Dark Ages

The influence of Apogee (later 3D Realms) was significant in its time.  Credited with developing the common Shareware method of game distribution in 1987, wherein titles were released in episodes with only the first released for free (known at its beginning as the "Apogee Model"), they also developed a string of hit titles, some of which continue to the present day (Duke Nukem).  They also had the distinction of publishing ID Software's Wolfenstein 3D, which, although not the first First-Person Shooter, often regarded as the granddaddy of them, bringing the genre great, widespread fame and leading the way for ID's runaway hit Doom.

Amongst their smaller achievements, Apogee is also credited with released the first shareware game to utilize soundcard support.  It might be easy to take this sort of thing for granted nowadays, but prior to this point in time, when otherwise excellent games were tied down to sharp auditory bleeps and blips from the extremely low-fi built in PC speaker.  Soundcard support was a huge deal.

Unfortunately, Dark Ages, although grandfathering this support on the shareware scene, was not otherwise a stand-out title.  Graphically flat and not particularly interesting, it was by no means a bad game, just not a very good one in a time when titles like Commander Keen, lacking soundcard support but trumping Dark Ages on gameplay, were already out on the scene.  It is a title that has largely been forgotten and is rarely mentioned, but nevertheless it deserves a small place in the spotlight if only as a milestone on the gaming timeline.  It also bears the distinction of being designed by Todd Replogle, who later that same year would release Duke Nukem.

That said, the game can be entertaining in its own right, even if it is weak when held against its compatriots.  Apart from its technologically advanced (for its time) music and sound, the game had a "high-fantasy" setting that brings to mind arcade games like Rastan.  You control a magic-wielding warrior prince who fights to free his kingdom from the evil wizard Garth, who has plagued the land with hordes of undead minions.  Gameplay and level-design are very straight forward, and basically you fight your way back and forth across fairly simplistic landscapes until you finally reach your journey's end.  Nothing special, but fun if you're in the mood for something simple.  Apogee would revisit this high-fantasy "babes and barbarians" style setting with much greater effect in 1995 with Realms of Chaos.  3D Realms released Dark Ages as freeware in 2009.