Top-down perspective
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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Tangled Tales
DOS1989 Origin Systems
Telengard
DOS1985freeware Avalon Hill
Telengard is one of the earliest computer role-playing games, released in 1982 for various home computers like the Commodore 64, Apple II, and TRS-80 and later for PC. It was developed by Daniel Lawrence and was heavily inspired b...
Tempest 2000
DOS1996remake Atari
Tempest 2000 is a video game developed by Llamasoft and published by Atari Corporation. It was released in 1994 for DOS, Mac, the Atari Jaguar console, etc. Tempest 2000 is an enhanced remake of the original Tempest, which was rel...
Temple of Apshai Trilogy
DOS1985 Epyx
The Temple of Apshai Trilogy is a series of classic role-playing games developed by Automated Simulations (later known as Epyx) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. These games were among the earliest examples of computer-based RPGs...
Temple of Kroz
DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
The Aethra Chronicles
DOS1994
The Aethra Chronicles is not a well know fantasy RPG, but it deserves some praise. It was developed by only one person (Micheal Lawrence) and, as the title implies, was intended to be the first volume of a saga. Unfortunately, vol...
The Ancient Art of War
DOS1984 Evryware
The Ancient Art of War is a classic video game that was released in the late 1980s. Developed by Evryware and published by Broderbund, it was available on various platforms, including Apple II, Atari ST, Amiga, and MS-DOS. The Anc...
The Ancient Art of War at Sea
DOS1987 Evryware
The Ancient Art of War in the Skies
DOS1992 Evryware
The Basket Manager
DOS1991 Simulmondo
The Battle of the Bulge: Tigers in the Snow
DOS1982protected Tactical Design Group
The Big Three
DOS1989 SDJ Enterprises
The Blue & the Gray
DOS1993 Impressions Games
The Chaos Engine
DOS1994protected Bitmap Brothers
The Chessmaster 2000
DOS1986 The Software Toolworks
The Civil War
DOS1987 Avalon Hill
The Civil War
DOS1995 Dagger Interactive Technologies
The computer edition of Scrabble
DOS1989 Leisure Genius
The Final Crusade of Kroz
DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
The Global Dilemma: Guns or Butter
DOS1990 Mindscape
The Grandest Fleet
DOS1994 Quantum quality productions
The Great War: 1914 - 1918
DOS1993protected Blue Byte Software
The Hunt for Red October
DOSMac OS1987 Oxford Digital Enterprises
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...
The Magic Candle
DOS1989 Mindcraft Software
The Magic Candle: Volume 1 is the first chapter of a series of fantasy old school RPGs. The Magic Candle was developed and released by Mindcraft Software in 1989 for DOS but was also published for Apple II and Commodore 64. The wh...
The Magic Candle 2: The Four and Forty
DOS1991 Mindcraft Software
The Magic Candle 3
DOS1992 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 b...
The Punisher
DOS1990 Paragon Software