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RPS Time Capsule: the games worth saving from 2006We list our favourite games from 2006, and why they deserve to be preserved above everything else
We list our favourite games from 2006, and why they deserve to be preserved above everything else
TheRPS Time Capsulereturns for its first outing of 2023, and this time we’re casting our minds back to the hallowed year of 2006. Little did we know it at the time, but this is the year we start to see the birth of certain game series that are still alive and kicking today (just about), as well as the nascent beginnings of now beloved studios honing their craft on some of their very first titles. But which of those games have earned themselves a spot in the eternal RPS Time Capsule? Come and find out which ones have stood the test of time, and which, after reading this article, have been consigned to the smog-filled trashfire of future Earth.
PC Game Music Quiz | Can You Guess PC Classics From The Music?Watch on YouTube
PC Game Music Quiz | Can You Guess PC Classics From The Music?
Dark Messiah Of Might & Magic
Alice0:I like to imagine the future people opening this Time Capsule and finding a game from Arkane Studios, those heroes of the immersive sim revival and big fans of interesting settings. And they will find Arkane’s second game, an early game set amidst wholly generic and uninteresting fantasy guff, yet with exciting traces of the playful and creative immsims they would go on to make. Plus a whole load of kicking men off ledges and cliffs and into spikes and into fires and smashing oil jars to light on fire and making people slip on ice and breaking platforms onto their heads and throwing boxes into fires to set them alight, then throwing burning boxes at their heads and cutting ropes to drop rocks on them. And these future people will be delighted.
Dark Messiah Of Might & Magicis a singleplayer first-person stab-o-shooter with a fewRPGtouches. As you level up, you can pick freely across skill trees with your usual warrior, wizard, and rogue abilities, multiclassing as you wish. Lockpicking. Lighting bolts. Leap attacks. Backstabs. Fireballs. You get it. AHalf-Life 2-style linear-ish story shooter with special abilities.
Dark Messiah is a perfect Time Capsule game for me because it captures a snapshot of past trends and a soon-to-be-prolific studio’s history while still being fun today.
Just Cause
James:This series peaked withJust Cause 2. You know it, I know it, our starving, irradiated ancestors who open this Time Capsule will probably know it. But in 2006, the originalJust Causewas already showing how much of a laugh you could have with a grappling hook and magically reusable parachute. The mid-air helicopter hijackings and impromptu base jumping these tools allowed for gave Just Cause a verticality and dynamism that other sandbox shooters just didn’t have at the time, even the (chronically underrated) Mercenaries. It was sunnier, too.
And the scope! Even if its banana republic archipelago wasn’t the most extensively detailed game setting of the year, I still remember it blowing my tiny mind when I flew halfway up to space and still couldn’t see the edge of Just Cause’s world. Besides, you don’t need thousands of map markers when there are other ways of staying entertained, and this first game of the series did plenty to set an endearingly chaotic tone for the ones that followed. One of the boss battles is against an elderly Nazi in a gyrocopter, so maybe I’m wrong, and Just Cause peaked right there?
Company Of Heroes
Visually, it also holds up surprisingly well considering its age. If nothing else, Company Of Heroes should be celebrated for just how timeless it feels, which is probably more than can be said for a lot of other games on this list (no disrespect, guys). Incredibly, it also continues to have a vibrant multiplayer scene, ensuring that even in the end days when this Time Capsule is eventually dug up, it still has the makings of a great co-op and competitive experience too. Assuming that the future end days still has viable internet, of course.
Tomb Raider: Legend
Rebecca:I submitTomb Raider: Legendinto the Time Capsule under slight sufferance. This game incensed my 15-year-old self upon release, because I’d had my heart set on a sequel to 2003’sTomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness, and Legend not only threw that idea out of the window, but sent the whole continuity of the first six games flying along with it. Where was my narrative resolution? What became of Kurtis Trent in that cliffhanger ending? Why was Lara’s backstory suddenly all different? You said it was going to be a trilogy, Eidos, yousaid.
But even an outraged hormonal fangirl had to admit that Legend did have some things going for it. Keeley Hawes was a bit of a crush of mine at the time, so the fact that she was the new voice of Lara Croft helped get me through the door, however reluctantly. And yeah, all right, the game wasgood, representing a much-needed graphical and technical upgrade for the series. Indeed, lingering resentment of its narrative betrayal aside, I’d be hard-pressed to argue that Legend doesn’t still feel like it marked a significant step forward for a much-beloved franchise.
