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[Paperclip Killa]

4 iconic games that were incredible hallmarks of the computer gaming industry for PC, released in the period spanning 1993-1994. They were all in concurrent development at the same time and released approximately a year apart from each other in isolation. These are still considered some of the greatest and funnest games to go back and play today.

These games were:

System Shock (Looking Glass, Sept 1994)

Magic Carpet (Bullfrog Productions, Nov 1994)

Myst (Cyan, Sept 1993)

Doom (id Software, Dec 1993)

Of these 4 games that were all in parallel development and were each major breakthrough in the industry, which of these do you enjoy and have the most fun engaging with more?

 

[Kuranghi]

Since I've only properly played one of them its got to be Magic Carpet. It was pretty magical back then.

I've played less than and hour of Doom and Myst, was going to give System Shock a go but then I decided to wait for the remake and I'll play one of the 800 thousand Myst remakes at some point too, no rush there.

 

[Flabagast]

Really sad to see Doom so high.

Gamers are pigs.

 

[Pimpbaa]

Doom was an easy choice here. System Shock only other that I remember (the sequel was so much better). I played Magic Carpet but I remember fuck all about it, it must not have made an impression. Never played Myst, not my type of game.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Gotta go Doom, but Myst was magical.

 

[Knightime_X]

I wanted to like System shock but the controls are abhorrent.
Doom even for its simplicity was and STILL IS a blast to play.

 

[ShadowNate]

If there was an entry for System Shock 2, I'd go for that one since that was brilliant.

But as is, I voted Myst. Clever puzzles, good graphics for its time, excellent music, interesting story if with some big plot holes and stupid character decisions.

I've played classic DOOM, and Wolfenstein 3d before that, but was never a fan of it. My Greek-German cousin loved Wolfenstein though, to the point that we played little else when their familiy visited.

I've played Magic Carpet as a demo and although I liked the concept and the graphics (again for its time), the gameplay (movement control and firing) was shit for me anyway. Still I must have played the demo a lot because I remember spending replaying it trying to get better and figure the end goal and explore what else was there in its map. That was a time when I had little to no money to spend on PC games, so if I purchased one, or a cover disc with demos/shareware, I would be (re)playing most of them for days if not months.

Weird that nowadays I own all these titles on digital but probably spent less than a couple of hours into all of them combined.

 

[Laptop1991]

Doom because i actually finished it, and played all of them, i loved Magic Carpet but i got stuck on one level and just couldn't beat it back then and progress any further lol, i never played the other 2.

 

[OceanicWaterHorse]

I played all 4 and have to award Doom, Myst & System equal 1st place and still have strong feelings just thinking back to playing them. The three are very different, but all excellent. I enjoyed Magic Carpet, but it was ultimately forgettable.

 

[brian0057]

System Shock.
There isn't a single page in the Looking Glass Studios library that hasn't been ripped off by everyone else.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Doom is the only game that I still enjoy revisiting to this day. The rest of them aged terribly, especially when played in their original form.

 

[Wildebeest]

Out of those games, I've completed Myst, and it was the most popular and accessible game of the time.

I tried magic carpet and doom at the time, but they didn't totally grab me. I still don't like to play Doom that much and haven't really completed it. And it was only with Quake that I actually found FPS enjoyable.

At the time the games I was playing were more often strategy games like Syndicate, Civilization, K240, X-COM.

 

[AV]

Putting Doom in a contest with literally anything else feels pretty unfair.

It's 30 years old this year and still plays better than half the modern games available.

 

[hemo memo]

I have only played Doom from that list. So Doom.

 

[SF Kosmo]

All of these games are brilliant but Doom is the easiest to jump into and so the most enduring and playable.

System Shock has grown clunky over time, but I am looking forward to the remake. Myst doesn't date super well, and the remake only really shows that, it's unplayable without extensive note taking. Been a while since I played Magic Carpet but I did love that game.

 

[Gp1]

I'm a big system shock fan, and if we were talking about System Shock 2 I would vote for it, but between these 4?
Easily Doom and still is the only one "playable" after all this years

 

[Chukhopops]

Magic Carpet was incredible back in the days, the spell variety, the dogfights with other warlocks, destroying their castles with meteor and raiding the balloons full of mana…

A shame there hasn’t been anything like that since.

 

[Henry Panic]

No way a console board is going to choose anything but doom. Likely the only game most people here played or watched, on the list and or hear the most about from console leaning games media (the most popular) online for the same reason.

Myst was also a big game that crossed over with casuals and console gamers too, but you needed a PC for the best experience and for the first 3 years that was a huge obstacle.

Doesn't help that the ports of Myst were worse and not as accessible as ports of doom. Which were for some consoles at least respectible.

Also macintosh throw under the bus again, no Marathon.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Magic Carpet was incredible back in the days, the spell variety, the dogfights with other warlocks, destroying their castles with meteor and raiding the balloons full of mana…

A shame there hasn’t been anything like that since.

Splatoon comes close. You are using a set amount of Mana in Magic Carpet but you squirt your own in Splatoon.
Magic Carpet was fun against a computer opponent but against a real player it was a broken system.

 

[MHubert]

Myst evoked a kind of magic within me that ignited a lifelong passion for video games. Myst, and Little Big Adventure 2.

