Civilization II

"Just one more turn" — this phrase has destroyed more nights of sleep than perhaps any other game, and Civilization II is its perfect embodiment. The legendary turn-based strategy created by the team around Sid Meier put you in the role of a nation's leader from the dawn of history all the way to the journey to the stars. The PlayStation version brought this gigantic 4X experience to television screens.

The premise is breathtaking in its ambition: you found cities, research a technology tree from the wheel to nuclear power, negotiate and go to war with rival civilizations, and try to lead your people to victory, whether by conquering the world or by elevating science and culture. Every decision has long-term consequences, and every game plays out differently. That is the famous "replayability" that people have demanded of the genre ever since.

Civilization II from 1996 was a huge step forward on the PC compared to the original, an isometric view, better graphics, the famous video clips of the Council of Advisors, and more sophisticated diplomacy. It was one of the most influential strategies of all time and often appears on lists of the best games in history. The console conversion was a bold attempt to bring a deeply mouse-and-keyboard experience to a controller.

The transfer to PlayStation carried compromises in controls, managing a sprawling empire with a gamepad was never as nimble as with a mouse. Even so it was a remarkable effort to make one of the peaks of PC strategy accessible to console players who otherwise had no way into this world.

Wherever you play it, the core remains the same: a hypnotic loop of planning, expansion, and discovery that can swallow up dozens of hours. It is a monument of the genre whose DNA you will find in every modern strategy.

Why play it: One of the most influential 4X titles of all time with endless replayability, and the infamous "just one more turn" syndrome.