My Favorite Computer Games

Work in Progress

This page lists my all-time favorite computer games in no particular order: (Links are not affiliate links, just reader service) As you will notice, I have an affinity towards strategy and building games.

Loco Roco

That Music…

Oxygen Not Included

I like building bases. And that’s what this game is about. The graphics is cute and the mechanics are deep. Official Page

Dark Souls

The atmosphere in the Dark Souls series is amazing. You are dropped in the cold world of the undead, and you have no clue what your background and your goals are. So you have to try to die your lonely way through the mystical world, only with a shallow idea why you are doing this. But the assumption that there is no story or background is completely wrong. The world, the enemies, the item descriptions, the locations and the loot of corpses you find, and the few mysterious NPCs tell the story in a subtle but fascinating way.

And it is not as hard as anybody says… I beat DS I, and I’m about halfway through II and III. I’ll have to continue these two some time… Official Page

Anno

I love build-up strategy games. And Anno is probably the best series. Except of 2205, which removed a lot of the characteristic elements from the game. The result was mostly boring.

In all parts, you build up a city on a island. You are responsible for producing the construction materials, as well as establishing a flow of consumption goods, such as food, beverages, luxury goods and community buildings (church, pub, …). Unfortunately, you run out of space on your island and by far not all goods are available on one single island. Therefore, you have to settle on other islands as well, and you need to set up “trading routes” for the goods.

Sounds easy? Well, besides side quests and diplomatic actions, there are pirates other players in the world as well and building military to claim your territory might be required. Playing the game in Multiplayer mode has often resulted in some kind of “Cold War” situation. Both players build up a military and provoke each other, but nobody likes to attack, because a war would ruin your carefully build up city.

Of all Annos I’ve played, Anno 1404 has the nicest setting, but the setting of Anno 2070 is also nice and the mechanics and multiplayer is better.

StarCraft 2

How many hours have I put in this? To many. Protoss best race! Official Page

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime

For two players it is great! The Idea is fantastic, and it is hilarious to command the spaceship. Official Page

Gothic 2

I don’t know why, but this remains the best role play game I’ve played. And it is not because of nostalgia, as I played the game first in 2010 or something. But the low poly world somehow is exciting and full of life.

XCOM

Not much to say about this game. Amazing gameplay and soldiers that shoot with the precision of Stormtroopers. I have not played the Addon for XCOM-2 yet, but I heard it is pretty good. (I’m not talking about the old versions, I haven’t played them yet) Official Page

Creeper World

This is a hidden gem. There is a rising tide of creeper, and you have to build cannons to defend them and to strike them back. All of your buildings have to be connected, and the resources are routed through these connections. Sounds boring, looks ugly, cheesy story, great game! knucklecracker.com (A shame it was written in flash, so you have a hard time playing it in a modern browser…)

Robin Hood Stealth Tactic

Just a classic of the stealth tactic game. And the Robin Hood setting is great, of course. Gog page

Shadow Tactics

A modern stealth tactic game and also very nice! Official Page

Unepic

This was a surprise discovery in a humble bundle. It is a Castlevania style game with mediocre mechanics and graphics. BUT, it has a great sense of humor. It does not take itself serious and makes lots of fun about role play games. It is worth mentioning, that it was -AFAIK- developed mostly by a single person. What really made me stick to the game is the multiplayer mode. It is a bit challenging, and you probably have to do the levels a few times to grind your character level and loot weapons. But this is not as bad as it sounds in first place, as you are tempted to replay the levels anyway. Official Page

Ghost 1.0

By the same developer as Unepic and also really nice. Same humor and funny Metroid-style gameplay. Steam Page

Wesnoth

One of the classics of turn based strategy games. Additionally, a nice open source project. Official Page

Kingdom Rush

Simply the best tower defense game I know. I’m tempted to buy a tablet, just for playing this game! Though, it is playable on a smartphone, but everything is very tiny. It is basically a classic tower defense game with a fantastic art style: Enemies come in on a defined path, and you can build different towers on certain spots on the path to kill them before they arrive. In this game, you have 4 basic towers: Archer, Mage, Splash, and Barracks. The last is a bit unique to this game, as it creates a few warriors, that will stand on the path and fight/block the incoming enemies. Very effective in combination with splash damage. Each tower can be upgraded into two specializations.

The sequels are also fantastic. The latest, Kingdom Rush Vengance, has changed the mechanics a bit. Now each tower can not be upgraded into two different specializations anymore, but you can choose between a number of towers before each level. Sadly, they ruined the level regard system a bit, which reduces the motivation to replay the levels on harder modes :-(

My major critic on the game is, that they have a number of highly expensive (although unnecessary) in-app purchases, even though the game already costs a few Euros.

Worth the few € on any app store. Official Page