 

[DeepEnigma]

DOOM

Played that like digital crack. TCP/IP co-op and deathmatch were groundbreaking hilarious fun.

 

[Morrie’s wig shop]

Magic Carpet every time Magic Carpet comes up it’s always Magic Carpet.

First seeing that game in magazines blew my mind. Textured mapped polygons in all its glory really made the imagination go wild. Now I’ve played and owned Total Eclipse on the 3do at this point but still!
I used to love how Next Generation magazine would have the game on the cover with the text on the bottom stating this is a screenshot of the game in real time sighhhhhh……

Those 2 games pretty much convinced me that textured mapped polygons were gonna do just fine for video games. Out with the pixels in with the polygons.

 

[Paperclip Killa]

Magic Carpet every time Magic Carpet comes up it’s always Magic Carpet.

First seeing that game in magazines blew my mind. Textured mapped polygons in all its glory really made the imagination go wild.

It was possibly the most technically impressive game out at the time you could buy, I can only think of maybe two other contenders. The engine used was top of the line.

 

[Pelao]

The original Doom is perfect. It has absolutely no flaws. I stand by that opinion after all these years and despite countless other games I've loved in that time.

 

[nemiroff]

Doom, but System Shock is NOT far behind, loved that game. I can still play and enjoy Doom to this day, it still feels oddly contemporary. Sadly SS hasn't aged as well.

Myst was good for its time. And I remember somewhat enjoying Magic Carpet, but the draw distance was pretty bad..

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Well, I’ve only played Doom so…
I’m willing to bet that it’s also the only one of the bunch that still plays as good as on release day. Simplicity is key.

Looking back at the games of that time, I always get the impression that PC gaming just had to be complicated one way or the other. Either the interface was an overcrowded mess requiring several readings of the manual and days of learning curve to do the most essential things, the level design was labyrinthine to the point of madness, or in the case of point-and-clicks, the simplicity of the interface just had to be compensated with puzzles that bordered on nonsense. Doom achieved a rare balance in the PC space of its time, and I believe that‘s one of the reasons of its success.

 

[deriks]

 

[ClanOfNone]

System Shock for sure. While I had a lotta fun with Doom, I was blown away by System Shock and the much greater depth of experience that it provided above Doom and Wolfenstein.

 

[Roberts]

System Shock was the most important one for me. That's one of the first times I realised how games can be immersive experiences. That said, I played the shit out of Doom back in the day and was fascinated by Magic Carpet - I kept on returning to it, because I loved its visual style, but I am not sure I ever got far in it. Just flying around was enough for me.

 

[Morrie’s wig shop]

It was possibly the most technically impressive game out at the time you could buy, I can only think of maybe two other contenders. The engine used was top of the line.

Absolutely, it was a technical marvel to look at.

For those not aware this game is developed by the great Bullfrog and the brain child of the one and only, our savior Peter Molyneux lol.

 

[NeverYouMind]

I prefer Wolfenstein 3D (precursor to Doom), but Magic Carpet was impressive.

 

[Paperclip Killa]

Well, I’ve only played Doom so…
I’m willing to bet that it’s also the only one of the bunch that still plays as good as on release day. Simplicity is key.

Indeed it was the most accessible even if you had to play windowed, and took the most advantage of distribution deals and the shareware model. It was a very popular game that was easy to pick up and play.

However it's popularity stunted the progression of FPS games and 3D (which it ironically wasn't) and the evolution going on in the background between Doom and Doom II's popularity was only starting to become more mainstream by 1995, but then in 1996 Quake came out. In Quakes favor though id actually created something that developers could build off of in some way (Half-life for example) overtime unlike Doom which almost entirely resulted in clones or games pushing gimmicks like ZPC.

But this is also the reason why Myst was also popular.

System Shock, and Magic Carpet were more important games to moving the medium forward, however they were not games you could just step in to pick up and play right from the start. Nor were either as accessible as Myst, System Shock required more investment, and Magic Carpet while not to complex had some requirements that were out of reach for many for over a year at least.

Absolutely, it was a technical marvel to look at.

For those not aware this game is developed by the great Bullfrog and the brain child of the one and only, our savior Peter Molyneux lol.

The only weakness of Magic Carpet is that it traded draw distance for the amazing graphics.

But that is to say many 3D polygonal games at the time of Magic Carpet had draw distance limitations anyway. Except maybe Earthsiege 1. Probably the only other contender for the graphics crown that year.

 

[Sleepwalker]

I'm not old enough to have played any of these.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

PS1 Doom. That soundtrack

 

[Crayon]

Oh cmon. Doom destroyed the universe. At least back then any of us old enough to rember were freaking out, regardless of how you see them in hindsight.

However, Magic Carpet is my goty 6 years running.

 

[Barakov]

Really sad to see Doom so high.

Gamers are pigs.

 

[zcaa0g]

I enjoyed them all but Doom 1 vs. 1 deathmatch on a 56k modem at that time was the shiznit.

 

[Trunx81]

Which game was ported to a pregnancy test?
This is the answer.

 

[ProgenitorCastle]

 

[Goalus]

I voted Doom, but Magic Carpet was mighty impressive at its time.