Science fiction games

A game with a name like Battle Isle 93: The Moon of Chromos clearly means business. Released in 1993, it’s an expansion-slash-standalone with new missions, harder AI, and an even more hostile moon. You’ll manage resources, maneuver troops, and try not to scream at your screen when your tanks fall into another ambush. It’s tactical...

No, not that Battlestar. Battlestar (1996) is more obscure than a reboot that never happened. Set in deep space with a top-down view and UI only a Windows 3.x user could love, it mixes tactical combat and sci-fi storytelling like a B-movie got turned into a spreadsheet. The controls are awkward, the visuals retro even for ‘96, but there&rsquo...

Released in 1988, BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception is part RPG, part strategy, part “did I just die in the tutorial again?” You’re a young MechWarrior on the run, assembling allies and blowing stuff up with your giant robot. It’s a slow burn, but the lore is rich and the permadeath unforgiving. You’ll learn to...

BattleTech: The Crescent Hawks' Revenge is a turn-based strategy game developed by Westwood Associates and published by Infocom in 1990. It is the sequel to "Crescent Hawk's Inception" and is set in the BattleTech universe, a fictional universe where noble houses and mercenary groups vie for power using giant robotic vehicles known as BattleMe...

In 1983, Battlezone asked: what if vector graphics could give you war-induced vertigo? You’re in a tank, in a wireframe world, fighting other tanks. That’s it. But it’s oddly immersive—thanks to a pseudo-3D first-person view that was mind-blowing at the time. Think of it as the grandparent of every FPS ever, minus the textur...

Beneath a Steel Sky is a classic point-and-click adventure game released in 1994, developed by Revolution Software. Set in a dystopian, cyberpunk future, the game is renowned for its rich atmosphere and distinctive artwork. The game follows Robert Foster, who, after being abducted from his tribal home in the Outback, finds himself in Union Cit...

Beyond the Black Hole promises an interstellar voyage into mystery—and delivers... a disorienting 3D shooter that kind of feels like flying a cardboard spaceship through a kaleidoscope. The idea is noble: space combat meets puzzle-solving. The execution? Let’s say it was ambitious for 1989. You fly through wormholes, blast weird shapes,...

Based on the film that made air guitar cool (briefly), Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is a time-traveling puzzler where history class meets stoner logic. Gather historical figures, survive bizarre puzzles, and pray that your keyboard shortcuts are more righteous than bogus. Totally excellent if you're into 8-bit Plato and medieval mini-games.

Mutants! Explosions! Green slime! Bio Menace kicks off with Dr. Mangle’s Lab, a side-scrolling blast of carnage where you, Snake Logan (yes, really), shoot your way through a monster-infested city with a machine gun and a bad attitude. Think Duke Nukem’s cousin after a rough day. Cheap thrills, big pixels, and even bigger mullets.

Snake Logan is back, and this time the lab is... hidden! The Hidden Lab cranks up the challenge with more grotesque mutants, more lethal traps, and slightly improved sarcasm. It’s like episode one, but with less common sense and more toxic goo. Still powered by the Commander Keen engine, because who needs originality when you have grenades?

The trilogy concludes in Master Cain, where Snake Logan faces the ultimate evil: a villain with a name that sounds like a Bond bad guy and a plan straight from Saturday morning cartoons. Expect one last hurrah of mutant-blasting mayhem, complete with bad platforming, louder explosions, and enough neon to cause eye strain. Long live DOS carnage!

In Bionic Commando, you're a soldier with no jumping ability—because who needs knees when you have a grappling arm? Swing through 1988 DOS architecture like a pixelated Tarzan, blasting bad guys and trying not to fall to your death every five seconds. It's like Contra met Spider-Man, had a disagreement about controls, and made up over explosi...

Black Hole (1993) is a space shooter where you're thrown into the gravitational madness of, you guessed it, a black hole. The physics are wild, the enemies are relentless, and you’ll wonder if Newtonian mechanics were written by a drunk alien. It’s got that early-’90s “I don’t know what’s happening but I’m ...

Blackthorne (1994) is what happens when a '90s action hero gets lost in a side-scrolling alien world and decides to shoot everything until it makes sense. You’re Kyle, a shotgun-wielding rebel with a mullet that could cut glass. This game oozes style—literally, some of the monsters do. The combat is slick, the animations smooth, and the...

One of the best licensed games of the '90s, Blade Runner (1997) puts you in the rain-soaked shoes of Ray McCoy, a detective tracking down replicants in a world where it's always night and nobody smiles. It’s not just point-and-click—it’s point-and-question-your-existence. With branching paths, randomized targets, and that gritty c...

Before Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, the world only knew of one man who could mow down Nazis in a maze of corridors — then Blake showed up with a laser gun and a mission to rid the universe of alien gold hoarders. Released in 1993 for DOS, this game is like Wolfenstein 3D’s sci-fi cousin who read too many pulp comics. The enemies range f...

Blake Stone: Planet Strike picks up where the first left off — more aliens, more guns, and more corridors that all look suspiciously alike. Released in 1994 for DOS, it’s basically Blake’s victory lap, but with added polish and new weapons. The villain’s plan still makes zero sense, but who needs logic when you’ve got ...

Blasteroids is a video game developed and released by Atari, Inc. in 1987. It's a sequel to the classic arcade game Asteroids, which was released in 1979. In Blasteroids, players control a spaceship tasked with destroying asteroids and enemy ships while avoiding collisions and enemy fire. The game features updated graphics and gameplay mechanics co...

Blood Money (1990) answers the question: what if every level in a shoot-'em-up was a different kind of sci-fi fever dream? You fly through alien-infested caverns, collect cash, and try not to get obliterated by things that look like angry underwater Christmas decorations. The game has that classic early-90s Euro-vibe: tough as nails, oddly beautifu...

BloodNet combines vampires, cyberspace, and noir in a cocktail so strange it probably shouldn’t work but somehow does. You are a hacker who just got bitten by a vampire and now you must juggle your thirst for blood with your desire to not completely lose your mind. The game world is dense, filled with dark alleys, gothic hackers, and more dia...

With a name like Blort!, you'd expect a fart joke or a kids’ cartoon gone wrong, but no—it’s a 1987 arcade-style blaster for DOS. You play as a cosmic defender shooting weird blob-like aliens while dodging pixelated chaos. The controls are twitchy, the sounds are charmingly obnoxious, and the score system encourages reckless brave...

Boppin (1994, DOS) is a puzzle game that starts out cute and then sucker-punches you with its sinister undertone—literally. You throw blocks to match symbols, release trapped creatures, and eventually realize the game has a disturbing fascination with pixelated doom. The music? Cheerful. The graphics? Adorable. The theme? Low-key horrifying. ...

Take American football, remove the rules, add swords and fireballs, and throw in some screaming. That is Brutal Sports Football. This is not about touchdowns. This is about survival. Players can be decapitated, the ball can explode, and nobody really seems to care about the score. The game is loud, chaotic, and weirdly satisfying. It is like rugby ...

Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed is a CRPG developed by SSI Strategic Simulations Inc. and released in 1992 for DOS only. Buck Rogers: Matrix Cubed is the sequel to Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday and it's based on a campaign setting created by TSR in the late 80s. The game uses the Gold Box engine, common to much of the RPGs developed by SSI.