30 years of PC games: Those were our first PC games – Part 1

At 35, I’m already one of the older editors here at PC Games. That’s why my first experiences with PC games are probably a little more “old school” than those of the other youngsters. I can still remember quite well that I quite often played the pre-installed games Solitaire, Hearts, Tetris and Minesweeper on my father’s computer. But most of the time has probably flowed into the classic Pac-Man.

After all, the cat-and-mouse game of beating the four ghosts in a labyrinth has potential for addiction. But I can’t really tell you much about the little, yellow wolverine, except that he saw the light of day in 1980 on arcade machines. So I decided to go with another title that I played extensively in my early gaming years that is closer to video games as we know them today. We’re talking about the first adventure of the now world-famous archaeologist Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. In Part 1 of our special, you can also read about the games that volunteer Toni and editor Chris were enthusiastic about when they were young.

By Michael Grunwald

30 years of PC games: Those were our first PC games – Part 1 (3)

Source: Square Enix



I guess it wasn’t really legal that I played Tomb Raider when it came out. I still remember very well that my parents didn’t want me to play with this “shooting and moaning woman” either.

Okay, in hindsight I can understand that, after all the title came out in 1996. For a nine-year-old kid, Tomb Raider might be pretty tough stuff. Even a few years later, I didn’t dare to continue playing alone at some points in the sequels. The series also has horror sections from time to time and they aren’t exactly perfect for children.

But of course I didn’t let that stop me at the time, I went to good friends and played through the first part of the adventure series with them. It might not have been love at first sight, but from level three at the latest, Tomb Raider had me completely under its spell.

After the start of the game was quite unspectacular in dreary cave areas, the third chapter was really tough. Finally, the lost valley offered the heroes of all children and young people: dinosaurs!

Actually, I didn’t want to shoot the primeval creatures at all, I was far too big a dinosaur fan, but that would have been counterproductive for the course of the game. The legendary spot under the suspension bridge, when the Tyrannosaurus Rex comes around the corner, will probably be remembered forever.

Boy, did I play that segment a lot and I have to admit, Lara didn’t always come out victorious.

Also the rest of the adventure offered many memorable levels like the Colosseum, the Cistern and Atlantis. Partly because of these memories, I’ve stayed true to the series to this day. I even enjoyed playing the repeatedly criticized reboot trilogy and liked the change towards a more human Lara Croft.

The restart was urgently needed and I hope for more games about the archaeologist in the future. After all, the first video game experiences shape us quite a bit. At least for me, I still like to play action-packed adventures with strong characters and a great story. And of course dinosaurs shouldn’t be missing either!