11 Fantastic Free Demos Not To Miss In February's Steam Next Fest
Kathy Rain is finally back, eight years after her last, fantastic adventure. She's now working full-time as a PI, but it's not going well, money is about to run out, and she's betting everything on solving a series of local murders by a serial killer called The Soothsayer. The demo gives a good chunk of game, and some excellent puzzles. — John Walker
Release: TBA
If you thought Steamboat Willie's entering the public domain was just going to secure you a few terrible horror movies, think again. It's also going to score one of the most astonishingly disturbing games I've ever played. And I'm pretty sure it's good? Bad Cheese's demo is a monstrously upsetting first-person...something, in which you play a bloated, morbidly obese Mickey Mouse, desperately trying to find pills for his mutant dog-like father-creature. Oh god, even the sound effects make me curl up to remember. — John Walker
Release: TBA
This twin-stick shooter does more interesting things in its demo than so many games offer in their entirety. It's a game where your health bars are also your ammo, so attacking makes you vulnerable, and that's a damned fine idea alone. Then it gets more complicated. — John Walker
Release: TBA
Bad Cheese isn't the only disturbing black-and-white demo we've found this Next Fest. Kiddo is a monochrome point-and-click adventure in which you play a masked figure who lives in disgusting solitude, finally spurred to leave his couch by the disappearance of his dog. In the demo, you're mostly focused on trying to clean the toilet. And it's so good. — John Walker
Release: TBA
Race around collecting golden gears and other stuff in a beautiful seaside world where you surf around with the flare and ease of an animated '90s cereal mascot. Demon Tides is a follow-up to Demon Turf: Neon Splash. There are only about five short levels in the demo so it's only a taste, but I already want more. I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, I mean Demon Tides. — Ethan Gach
Release: TBD 2025
Set in Quito, Ecuador in 2001, Despelote is an urban walking sim where you learn about a neighborhood and its residents by kicking a soccer ball around. Its collage art-style is evocative, the music is beautiful, and the dream-like exploration of someone else's mundane memories is affecting and hard to shake. — Ethan Gach
Release: May 1, 2025
Colorful, fast-paced parkour in a whimsical world that's constantly falling apart around you. That's Haste: Broken Worlds in a nutshell, a very neat action platformer that can feel like a mashup of Sonic and a Studio Ghibli movie. I love it. One YouTube comment put it best. 'They actually made the 'Awesome Parkour Guy You Watched Out The Back Seat Car Window When You Were a Kid' game.' — Ethan Gach
Release: TBD
Mashina is a stop-motion strategy sim where you play a robot digging through the earth to harvest resources and repair the world around you using machines. Think stripped-down elements of Minecraft and Factorio wrapped around a cute, child-like adventure. The demo is super short and gave me ToeJam & Earl vibes (complimentary), and the mixed-media visual style is top-notch. — Ethan Gach
Release: TBD 2025
Is This Seat Taken is the perfect kind of puzzle game. It has a simple setup—sort out differently-shaped people correctly—and so excellently and confidently nails that premise that playing it feels like someone injecting dopamine directly into your brain. I burned through the demo so fast that I was sad I have to now wait to play the full game. — Zack Zwiezen
Release: TBA
The latest game from XCOM creator Julian Gollop isn't what you might expect. Chip 'n Clawz vs. The Brainioids is a third-person shooter tower defense strategy game that features colorful visuals and large open maps to explore. It's like someone mixed together Ratchet and Clank with Orcs Must Die and added a tactical vision mode, too. Sounds a bit odd, but it's really fun and feels great even in this unfinished state. — Zack Zwiezen
Release: TBA
TMNT: Tactical Takedown is pitched as a turn-based beat'em up and while that sounded strange, after playing the new demo, I'm totally in. This new TMNT game is turn-based, sure, but moves fast thanks to the fact that every few turns part of the map falls away. So you are forced to keep moving through crowds of enemies and use each turtle's unique abilities to fight while picking up pizza for health. It's a little harder than I expected, but I think this is something special. — Zack Zwiezen
Release: TBA
For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
WIRED
a day ago
- WIRED
Gamers Are Furious About the Censorship of NSFW Games—and They're Fighting Back
