The Chronicles

A chronological saga of PC gaming history. Scroll through the legendary timeline of masterpiece titles, hardware specifications, and engine milestones.

1993

DOOM

id Software
Metacritic 85 Engine Doom Engine Min RAM 4 MB Min GPU VGA Graphics Playtime 5 hours
1996

Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Westwood Studios
Metacritic 90 Engine Westwood Engine Min RAM 8 MB Min GPU VGA Card Playtime 20 hours
1996

Quake

id Software
Metacritic 94 Engine Quake Engine Min RAM 8 MB Min GPU 3dfx Voodoo Playtime 8 hours
1998

Fallout 2

Black Isle Studios
Metacritic 86 Engine Fallout Engine Min RAM 16 MB Min GPU 1 MB SVGA Card Playtime 40 hours
1998

Half-Life

Valve Corporation
Metacritic 96 Engine GoldSrc Min RAM 24 MB Min GPU OpenGL-compatible Playtime 15 hours
1998

StarCraft

Blizzard Entertainment
Metacritic 88 Engine Proprietary StarCraft Engine Min RAM 16 MB Min GPU VGA-compatible Playtime 40 hours
1998

StarCraft

Blizzard Entertainment
Metacritic 88 Engine StarCraft Engine Min RAM 16 MB Min GPU SVGA Card Playtime 30 hours
1999

Age of Empires II

Ensemble Studios
Metacritic 92 Engine Genie Engine Min RAM 32 MB Min GPU DirectX-compatible Playtime 60 hours
1999

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

Ensemble Studios
Metacritic 92 Engine Genie Engine Min RAM 32 MB Min GPU 2 MB Video Card Playtime 50 hours
1999

Planescape: Torment

Black Isle Studios
Metacritic 91 Engine Infinity Engine Min RAM 16 MB Min GPU DirectX-compatible GPU Playtime 50 hours
1999

System Shock 2

Irrational Games
Metacritic 92 Engine Dark Engine Min RAM 32 MB Min GPU 3dfx Voodoo 2 Playtime 20 hours
1999

System Shock 2

Irrational Games
Metacritic 92 Engine Dark Engine Min RAM 32 MB Min GPU 4 MB Video Card Playtime 18 hours
1999

Unreal Tournament

Epic Games
Metacritic 92 Engine Unreal Engine Min RAM 32 MB Min GPU DirectX-compatible GPU Playtime 30 hours
2000

Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn

BioWare
Metacritic 95 Engine Infinity Engine Min RAM 64 MB Min GPU DirectX 6-compatible Playtime 80 hours
2000

Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn

BioWare
Metacritic 95 Engine Infinity Engine Min RAM 64 MB Min GPU 8 MB Video Card Playtime 80 hours
2000

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2

Westwood Studios
Metacritic 85 Engine Westwood 2D Engine Min RAM 32 MB Min GPU DirectX-compatible Playtime 20 hours
2000

Counter-Strike

Valve Corporation
Metacritic 88 Engine GoldSrc Min RAM 32 MB Min GPU OpenGL-compatible Playtime 500 hours
2000

Counter-Strike

Valve
Metacritic 88 Engine GoldSrc Min RAM 96 MB Min GPU 16 MB Video Card Playtime 300 hours
2000

Deus Ex

Ion Storm
Metacritic 90 Engine Unreal Engine Min RAM 64 MB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 256 Playtime 25 hours
2000

Deus Ex

Ion Storm
Metacritic 90 Engine Unreal Engine 1 Min RAM 64 MB Min GPU 16 MB 3D Video Card Playtime 25 hours
2000

Diablo II

Blizzard Entertainment
Metacritic 96 Engine Proprietary Min RAM 32 MB Min GPU DirectX-compatible Playtime 60 hours
2000

Diablo II

Blizzard North
Metacritic 88 Engine Diablo II Engine Min RAM 64 MB Min GPU DirectX compatible 3D Card Playtime 50 hours
2000

The Sims

Maxis
Metacritic 92 Engine Proprietary Min RAM 32 MB Min GPU 8 MB VRAM Playtime 200 hours
2000

The Sims

Maxis
Metacritic 92 Engine Custom 2.5D Engine Min RAM 32 MB Min GPU 2 MB PCI Video Card Playtime 100 hours
2001

Max Payne

Remedy Entertainment
Metacritic 89 Engine Max-FX Engine Min RAM 64 MB Min GPU 16 MB VRAM GPU Playtime 10 hours
2001

Stronghold

Firefly Studios
Metacritic 78 Engine Proprietary Min RAM 32 MB Min GPU 16 MB VRAM Playtime 25 hours
2002

Neverwinter Nights

BioWare
Metacritic 81 Engine Aurora Engine Min RAM 128 MB Min GPU DirectX 8-compatible Playtime 60 hours
2002

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Bethesda Game Studios
Metacritic 89 Engine GameBryo Min RAM 128 MB Min GPU DirectX 8-compatible Playtime 80 hours
2002

