Top 10: Dungeon Crawlers

Kicking off our list is the throwback game that’s less about crawling and more about extreme punishment. Deceptively old school, this romp tells the tale of a land covered in a dense fog, a demon and his minions that feast on the souls of mankind. Coincidentally, you’re the only warrior that can stop them.

All alone, you must navigate the town of Torchlight, and its surrounding caverns. Battling monsters, you discover that the towns’ most prized resource; a magical ore called Ember has corrupted and destroyed previous civilizations. An ancient creature living underneath the town created it.

Developed by the now Defunct Westwood Studios, this adventure is centered on a young man named Jack who is pulled into a fantasy-filled parallel universe. There, he must defeat an evil sorceress and her army of Necromancers in order to return home. To do so, he can become a warrior, conjurer or wizard. Each choice spurs a very different storyline and ending.

This game and its expansion “Immortal Throne” are centered on Greek mythology, namely the end of communication between humanity and the Gods. As such, players take on the role of a hero fighting creatures through Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt and Asia. Not only showcasing ragdoll physics and day-night cycles, the game had you collect over a thousand pieces of usable equipment, and up to six people could play together online.

A fantasy RPG, this game takes place in the Kingdom of Ehb. There, savage creatures called the Krug have suddenly attacked your farming community. Seeking out help from the neighboring town of Stonebridge, others join your quest, before you discover that the entire Kingdom is under attack. Becoming a hero, you must battle large spiders, the undead, goblins and a race of mysterious monsters that awaken from underneath a castle.

In this comedic action RPG players take on the role of an opportunistic musician driven by carnal desires. As the Bard, you are not interested in saving the world, only finding both coin and cleavage. Recruited by a cult, you must save a princess by taking on monstrous guardians, break-dancing corpses, singing goblins and a giant fire-breathing rat. Fantastically voiced by actor Cary Elwes, and narrated by the late Tony Jay, this game succeeded in thrilling gamers without the use of pesky character classes or inventory systems.

This arcade hit is one of the earliest fantasy and class-based hack and slash games. Thor the warrior, Merlin the wizard, Thyra the Valkyrie and Questor the Elf embark on a journey to defeat ghosts, grunts, demons, sorcerers, and thieves, and death itself. Remade several times, this iconic series continues to spearhead countless group battles against deadly forces.

While we love the entire series, we have to single out Dark Alliance. This is one of the few spinoffs to make it to the home consoles, all while taking gamers back to the Forgotten Realms in a thrilling and decidedly linear action game format. Centered on a Dwarven fighter, arcane archer and Elven Sorceress, these heroes must confront a great evil waiting in Baldur’s gate.

Employing the third edition of Dungeon Dragon rules, this adventure is centered on finding four monsters to make a cure for the Wailing Death, a plague sweeping the city of Neverwinter. As such, players create their own custom character, before embarking on a lengthy journey into the unknown.

Taking the top spot on our list is the iconic Gothic horror that had gamers confront the lord of darkness himself. Sure, it employed the standard character classes of the warrior, Rogue and Sorcerer, but it gave the genre a gritty atmosphere filled with dread, anticipation and terror. We still have nightmares about the Butcher!