General PC Game Recommendation Thread

[Badseed Badseed]

I dont know who sam and max are.
F it. dude play whateever you want.
and Im also sorry you are a mod

 

[Deleted member 466]

Xanadu Next on Steam

Whenever mist hangs over Lake Orwell, sailors catch sight of a phantom castle just out of reach. As they draw near, it fades away, leaving only questions for all who have seen this “Castle Strangerock.” Now, you must aid your charge in uncovering its secrets...even if it costs you your very soul.

store.steampowered.com

An intriguing and underrated dungeon crawler action rpg by Falcom. It rewards preparation, exploration and those who pay attention.

 

[Pearly]

I'm here to recommend Tron 2.0. It's great.

 

[dr grim]

another one i'll recommend trying.

it have aged a little.. but where truly unique for it's time.

- action rpg before it was a thing, fighting with light / mid / strong attacks combos / dodging and all
- anti hero totaly edgy who insults nearly everyone.
- magic system where you have to create your own spells ( and often fail ) by yourself
- day and night cycle for it's time

 

[Unassuming_Spook]

I recommend Sacred Gold (Sacred + Sacred Underworld). I believe it was released in 2004.
It's a hack n' slash action RPG with character building. It's dark and a little bit morbid and I find the world enviroments captivating.

Post automatically merged: Apr 16, 2026

View attachment 173736

another one i'll recommend trying.

it have aged a little.. but where truly unique for it's time.

- action rpg before it was a thing, fighting with light / mid / strong attacks combos / dodging and all
- anti hero totaly edgy who insults nearly everyone.
- magic system where you have to create your own spells ( and often fail ) by yourself
- day and night cycle for it's time

View attachment 173739

I almost forgot about this awesome game. Thank you.

 

[Deleted member 930343]

A great game

 

[Mileena]

Gangsters was a great game, I had a lot of fun with it and played it to death.

Indigo Prophecy (also known as Fahrenheit) rocked, underrated game imo

 

[Clippy]

This one comes with a disclaimer. You'll come across some comic book style depictions of titties and gore so this is definitely not something you want to show your kids or grandmas.

Hopkins FBI - 1998 - Point and Click - In 1984 a terrorist group claims to have nuclear bombs and threatens to use them on US citizens unless the country gives in to their demands. As we all know, the US does not negotiate with terrorists. As it turns out, the bad guys weren't bluffing and they really did have nukes which they launched on California. As such, FBI opened up a huge investigation into the perpetrators. Thanks to your work the ringleader, a certain Bernie Berckson, was caught and sentenced to death.
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Somewhat deserved, wouldn't you say?​

Unfortunately, something goes wrong and Bernie vanishes. I guess it makes sense for a criminal of this caliber to have a trick or two up his sleeve. His Houdini impersonation is so good that he remains at large for years. The game doesn't really address this other than saying that he's been living in disguise. Anyway, the game begins a few years later in your apartment.
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As good a starting point for a story as any.​

The game is mostly free from the pitfalls that plagued the genre before proper standards were introduced. No list of verbs to pick from and guess your way to the next obstacle. No text parser to hold you back. Just you and your mouse cursor. As you slide it across an object you can interact with it will start flashing. When that happens your right mouse button will switch between actions you can perform on said object and left mouse button will execute them. If there's one holdover from the bad old days here it's that some items are on the smaller side. The issue is far from being as pronounced here as it is in some other representatives of the genre but you'll have to be thorough if you don't want to miss anything.
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Here are some examples of what you'll have to deal with.​

Anyway, once you ransack your apartment for items and you're ready to leave you will be railroaded into a case that will require your full attention - some good-for-nothings are holding up a bank and are threatening to blow the whole place to smithereens unless their demands are met.
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We can't exactly have that now can we?​

This is how you're introduced to the city map. Hopkins FBI is pretty much separated into three parts and this chapter is the only one that's somewhat open-ended but not really if you think about it. You can go to a number of locations but there's no real reason to do so until the plot calls for it. I do, however, suggest that you scour the map thoroughly with your mouse as that will allow you to learn of places like the FBI lab, shooting range or swimming pool. Visiting any of these is pointless right now but keeping their existence in the back of your head for later puzzles will be vital to make progress. Just go to the bank for now.
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As a side note, part of the game's soundtrack is snippets of licensed 60s rock and hot damn this one's catchy even if it's just the first 30 seconds of the song or so on loop. I was born in a bunk​

