top3 for me
System Shock PC - The original survival horror FPS. one of the first true 3d games ever as well at a time when people were still hyped on 2.5d. full player mobility, including
leaning around corners. in 1994. a feature Half Life never managed to implement... everything that makes games like Dead Space and Bioshock awesome are 100% directly related to this classic.
the story and pacing of the game are impeccable, the characters are fleshed out just enough to let your imagination fill in the pertinent blanks and the integration of the protagonist into what feels like a living element of the environment you're forced to explore is something i've honestly hoped for and have never seen since (even in the sequel).
it's harsh to play the game now with 2d sprites in a blocky 3d world, especially if you grew up on modern game 'experiences', but no other game has ever made me jump out of my seat in the middle of a sunny afternoon.
Anachronox PC - one of the absolute best rpgs ever. criminally overlooked due to John Romero's hubris and Ion Storm's boner for Daikatana. by the time this title came out people were so full of the garbage hype coming from Ion Storm that most copies just collected dust on the shelf. unfortunate.
everything about this game was awesome, the characters had typical cliches but were presented in a unique way within the game (you play Sly Boots, a private detective down on his luck). it's not D&D dressed up in fancy clothes *cough*Knights of the Old Republic*cough*. the plot touches heavily on metaphysics / string theory / multiple universes but the medium affords the ability to present it in such a simple way that anyone can understand it. the story also features one of the greatest twists i've ever experienced in any game ever.
unfortunately due to being an Ion Storm title it had to be shipped ahead of schedule so the original story was sliced, which results in a huge cliffhanger right at the end. HUGE. at this point 9 years later i'd be quite happy with just a .pdf of the rest of the story but even that is still unavailable.
Ogre Battle - a SNES classic and one of the few games that really made me lose my **** back in the day. i must have played through the whole thing at least 7-8 times to try to get all the endings (apparently there are a dozen). it's sad that with the amount of strategic games out there this is still one of the best examples i can think of that made me feel like an actual general. this was also one of the first games with a reputation meter that would have a drastic effect on every aspect of the game. it was very possible (and in fact easier) to become a tyrant to the world you were originally trying to save.