If I had to pick the five greatest and most PC influential games, at least during that transformative decade between 1990 and the end of 2000, then I think Fallout would make the list, probably Civilization, and maybe Doom. There are a lot of contenders for the fourth spot. Command and Conquer comes to mind. So do Half-Life, Counter-Strike, The Sims, and StarCraft. But the ultimate crown goes to Deus Ex. Visionary, original, and the perfect intermediary between player and developer, they should give out Deus Ex to everyone who owns a PC. It's required reading. We're not quite there yet - but if you're signed up to Prime Gaming, or want to give it a try, Deus Ex is free to keep.
I've written before about precisely what makes Deus Ex one of the best PC games - I think it achieves something that very few other games have managed to do, ever. Very often in games, especially sprawling RPGs, it feels like a tug of war between player and developer. There's the story as it's meant to be told and then there's the game as the player wants to experience it, on their own terms.
The hero of Fallout 4 is meant to be desperate to find his missing son. The player can spend hours gathering materials to build a kennel for a dog they just found. Far Cry 2 director Clint Hocking called it 'ludonarrative dissonance,' an inherent problem that still hasn't been convincingly resolved.
But Deus Ex feels harmonious, coherent. Every level presents myriad options for exploration and you can shape the story in different directions, but the central thematic assertions - the subjective 'thesis' - remains intact. It's like the more you play it, and do what you want to do, the stronger and more affecting the game's story and characterization become.
Deus Ex has to be played. Right now, if you're signed up to Amazon Prime, it's completely free via Prime Gaming. That means you can download it and keep it, even if you end your Prime subscription. There's another all-time great available this month, too.
BioShock gets all the credit. BioShock Infinite is remembered as a flawed jewel. But the best of the trilogy is BioShock 2. It's a better shooter than either of the others and it has a much more insightful and mature attitude towards its main ideas - if BioShock takes to task the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand, the sequel is a bloody grotesque of the theories of Karl Jung. If you want to sign up to Prime Gaming, just hit the button below.
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Otherwise, try some of the best old games, or maybe the best FPS games ever. Of course, there's also our list of the best free PC games for anyone who doesn't want to shell out for something new.
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