The landscape of PC gaming, and video games in general, has changed drastically since the early days of classic DOS games and the IBM PC. There have been so many advancements in both PCs and video games, from hardware advancements to software development, but no matter how beautiful or advanced the game, the true test of a game comes down to one basic principle; is the game fun to play? There has been a resurgence in retro-styled games that are extremely fun to play, but some of the best gameplay can still be found in classic DOS games. The list that follows contains some of the best DOS games that are still fun to play and worth the minimum requirements to install. Many of the games can be found on digital video game download sites like GOG and Steam, while others have been released as freeware.

Since these are all DOS games, you may need a DOS emulator like DOSBox to run them. There is a good guide and tutorial on using DOSBox to run old PC games. There are also a number of free PC game features on the Free Games A to Z list, many of which are freeware releases of former commercial DOS games.

Release Date: 1988Genre: Role PlayingTheme: Post-apocalyptic

The original Wasteland was released in 1988 for MS-DOS, Apple II, and Commodore 64 computers. The game has seen something of a resurgence since its successful Kickstarter campaign and 2014 release of Wasteland 2, but it has long been hailed as one of the greatest games in PC gaming history and a classic DOS title.