It has to be Doom. There was nothing like it anywhere else at the time, not even in arcades.

Duke Nukem - My very first PC game. Lots of fun (and awesome PC Speaker sound).

Jill of the Jungle - First game played with a sound card (Media Vision Jazz16).

Wolfenstein 3D - My first FPS game.

Doom - What can I say? Everything else before it became obsolete overnight - and PC gaming was never the same again.

Descent - Six Degrees of Freedom. Go anywhere, take anything, shoot anything.

Duke Nukem 3D - The Man can speak! Sooo many memorable phrases 😁

Half-Life - The puzzles and mysteries just keep on coming.....

Unreal - So vast and open. I still want to escape into this world.

Midtown Madness 2 - At last! I can drive like a maniac and not be penalized for it 🤣

Doom 3 - The last PC game I bought - and if things in the PC gaming world continue to be the way they are now, I'll be my last PC game ever 😐

Some games:

- Audiosurf: Great for short breaks, it is the one of the few "music" game where you can really feel the music (apart from dancing/rhythm games). The track building algorythm is impressive.
- Max Payne: Impressive history, small replayability. Not a top game, but definitely a game to play.
- Saints Rows 2 or 3: Playing GTA after this is boooring.
- Loom: Good? Bad? It was short and puzzles were easy, but it is unique. Is another game that everyone must play.
- Valiant Hearts: If it were only a game, it would be a good one but not a great one. But it is a disguised educational game, and it is an excellent one. Also it makes you feel some empathy with the characters.
- Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Carmageddon: Back in time, they packed all the manly attitude a boy could wish.
- Half-Life and Half-Life 2: The first one showed a great history, the second one gave me such an oppresive atmosphere... forget about Doom III, Half-Life 2 scared you without resorting to darkness. The combine troops, big announcers and decaying city made me so nervous that the first shot in the game (and the getaway on the roofs) were relieving.
- Rise of the Triad: Normal, even bad campaign game. Great LAN game. There were so much game modes... one of them even remind me of kindergarden.
- Pinball Dreams, Pinball Fantasies: I've played too much pinball games, but that are the most fun ones. The only other ones I'd recommend would be the Pro-Pinball ones, but when I need to play pinball I usually play that ones.
- The Stanley Parable: Another must-play game. After playing it, you may say it's good or bad but it is something you must try.
- Puzzle Quest: One of the best puzzle games I remember.
- GTA (the first one): It was impressive. They gave you a city that worked like a real one. It went downhill from here (GTA2 was only GTA 2.0, GTA3 gave you the third dimension but was not as fun, later GTAs are even less fun...).
- Gunpoint: Watchdogs in 2D? No, it has no such a open world, but the game mechanics are way better.
- You have to win the game: The first time I've played, I thought "Panama Joe" (a.k.a. Montezuma's Revenge). I'm not very good at this games. Three hours later, I was enjoying it like when I was 12. And it is free (later, they made a sequel but it don't feel as "right" as this one).
- Worms, Micromachines, Risk... they are normal games to play alone, but they made over the top multiplaying games.
- Metal Gear Solid, Splinter Cell (the first two), Mark of the Ninja: They are great stealthy games. MGS is almost a playable movie, Splinter Cell is great if you don't need a deep story and Mark of the Ninja is great for 2D players.
- Crusader: No remorse: Impressive. That HR (for the time) graphics, the backstory and manuals, and the environment (that could help you a lot if used properly) were impressive.

Later, I will write about other (older) games...

-edit-
There's so many but here a few that stand out.

Half Life: I remember playing the demo back in the day and being blown away by everything. The monorail ride at the start really set the mood, then when everything went to shit and I had Barney with his trusty gun and armour while all I had was a crowbar I thought, "what if... Can I take his stuff? Should I try? I need that gun". It didn't feel right to kill someone that was helping me and I'd never played a game before where you could. I killed him of course and was then taken out of the game a bit when I realised that I had only had a few bullets while he had unlimited ammo and I couldn't take his armour. I was also impressed that I could smash the glass on the lift door and walk through the hole.

Broken Sword 1 & 2: My first point and click games. The intros, artwork and voice over left a strong impression on me. I'd never played anything like it before, I'm extremely fond of them.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World: This was the first video game I ever played. It's a little janky to be honest but I still love it, I'll never forget the theme tune music

Shadow Warriors (Ninja Gaiden): The first game I ever played with cut scenes. Fantastic, fast gameplay and excellent music. it's brutally hard but very rewarding.