Jul 30, 2025 2:51 PM As industry groups decry censorship, players are flooding Visa and Mastercard with complaints and sharing the titles of delisted NSFW games to support developers. The logo of Steam, a video game digital distribution service and storefront developed by Valve Corporation, shown on a smartphone. Photograph:Trade organizations across the games industry and gamers are speaking out against censorship campaigns taking place across Steam and in an effort to help developers who have been unfairly impacted. The push against adult content is being driven by Australian conservative group Collective Shout, whose pressuring of payment processors has forced platforms to mass deindex NSFW content. In the wake of these delistings, which remove games from search, developers are scrambling to understand if their games have been impacted and why. On platforms like Bluesky, users are compiling lists of 'censored artists' with NSFW pieces and unsearchable Itch pages, whether it's games or comics, many of whom identify their work as LGBTQ+ or kink friendly. WIRED was able to find several of these pages via Google, all of which were tagged by their creators in that document as LGBT and NSFW, but not with Itch's search tools. According to the International Game Developers Association, a nonprofit that supports game developers, this kind of censorship disproportionately affects developers who are queer, trans and people of color, on top affecting a creator's income and reputation. 'The right to make mature games with legal adult content is a creative right, just like the right to tell stories about war, death, or love.' In a statement given to WIRED, executive director Jakin Vela says that the IGDA is 'seriously alarmed' by the delistings and payment disruptions of adult-themed games on Steam and Itch. 'Globally and politically, we are at a crossroads for developer rights, creative freedom, and platform accountability,' he says. 'The right to make mature games with legal adult content is a creative right, just like the right to tell stories about war, death, or love.' Over the past few months, Collective Shout has been campaigning to get 'rape and incest' games removed from online platforms. The group began applying pressure to payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard; Valve removed hundreds titles, some of which included incest. Other developers, however, such as the creators of horror game Vile: Exhumed , say their games did not violate these standards. ' Vile: Exhumed was not banned for its use of gore in storytelling, or violent themes,' wrote developer Cara Cadaver in an update. 'It was banned for 'sexual content with depictions of real people,' which, if you played it, you know is all implied, making this all feel even worse. I refuse to censor or make changes to the game, I will not retell a story about these topics in a way to make people who don't understand feel more comfortable.' Valve did not respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile, Itch has deindexed all adult NSFW content. According to GameFile, that applies to over 20,000 games. 'Our ability to process payments is critical for every creator on our platform,' founder Leaf Corcoran wrote at the time. 'To ensure that we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers, we must prioritize our relationship with our payment partners and take immediate steps towards compliance.' Itch did not respond to a request for comment. The company has suspended its Stripe payments on 18+ content 'for the foreseeable future' and is 'actively reaching out to other payment processors that are more willing to work with this kind of content.' Reached for comment, Stripe spokesperson Casey Becker said that the company does not comment on users. 'Generally speaking, we take action when we conclude that users violate our terms of service,' Becker says. 'We do not support adult content." The company has a longstanding policy of not working with adult content services. In a previous statement to WIRED, Collective Shout campaigns manager Caitlin Roper said the organization had had 'no communication with payment processors' outside of an open letter. In a blog posted July 28, however, Collective Shout says it 'approached payment processors because Steam did not respond to us.' According to experts, this is a powerful tactic known as financial censorship that weaponizes financial institutions' aversion to anything controversial. It essentially sidesteps a platform's own rules for what it will allow and puts that decision directly in the hands of payment processors, which impacts what companies are allowed to sell. 'Platforms have long had terms of service restricting content such as non-consensual acts, rape, incest, and material that violates payment processor guidelines,' says Vela. 'The concern today is not the existence of these rules, but rather that their enforcement is adversely impacting games that do not actually violate these restrictions, often without warning or explanation.' In response to one developer on Bluesky, Corcoran said the team is considering 'adding an update to the dashboard to more explicitly show indexing status when the dust settles.' Corcoran did not respond to a request for comment. The German games industry association, game, has called developers' artistic freedom 'fundamental to games as a cultural medium.' Managing director Felix Falk said in a statement that restrictions from payment service providers and gaming platforms should not override what's legally allowed, and that service providers like Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal's terms and conditions should not conflict with free expression. 'Creative forms of expression or certain themes as games, such as diversity, must not be targeted by individual interests or campaigns from particularly vocal groups, as is currently being observed on Steam or Falk said. The Entertainment Software Association, which represents the game industry in the US, declined to comment. The UK's trade organization for games and interactive entertainment, Ukie, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In response to the Collective Shout's campaign and the subsequent fallout, the IGDA is gathering information from affected developers, which it says will guide its future actions. 