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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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,...
EGA-Roids
DOS1986freewareremake Designer Software
The Final Crusade of Kroz
DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
Sarakon
DOS1991 Starbyte Software
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,...
Decisive Battles of the American Civil War: Vol. 1
DOS1988 SSG Strategic Studies Group
Monopoly
DOS1985
Settlers of Catan
DOS1998
Conflict: Europe
DOS1989 Personal Software Services
Conflict Europe is an abandoned turn-based top-down strategy game set in Europe. The game was developed by Personal Software Services and released by Mirrorsoft in 1989 for DOS, Amiga and Atari ST.
Shard of Spring
DOS1987protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Tracon for Windows
Windows 3.x1993 Wesson International
Ikari Warriors 2: Victory Road
DOS1988 SNK Corporation
Bandit Kings of Ancient China
DOS1989 KOEI
Based on a classic Chinese novel, Bandit Kings of Ancient China combines strategy, RPG elements, and about 800 names you’ll never remember. You play one of 108 outlaws trying to overthrow a corrupt regime — think Roman...
Champion of the Raj
DOS1991 Personal Software Services
Legends of Murder: Volume 1 - Stonedale Castle
DOS1989protected Softdisk Publishing
Bass Tour
DOS1992
Think of Bass Tour (1992) as the road trip version of virtual fishing. More simulation than arcade, it lets you travel, pick locations, study conditions, and obsess over bait types like you're preparing for a National Geographic s...
Dark Reign 2
Windows XP/98/952000protected Pandemic Studios
Bridge 7.0
DOS1992 Artworx Software
Finally, a game for people who think solitaire is just too wild. Bridge 7.0 is the digital equivalent of sipping tea with your grandparents while arguing about trumps and bidding strategies. Released in 1992, it simulates the clas...
Dragonflight
DOS1991 Thalion
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...
Action in the North Atlantic
DOS1989 General Quarters Software
If you’ve ever dreamed of commanding a WWII convoy while cold, stressed, and staring at a pixelated radar screen, Action in the North Atlantic (1989, DOS) has you covered. It’s part strategy, part simulation, and all t...
Dawn Raider
DOS1990 Softstar Entertainment
Decker
Windows 10/112002freeware
Super Speed: Christmas Edition
DOS1995
Gnome Alone
DOS1991
Caverns of Kroz
DOS1989freeware Apogee Software
Blues Brothers RPG
Windows XP/98/952004freeware
Yes, this exists. Blues Brothers RPG (2004, Windows XP) is what happens when someone looks at a legendary blues duo and says, “What if they fought zombies with saxophones?” Set in a world that’s part dungeon craw...
J.R.R. Tolkien's Riders of Rohan
DOS1997 Papyrus Design Group
Decisive Battles of the American Civil War: Vol. 2
DOS1989 SSG Strategic Studies Group