Unapologetic violence, biting humour, murky moral choices: some games made provocation their signature. This Top 50 gathers the retro titles that disturbed — sometimes censored, often cult classics. RomWize breaks them down without taboo, each with its re-evaluated score, its versions, their rarity and their collector value.
"The vast playground invites you to do anything, and you fairly quickly opt to steal cars, run errands for criminals and turn traffic into chaos. The story dresses it all as a rise through the underworld, but the freedom on offer mostly works as an official permit to chain together offences, something you grant yourself with thoroughly pixelated delight."
"The vast playground invites you to do anything, and you fairly quickly opt to steal cars, run errands for criminals and turn traffic into chaos. The story dresses it all as a rise through the underworld, but the freedom on offer mostly works as an official permit to chain together offences, something you grant yourself with thoroughly pixelated delight."
"Becoming the greatest trainer relies on a routine no one questions mid-game: bumping into wild creatures out in nature, wearing them down through fights, then sealing them in a ball to complete a collection. Sold as a grand friendly adventure, the pastime amounts to assembling a team of captured brawlers, which somehow never stops anyone from adoring it."
"Under the pretext of climbing the criminal ladder, you borrow other people's cars, lose the police and settle every dispute with gunfire, all across open cities built for chaos. The game makes no secret of its irony, yet the thrill of total freedom makes you accept, without flinching, a daily routine of crimes chained together with a slightly guilty grin."
"Pioneer of a long lineage, the title already sets up its most unsettling logic: you talk with the demons you meet, win them over through flattery or threat, then fuse them without remorse to shape stronger ones. Saving the world runs here through the unabashed management of a herd of allies reduced, at bottom, to mere crafting materials."
"Becoming the greatest trainer relies on a routine no one questions mid-game: bumping into wild creatures out in nature, wearing them down through fights, then sealing them in a ball to complete a collection. Sold as a grand friendly adventure, the pastime amounts to assembling a team of captured brawlers, which somehow never stops anyone from adoring it."
"Beneath its adorable looks, the adventure is about founding a cult, indoctrinating cute little animals, demanding their devotion and, on occasion, sacrificing a few to grow stronger. We tend this flock of followers with the clear conscience of a caring shepherd while exploiting it shamelessly. The contrast between the charming art direction and the opportunistic-guru mechanics is downright delightful."
"Under the uniform of an upright detective in postwar Los Angeles, we hunt crime in earnest… while cheerfully plowing through half the city in every chase and grilling witnesses with sometimes summary harshness. The player adopts that displayed rectitude without noticing the damage left behind. The gap between the upholder of the law and the driver mowing down sidewalks is good for a smile."
"At the close of a won fight, the game invites you to finish off your opponent with a “fatality,” a choreographed killing of almost virtuoso gory inventiveness. You execute the button combo with care, proud to land a spectacular dismemberment, without dwelling too much on the fact that you're mostly drilling the art of theatrical murder."
"The game never glorifies the revenge it depicts: every retaliation feeds a cycle of violence that consumes a mother as much as her enemies. Grief, the passing of hatred to one's children and the price of blood are laid bare without indulgence, leaving a deliberate unease."
