Have you missed that old school gaming feeling lately? Remember the good old times when we didn’t have hundreds of gaming websites and tens of thousands of Youtubers and Twitch streamers? Ten, or twenty years ago things were much more simple. And I dare say, much more pleasant and relaxed.
Nowadays it feels like everyone is fighting for your attention. Which game evaluator do you actually trust? Which game evaluation should you actually watch for an upcoming game, when there are 50+ on release day?
Things are becoming too much if I dare say!
That’s why we’re taking things slowly today. And going on a trip down memory lane. Let’s remember the good old, simpler times for gaming, and remember some of the most iconic classic gaming websites. I came up with 50, and you can add more in the comments (we sure did forget some!)
1. Doomworld
Ah, what better place to start than with a website dedicated to the actual game that started the 3D gaming revolution? Doomworld has everything about Doom, from mods to forums to historical overview for every game in the franchise, so dive in, Doomslayer!
2. CroTeam
Anyone remember the Serious Sam games? I hear there’s a new one but I haven’t played it… To be honest nothing new can really beat the flavor, the mood, of the first Serious Sam games. The sheer expansion of scope that CroTeam, the Croatian developers introduced to the first-person gaming genre was revolutionary. Some maps are basically small countries… Through which you rampage as Sam, Serious Sam, Defender of Earth!
3. Rise of the Triad
Rise of the Triad was one more old-school, classic first-person shooter game. The game enjoys a cult classic status despite never gaining a huge popular following. That’s why it’s here!
4. Unreal Playground
Unreal was… Unreal. It’s the King of arena FPS shooters (according to me at least), right there with Quake 3 Arena. But FPS wars aside, Unreal was a great leap for classic gaming, revolutionizing not just the FPS genre but with the creation of the Unreal Engine, almost all game in existence today.
5. John Romero’s website
Ladies and gentlemen, one of the co-creators of Wolfenstein 3D, Dangerous Dave, Hexen, Doom, Doom II and Quake… and Daikatana, that misunderstood child. What more to say? Gaming would’ve been very different if we didn’t have John Romero and John Carmack, and their iD Software. Absolute legends!
6. iD Software
We are not going to repeat ourselves!
7. 3D Realms
iD Software can only be matched by the creators of Duke Nukem 3D. 3D Realms are yet one more old-school iconic game development studio that just oozes charm and classic feels!
8. Dark Fate
But you know what other classic game is up there with the greatest of all time? Thief. And this here is a pretty old-school Russian website dedicated to modding Thief to this very year! Absolute blast from the past.
9. Dark Fate International
The international go-to source for modding Thief.
10. Quake One
I’ll just copy and paste their motto here: “QuakeOne – The largest Quake 1 community on the net!” BOOM!
11. QuakeTastic
One more popular website dedicated to all things Quake, and definitely works as a time machine.
12. Old Unreal
Some people have good taste. But some people have a bit of a too much of a good taste! Welcome to Old Unreal, where people hang out and share their love for the original, first, old Unreal game. (It’s a bit unreal, yes.)
13. Half Quake
Don’t let the title confuse you. This isn’t about Quake… Well. Somewhat. Nor is it about Half Life. It is about BOTH. Half Quake is a game mod for Half Life that merges Half Life and Quake, hence the name Half Quake. Get it now?
14. The Dark Mod
The Dark Mod is one of the best ever mods for Thief. Playing Thief without the Dark Mod installed is like… Not having played Thief.
15. Thief Missions
Classic website packed full of additional fan-made missions for the Thief games.
16. QuakeCon
It’s Quake Con! No further explanation needed.
17. God Mode Online
If she… or well, he, or they… don’t remember the “God Mode” cheat code, they’re too young for you!
18. Heretic II
We really need a new Heretic game, damn.
http://hexenworld.com
19. Planet Daikatana
Once an iconic gathering point of all the weirdos who loved John Romero’s weird game, called Daikatana. We can neither deny nor confirm the current state of the website.
20. Quake World Net
Same like the above, but for Quake. No less legendary!
21. Wrath
Wrath is a rather recent, but hellishly old-school FPS game. Check it out if you want to go back in time.
22. Hexen 2 SourceForge
http://uhexen2.sourceforge.net
Anyone still playing Hexen 2? Well in that case… This is where you wanna go for updates, fixes and mods.
23. Unreal Sp
A fan-made website dedicated to fan-fiction in the Unreal games – they even write books! You can also find maps and mods here.
24. Bulletstorm
Need a newer game to feel all the classic FPS feels? Play Bulletstorm.
25. Doom Wiki
Wikipedia but for Doom. That is all.
26. Beyond Unreal
The best place to follow any Unreal-related news.
27. Planet Annihilation
A website dedicated to the classic Total Annihilation game. It was excellent and we miss it. Make a new one!
28. Planet Battlezone
Battlezone was one of the most inventive RTS games back in the day.
29. Planet Blood
This old website was dedicated to the best FPS shooters and horror games at the time. Sadly it’s no longer active.
30. Planet CNC
Planet Command & Conquer everyone! First time you hear about it? lay the CNC games you’re missing out!
31. Planet Half-Life
Half Life is the best first-person shooter ever. There I said it. Better than Doom, better than Quake, better than Wolfenstein, and better than even Duke Nukem. YES. I am correct and that’s final.
32. Planet Descent
Descent was an acquired taste of a game, but still quite good. Not for everyone though.
33. Planet Drakan
Like Descent, Drakan was kind of in a niche of its own. Couldn’t match the most popular classics, but right there on the shelf right next to them.
34. Planet Dreamcast
Remember the Dreamcast? One of the most charming consoles in history. I miss it!
35. Planet Fortress
I did say Half Life was the best game in history, ever. And that’s also because Half Life spawned a whole slew of other games from itself. Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, Counter Strike… You name it. Talk about making gaming history!
36. Planet Hardware
All things hardware related for your gaming and… engineering needs.
37. Planet Kingpin
Ahh, the Kingpin games. Hailing from 1999, this was perhaps the first gangster/mafia related game that was made in 3D. A definite cult classic!
38. Planet Shogo
AIs? Robots? Mecha? Shogo had it all!
39. Planet Starsiege
If you’ve never heard of Starsiege, you’re missing out. Here’s your chance to familiarize yourself with this iconic video game.
40. RPG Planet
All things RPG!
41. StormTroppers
Remember the first Star Wars: Battlefront game? This is where we all hanged out back then.
42. Strategy Planet
If you loved strategy games back in the day, this website was the ultimate resource for news, mods, maps, fixes, and even fan fiction based on popular strategy games.
43. Tactical Planet
Same, but for tactical, 4X, turn based games. Civilization forever in our hearts!
44. Prince of Persia
Without Prince of Persia, Assassin’s Creed would’ve never existed. Ponder that!
45. Classic Gaming
The name tells it all.
46. GameSpy Network
GameSpy was perhaps the most iconic website dedicated to gaming, ever.
47. GameSpy Store
GameSpy used to sell games too… Heh. Those were the days!
48. LAN Party
Kids these days don’t even know what a LAN party is!
49. QuadDicted
You know what Quad damage is? Well now you will. One of the best websites for Quake 3 Arena matches. It was a blast!
50. Thief 2X
Thief II was a legendary successor to the original Thief: Dark Shadows. And here you will find mods, texture upgrades, fixes, and tons of new maps for Thief 2!