Sid Meier's Civilization II

Sid Meier's Civilization II came out in 1996 and for a great many people is still the game where they first realized it was already morning. The premise remains grand: lead your own nation from a handful of settlers in the fourth millennium BC through the whole of history to a space flight to Alpha Centauri, or at least to the point where the other civilizations cease to exist. Victory can come through conquering the world or winning the science race, but the real substitute for storytelling here is the run of history itself, which the player assembles differently every time.

Compared to the first game, the view of the world changed to isometric, and above all most systems were deepened. Cities deal with citizen happiness, pollution, famine, and corruption, units now have three basic combat values instead of one, zones of control were added, and the game distinguishes between forms of government from despotism to democracy, where waging war regardless of the voters' mood is no longer possible. Wonders of the world remain the main reward for research, their completion accompanied by short cinematic sequences, the advisors in the main menu are live actors, and the Civilopedia encyclopedia turns the whole game into a history textbook in its own right.

The game shipped natively for Windows 95, so it ran in a window, supported higher resolutions, and offered comfortable mouse control, making it an ideal title for long evenings at an office computer. Critics at the time received it exceptionally well, and many outlets called it one of the best games ever. Expansions with new scenarios followed, along with a later release with multiplayer. Its influence on the genre is hard to overstate: most later turn-based strategy games work with a tech tree, wonders of the world, and city happiness exactly in the spirit that the second installment set. It's still easily playable today, though you should expect the interface to demand patient reading, and a single game can easily swallow an entire weekend.