Why are half the games ITT from major publishers. If Ubisoft, 2K, THQ, or Nintendo put a game out with a boxed release, then anyone vaguely interested in games was probably aware of it at the time. Complaint aside I like the idea of this topic so...
Beneath a Steel Sky
A mid 1990s point and click adventure game in a cyberpunk setting that still held up when I first played it a decade later, Beneath a Steel Sky sets the standard for adventure games by a combination of an interesting story well told and none of the all too common bullshit that dragged down other adventure games (such as the all too common illogical "logic" puzzles that break up the story flow and annoy the hell out of you when you can't use the brick to break the window...), the dialogue is beautifully written and the graphics (while constrained somewhat by the technology of the time) are cleverly made with a comic book style brought by Dave Gibbons (the artist of the original Watchmen series) with distinct environments and characters making visual identification of what's going on clear. The running gag with the robot circuit board being plugged into different shells is also one of the best examples of comedy in games.
Apparently it was remastered for iOS in 2009 so it's available there or the original on PC (which is freeware).
Beneath a Steel Sky
A mid 1990s point and click adventure game in a cyberpunk setting that still held up when I first played it a decade later, Beneath a Steel Sky sets the standard for adventure games by a combination of an interesting story well told and none of the all too common bullshit that dragged down other adventure games (such as the all too common illogical "logic" puzzles that break up the story flow and annoy the hell out of you when you can't use the brick to break the window...), the dialogue is beautifully written and the graphics (while constrained somewhat by the technology of the time) are cleverly made with a comic book style brought by Dave Gibbons (the artist of the original Watchmen series) with distinct environments and characters making visual identification of what's going on clear. The running gag with the robot circuit board being plugged into different shells is also one of the best examples of comedy in games.
Apparently it was remastered for iOS in 2009 so it's available there or the original on PC (which is freeware).