The bank heist will pretty much unveil all remaining gameplay quirks the game has such as conversing with NPCs, using items and solving puzzles. Speaking of which, terrorists planted a bomb in the bank so now that you're done with the hostage situation your task is to find and disarm it. It's somewhat well-hidden and chances are you won't be able to find it just by glancing around the location. If you choose to leave the crime scene at this point you'll be directed toward your next destination by dispatch but if you follow through the only thing that awaits you is a game over. Thankfully, this isn't a softlock as there is good reason to go back to the map at this point. The bomb is contained in a box. You'll need a screwdriver to pry it open. Said screwdriver? In your apartment. It's fairly easy to miss if you haven't been thorough when rummaging through your stuff. Good thing this isn't a Sierra kind of adventure game cause if it were you would've been screwed (teehee) right then and there.

Once you find and open the bomb box you'll have to make sure it doesn't go kaboom in your face. The detonator has three wires attached to it and if you combed the entire area thoroughly then surely you must've found a note that one of the terrorists had dropped while they were getting away.
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The note says that 'MLR' is the solution here. Could it possibly be Middle-Left-Right?​

Yes. Yes, it could be. This is another thing I like about this game. There's no moon logic here. Whether it's combining items, handing them over to NPCs or using them, everything is grounded in reality. Of course, some puzzles will be more difficult than others but all of them are solvable if you just think a little and, as we've already established, you won't encounter a situation where you find yourself stuck at a dead end just because you missed a seemingly unrelated item 5 hours earlier.

Anywho, once the bank robbery bit is over the game stops holding your hand so it's only fitting that I follow suit. As you continue to investigate the case you'll have a whale of an adventure. Bernie has not forgotten the man who almost ended his subscription to remaining among the living and not only does he have another devious scheme in the works he's also out to make you suffer. This takes on a very literal meaning at one point when one of his mooks manages to shoot you dead and you have to escape purgatory.
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Pretty fancy for a place that's supposed to be a minor stop on your journey to the afterlife.​

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What can I say, the man likes his killer game riddles. Samantha happens to be your love interest so it's definitely one hell of an incentive to play along.​

As you follow the breadcrumbs he leaves behind in this game of cat and mouse you'll realize that the man is fairly unhinged and that he's willing to go to great lengths to make sure you understand that the situation is very serious.
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Now that's what I call brutal.​

This little game will take you to all sorts of places all over the city and eventually you'll discover that Bernie seems to have set up his latest operation on a certain remote island.
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Quite the paradise, isn't it?​

Perhaps. The dark secrets it holds will be up to you to unveil.

I should mention a few interesting things Hopkins FBI does. Late 90s were an experimental time for the point and click genre which was getting pretty stale at that point. Like many of its peers, the game introduces action segments as a means to spruce up the gameplay. Usually this is a very bad idea but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised here. I wouldn't say these bits are worth the price of admission on their own or that they're something you'll be looking forward to while playing but unlike many adventure titles they are at least functional and won't make you tear your hair out in frustration.
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Wolfenstein 3D called and it wants its lackluster gameplay back.​

This really goes to show how dire things were for the genre in 1998. Still, as I said, these sections won't stop you from completing the game since, while they're primitive even by 1998, they actually work and can be blitzed through fairly easily. One very unusual thing this game does to give you some variety is that it contains a fully functional little clone of Arkanoid. All you have to do to access it is go to the FBI office and launch it on one of the computers there.
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10/10 office worker simulation ​

Unfortunately, this is where I segue into negatives. While I was trying to see how far Arkanoid goes I was rewarded with a BSoD about half an hour in. What little I gathered from it seems to indicate that you may have better luck with it if you play on Windows 95 instead of 98 like I did. The game has hallmarks of having been rushed. There are many typos strewn about as well as bits of spoken dialogue that don't match the subtitles. Clearly, QA was an issue.

Hopkins FBI is obscure for a reason. The genre was dying. The game has minor issues plaguing it. The writing isn't going to win any awards. The narrative just doesn't have the kind of wit that we love the classics for. It's more of a B-tier affair but it's told well enough.

