5. Rogue Legacy

Rogue Legacy is an action game with some platforming and roguelike elements. You start off by picking one of three characters, all with different spells and traits. Your main objective is to explore a randomized dungeon and defeat the final boss. If you die trying, it’s over (permadeath, gotta love it, right?), and you start over from the beginning with another character. So where is the progress you might ask? Well, you retain the gold you collected, and this can be used for permanent (!) upgrades, abilities and equipment.

This game is rock hard, but perfect controls make the difficulty feel fair. Requirements can be pretty steep, demanding 1 gig of RAM, making this a modern day low-spec game. It’s a great old-school experience with high replayability! You can download the game here.

4. Fez

Fez was always happy, running around in his 2D world, eating his 2D food, doing his ordinary 2D things. But one day, the third dimension was introduced to him, and he hasn’t looked back since (who likes 2D food anyway?). Fez is an intelligent platform puzzle game, requiring you to swap between 2D and 3D vision to be able to reach the end.

A soothing and relaxing game, with a very friendly checkpoint system. Make sure to check out the required specs for this one though, as it is a modern low-spec game, being processor and RAM heavy, but graphics card friendly. Download it here from Steam.

3. the Stanley Parable

You are Stanley, or aren’t you? You’re a happy office worker used to following commands, a sheep. But one day, there’s nobody telling you what buttons to push anymore. You decide to investigate, guided by a humorous narrator, or is he? Paradoxes take place the entire time, you can refuse to do what the game designer expects from you, and try to “break” the game.

The Stanley Parable isn’t a one way speech, it’s a two way conversation, you and the game designer. If this makes no sense to you, try out the demo, and if you like it, be sure to play the full game here, you won’t regret it. A small warning, although this game only requires a low-end video card (like an Intel 2000), it does require some processing speed and some Ram from your pc. This is definitely a modern day low-spec game, so try out the demo before you buy!

2. Spelunky

That’s it, no more cryptic games from now on! Number 2 on the list is a classic roguelike platformer, filled with deadly traps, monsters, weapons, and treasures. Don’t let the adorable (yeah, I said it) art style fool you, you will die in this game, a lot. But you will keep coming back for more, because if there’s something this game has going for it, it’s the fact that every time you play, you feel like you learn something & improve. Driven by a sense of the unknown you will battle your inner “fight or flight”-instinct, trying to reach the end of the level.

If you want a surprisingly deep gaming experience (get it?), look no further. I have lodged tens of hours in this game, and haven’t regretted one minute of it. Get it here from Steam! Happy spelunking

1. ???

The moment we have all been waiting for.. What’s the number one on the list of “best low spec PC games of 2013“?