Caesar III is a 1998 Windows city building game, so it’s like SimCity, but more fast paced, focused on efficiency, and set in Ancient Rome. You can get it from Steam or GOG. But the game is old, and clearly aged software and gameplay wise.
Then someone created a reimplementation named Julius project, adding some QoL improvement and compatibility with other OSes. And then someone else forked the project and added gameplay changes as well, incorporating features from later games.
Now I can play it in my Android phone in my bed.
I tried this a couple of years ago, The story seems intriguing but after hours and hours playing I feel like I’m not really good at this and my eyes are tired with the monochrome pixel style. I mean I can play Game Boy games for hours but honestly to use the same visual style in a genre where you need to read a lot and to look at things really hard, it’s really tiring.
I honestly feel a little disappointed that I scrolled this far and nobody mentioned Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (1999).
This is an RTS game, which is a dying genre. It’s also a 24 year old game, which after its release two more Age of Empires games have been released as well, and the game itself has been remastered recently. Yet people continue to play the original game to this day, the multiplayer scene and competitions are still active.
If that is not timeless I don’t know what is.
Oblivion was good, but even at the time of the release the graphics, especially faces, are potato. Skyrim is probably peak graphics at release, and still beautiful even now. Gameplay is a little dumbed down, but still enjoyable for both casual and hardcore gamers. Combine that with active modding scene and continuous support from Bethesda, Skyrim ages longer than any game has right to be.
For me, the controls are probably the only outdated thing in StarCraft, which is why it was fixed in StarCraft II. Oh and probably the very 90s soundtracks and early CGI cutscenes.
Other than that, I personally think StarCraft is one of the best games of all time. The plot, voice acting, character and unit designs are absolutely timeless. StarCraft is one of very few games that I can confidently say I’m suck at, yet still enjoy playing, with cheats if necessary.
For those who want to try StarCraft but put off by the outdated gameplay, I suggest installing StarCraft II (now free) and also installing StarCraft Mass Recall which is the remake of original StarCraft and Brood War expansion in StarCraft II engine.
One of the first computer games I’ve ever played is StarCraft. For context, the game is about human battle with aliens similar to Starship Troopers. The game story has three acts, each from different point of views. It is supposed to start from human pov, and then alien pov, and lastly another alien species. However due to English being my second language, I somehow started with the alien pov first. So my first impression of the game is that I play as a disgusting xenomorph alien species battling mankind. It’s not until later that I realized I missed an entire human chapter of the game.
I don’t think grey market is ethical… You better off pirating games than paying the thieves.