However, it manages to avoid most of the infuriating trappings of its genre. No moon logic. No weird dexterity checks. Some parts towards the end can be confusing but walkthroughs are out there. Experience has taught me that every point and click game requires one at some point but in this case that point is unusually far into the game.

Hopkins FBI won't rock your socks off. It's not an overlooked classic but it's worth an evening or two if you have some time to kill.​

 

[Badseed Badseed]

I recommend any pre-TWD telltale game. Almost everything that came out specifically after TWD is shit. Unless it’s poker night which isn’t shit but I dunno when that released.

For once, I didn't put the angry face for lack of a thumbs down button ( you're a mod, RGT needs to fix that), I was already pissed off whenI saw this. GO POUND SALT man, TT's walking dead, Game of Thrones and Batman games were some for the best Narrative game experiences I have played. Obviously by this list below

Oh my bad I should’ve written names.
‘Kay, here goes. All the telltale stuff I recommend (remember, this is pre-TWD, all of these are just standard puzzle games)

• Puzzle Agent
• Puzzle Agent 2
• Jurassic Park: The Video Game
• Back to the Future: The Game
• Tales of Monkey Island
• Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People
• Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventure
• Sam & Max Save the World
• Sam & Max Beyond Space and Time
• Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse
• Poker Night at the Inventory
• Telltale Texas Hold ‘em

Hope these help!

Post automatically merged: Jan 21, 2025

Hmmm I saw the thing about year, genre and explanation…. Gimme a sec

You require some... let us say less cerebral games. maybe go buy a 1970s Pong machine,
that may be more your speed. WTF I'm livin in freckin topsy-turvy land. maybe if you are an European this all would probably make sense, I don't know.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

For once, I didn't put the angry face for lack of a thumbs down button ( you're a mod, RGT needs to fix that), I was already pissed off whenI saw this. GO POUND SALT man, TT's walking dead, Game of Thrones and Batman games were some for the best Narrative game experiences I have played. Obviously by this list below

Hey friend, are you getting amnesia, this is the second time you respond to this exact comment, not that I mind cuz your comments are so funny xD

You require some... let us say less cerebral games. maybe go buy a 1970s Pong machine,
that may be more your speed. WTF I'm livin in freckin topsy-turvy land. maybe if you are an European this all would probably make sense, I don't know.

I’m not European, but I am fine with my level of cerebral-ness, I love puzzle games :)
Not for everyone, which is perfectly fine <3

 

[Badseed Badseed]

Hey friend, are you getting amnesia, this is the second time you respond to this exact comment, not that I mind cuz your comments are so funny xD

Thanks I do strive to make people laugh. I'm a 6' 5" fat guy that wears Hawaiian shirts,
of course I want everyone to laugh. As for Amnesia, its not that, its even worse...
Its called getting old...

All those years of me joking about my "early onset dementia" are not so funny now that I am of a age where its a distinct possibility.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

Thanks I do strive to make people laugh. I'm a 6' 5" fat guy that wears Hawaiian shirts,
of course I want everyone to laugh. As for Amnesia, its not that, its even worse...
Its called getting old...
View attachment 185642

All those years of me joking about my "early onset dementia" are not so funny now that I am of an age where its a distinct possibility.

Best of wishes :c

 

[Badseed Badseed]

Best of wishes :c

Thank you. As we continue to be online friends I hope to be a continual thorn in your side as you try to crush me under your moderation boot.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

Thank you. As we continue to be online friends I hope to be a continual thorn in your side as you try to crush me under your moderation boot.

View attachment 185675

LOOOOOL, you haven’t done anything wrong though, but I like how you make me sound like some threatening tyrant, I’ll take it! May our online friendship continue to flourish, ol chap

 

[Badseed Badseed]

LOOOOOL, you haven’t done anything wrong though, but I like how you make me sound like some threatening tyrant, I’ll take it! May our online friendship continue to flourish, ol chap

I guess you and the other Mods don't share notes. lol. There is a reason I earned Kingdom Come Deliverance's Convict achievement here on the RGT forum. But I have mostly reformed. Now I'm
here to keep the lesser seamen in line and keep their BIG gobs shut. The mods and the seafaring community here need to respect our parley. Rule #6 MUST be respected. Somebody needs to to
step up and be Henry Every. Long live the code.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

I guess you and the other Mods don't share notes. lol. There is a reason I earned Kingdom Come Deliverance's Convict achievement here on the RGT forum. But I have mostly reformed. Now I'm
here to keep the lesser seamen in line and keep their BIG gobs shut. The mods and the seafaring community here need to respect our parley. Rule #6 MUST be respected. Somebody needs to to
step up and be Henry Every. Long live the code.

