Richard Garriot 1980
Genre: RPG
Rating: 4/6
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Even after the evil has been vanquished, there are still many foul creatures plaguing the land. It is your task to get rid of them. This rather unusual premise is the basis for the first roleplaying game ever. Selling only eight copies, it wasn't a commercial success either, but is spawned one of the most successful computer RPG franchises ever.

Blue Byte 1996
Genre: RPG
Rating: 5/6
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Today is the great day, today the Toronto arrives at its goal, a mineral rich planet where to start a colossal mining operation finishing a multimillionaire travel. Everything looks great, until an accident during leaves the exploration crew stranded on the deserted lifeless planet, to discover that it isn't a desert, and much less lifeless.

Thomas Biskup 2002
Genre: RPG
Rating: 4/6
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

If there is one game that professional developers and publishers hate, it's Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM). The final version (1.0) released in late 2002, this freeware role-playing game that fits on a single floppy offers an unprecedented depth of character development and a length of gameplay that easily matches the longest games ever released. In fact, ADOM offers more replay value than any game released in the 21st Century, and unlike many of those games, it remains fun no matter how often you replay it.

Farrware 1993
Genre: RPG
Rating: 3/6
Licence: Shareware
System: PC

It is very rare to find a shareware first-person roleplaying game. Ancients I: Death Watch is just that. Clearly copied from Bard's Tale with a few minor improvements and a much weaker story, Ancients is a second-tier game at best, but still interesting and entertaining enough to keep you playing for a few days. The game is designed in first person, where a group of four adventurers explores a city and various dungeons that are accessible from the houses. Featuring graphics comparable with the first Bard's Tale, mapping the city is quite difficult, and it does not get much better in the dungeons.

Farrware 1993
Genre: RPG
Rating: 2/6
Licence: Shareware
System: PC

It is very unusual for a relatively unsuccessful game like Ancients I to have a sequel. Ancients II: Approaching Evil simply increases the scope of the original game, but offers little else.

Ancients II is a shareware first-person roleplaying game, where you take charge of a group of adventurers and travel the land, vanquishing the monsters. As is the case with the first part, I could not find a coherent story or the ultimate goal in this game. It is as if the designers were creating only a demo for a game engine and forgot to fill in a story. Or maybe the engine did not allow a quest system. Either way, the lack of the story makes the game very repetitive and boring.

Dreamforge 1995
Genre: RPG
Rating: 3/6
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

This is a little dungeon crawler where you embark on a quest, as usual. A quest for what you say? A quest for something big to help against the invading evil warlord. It’s the usual deal: you get a weapon, a few spells and many enemies to kill and corridors to crawl around, only this time it occupies a CD.

Micromagic / Origin 1988
Genre: RPG
Rating: 4/6
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Autoduel is one of the few classic games that don't deserve as much attention as it is getting. It may sound ironic that I review a game just because I don't consider it worth a review, but it isn't so. Autoduel is a very original piece of work, which is seriously flawed by inferior graphics, awkward interface and an extremely steep learning curve. Autoduel is simply the result of applying arcade principles to a pen-and-paper roleplaying game.

Various 2004
Genre: Strategy, RPG
Rating: 5/6
Licence: Freeware
System: PC

Even people who don't really follow the development in this 'scene' will know that there are countless 'open source game projects' floating around the Internet. Many of them remakes of classic concepts, some highly original. Most are nowhere near a finished state. What you can see on their homepages is usually a 'roadmap' outlining what still needs to be done (pretty much everything), and a few early screenshots. Sometimes, you can even download some kind of 'alpha engine' which doesn't really do anything so far. Experience tells that more than 90% of these projects are abandoned before they've achieved anything.

Westwood / Infocom 1988
Genre: Strategy, RPG
Rating: 4/6
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

A unique blend of role-playing, tactical strategy and adventure, Battletech: The Crescent Hawk Inception was one of Infocom's first forays into graphical gaming. For years, the company ruled the text-based gaming, and with this ambitious product, wanted to cross over to the increasingly popular graphics-based games. Developed by Westwood's finest, the game became immensely popular, despite its balancing issues and weak graphics.

MAX Design 1993
Genre: Strategy, RPG
Rating: 4/6
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Flames of nuclear war devoured the world, cities, towns, forests... all became a desert filled with mutants and survivors. But you are not only that, you are a leader on its way to join again this land.