Earlier than Home windows took over the PC gaming world, MS-DOS was the house of numerous ground-breaking titles. These video games laid the muse for total genres—platformers, RPGs, shooters, and simulations all flourished within the DOS period. Restricted by {hardware} however pushed by creativity, DOS video games typically punched far above their weight.
Beneath, we’ve highlighted a number of the finest DOS video games ever made. From Doom to SimCity, these titles outlined PC gaming within the ’80s and ’90s—and plenty of stay playable (and pleasant) immediately.
TABLE OF CONTENT
1. Greatest MS DOS Video games You Can Play TodayDoomThe Secret of Monkey IslandSimCityWolfenstein 3DUltima VII: The Black GateX-COM: UFO DefenseMaster of OrionTheme HospitalGrand Theft AutoWarcraft II: Tides of DarknessCommand & Conquer: Purple Alert
Greatest MS DOS Video games You Can Play In the present day
Picture Credit score: id Software program
Doom
Launched in 1993, Doom wasn’t the primary first-person shooter, but it surely undoubtedly outlined the style. Quick, brutal, and endlessly replayable, Doom set a brand new normal for PC gaming with its pseudo-3D graphics, tight controls, and limitless modding functionality.
It’s laborious to overstate its cultural impression. Doom innovated options like multiplayer deathmatch, degree editors, modding, and degree design itself. If you happen to’re speaking about one of the best DOS video games, Doom is a should play.
The Secret of Monkey Island
LucasArts’ The Secret of Monkey Island introduced humor, creativity, and attraction to the point-and-click style. Its intelligent puzzles and sharp writing, paired with memorable characters like Guybrush Threepwood, made it an prompt traditional.
With its now-iconic insult sword-fighting mechanic, it stays among the best journey video games ever created—and a spotlight of DOS-era storytelling.
SimCity
SimCity launched gamers to the world of open-ended simulation. No set aims, no ultimate boss—simply the problem of constructing and managing a thriving metropolis. Visitors, air pollution, and pure disasters all needed to be accounted for.
DOS was the proper residence for this cerebral expertise, and SimCity would go on to encourage a style that’s nonetheless going robust immediately.
Picture Credit score: id Software program
Wolfenstein 3D
Earlier than Doom, there was Wolfenstein 3D. One other id Software program title, this proto-FPS put gamers within the boots of BJ Blazkowicz as he escaped a Nazi stronghold.
The motion was quick, the enemies plentiful, and the shock worth plain. Wolfenstein 3D was uncooked and unfiltered—and helped set the stage for the whole lot that adopted in first-person gaming.
Ultima VII: The Black Gate
The Ultima collection advanced alongside PC {hardware}, however Ultima VII is extensively thought of its crowning achievement. With its spreading world, deep lore, and versatile gameplay, it stays one of the bold DOS RPGs ever made.
What set it aside was the interactivity—almost the whole lot may very well be picked up, used, or mixed. It was a real sandbox earlier than the time period existed.
X-COM: UFO Protection
Equal components technique, simulation, and horror, X-COM: UFO Protection tasked gamers with defending Earth from an alien invasion. It featured base constructing, analysis, squad techniques, and punishing problem.
Permadeath and restricted assets created rigidity with each mission. It’s nonetheless one of the influential technique video games of all time—and it began in DOS.
Grasp of Orion
An area-based 4X technique recreation (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate), Grasp of Orion invited gamers to construct a galactic empire. With deep tech bushes, diplomacy, and tactical battles, it shortly turned a cornerstone of the style.
If you happen to’ve performed Civilization or Stellaris, you’ve felt the ripple results of this DOS gem.
Picture Credit score: Bullfrog
Theme Hospital
Bullfrog’s Theme Hospital let gamers run a satirical, cartoonish hospital stuffed with wacky ailments like Bloaty Head and Slack Tongue. The sport mixed useful resource administration with slapstick humor and stays one of the entertaining sims ever made.
Even with restricted graphics, its sense of character and comedy got here via loud and clear on DOS machines.
Grand Theft Auto
Earlier than it turned one of many greatest franchises on the planet, Grand Theft Auto began life as a top-down, open-world crime simulator on DOS. Launched in 1997, the unique GTA featured a free-roaming metropolis, radio stations, chaotic missions, and a gleefully anarchic tone.
Whereas it lacked the cinematic storytelling of later entries, the core was already there: freedom, satire, and mayhem. Driving via pixelated cities and evading cops within the authentic GTA stays one of the uniquely ’90s PC gaming experiences.
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Warcraft II expanded on the muse of the unique with tighter controls, improved visuals, and an even bigger, bolder storyline. With its mixture of base constructing, useful resource gathering, and strategic fight, it helped outline real-time technique on DOS.
The sport’s orc-versus-human marketing campaign, detailed sprite artwork, and memorable voice traces made it a favourite for years—and a transparent stepping stone to the juggernaut that’s World of Warcraft. For a lot of gamers, Warcraft II was their first true style of excessive fantasy warfare on a PC.
Command & Conquer: Purple Alert
Few DOS video games captured Chilly Struggle paranoia fairly like Purple Alert. A spin-off of the unique Command & Conquer, it pitted the Allies in opposition to a time-traveling Soviet risk in an alternate historical past stuffed with Tesla coils, chrono-shifting tanks, and exaggerated Fifties futurism.
The tight RTS gameplay, cinematic cutscenes, and pulsing industrial soundtrack made it one of the iconic video games of its technology. Purple Alert didn’t simply entertain—it helped flip Command & Conquer right into a family title amongst technique followers.