'Games that feature consensual adult content, including queer, kink-positive, or romantic narratives, are easily targeted under vague or overly cautious enforcement, often forcing developers into silence or self-censorship because platforms fear perceived risks associated with hosting legal adult content,' says Vela. The IGDA is advocating for concerned parties to contact financial institutions like Mastercard and Visa directly, as well as support online petitions that ask these companies to stop interfering with entertainment and sex work. 'Mastercard and Visa have increasingly used their financial control to pressure platforms into censoring legal fictional content,' reads the campaign for a petition with over 185,000 signatures. 'Entire genres of books, games, films, and artwork are being demonetized or deplatformed—not because they're illegal, but because they offend the personal values of executives or activist groups' Mastercard and Visa did not respond to requests for comment. Since the delistings, gamers have been organizing on Bluesky, X, and Reddit, encouraging people to call companies like Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe to protest. One artist who makes adult content, who asked to remain unnamed out of fear of their financial accounts being affected, tells WIRED that they were 'hung up on twice by Visa' on Tuesday. 'The first time I was left on hold for about 10 minutes only to have the call suddenly disconnect. The second time I was told by a clearly frustrated rep that he would not connect me to a supervisor, and that Visa is no longer answering questions about policy.' The artist says that while they're approaching these calls as a consumer, because they sell comics on Itch, they're also directly impacted by the new policies. 'My audience, my friends, and my colleagues are all LGBTQ+, and are being overwhelmingly affected by this kind of censorship, where merely existing as a queer person is seen as inherently pornographic and fetishistic,' they say. 'I also want to stress that all of us are working and creating art well within the bounds of the law." The artist describes Collective Shout and Morality in Media as 'puritanical groups using the very real and legitimate fears of child exploitation to push through their right-wing policies.' In the adult entertainment industry, platforms have faced similar pressures involving anti-porn groups claiming to fight sexual exploitation by using payment processors to get content banned. Visa and Mastercard previously cut off payments to Pornhub; OnlyFans briefly banned, and then reversed a stance on sexually explicit content due to bank influence. Just this week, new child online safety laws in the UK kicked in that now require millions of adults to submit to ID document uploads, face scans, credit card checks, and more to access pornography; similar age-verification laws have been implemented in over 20 states. Critics say although these measures are aimed at protecting kids, they open the door for a mountain of privacy and surveillance problems. On its website, Itch has added an additional FAQ to address complaints, including addressing the difference between Itch and Valve's responses. Because Itch is not a closed platform like Steam, the post reads, it has minimal barriers to platform users publishing content. 'We could not rely on user-provided tagging to be accurate enough for a targeted approach, so a broader review was necessary to be thorough' the post reads. '…If we lose our ability to accept payments from a partner like PayPal or Stripe, we impact the ability of all creators to do business. Losing PayPal, for instance, would prevent us from sending payouts to many people.' The company says it is still waiting for final determinations from its payment processors.
The Verge
a day ago
- The Verge
PUBG's plan to beat Fortnite, Roblox, and every other game
Roblox and Fortnite are two of the biggest games around, and a huge part of why is because they aren't just one game: instead, they're vast platforms where you can party up with your friends, dress up in ridiculous digital outfits, and quickly jump from one experience to another. Back in the day, Fortnite copied PUBG by making a battle royale, and now, PUBG is mimicking Fortnite by trying to become more of a platform than a game. As part of a roadmap released earlier this year, PUBG developer Krafton said that it would let players create their own modes as part of an alpha, and it revealed more details about the alpha this month. This week, Krafton CFO Dongkeun Bae also discussed the company's vision for 'PUBG 2.0' in an earnings call. 