This enhanced edition of the classic sci-fi RPG, System Shock, was developed by Nightdive Studios and first released in 2023. What Nightdive has done is bring the original 1994 classic into the modern age, with high definition graphics and a boatload of quality-of-life features.
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System Shock, PC
This is the original VGA/SVGA* version of System Shock, first released in 1994. The game was developed by Looking Glass Technologies and published by Origin Systems in North America and Electronic Arts in Europe.
*= System Shock was originally released in VGA (320×200 resolution), but was soon upgraded to SVGA (640×480 resolution) via patches and re-releases. I’m showing both the VGA and SVGA versions here.
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, PC
This is the expanded version of Diablo II, called Lord of Destruction, released by Blizzard in 2001.
Dune II: The Battle For Arrakis, PC
The MS-DOS version of Dune II: The Battle For Arrakis was the original, first released by Westwood Studios in 1992. The Amiga version followed shortly afterwards, in 1993.
Aka “Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty” in North America.
Diablo, PC
Developed by Blizzard North and first published by Blizzard Entertainment in 1997, Diablo is a classic point-and-click action/RPG that features quests, monsters, real-time combat, magic, and dungeon-delving, in a way that is meant to appeal to those who prefer a more immediate style of gameplay, than the more ‘hardcore’, turn-based style of many RPGs. And – as a result – Diablo was a smash hit, and spawned a series that still (infamously) persists to this day.
Starglider, PC
The 1987 PC MS-DOS version of Argonaut Software‘s classic 3D shooter, Starglider, was ported by Realtime Games Software, who did the excellent Amstrad and ZX Spectrum ports. Unfortunately, the game is available only with four-colour CGA graphics, which does diminish the look of the game significantly.
Starglider, Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC version of Argonaut Software‘s classic 3D shooter, Starglider, was developed by Realtime Games Software, who also coded the excellent ZX Spectrum version. It could be argued that it is even better than the Spectrum version, because it runs faster and also uses more colours in the polygons, although the game does have a smaller cockpit and play window than the Spectrum version.
Starglider, Amiga
Argonaut Software‘s Starglider, when it first came out, was a flashy release. It came in a big blue box, with a novella, a manual, and a single floppy disk. Magazines were raving about it, and I remember buying it… for the ZX Spectrum. LOL.
Starglider, Atari ST
The Atari ST version of Argonaut Software‘s pioneering 3D shooter, Starglider, first came out in 1986 – a year before the Amiga version (for some reason – I don’t know why).
Xanadu Next, PC
Xanadu Next was developed by Falcom and published for Windows PCs in Japan in 2005. It is a continuation of the Dragon Slayer series and a spin-off from Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II. The game remained untranslated into English until a worldwide release by XSEED Games in 2016. And I have to say: it’s a wonderful game, and is arguably the pinnacle of the long-running franchise.