The best 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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Flying Tigers 2
DOS1994
Vampyr: Talisman of Invocation
DOS1989
Moebius
DOS1987 Origin Systems
Grand Slam Bridge
DOS1986 Cybron corporation
Panzer Battles
DOS1990 SSG Strategic Studies Group
Prophecy: the Fall of Trinadon
DOS1989 Activision
Return to Kroz
DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
The Basket Manager
DOS1991 Simulmondo
Ajax
DOS1989 Konami
Ajax (1989) is like an arcade fever dream: vertical shooter, transforming vehicles, lasers everywhere, and a soundtrack that yells “blast stuff!” every few seconds. One minute you’re flying a helicopter, the next you’re a tank on a hoverboard - don’t ask how, just shoot. It’s pure ’80s adrenaline: fast, lou...
Heavy Barrel
DOS1989 Data East
Scrabble
DOS1992 U.S. Gold
Oubliette
DOS1983
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 by DND, a 1970s mainframe game that itself took influence from Dungeons & Dragons. Telengard is a dungeon crawle...
Black Hole
DOS1993
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 ...
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 classic card game with all the excitement of a damp Sunday—but to be fair, it's a very competent simulation. Bonus poi...
Cloud Kingdoms
DOS1990 Logotron
Doom: The Roguelike
DOS2005freeware
House of Cards
DOS1989
Kampfgruppe
DOS1987protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Moonbase
DOS1990 Wesson International
Murder on the Zinderneuf
DOS1984 Free Fall Associates
Sarge
DOS1989
Beverly Hills Cop
DOS1990 Tynesoft Computer Software
Take Eddie Murphy’s swagger, remove the charm, add some DOS chiptunes, and you get Beverly Hills Cop—a game adaptation that asks: “What if being a wisecracking detective meant stiff animations and random driving segments?” It’s a mash-up of shooting, driving, and wondering what just happened, loosely held together by t...
Cavequest
DOS1985
Visions of the Aftermath: The Boomtown
DOS1988 Mindscape
Visions of the Aftermath: The Boomtown is an abandoned simulation game with role-playing elements developed by Mindscape and released in 1988 exclusively for DOS. Visions of the Aftermath is one of the few early examples of games involving survival in a post-apocalyptic environment.
Death by Backgammon
DOS1990
Lost Adventures of Kroz
DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
Xenopods
DOS1991 Softdisk Publishing