'It will not just simply be a battle royale game per se,' he said through a translator. The game will also be 'a gameplay platform' and Krafton is developing 'wide-ranging modes under that objective.' It seems like this approach will be a lot like Fortnite's, which offers a mix of Epic Games-made modes and user-created experiences. Krafton also isn't just doing user-generated content (UGC) because it's 'currently the mainstream,' Bae said. With UGC, if it's opened up to the broader playerbase, players will be able to 'create many different things' with PUBG. The shift makes sense. By opening the PUBG — which is still one of the most-played titles on Steam — to different kinds of experiences, it could grow beyond just hardcore shooter fans. Fortnite's battle royale modes are still quite popular, but you can also play lower-stakes modes themed around Lego, navigating obstacle courses, racing, and playing music together. Epic has put a lot of effort behind expanding from just being a battle royale experience, even some of them, like a combat-free party island, haven't been big hits. And Roblox's user-made Grow A Garden, which is a farming simulator, has been breaking concurrent player records. In some ways, adding user-generated content is a continuation of PUBG and Fortnite following similar tracks. Like Fortnite, PUBG has big crossover events, for example. But PUBG's creator tools have a long way to go to catch up with what's possible with Fortnite and Roblox, though. Roblox was first released in 2006, and the company offers the Roblox Studio for making games and extensive resources for Roblox developers. And Epic is investing heavily in its Unreal Engine-level tools for making Fortnite experiences. But like with Roblox and Fortnite, PUBG players may have already invested time and money that makes switching over to a new game that much more difficult. By letting players make their own experiences, Krafton can keep those players interested in the PUBG universe and potentially pull in new ones. One thing Krafton may also learn from Fortnite: this kind of player-driven expansion can take a long time. Epic has been working and iterating for years to build up Fortnite's ecosystem of user-made experiences, and even then, Epic's own modes are usually the ones with the most players. It will probably take a while to know if Krafton's PUBG 2.0 plan is a winner winner chicken dinner. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Jay Peters Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Analysis Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Features Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Fortnite Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gaming
Forbes
a day ago
- Forbes
30 Popular Video Games Of The ‘90s
Nintendo dominated the '90s video game scene. The 1990s revolutionized gaming. As the decade that saw the transition to 3-D polygon-graphics, '90s video games grew bigger and were more ambitious than ever before. Many great franchises were founded in the 1990s, and many titles from the decade are still considered to be some of the greatest games ever made. But with so many games launching in the '90s, and quite range in the quality levels, finding the best '90s games is not easy. Fortunately, this list features the best of the best and is a great place to start your nostalgia trip. Classic '90s Video Games A decade that saw fighting games, first-person shooters and role-playing games become more popular than ever before, not only did the '90s revolutionize gaming, it laid the foundations of the video game industry we experience today. Huge franchises like Sid Meier's Civilization, Grand Theft Auto and Doom all began in the '90s, building on the franchise boom that began in the same decade. We also saw the release of the Sonic the Hedgehog games within the '90s, with those first two Sonic games going on to be two of the best selling games of the decade. With so many iconic games released within the '90s, this list represents the best of an unforgettable decade. It features games that are still fun today, a time capsule that anyone who plays video games will want to open and start playing. Platforms: PC Impression Games' 1999 city builder Pharaoh tasks you with the construction and management of cities in Ancient Egypt. Ensure your citizens are well-fed, employed and safe from disease, and you're doing good. If you're a bit of a history buff, this is a game you'll have a great time with. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Saga Saturn, DS The iconic horror game from Capcom launched in 1996 and instantly terrified anyone who played it. Pioneering the survival horror genre, Resident Evil features more memorable moments than most games, as Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine try to escape the iconic mansion. This is a must play for horror fans. Platforms: PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Dreamcast Developed by Neversoft and released in 1999, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater saw the skateboarding legend take to the video game world for the first time. Pull off tricks, collect objects and listen to some great music; this is for lovers of simple, fun and relaxing experiences. Platforms: PC Released in 1997, Fallout is an RPG that takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States. You play as a Vault Dweller, a survivor of the nuclear war who sets out to save their home by finding a computer chip. If you're a fan of the Fallout series, Interplay Productions' first offering is a must-play. Platforms: PC, Xbox Hasbro Interactive's RollerCoaster Tycoon series began in 1999 and revolutionized the management simulation genre. Highly-detailed, it allows players to design their perfect theme park, completing scenarios to maximize guest satisfaction. If you love rollercoasters, management