Baldurs Gate: I'd never played a D&D game before Baldurs Gate or even a CRPG. It was difficult to understand at first but the incredible bitmap backgrounds, the fact that you could rob shop/innkeepers and kill anyone if you wanted, the different dialogue options and the fact that you were going on this grand adventure really pulled me in as a teenager.

Ridge Racer Type 4: The epitome of late 90s cool. More of an experience than a game, it's not particularly difficult but it's a joy to play. And again, great music.

Sonic Adventure: Sonic Adventure is not a good game, it has aged horribly. That first level with the whale sold me on the Dreamcast though. In terms of being wowed by graphics I don't think anything else has ever come close for me.

starts with V, ends with R.

Dune 2
Doom & Doom 2
Command and conquer & C&C:Red alert
Quake 3
Planescape torment
Star wars:KOTOR
Supreme Commander & SC:forged Alliance
Portal (1)

I also liked clones from Epic and Blizzard, but nothing beats the original.

Stunts
Castle of the Winds
X-COM
Age of Empires
Epic Pinball
Wolf 3D
Monkey Island/Monkey Island II
Day of the Tentacle
DOOM/DOOM2
Star Wars: Dark Forces
Star Wars: Episode 1: Racer
Descent
ROTT
The Daedalus Encounter
Phantasmagoria
Hexen/Hexen 2
The Need for Speed (the original)
Duke3D
Quake (and GLQuake)
WipeOut XL
Unreal/Unreal Tournament
Half-Life/Half-Life 2
Crusader: No Remorse/No Regret
Far Cry
Crysis
MDK
Max Payne

I could list so many! I'll just limit myself to 5. I'm also going to limit to just games that I played in DOS.

Ultima VII: For me the definitive RPG of the early 90's. I put so many hours into this and the expansion packs.
Secret of Monkey Island: So many laughs. I love games with humor in them, and this one had it in spades.
Wolfenstein 3D: Never before have I seen a game be as action packed and play as well as this one.
Space Quest IV: One of my earliest CD titles. At the time, this was a mind blowing game.
Wing Commander II: The first game in the series was amazing, but this was just plain awesome.

Prince of Persia, Leisure Suite Larry, Deathtrack: The first PC games I ever played, on my home mate's non-HDD 386SX with 1MB RAM and hercules graphics (the year was 1991-1992).

Wing Commander: The first game I ever played in my own PC (386SX with 1MB RAM , 40MB HDD, VGA mono graphics). This is the game that forced me to buy a VGA graphics card. I remember with how much awe I was watching the cut screens (1992).

Wolfenstein 3D, Golden Axe: Computer was the same, but upgraded to 5MB RAM and also had a mathco. I remember playing Wolf3D till the mornings, There were times that I missed my courses because of this. Golden Axe was something I normally don't play (I never liked arcade or platformer games) but it was so much fun in "cooperative" mode (1992-93).

X-wing, TIE Fighter, Doom, Doom II, Bioforge, Dark Forces, Warcraft II, Starcraft, Syndicate: X-Wing and TIE Fighter were and are the best space sims ever, period. Doom, and Doom II afterwards, were the games that forced me and my home mate to learn how to do IPX networking. LAN parties of that time were the most memorable gaming moments in my whole life. Bioforge and Dark Forces was all about immersion into their terrific atmosphere. Warcraft/Starcraft and Syndicate was my first interaction with anything RTS, and man, it was such an interaction! (1994-96)

I of course played numerous other games till then, many great titles, some of which I really liked immensely, but it was never felt like those days and those games. Probably it was also related to being graduated from university and having my own family. Honorable mentions include Duke Nukem 3D, Jedi Fighter series, later X-wing titles, later Wing Commanders and Privateer2, all the Half Life series, all the C&C titles, Dune 2000, Empire Earth, Rise of the Nations, WWII themed COD and MOH titles, Far Cry, Crysis series, later Larry titles, later Wolfenstein titles, Star Wars RTS titles, KOTOR/KOTOR II... They were/are all brilliant games that I played having so much fun (I still play most of them even today). Admittedly, most of them are far superior to their first versions, but somehow it never felt like it was during 1992-1996 period.

