I've been gaming a long time, hard to choose just one. So's here's a short list:
*RPG*
- Betrayal at Krondor (Used to be free sad.gif Still, one of the few text-laden roleplaying games that introduced me to the wonderful world of fantasy adventures. Still remains one of my favourite games to date.)
- Planescape Torment (An epic tale of an immortal amnesiac out to kick butt. Has a few quirks, but the rest of the content of this story-driven saga more than make up for it.)
- Icewind Dale (Beautiful music, great fun for LAN)
- Baldur's Gate & BG 2 (...but I don't bother with the expansion packs)
- Blades of Avernum (Old school adventure with all the goodies.)
- Albion (Great mesh of fantasy and scifi.)
- Silver (A little-known quaint roleplaying game with great music and decent combat)
- Arx Fatalis (Fun dungeon rompt in 3D. What more can you ask?)
- Jade Empire (Kung fu, great storyline and interesting world to explore? Count me in. )
- Summoner (Altho' the multiplayer aspect was a major dissapointment)
- Final Fantasy 7 (PC Port. One of my favourites from the series.)
- Lands of Lore (It may be old, but by gods, it's still up to par to most games.)
- Freedom Force (for you all nostalgic superhero comic fans, this is the perfect RPG for you )
- Wizardry 8 (Great game, laughing-out-loud fun dialogue and tear-inducing challenge from square one)
- Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magicka Obscura (Victorian era meets fantasy. Great setting, sadly, game itself felt unpolished. Unfinished, really.)
- Might and Magic 7 (Nigh perfect, aside from end game)
- NOX (Good little adventure RPG, dunno if most folks have heard of it.)
*FPS*
- System Shock 2 (Double the fun with LAN patch.)
- Hidden and Dangerous 2 (think HnD is still free nowadays, dunno about the sequel)
- STALKER (Chernobyl is a dangerous place, stalker. Shoot first, ask...no, just shoot.)
- Outlaws (Epic Lucasarts classic shootout between you and an army of varmints!)
- Blood (Very, very, bloody. Go against the devil himself and his army of mad kabalists.)
- Soldier of Fortune 2 (Saving the world black-ops style.)
- Duke Nukem 3D (Kicking hindquarters and chewing bubble gum... classic action game)
- Shadow Warrior (Wotaah! Another 3DRealms classic shooter.)
- Requiem: Avenging Angel (Game suffers from poor cinematics, but it's ever so fun to go around with your own personal army of resurrected Heavies covering your six)
- Half Life (+ Opposing Force. I don't bother with Blue Shift)
*STRATEGY*
- Dwarf Fortress (Undescribable, really. One should try it and witness the awesome content. Ease-of-use pack by May Green is great for those put off by running letters. )
- Anno 1404 (If you don't mind the cheating AI, it's a great, beautiful game.)
- Age of Empires II: Age of Kings (For years, the uncontested masterpiece of the genre. Still fun today.)
- King of Dragon Pass (Beautiful, deep game. Manage your celtic-like tribe in a world filled with wonders of yore, and become the titular King of Dragon Pass. )
- Jagged Alliance 1 & 2 (Great, great games. One of the few cases in which the sequel surpasses the first game, one of the best strategy games to date. )
- Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge and C&C : Generals are both great games for multiplayer fun.
- Startopia (Short, but sweet. Funny little space station management game.)
- Populous 3 ( Time to go a'crusading against other tribes, across the stars. )
- Dungeon Keeper ( It's good to be bad. Dungeon management game that became an instant classic in it's time. )
- Warlords BattleCry III (Great action/strategy RPG with lots of content)
- Battle for Wesnoth (it's free, lotsa downloadable content, too.)
- Commandos 1 & 2 (Cream of the crop when it comes to WW 2 strategy games.)
- Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive (A quality Commandos clone, in western settings.)
- Close Combat 2: A Bridge too Far (Great in-depth strategy game.)
- Men of War, Faces of War and it's predecessor Soldiers: Heroes of World War II (Best. WW2. RTS series. Ever. )
- Battlezone (Fight russians. In space!)
- Warcraft 2 (Loktag! This game franchise is so well known I shouldn't prolly even bother with lengthy descripti- damn. )
- Starcraft ( Ditto. )
- Burntime ( A post-apocalyptic strategy game. Pure gold. )
- Settlers ( Good series full of nice city building. )
- Evil Genius ( James Bond-inspired gem where you try to take over the world as the titular evil genius, while keeping one step ahead of the Interpol and other organizations sending assassins, saboteurs and super agents to stop you, you madman!)
- X-Com: Ufo Defence and X-Com Apocalypse (Don't be fooled to buying the new UFO games, 'tho. )
*ADVENTURE*
- Curse of the Monkey Island (Fabulous, funny, and great lookin'.)
- Day of the Tentacle ( Lucasarts strikes gold, yet again.)
- Full Throttle (Ditto.)
- The Dig (Ditto.)
- RUNE (Fight your way to Valhalla thru armies of enemies in interesting locations. Features the best voiceacting for Loki I've heard. )
- Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen (Vengeance is yours, from beyond the grave. Take the role of Kain the vampire, and wreak some undead carnage against rulers of a corrupt world.)
- Metal Gear Solid (PC Port. No Psycho Mantis reading, 'tho. sad.gif )
- Beyond Good and Evil (I cannot stress this enough- Great adventure game, sadly the sequel is still not here...)
- Dark Earth ( Main quest has time limit, but it's still great)
- Al Qadim- Genie's Curse
- Little Big Adventure
- Fredrik Pohl's Gateway
- Simon the Sorceror
- Return to Ringworld
- Lure of the Temptress
- Beneath a Steel Sky (Free nowadays, I think?)
- Death Gate
- Innocent Until Caught
- Legend of Kyrandia
- Drakan: Order of the Flame
- Get Medieval (Fun for coop)
* HYBRID*
- Thief: The Dark Project, and it's sequel Thief 2: Metal Age. Look for the unofficial expansion for the sequel, too.
- Hitman: Codename 47 (and other Hitman titles. Sneaking and killing made fun.)
- Deus Ex (Great mix of multiple genres, enthralling world and multiple endings. Yay.)
- Project Nomads (or Project: Nomad if you're really, really, really lucky. Different games and genres. The second one is a space sim where you face off the Master Control Robot's armada in a vast space universe. )
- Space Rangers 2 (So much in one game- also made successfull attempt to revive the art of text adventures. Also contains planetary RTS, space dogfighting, and more.)
- Dune (If you haven't read the book or watched the horrible movie...You take on the task of bringing house Atreides back from the brink of destruction to triumph over enemy forces on a planet that hosts all-important spice production capabilities. Danger and betrayal, romance and intrique in the midst of war!)