The 20 best classic PC games to try out in 2026

The writer's editorial order from the original article. We index, we don't re-rank.

01

Half-Life 2

2004 ·88 writers · 93 pieces

→02

Diablo II

2000 ·38 writers · 30 pieces

→03

Baldur's Gate

2012 ·7 writers · 3 pieces

→04

Deus Ex

2000 ·27 writers · 10 pieces

→05

StarCraft

1998 ·5 writers · 3 pieces

→06

Star Wars: TIE Fighter

1994 ·12 writers · 5 pieces

→07

Thief

2014 ·16 writers · 25 pieces

→08

System Shock 2

1999 ·34 writers · 44 pieces

→09

Chrono Trigger

1995 ·66 writers · 104 pieces

→10

Quake

1996 ·8 writers · 5 pieces

→11

Grim Fandango

1998 ·19 writers · 15 pieces

→12

Doom

2016 ·86 writers · 107 pieces

→13

Final Fantasy VIII

2009 ·21 writers · 20 pieces

→14

Day of the Tentacle

1993 ·9 writers · 6 pieces

→15

Resident Evil 2

1998 ·74 writers · 113 pieces

→16

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

1991 ·8 writers · 6 pieces

→17

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee

1997 ·11 writers · 6 pieces

→18

Hexen: Beyond Heretic

1995 ·6 writers · 2 pieces

→19

Duke Nukem 3D

1998 ·14 writers · 12 pieces

→20

Myst

1993 ·5 writers · 2 pieces

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