I'm probably going to have a weird list here but here goes. 🤣

Vangers (1998) - I got this game some time in either 1999 or 2000 while my mother and my sister and I were out fathers day shopping at Menards. Near the front of the store where the cash registers are they used to put random things like books and video games, most of the time the games would be cheap games that had not sold well and they were selling for very little money. Well for whatever reason this bizzare Russian top down car game just grabbed our eyes and I convinced my mom to get it for my father along with another game called Earth 2140.
Vangers is a game unlike any that you have seen, it's bizarre and incredibly fleshed universe make it feel like it could really exist and to my ten year old mind it was the most immersive game I had ever played. It's too hard to explain why it's awesome exactly so just take my word for it and go play it, it's freaking amazing.

Earth 2140 (1997) - As I mentioned above we got this game at the same time we got Vangers and WOW this RTS game is cool. At it's core it's a Command and Conquer clone but this simple label can never really do it justice since it's amazingly eye popping graphics, great sound track, unique unit design and advanced AI really make it stand out from the bunch. I just recently acquired this perfect boxed copy of it but after all these years I still have my original beat up CD.

MotoRacer (1997) - I remember playing this game a lot during one particular summer where temperatures exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit here in Illinois and we could only keep the living room cool with a single window mounted air conditioner. However the computers were in the back of the house which was not air conditioned so I remember sweating my arse off playing this game and Incoming. It was totally worth it though, this is still one of my favourite racing games of all time.

POD (1997) - This is my other favourite racing game of all time, POD is extremely atmospheric with it's ambient sound track and grungy sci-fi look and feel. It's absolutely amazing but all in all a pretty typical racing game with a strange setting.

Sid Meier's Civilization II (1996) - What's to say? This game is absolutely epic and in my opinion the best Civ game in the whole franchise (because Communism isn't horribly crippled like in every game after). I always enjoyed playing as the chinese and naming my cities after different chinese foods. It was always amusing when Ghandi would capture Eggroll or the town of Crab Rangoon. 🤣

Quake (1996) - Death match with grenade launchers in Ziggurat vertigo, that is all.

Blood (1997) - Along with Duke 3d I played the absolute shit out of this game with my sister over the LAN, the reason this game and Duke 3d stood out from Quake and Doom is I was able to figure out the Build engine editor and create levels easily which meant endless fun.

Duke 3d (1996) - Same reason as above, freaking epic amounts of fun.

Close Combat : A Bridge Too Far (1997) - I first learned about this game and Age of Empires from the demos that were included with Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 98 . I played the tutorial missions of this game over and over but I never got a copy of the game until just recently when I ordered a perfect boxed copy of the game of ebay. The game really stands out because of soldier AI, unlike most RTS games your soldiers don't blindly obey every order you give and the terrain effects the strategy a lot. Such a classic game.

Driver : You are the wheelman (1998) - I got this game at a garage sale for 50 cents in 6th grade and WOW I loved the shit out of it. It's basically everything I ever wanted in a driving game. This game is basically like playing the movies Bullit and Gone in 60 Seconds (I mean the real versions not the shitty remakes).

Rise Of The Triad (1994) - I had the promo disc of this (Deluxe Edition) which basically only gave you the first episode or so to play but man was it fun as hell.

Of course there are other games like Starcraft (1998), Warcraft II (1996), Terracide (1997), Incoming (1998), Combat Flight Simulator 98 (1998), Age of Empires (1997), Wolfenstien 3d (1992), and Command and Conquer (1995) but those don't quite smack me in the face with nostalgia.

King_Corduroy wrote:

Driver : You are the wheelman (1998) - I got this game at a garage sale for 50 cents in 6th grade and WOW I loved the shit out of it. It's basically everything I ever wanted in a driving game. This game is basically like playing the movies Bullit and Gone in 60 Seconds (I mean the real versions not the shitty remakes).

Okay, I have to ask: there is a remake of Bullit? 😵 😲

For me (not all are on PC):

C&C (original thru Red Alert 2)
StarCraft
Star Wars: Dark Forces II, Shadows of the Empire, & The Phantom Menace
Perfect Dark
GoldenEye 64
Syphon Filter
The Elder Scrolls series
Mass Effect series
GTA series
ORB
Fallout series
Total Annihilation
Hitman series (thru Blood Money)

Oh oops I guess there isn't 🤣 I thought there was for some reason. Probably because they came out with that Bullitt version of the mustang in 2008.

Galaxian
Defender
Phoenix
Pleiades

c. 1979-1982

I played others in the same period [like Space Invaders] but these four were my favourites for various reasons.

the edutainment titles made by 7th level (tuneland and great word adventure in particular) will always go down as my favorite pc games.

I could list so many, so I'm just gonna list a couple.