View attachment 185702

That’s right! Respect Rule 6 or walk the plank, sailor! Dead men tell no tales!

 

[Clippy]

World Cup 98 - 1998 - Sports
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I believe we're all sufficiently pumped now.​

Might as well be topical while the current World Cup is in full swing, because why not. We're RetroGameTalk after all and the 1998 World Cup was a fairly significant one in the history of the sport, introducing some major rule changes, such as expanding the tournament roster to 32 teams or the short-lived golden goal rule. This game allows you to recreate some of the tournament's most thrilling moments if you want to relive the past or you simply weren't around to witness them such as Norway beating Brazil 2-1 in the group stage or Croatia taking 3rd place in what was their first World Cup.

You can also dabble in some alternative history what if scenarios. How about letting Paolo Maldini win the trophy. The immaculate, iron-clad Italian defence he was a part of in 1994 came so close only to lose it all in a penalty shootout against Brazil and he had retired from international football by the time Italians won in 2006. Or maybe you could lead Brazil to ultimate victory without that freak injury that incapacitated Ronaldo O Fenomeno right before the final? Perhaps handing the trophy to an African team would be more to your liking? Before Ronaldinho wowed the world with his wizardry on the ball it was players like Jay-Jay Okocha and Roger Milla who were considered masters of the entertainment aspect of the game with their razzle-dazzles. I'm sure neither would mind his country (Nigeria and Cameroon respectively) winning. So many potential yarns to spin, so little time...
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You could have Portugal win the trophy. Can you believe that what was considered their golden generation with the likes of Luis Figo and Rui Costa on the team failed to even qualify for the World Cup? I'm sure Portugal supporters couldn't believe it either.​

The main selling point of WC98 is, of course, its status as the official game of the tournament. This means that all 10 venues where the games were played are faithfully recreated here. All participating teams are fully licensed with their players' names and authentic kits present and accounted for. The only minor nitpick I can offer on this front is that not all starting elevens are 100% accurate. This is something that was out of devs' control since squads weren't finalized until a few weeks after the game came out. Perhaps the most notable discrepancy between the game and the actual tournament is the presence of Brazil's Romario who picked up an injury right before the World Cup started and therefore couldn't play for his country but he's proudly representing his half of the Ro-Ro striker duo here.

The devs accounted for these kinds of situations by giving you a selection of reserve players whom you can call up to replace the default starters. This also allows you to create fantasy scenarios in which your favorite man can star for his team.
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Imagine being Argentina's coach and not taking Claudio Caniggia to France. That's exactly what Daniel Passarella did. Not on my watch. El Hijo del Viento will be tearing it up on the wing just like he did in 1990 and 1994.​

If that isn't enough then you have the option to fully customize your team via the built-in editor. Add whichever player you would've loved to see or go wild and recreate current rosters. Put Erling Haaland in the game and see how he fares against the best goalkeepers of the day. Add Virgil van Dijk to the Dutch roster and see if he could stop maestros like Del Piero or Zidane. And if you really want to go off the rails...
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Now that's a winning team if I've ever seen one .​

Deciding who's going to play in your team of choice is just the tip of the tactical iceberg. There are, of course, simple choices such as appointing free kick takers and the like but the real meat here is setting up your formation. Instead of picking from a few rigid options like 4-4-2 you get to manually decide how many players are in each line, where they're supposed to be in said line, how far forward they should consider running when your team's in possession and how aggressively they should play when trying to take the ball away from your opponent. Since you can only control one player at any given time it's important to make sure your CPU-controlled teammates suit your playing style as much as they can.

