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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Warriors of Legend
DOS1993 Synergistic Software
Waterworld
DOS1997 Intelligent Games
Wayne Gretzky Hockey
DOS1989 Bethesda Softworks
Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space
Windows 10/11LinuxMac OS2005protected Digital Eel
Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space is a science fiction roguelike game developed by Digital Eel. Originally released in 2005, it is the sequel to Strange Adventures in Infinite Space. The game puts you in command of a sta...
Welltris
DOS1989 Sphere
Welltris is a puzzle video game designed by Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of Tetris. Released in 1989, Welltris offers a fresh take on the block-dropping mechanics of Tetris, expanding the gameplay into a 3D environment. Simil...
Wembley Rugby League
DOS1996 Denton Designs
When Two Worlds War
DOS1993 Impressions Games
Wild West World
DOS1991 Software 2000
Windwalker (Moebius 2)
DOS1989 Origin Systems
WinRisk
Windows 3.x1992
WitchavenRL
Windows 10/11Linux2013
Wizard's Crown
DOS1987protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
World tour golf
DOS1985 Electronic Arts
Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire
DOS1990freeware Origin Systems
After the success of Ultima 6: The False Prophet, Origin decided to "create worlds" not part of the popular Ultima series (strictly speaking) using the same engine of Ultima 6. They came up with two games: The Savage Empire and Ma...
X-Fighter
DOS1987 Wordworks Software
X-Men 2: The Fall of the Mutants
DOS1991 Paragon Software
Xenon
DOS1988 Bitmap Brothers
Xenon, released in 1988, was a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up video game developed by The Bitmap Brothers. Xenon was initially released for the Commodore 64, and later, it was ported to other platforms, including DOS, the ZX Sp...
Xenon 2000: Project PCF
Windows XP/98/952000remake Bitmap Brothers
Xenon 2000: Project PCF is a vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up video game and originally released in 2000. It is a sequel to the earlier game "Xenon 2: Megablast," which was developed by The Bitmap Brothers and released in 1989.In X...
Xenon 2: Megablast
DOS1990 Bitmap Brothers
Xenon 2: Megablast is a classic shoot'em up developed by Bitmap Brothers and released by Image Works in 1990 for DOS and for a plethora of other systems. Xenon was good, Xenon 2 was far better. Compared to today standards Xenon 2 ...
Xenopods
DOS1991 Softdisk Publishing
Xonix
DOS1984remake
XQuest
DOS1994remake
Yacht Racing Simulator
DOS1986
Ys: The Vanished Omens
DOS1989 Nihon Falcom
Ys: The Vanished Omens (also known as The Ancient Land of Ys) is an abandoned top-down open-world action RPG designed by Masaya Hashimoto, developed by Nihon Falcom and released by Kyodai Software Marketing for DOS in 1989. Ys: Th...
Z
DOS1996protected Bitmap Brothers
Welcome to Z, the real-time strategy game where psychotic robots with British accents duke it out over territory in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Think Command & Conquer if the developers had a few too many pints and a twisted...
ZAngband
Windows 10/11Mac OSDOSLinux1999freeware
Zangband is a variant of the popular roguelike game Angband. Zangband, short for Zelazny Angband, was developed by Chris Weisiger and first released in 1994. The game features a fantasy world with diverse races, classes, and ...
Zoom!
DOS1988
Zoom! is a puzzle game that desperately wants to be cool. You're a sunglasses-wearing smiley face cruising down psychedelic gridlines while dodging blobs and filling in tiles like Tron on a budget. It’s fast, weird, and occa...
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...
ZZT
DOS1991freeware Epic MegaGames
ZZT (1991, DOS) looks like it was drawn by an enthusiastic ASCII artist with too much time and not enough colors. And yet, it’s brilliant. Part action game, part puzzle adventure, part game creation tool, ZZT is the reason s...