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Bethesda Game Studios
Metacritic 89 Engine NetImmerse Min RAM 128 MB Min GPU 32 MB Video Card Playtime 80 hours
2002

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

Blizzard Entertainment
Metacritic 92 Engine Proprietary Warcraft III Engine Min RAM 128 MB Min GPU 32 MB VRAM Playtime 30 hours
2003

Rise of Nations

Big Huge Games
Metacritic 90 Engine Proprietary Min RAM 128 MB Min GPU DirectX 8.1-compatible Playtime 40 hours
2003

SimCity 4

Maxis / EA
Metacritic 84 Engine GlassBox Engine Min RAM 128 MB Min GPU 32 MB VRAM Playtime 100 hours
2003

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

BioWare
Metacritic 93 Engine Odyssey Engine Min RAM 128 MB Min GPU 32 MB VRAM Playtime 40 hours
2004

Half-Life 2

Valve
Metacritic 96 Engine Source Min RAM 256 MB Min GPU DirectX 7 compatible Playtime 15 hours
2004

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth

EA Los Angeles
Metacritic 84 Engine SAGE Engine Min RAM 128 MB Min GPU 32 MB VRAM Playtime 20 hours
2004

World of Warcraft

Blizzard Entertainment
Metacritic 93 Engine WoW Engine Min RAM 512 MB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 2 Playtime 500 hours
2005

Civilization IV

Firaxis Games
Metacritic 94 Engine Gamebryo Min RAM 256 MB Min GPU 64 MB DirectX 9 compatible Playtime 120 hours
2005

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Rockstar North
Metacritic 93 Engine RenderWare Min RAM 256 MB Min GPU 64 MB VRAM GPU Playtime 50 hours
2006

Company of Heroes

Relic Entertainment
Metacritic 93 Engine Essence Engine Min RAM 512 MB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Playtime 30 hours
2007

BioShock

Irrational Games
Metacritic 96 Engine Unreal Engine 2.5 Min RAM 1 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT Playtime 15 hours
2007

Crysis

Crytek
Metacritic 91 Engine CryEngine 2 Min RAM 1 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Playtime 12 hours
2007

Crysis

Crytek
Metacritic 91 Engine CryEngine 2 Min RAM 1.5 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS Playtime 10 hours
2007

Portal

Valve
Metacritic 90 Engine Source Min RAM 512 MB Min GPU DirectX 8 compatible Playtime 3 hours
2007

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

GSC Game World
Metacritic 82 Engine X-Ray Engine Min RAM 512 MB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 5900 Playtime 25 hours
2007

The Witcher

CD Projekt Red
Metacritic 81 Engine Aurora Engine (modified) Min RAM 512 MB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 6600 Playtime 35 hours
2008

Sins of a Solar Empire

Ironclad Games / Stardock
Metacritic 85 Engine Trinity Engine Min RAM 512 MB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Playtime 60 hours
2009

Anno 1404

Related Designs / Blue Byte
Metacritic 82 Engine Proprietary ANNO Engine Min RAM 512 MB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 6600 Playtime 50 hours
2009

ArmA II

Bohemia Interactive
Metacritic 76 Engine Real Virtuality 3 Min RAM 1 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 7800 Playtime 40 hours
2009

Dragon Age: Origins

BioWare
Metacritic 91 Engine Eclipse Engine Min RAM 1 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 7600 Playtime 60 hours
2010

Assassins Creed II

Ubisoft Montreal
Metacritic 91 Engine Anvil Engine Min RAM 2 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 8600 Playtime 25 hours
2010

Civilization V

Firaxis Games
Metacritic 90 Engine LORE Engine Min RAM 2 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Playtime 100 hours
2010

Fallout: New Vegas

Obsidian Entertainment
Metacritic 84 Engine Gamebryo Min RAM 2 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Playtime 60 hours
2010

Mass Effect 2

BioWare
Metacritic 96 Engine Unreal Engine 3 Min RAM 2 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 7900 Playtime 35 hours
2011

Minecraft

Mojang Studios
Metacritic 93 Engine Custom Java Engine Min RAM 2 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 400 Playtime 500 hours
2011

Minecraft

Mojang
Metacritic 93 Engine Java / Bedrock Min RAM 4 GB Min GPU Intel HD Graphics 4000 Playtime 200 hours
2011

Portal 2

Valve Corporation
Metacritic 95 Engine Source Engine Min RAM 2 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 7600 Playtime 9 hours
2011

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Bethesda Game Studios
Metacritic 96 Engine Creation Engine Min RAM 2 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Playtime 100 hours
2012

Diablo III

Blizzard Entertainment
Metacritic 88 Engine Custom Diablo III Engine Min RAM 2 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Playtime 50 hours
2015

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

CD Projekt Red
Metacritic 93 Engine REDengine 3 Min RAM 6 GB Min GPU NVIDIA GTX 660 Playtime 100 hours

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