Unreal
Farcry
FEAR
Total Annihilation
Stunts
Z
C&C
AvP2

Supaplex and Volfield - first PC games I ever played
Doom 2 - used to go all the way to my dad's work on holidays and weekends to play this game since I didn't have a computer at home. I remember in the winter the heater broke but I didn't care - didn't stop playing even when my hands were freezing. Thinking back now there was nothing special about the game, but it was fun.
Dune 2 - spent the better part of a year, every day after school finishing all the campaigns. One of my favorite games of all time
Command and Conquer - first game with in-game movies I played. Same as with Dune 2, I spent A LOT of time on this game doing all possible missions.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver - first game I ever played with an engaging story, great atmosphere and music. Played all the sequels and loved them.
Descent - first game I played in multiplayer. Used to play this at school after classes. Really fun 😀
Homeworld - great story - awsome graphics and gameplay, great soundtrack - one of the best games I ever played to this day. Played all the sequels and loved them (HW:Cataclysm and HW2).
Freelancer - again, great story, and even better gameplay. Best controls of any space sim I have ever played.
Total Annihilation - unique... everything! Nothing like C&C and Warcraft series. My favorite RTS-types are total annihilation clones. The minimal story with briefings narrated in an epic voice, the over the top units and combat, the epic orchestral soundtrack all gave the game a grandiose atmosphere no other has been able to replicate.

Homeworld
This title was absolutely amazing in terms of story, art work, and music. It broke new ground with fully 3D, 5 DOF RTS space combat. It was the game I'd been waiting for ever since watching the Star Wars movies.

On the Apple II:
-Aztec (the graphics seemed so incredible at the time!)
-Lode Runner (Lodes of fun)
-Dino Eggs (probably the single most fun game I ever played. i still play it to this day on AppleWin emulation)
-Ultima 2 (the sheer size and immersiveness of the world blew me away)
-Ultima 4 (made Ultima 2 seem like a speck. I cant remember how many floppies, but it was a lot)
-most of the Infocom games (first experience with an interactive story--awesome!)

On the PC:
-Wing Commander (the perfect blend of music, cinematics and action. Replaying it now)
-WC2 (even better than WC1)
-Ultima 7 (I remember pulling all-nighters in college trying to get to the end. Eventually, I did and jumped out of my seat when The Guardian first reached his arm out through the Black Gate)
-Links386 (most realistic golf game at the the time)
-Doom (blew Wolf3D out of the water. Creepy, jump out of your seat fear)
-Quake on 3dfx Glide (my first experience with "real" 3D)
-Descent (too many degrees of freedom blew my mind!)
-Wizardry 8 (probably my favorite RPG experience of all-time)
-Half-Life 1 (one of the first EAX games I ever played)
-Unreal (huge, open world to explore with amazing visuals and sound. Love that you could backtrack as much as you wanted)
-Gabriel Knight 1 and 2 (story sucked me in)
-System Shock I (another game I pulled all-nighters on--the creep factor, story, depth and MIDI music made it hard to stop playing)

If I had to narrow it down to my top-3, it would be:
1. System Shock 1
2. Ultima 7
3. Wing Commander 1

I had a real hard time not including Dino Eggs in the top-3. It is the funnest game I've played, but not as immersive as the top-3.

Hard question but these come to mind in order of impact:

Total Annihilation (including all expensions and add-ons):
Huge RTS, the only in it's kind, even when I really like the C&C and Blizzard ones to. It cooked my early computer mulitiple times (dust + 35 degree Celsius summers..) As soon as the 1000 unit hack came out it only got worse... 😀 Played it many many years and still occasionally start a game with my friends.

Hi-Octane:
It was fun racing around shooting up the other players, the easy gameplay and the fact it became 10 times smoother after a new graphics card let me play it for atleast 3 years a lot. Only drawback was the frequent out of map bugs that never completely got resolved.

Jetpack:
You have a jetpack, enemies and stuff to collect... pacman on steroids in essence 🤣 Still love it although the sound is horrible on a modern system. 😵

Command & Conquer:
it's a classic for a reason. It was easier as Total Annihilation, the gameplay more supported with movies and everybody played it.
Together with Red Alert 1 the two absolute classics of Westwood 😊

Unreal tournament:
Bam!! Headshot! ... Both frustrating and awesome at the same time. My only true ragequits happened while playing UT 😈 8vs8 and having 7 lame teammates really learned me what a value a good team is.

Last but not least:
Battlefield 1942 with all add ons!
It was so addictive to play and I loved the mix of planes/vehicles and soldiers on foot. Was a real ace when there was something to fly. 😊