Strife

In 1996, gamers played enough uninspired Doom and Duke Nukem 3D clones to the point that they decided to only trust major developers like 3D Realms, id Software, and Raven Software. But if you're like me and have played a lot of first-person shooters at the time, you'll know that not all of the smaller developers just churn out lame Doom clone after lame Doom clone. Strife is an excellent example of this. Developed by newcoming developer Rogue Entertainment, Strife combines Doom-style gameplay with RPG elements to create an utterly absorbing experience.

The combination of both genres really works, too. The action is fast-paced, with innovative weapons for the time (electric crossbow, poison crossbow, grenade launcher, flamethrower) as well as other standard-issue weapons (machinegun, rocket launcher, and a shotgun equivalent called the Mauler), and the RPG-like character interaction system makes you feel like you're really interacting with a living world (as opposed to Doom, where you don't interact with any characters). If this doesn't pull you into the game, then the seamless gameworld, non-linear gameplay, varied environments, and excellent story development should. A definite 10 / 10 to this one!