fall in love during a rave. Released in 1989 for DOS, this game will twist your brain into shapes it wasn’t designed for. The goal? Push blocks. Lo...

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...

Galaxy

DOS1981 Microcomputer Games Inc.

Return to Kroz

DOS1990freeware Apogee Software

Kroz returns, and with it, your CRT monitor’s worst nightmare: ASCII graphics! Return to Kroz takes you back to a time when @ meant “you,” and everything else was trying to kill you. Using only your wits, a whip,...

Caesars Palace

DOS1989 Virgin Interactive

More smoke-filled backrooms than a noir film and enough slot machines to trigger déjà vu—Caesars Palace is your low-res Vegas getaway. You're given a pile of chips and left to your vices: blackjack, poker, roul...

B-24 Combat Simulator

DOS1987protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Step aside, arcade action—B-24 Combat Simulator (1987) is here to test your patience, eyesight, and possibly your sanity. It’s all about realism, baby. You’ll take off, navigate, bomb targets, and hopefully land,...