Gamers Over 30 Recommend Zoomer Classics, and They’re Absolutely Right

Movie fans have Burger KanePainters can go back to the cave paintings of Lascaux, and gaming is now old enough for prehistoric classics. A recent Reddit thread discussed which games from the past are worth trying for the younger generation, and my fellow thirty-something gamers eagerly answered the call.

“I’m sure you have your favorite games from “back in the day” (the yak games for me). Do you think any of those games would still do well today?” writes the poster, who starts a nice discussion by Bioshock games in the mix.

The thread became a who’s who of gaming classics with some really great suggestions. The top rated comments included recommendations from Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lionsthe original Rollercoaster magnate games by Chris Sawyer, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Chrono trigger And Warcraft3“The graphics may be dated, but the story and gameplay more than make up for it,” reads one comment on Blizzard’s classic strategy game, a sentiment that probably applies to all of the suggestions in the thread.

But again, it all depends on what you consider old, and the timeline may be broader than you might think. “I hate to tell you this, but Portal 1 “Next year we can vote,” is one of the most heartbreaking comments.

As someone who has recently transitioned to the, er, more stable side of 30, I have a few titles to throw into the discussion as well. There are Civilizations IV for the peak of the “end of history” Francis Fukuyama infused historical strategy experience not yet hampered by the one-unit-one-tile rule, Blood for some classic boomer shooter action, Need for speed 4 And 5 (the first one is called either Road Challenge or High stakes depending on the market, and the latter subtitled as Porsche unleashed or Porsche 2000 (depending on where you look) for some old-school arcade racing.

Wait, I’m not done yet! Here’s the original Rome: Total War for a clean and smooth experience that is not yet burdened by the Warscape engine and Creative Assembly’s ambition to be another Paradox-esque grand strategy game. You can also play the original Knights of the Old Republic and the direct sequel to BioWare’s Star Wars-infused prototype takes on the Mass effect formula—or go ahead and try Star Wars: Jedi Academy for a fantastic lightsaber battle. If you want to delve deeper into the sci-fi labyrinth, I would suggest Free Space 2a brilliant space sim that was ahead of its time, both in gameplay and storyline? That should be a good start.

Or, you know, you can play a game of chess. You can never go wrong with chess. Chess Master 3000everyone?