games or just have a creative touch, this is the game for you. Platforms: PlayStation Konami's 1999 survival horror game Silent Hill is a terrifying experience. Playing as Harry Mason, you search for your missing daughter, uncovering both a cult and her true origins. A game with multiple endings, if you're okay with a scare and want something you can play again and again, this is a great choice. Platforms: PC, PS2 The game that put Valve on the map, Half-Life was released in 1998. An FPS game with a rich story, it sees players escape alien-infested Black Mesa Research Facility as the iconic Gordon Freeman. This one is perfect for players who like great gunplay and stories. Platforms: PC Star Wars may have ended the decade on a rough note with The Phantom Menace, but 1997 was a high point as Totally Games' Star Wars: X-Wing vs TIE Fighter released. A space combat game, it focused on multiplayer gameplay, allowing you to play out different roles within a mission. A must-play for Star Wars fans. Platforms: SNES, Game Boy Nintendo's 1994 side-scroller sees you play as Donkey Kong, traversing a jungle to recover a stolen banana hoard from King K. Rool and his Kremlings. With 40 levels to play, you'll find this game to have an incredibly addictive gameplay loop and a great art style. Platforms: Game Boy, PC, PlayStation, PS2, PS3, SNES, Sega Genesis, Xbox 360 Still going strong today, Midway Games' 1992 Mortal Kombat added a whole new level of brutality to the fighter genre. A game that takes an immense amount of skill and knowledge for how to play each character, this is the perfect game for people who love hard-hitting combat and a competitive kick. Platforms: PlayStation The first Naughty Dog game created exclusively for Sony consoles, 1994's Crash Bandicoot would kick off an incredible partnership. A platformer that sees you play as the titular hero on a mission to defeat Doctor Neo Cortex, it has a vibrant art style and both fun and challenging gameplay. Platforms: PC, SNES, Xbox, PlayStation, PS3, PS4, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Sega Saturn Developed by id Software and released in 1993, FPS game Doom was one of the pioneers of multiplayer gaming. It may have modern clones, but no game has you gunning down the undead in a more satisfying way. Great for fans of the FPS genre who like to feel like a one-man army. Platforms: Nintendo 64 One of the best games of the '90s, Nintendo's 1996 addition to the Mario franchise took the iconic 2-D platformer to a 3-D setting. It follows a typical Mario story, saving Princess Peach from Bowser, but Nintendo understands that you dont fix something that isn't broken. A great game for any Mario fan. Platforms: PC Blizzard's first StarCraft installment was released in 1996 and changed the game for the real-time strategy genre. Play as one of three factions, manage your forces and defeat your enemies. If you like RTS games and fancy a real challenge, this is a game you have to play. Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Sega Saturn There are very few video game characters that have left as big of a mark on the industry as Lara Croft, and when you play Core Design's 1996 classic, it's easy to understand why. Explore dungeons, solve puzzles and take down enemies. It's simple, and it's just a good time. Platforms: PC, PlayStation 2 Ensemble Studios' 1999 release has stood the test of time and remains one of the greatest additions to the RTS genre. Play as one of 13 civilisations from the Middle Ages and become a powerful force across multiple different game modes. Great for lovers of history and RTS games. Platforms: Windows, PlayStation, Game Boy The first in one of the most successful franchises of all time, DMA Design's 1997 action-adventure hit Grand Theft Auto spawned a blockbuster series. An open world experience where you climb status in a criminal underworld, it's the classic GTA experience. If you're awaiting GTA 6 and need that GTA hit, check it out. Platforms: PC, SNES, Sega Saturn, PlayStation Another franchise-starter, the original Civ game was developed by MicroProse and released in 1991. A turn-based strategy game, lead a civilization across multiple millenia, making and breaking relationships to become a powerful force in the world. A great choice for the tacticians and wannabe politicians amongst us. Platforms: SNES, PlayStation, PC, DS Still considered to be amongst the best RPGs ever made, Square Enix's 1995 release sees you travel through time to prevent a disaster caused by a giant parasite. With a great story and multiple endings, this is great for players who want some replayability and an art style that has great charm to it. Platforms: PlayStation, PC Released in 1998, Metal Gear Solid is the fourth game from the Konami stealth franchise. Play as Solid Snake and prevent a terrorist threat from a rogue special forces unit. There's plenty of Metal Gear games, but it may never get better than this. Love the franchise? Then you need to play this one. Platforms: PlayStation Released in 1997, Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo was revolutionary in the racing genre. A more accurate simulation than any predecessors, as is to be expected, you race some of the fastest cars in the world around real life tracks. If you love cars and racing, this is the game for you. Platforms: SNES Nintendo's 1994 classic