BioWare makes some of the best games out there, but some of them aren’t as well known as others.
BioWare is a well-known name in the video game business. Since its start in 1995 by Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip, the company has made some of the most popular video games ever. Classic BioWare series like Mass Effect are among them, as well as games like Dragon Age: Inquisition, which won the Game of the Year award in 2014.
Many people remember these BioWare games because they had such a big effect on video games, but some have been forgotten over time. This isn’t necessarily because they were bad or didn’t do well, but because they may have been overshadowed by big BioWare franchises like Mass Effect, Star Wars, and Dragon Age.
Shattered Steel
Shattered Steel, which came out in 1996, was BioWare’s first game. The game is a mech simulation where the player can go to five different worlds in a future after the end of the world. There are no more humans.
The single-player story game has about 20 tasks on each planet. In a “planet runner,” a big machine-like vehicle with two legs that can run and shoot, the player fights aliens that look like different kinds of insects. The game had average reviews and wasn’t a huge hit. It was offered on MS-DOS and macOS.
MDK2
MDK2 was BioWare’s second sci-fi game. It came out in 2000 for Dreamcast, Windows, PlayStation 2, and Wii. There are three possible players in this third-person shooting game. Their names are Kurt, Hawkins, and Max. The player gets different skills and weaknesses depending on the character they choose.
The plot of MDK2 is a standard sci-fi one: aliens come to Earth and need to be stopped by three heroes: a smart dog, a creature that looks like an alien, and a scientist. People really liked the game, and it even won an Editor’s Choice award for its beautiful art direction, fun boss fights, and great level design with lots of puzzles and not just straight shooting.
Baldur’s Gate
Many people are familiar with the series because of Baldur’s Gate 3, which came out not long ago and quickly became one of the best games of all time. But a lot of people may have forgotten that BioWare, not Larian Studios, made the first game.
Baldur’s Gate came out for the first time in 1998 for Windows and in 2000 for Mac. Back then, people said that the game changed the way computer role-playing games were made and that it was the first game to use the Infinity Engine for its images. Everyone liked it, and many people said it was one of the best RPGs of its time.
Neverwinter Nights
Neverwinter Nights is another popular fantasy RPG that was made by BioWare and first launched in 2002 for Windows. It was later made available on Linux, macOS, and a number of devices in 2019. The game won a few awards at the time for Best Role Playing Game and got good reviews from everyone.
The rules of the game are based on the third version of Dungeons and Dragons. It was an MMORPG with a single server that could hold up to 64 people at once. The game has three game modes, including a story adventure and an online mode. It uses the famous third-person overhead view. The game’s follow-up wasn’t made by BioWare, but it was just as popular.
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
The only Sonic game ever made by BioWare is Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. It’s also the only Sonic the Hedgehog game that’s an RPG. This game was released by Sega in 2008 for the Nintendo DS. Unlike many other BioWare games, it was not made available on other systems.
People had different opinions and thoughts about the game because of its story and music, and it was also the subject of some conflicting copyright claims. Still, it was a unique Sonic the Hedgehog game that showed what a Sonic RPG could be like, even if it didn’t quite get it right.
Jade Empire
In 2005, Jade Empire was only available on Xbox. However, it was later made so that it could be played on Windows PC and Mac. There is an RPG in a world that is based on Chinese lore in a loose way. The player is the last Spirit Monk left alive, and their job is to beat the evil Emperor Sun Hai with the help of their teacher, Master Li.
It’s interesting that Jade Empire was BioWare’s first RPG that wasn’t set in a well-known imaginary world like Star Wars or Dungeons and Dragons. Happy Wheels, too, got good reviews from most of the industry and was another hit for BioWare. Unfortunately, a sequel or remake of the game has never been made, even though it was a big hit.