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
You could play co-op or switch control of the characters on the fly, but the best part was that characters could combine attacks for specials – Captain America deflectingIron Man’s beam of his shield, that kind of thing. No, you know what, scratch that. The absolute best thing was you got bonuses for having four characters on a team that made sense together. Four X-Men. The Fantastic Four. God, it was a great game. I don’t think anyco-op gamesince has nailed being so simple but so utterly enjoyable at the same time.
The Ship: Murder Party
Liam:Many years before the dinky space beans fromAmong Usstarted acting all sussy, my introduction to social deduction games came in the form ofThe Ship, a multiplayer focused murder-em-up that let you strangle strangers on an art-deco cruise liner. An early Source game, The Ship was messy. Maybe a touch over designed. The core premise was simple, however. Hunt down your target and kill them in a creative way. A frying pan to the head, perhaps. Lock them in a freezer. Pour a bit of poison in their wine. You know. The usual stuff.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Ed:I am convincedOblivion’s fantasy setting of Cyrodiil is the closest you can get to a waking lucid dream. Break out of jail and you’re in this lush landscape, with golden hues and soft textures and warm strings that accompany your wanderings. I like how it frames its world through its mundane, little details, too. Dirt paths may simply lead to quaint huts in the middle of the woods or moss-covered ruins pocked with red mushrooms. There’s a sense that you’re exploring somewhere that makes sense for its inhabitants, rather than a showroom for achievement hunters.
Stronghold: Legends
Ollie:It turns out that, for an eleven-year-old Ollie, all that’s needed to improve upon the Age Of Empires formula is a generous helping of dragons, demons, and werewolves being catapulted over the walls of one’s enemies. Although to be honest, it was less about the use of such fantastical creatures and more about thepromiseof them. Back then, I played real-time strategies like base-builders - tycoon games, even. I’d insulate myself behind layers of castle walls and slowly build up a fearsome economy, based on the production and sale of hops and eels. And then when I’d reached the apex of my stronghold’s might, I’d wade my army across the map and obliterate my enemies in a victory lap of fantasy carnage.
And during that victory lap, I’d notice dragons curled around their treasure hoards at the centre of the map, and think to myself, “Ah yes, dragons. Awesome.” And continue on my merry crusade towards the enemy stronghold, without interacting with the dragons at all. I didn’t need to. Their presence was apparently all that was needed to make me keep playingStronghold Legendsfor many hours after school.
DEFCON
Hayden:PlayingDEFCONfor the first time is like going to Wagamamas and reassuring the waiter that you can handle spicy food. You’re like, “SURE, HAHAHA, THANKS MATE”, and then you wait patiently and consider your life choices. This is DEFCON. That panicked response and subsequent self-doubt is the rapid set-up stage. You place radars, silos, airstrips, and fleets in a flash and then stare at it all for minutes, questioning every decision. The wait feels eternal.
And then the food comes. You take a little bite and it doesn’tseemthat spicy, right? So you get a forkful and chew, making noises like “mmmm” and “ooooo” before realising that oh no, this was a mistake, ohmygod, and you spit it all out. Again, this is DEFCON. Your little ships start to battle each other, the silly bastards sinking all over. Fun! And then it moves into DEFCON 1, nukes start flying, and any semblance of control gets discarded.
It’s horrifying, really, but that carnage makes DEFCON a delectable bite-size portion of strategy. It lures you in with tactical building placement and unit management, before quickly throwing it all away in the final moments. The ensuing carnage is horrifying, but for a bunch of pals on Discord, it’s also filled with panicked screams and infectious laughter as our little planet is consumed with nuclear warfare. It’s grim, but an experience worth preserving all the same.
Pathologic
Rachel:Pathologicis a game I will never play, but I’m hurling it into our Time Capsule anyway to solidify a small part of weird gaming history. Yes, it came out in Russia in 2005 but it released in the UK in August 2006 so, that’s the excuse I’m giving to talk about this strange, wonderful game.
If you can handle all that, you are rewarded for it. The way the story unfolds is complex, strange, and brilliant all at the same time in a way that, without exaggerating, elevated interactive storytelling in gaming. It would be nice if it was more accessible to those who attempted to play it but that just adds to its mythos. Again, I will never play Pathologic, but I love reading and listening to people talk about it in articles, comment sections, forums, andtwo-hour YouTube essays. Into the safety of the Time Capsule it goes!
