Play Empire - Wargame of the Century Online

Empire: Wargame of the Century is one of those old-school MS-DOS games that somehow makes moving little squares around a map feel like an epic war. You start with a handful of units—maybe some infantry, a tank if you're lucky—and suddenly it's 3 AM and you're micromanaging supply lines like some kind of caffeine-fueled general.

The hex grid looks simple, but don't be fooled. Enemy AI will flank your troops, cut off reinforcements, and generally humiliate you until you learn to think three moves ahead. I lost my first five games because I kept charging in like it was checkers instead of chess.

What's wild is how much it influenced later strategy games despite being basically just numbers and letters on a screen. You can see the DNA of Civilization and Panzer General in here, but Empire strips everything down to pure tactics. No fancy cutscenes, just you versus a map that slowly turns your color—or doesn't, if you mess up.

Still holds up if you've got the patience for its no-nonsense style. Just maybe set an alarm so you remember to eat.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".