As part of LaComparacion's 2019 Computer Gaming Week, we've spent a lot of time thinking about the biggest PC games of all time.
So what makes a game "important"? For many, it's a totally subjective argument based on the games that have had the biggest impact on your gaming life.
However, some games have done more than win legions of fans - it's the software that has shaped the industry's ups and downs. From graphic milestones to the creation of entirely new genres, it is the games that have evolved PC gaming with each release.
That's why we rounded up ten of the best, highlighting why they played such a pivotal role in the evolution of PC gaming.
Sid Meier's Civilization (1991)
It is impossible to overestimate the influence of Civilization on strategy games, world building sims, and PC games in general.
Along with SimCity and Populus, MicroPose's core software was to create and maintain many empires over time and create an interactive experience with unmatched control at your fingertips.
The original versions of MS-DOS now look dated, but they have been remade and remastered over and over again over the years, so they are far from lost. While its sequels would go to the refinement of its simulation systems and mechanics, the original is still the model that had the biggest impact.
Doom (1993)
There have been so many great shooters over the years, but they have all had the impact of id Software's launch in 1993.
Shooters existed before their arrival, but Doom has come up with many principles that we still see today. Play in a first person perspective; open levels, full of secrets; spatially open environments; copious amounts of blood and ultraviolet.
He did not rewrite the SPF manual, he is the author of the first edition. That's one of the reasons why it was used on every platform imaginable: even today, its massive arsenal of weapons and its bestiary of infernal enemies remain relevant.
You can see Doom's DNA in every shooting game that followed and you will for decades to come.
Devil (1996)
Role playing has taken many forms over the years, but only one decided to shed layers of influence from multiple genres like Diablo did in 1996.
Blizzard's top-down creation removed all the junk and firmly put the action into role play.
Diablo is all about fighting and this glorious fight. It banished the difficulty peaks that made the genre so impenetrable and focused on enhancing its dungeon creativity.
The missions and tier levels were procedurally generated (a gameplay still in the news, let alone 20 years ago), while the introduction of multiplayer allowed players to team up or battle it out for fantastic glory.
Tomb Raider (1996)
In the same year that Diablo was rewriting the rules of role-playing game, a small UK studio called Core Design introduced the world to a game (and a main character) that propelled the 3D platform into a new era.
With its dual pistols and polygonal edge, Lara Croft's first adventure as Tomb Holder had as much impact as Mario's first foray into 3D space.
The rig no longer consisted of floating jumps, but required a judicious combination of timing and precision. The environmental enigmas were deep, complex and multifaceted. And the shooting? Well, few games are stepped up with all the Tomb Raider imagination. Wolves? Nah. Raptors? Nah? A T-rex? Oh, go on then.
Half Life (1998)
Doom was the game that defined first-person shooter for an unsuspecting PC gaming community in the early 90s, but Half-Life was going to revolutionize this concept by the end of the decade.
Even if you don't know how its popularity eventually led to the creation of the revolutionary Steam delivery platform, Half-Life proved that shooters could be anything but bullets, blood, and baddies.
It was the thinking man's FPS, a game that wasn't afraid to put a dystopian sci-fi story first. He popularized the concept of using environmental puzzles and genres spliced in unison in a way we've never seen before.
Baldur's Door (1998)
The humble RPG has undergone many regenerations over the years and the one it took in the form of Baldur's Gate remains the most essential.
With Canadian studio Bioware at the helm, it was the first RPG to use the now legendary Infinity Engine, which gives the game an instantly recognizable 2D art style. (A style as popular as Obsidian designed the 2015 Pillars of Eternity around this much-loved look.)
With the Forgotten Realms setting and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules, it would take until Bioware rewrote the rules again with Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic for Baldur's Gate to feel no need to play.
God Ex (2000)
The consequence and choice of the Human Revolution and divided humanity may not seem so remarkable today, but at the turn of the millennium, the influence he had as a player in the world he lived in on Deus Ex was both exhilarating and surprising.
Of course, you can draw a gun and shoot the NPCs or avoid the dangers if you wish, but it is the depth at which these actions have played that has affected your country the most.
From the freedom of exploration you've been offered to the dialogue options found only in traditional RPGs, this mechanical cross-pollination has made Deus Ex a unique perspective few titles have matched since.
While Baldur's Gate immersed itself in classic D&D rules, Bethesda was working on its own very different but equally immersive action RPG.
Upon his arrival in 2002, Morrowind introduced the series in the third dimension and with a more powerful engine at his disposal, which created something inherently unique.
With their Dwemer plants buried deep in the ground and their fungal fauna soaring into the sky, even Oblivion or Skyrim couldn't compete with TESIII for their creativity. Freed from the technical limitations inherent in Daggerfall, Morrowind was a virtual world that influenced all action RPGs that would follow in its footsteps.
World of Warcraft (2004/XNUMX/XNUMX)
While countless revisions have been made since its inception in 2004, World of Warcraft has defined what a robust and commercially successful MMO (massively multiplayer online) could and should be.
Building on the rich and deep tradition of the Warcraft series, WoW broke with the traditional real-time strategy of its ancestors and focused on an action RPG model.
In a cartoon of Azeroth, World of Warcraft managed to bridge the gap between a shared online space and a storytelling experience that captivated each player individually. And, while it may not be the subscriber power it used to be, its place among the big MMO players will never fade away.
Minecraft (2009)
Like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Doom, Minecraft targeted almost all modern platforms, but that didn't stop the real impact it had on PC gaming.
From its inception in the late 2000s, to the latest innovations in the Bedrock Edition update, Mojang's creative suite inspired a generation of gamers to start thinking about blocks. From the Survival Mode test to the unbridled depth of Design Mode, and let's not forget the amazing community-generated texture and mod packs, Minecraft has become a game less than a growing phenomenon, and a phenomenon that it will probably happen by shaping the developers of tomorrow.
It has also become the best-selling PC game of all time and we are taking a closer look at the history of Minecraft for PC Gaming Week.
Welcome to LaComparacion 2019 Computer Gaming Week. We celebrate the world's most powerful gaming platform with in-depth articles, exclusive interviews, and essential buying guides that showcase all of those PC games you can offer. Visit our Computer Game Week 2019 page to see all of our coverage in one place.