While there are some limitations to this system you can opt for really off-kilter formations like 0-5-5. Just make sure to account for the fact that your opponents will use all that space you leave in the back to their advantage. If you find that your experiment isn't panning out you can always modify your formation mid-match so there's no need to worry about unintentionally throwing a game by messing up your tactics.
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You can turn all of your players into nutters like I did with Juergen Klinsmann here .​

 

[Clippy]

Since the game is purely meant to be a celebration of the World Cup there's only one 'real' mode here - one guess as to what it is. Before you sink your teeth into it, however, I suggest checking out the training mode. It not only allows you to get to grips with basic controls but also practice some advanced moves and set pieces. Unfortunately, the game doesn't tell you which buttons do what or how to perform a real show-stopper. You'll have to figure it out either by trial and error or by reading the manual. Once you think you're done with practice mode you can play a one-off friendly game, a straight penalty shootout or just get to the main event already.
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Learning the secret to scoring an absolute screamer is going to take some time.​

There's one unlockable mode once you're done with the World Cup and it's a nice novelty. You can play some World Cup finals of old dating all the way back to 1930. When you go back in time far enough the color scheme changes to black and white to reflect the broadcast standards of the time. Games that were played before the sport was televised are represented by a sepia tone instead. It's neat to be able to play a slice of history though the mode unfortunately drops the ball a little bit by applying 1998 rules to the matches instead of recreating period-accurate state of the sport.
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There will be justice for the 1954 Mighty Magyars.​

Presentation is a strength of the game. At a time most football games struggled to emulate the feeling of witnessing and actual match EA went out of their way to hire professional BBC commentators who do an admirable job calling plays, naming players as well as providing some general commentary such as pre- and post-match summary of your team's standing in the group stage for instance. They even have a bank of quips for unusual situations like a really high scoreline or a particularly embarrassing (own) goal conceded. When you're not busy listening to the two gents you can hear the crowd enthusiastically chant the name of your country and do the usual football crowd things like beating drums or completely losing their collective minds when you score.

Graphics are similarly impressive. Both the the stadiums and players are nicely modeled in full 3D, as they have been for two or three entries in the series. What separates WC98 from the previous games is that the devs made sure to up the ante when it comes to animation. Every overhead kick, stepover, feint, flick and what have you boasts smooth animation you can admire time and time again by using the instant replay feature that allows you to save your finest moments and show them to your friends.
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Even when zooming out this far El Pibe Valderrama remains as recognizable as he's ever been.​

There are also a lot of flourishes and attention to detail present. Each match is introduced with a little FMV showcasing the stadium. FMVs also bookend certain phases of the tournament. Players have cute little animations as they pick up the ball for a throw-in or a corner kick. Goal celebrations are worth a mention here since whoever was responsible for them clearly wanted to flex a little and boy do they look good for the time. I think my favorite animation is when you score a goal and the camera zooms in on the keeper only for the man to kick it aside in frustration. Still entertaining all these years later. Is any of this necessary? No. Does it get old at some point? Maybe. Good news if it does - all of it is skippable.

One final touch worth mentioning is the presence of real life brands strewn about on the sidelines. This was a time when seeing a real company logo in a video game was actually somewhat exciting. Of course, these logos do absolutely nothing to elevate the gameplay but they make the experience feel just a little bit more real.
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It was a different time, before cynicism made everyone bitter about our corporate overlords. Also, do you know the answer to the trivia question?*​

All in all, it's a great footy game that does pretty much everything right and stands well above most if not all of its peers. Is there anything to complain about? Sure. The game's presentation comes up short by 2026 standards for obvious reasons. There's only so much one can expect out of a game designed to run on a 133MHz Pentium coupled with 16MB of RAM and a generic SVGA graphics card. If there's one real complaint to be had it's that the amount of teams is limited. The built-in editor allows you to edit players but as far as teams go you're stuck with the 40 that the game offers. If you dream of, say, shocking the world with San Marino then you'll have to play FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 which came out a few months earlier. It's a great game in its own right but it doesn't reach quite the same level WC98 does.

If you want to (re)live the 1998 World Cup in video game form there's no better way to do so than playing this game so if that's something that interests you then go out there and do it.
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As Gary Lineker (who, coincidentally, does some voice work in this game) once said - Football is a simple game: 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.​

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See you in the next one. Buh-bye.​

*The answer is 1994. in 1958 Brazil beat Sweden 5-2 and in 1986 Argentina beat West Germany 3-2.​

 

[secreto7]

View attachment 212720
Now that's a winning team if I've ever seen one .​