Super Metroid is an action-adventure game that sees players control Samus Arana, a bounty hunter on a mission to retrieve a stolen Metroid creature. With a heavy focus on exploration, if you want a game with a truly immersive atmosphere, this is a must-play. Platforms: Nintendo 64, GameCube Released in 1998, Ocarina of Time is still considered to be one of the greatest games in Nintendo's Zelda franchise. With challenging boss fights and a great story, Ocarina of Time is an unmissable entry in the Zelda series. If you're a fan, you have to play it. Platforms: PC, PlayStation Developed by Blizzard and released in 1997, Diablo is a legendary action RPG that sees players hack and slash their way through a dungeon under the fictional town of Tristam. If you love loot-based gameplay, Diablo is a game that will leave you constantly coming back for more. Platforms: Game Boy The dawn of Game Freak's Pokémon franchise, Red, Blue, and Yellow released in 1996. Pokémon's tagline of 'Gotta catch 'em all' sums up the games perfectly. Head out into the Kanto region, catch Pokémon, train them up, and become the Pokémon champion. A perfect game to kick back and grind out. Platforms: Sega Genesis, Game Boy, 3DS, Switch The first title in Sega's iconic platformer franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog took the world by storm in 1991. Play as the super-fast Sonic as you set out to defeat Dr. Robotnik. A fresh entry to the platformer genre, if you love platformers, this is one game you won't want to miss. Platforms: SNES, Wii, Switch Nintendo's 1992 Super Mario Kart didn't just spawn a franchise, it spawned the whole kart racing genre. Filled to the brim with the characters from the Mario world, race across colourful race tracks and dodge abilities in truly unpredictable races. A racing game with a huge twist. Platforms: PC This 1999 FPS from Irrational Games stands as one of the most influential in the genre. With survival horror elements, threat is round every corner as you manage resources to stop the outbreak of a genetic infection. If you want a great story and unpredictable gameplay, System Shock 2 is for you. Platforms: Playstation, PlayStation 4, PC, Switch, Xbox One Square's 1997 addition to the RPG franchise is so good it had to be remade in 2020. The story follows Cloud Strife, a mercenary who joins an eco-terrorism group trying to save their planet. Sure, you could play the remake, but the OG is always the best. Platforms: Nintendo 64, Xbox One While most games from the '90s are remembered most for their single-player gameplay, Rare's 1997 classic GoldenEye 007 is remembered best for its excellent multiplayer. It features a great single-player campaign, too, so if you're a fan of James Bond, this is a game you need to check out. Bottom Line Video games in the '90s were truly revolutionary. Many of the titles laid the groundwork for the games we love to play today, and the entire landscape of gaming would be different without them. Whether you're a fan of RTS games, FPS games, or even fighter games, there's something in the 90s for everyone. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What Are Popular Computer Games From The '90s? Popular PC games from the '90s include Doom, Diablo, and Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings. Doom and Diablo both combine thrilling stories with solid and brutal combat. With the two games taking place in sci-fi and fantasy worlds respectively, fans of either genre setting will love whichever one they decide to play. If action games aren't your thing, then Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings stands the test of time as one of the best RTS games ever created. What Were Popular '90s Game Consoles? Nintendo consoles were hugely popular in the '90s, with the SNES, Nintendo 64 and Game Boy all releasing in the decade alongside iconic Nintendo titles. However, they had a fierce rival for most of that time in the form of Saga, with the likes of the Saturn and Dreamcast both launching. PlayStation also saw huge success in the '90s, with the first PlayStation console releasing late in 1994. As Saga started to lose a foothold in the console business towards the end of the decade, the PlayStation really came into its own, taking over as the main competitor to Nintendo. What Were Popular '90s Sega Games? Sega's last great heyday was in the '90s, with lots of incredible games coming from the publisher. 1991's Sonic the Hedgehog was a hugely popular Sega game in the '90s, as was its 1992 sequel, the aptly named, Sonic the Hedgehog 2. As the iconic blue hedgehog gifted with super speed, you set out on a quest to stop Dr. Robotnik, the mad scientist who seeks out the powerful chaos emeralds. These platformers changed the genre forever and are still considered some of the best ever made over 30 years later. What Are Popular Video Games Of The '80s? Just like with the '90s, Nintendo games were incredibly popular in the '80s. Titles such as Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. dominated the decade, with the two platformers going on to be two of the best-selling games of the decade. Tetris was also popular in the '80s, with the addictive puzzle game providing a gameplay loop and a unique challenge that players couldn't get enough of. It's core gameplay hasn't really changed even to this day, and it is still played by millions.
