Games for a 13" Netbook

[NuclearPenguin]

Well, not the most original subject but, I am currently at a boarding school and all I have to game on is my 13" netbook.

I'm willing to buy whatever game is recommended as long as its on GoG or Steam.

Now, a few things, this laptop can handle World of Warcraft at about 20 FPS with everything on the absolute lowest. That should give you somewhat of an idea of what it can run.
Topdown view games aren't the best thing due to the fact that the screen is so small, it makes it a major eyestrain to play games like Baldurs Gate & Diablo.
System Shock 2 & Deus Ex do not work on it and I can't be bothered spending my entire day downloading fixes.

Indie games & the like are fine too, things like Cave Story.

Thats about the entirety of it. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Inithra]

I know you have tried BG and Diablo, but have you considered Magicka? It's topdown, but it isn't really an RPG, just a fun dungeon crawler. Although, the story does rely heavily on subtitles, which might be hard to read. On the other hand, the story is fairly ludicrous anyway.
I think of Magicka as the National Lampoon, or Naked Gun of PC games. A spoof, but done well, unlike those f'ing terrible Scary Movies.

Terraria perhaps? Personally, I consider it a sandbox rather than a "game", as it doesn't have any story or objectives unless you download custom maps. I haven't, but I've still played it for 50 hours. Again, screen size may be an issue, but with a netbook, it always will be, sooo..

 

[NuclearPenguin]

I know you have tried BG and Diablo, but have you considered Magicka? It's topdown, but it isn't really an RPG, just a fun dungeon crawler. Although, the story does rely heavily on subtitles, which might be hard to read. On the other hand, the story is fairly ludicrous anyway.
I think of Magicka as the National Lampoon, or Naked Gun of PC games. A spoof, but done well, unlike those f'ing terrible Scary Movies.

Terraria perhaps? Personally, I consider it a sandbox rather than a "game", as it doesn't have any story or objectives unless you download custom maps. I haven't, but I've still played it for 50 hours. Again, screen size may be an issue, but with a netbook, it always will be, sooo..

Magicka would strain my PC. Theres always ALOT going on and the graphics are actually quite good.
Terraria Ive already played to death :/

 

[Jordi]

You could probably play Morrowind, or maybe even Oblivion (judging after a quick glance at WoW and Oblivion minimum specs).

It might help if you could post more detailed specs of your netbook though (or at least the brand and model).

 

[Baby Tea]

As an owner of my own 13" netbook, allow me to fill you in on what I've found works well for me:
Minecraft, Frozen Synapse, Terraria, Homeworld 1 and 2, Torchlight, The Baldur's Gate Series and Diablo 2 (Though I know you already mentioned them), Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe (free)...that's about it for me, really. There isn't much, given the limitations of the hardware beyond the screen's size. Every Half Life game (1, 2, and all expansions), Portal, Alien Swarm, and League of Legends also all work on mine, but my Asus N10J isn't a typical netbook.

Oh! UFO: Alien Invasion is fun, too. Also, it's free.

There. Try those!

 

[NuclearPenguin]

You could probably play Morrowind, or maybe even Oblivion (judging after a quick glance at WoW and Oblivion minimum specs).

It might help if you could post more detailed specs of your netbook though (or at least the brand and model).

Oblivion will in no way run.
Morrowind can only be run at the lowest view distance which kills the game for me because I can only see about 2 feet.

As an owner of my own 13" netbook, allow me to fill you in on what I've found works well for me:
Minecraft, Frozen Synapse, Terraria, Homeworld 1 and 2, Torchlight, The Baldur's Gate Series and Diablo 2 (Though I know you already mentioned them), Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe (free)...that's about it for me, really. There isn't much, given the limitations of the hardware beyond the screen's size. Every Half Life game (1, 2, and all expansions), Portal, Alien Swarm, and League of Legends also all work on mine, but my Asus N10J isn't a typical netbook.

Oh! UFO: Alien Invasion is fun, too. Also, it's free.

There. Try those!

Minecraft does not work, it lags to all hell, Frozen Synapse Ill take a look at, Terraria I've played to death, Homeworld 1 & 2, again, I'll take a look at, Torchlight is topdown and therefore a massive eyestrain on this computer, same with Baldurs Gate & Diabl, Ill check out the transport tycoon.
Half-Life 2 would rape my computer, as would Portal & Alien Swarm. League of Legends bluescreens my computer.

I don't think Half-Life 2 would run on it, but the first one would.

The original Halo might also run on it.

DOOM.

The original Starcraft, or other '90's strategy games.

Duke Nukem 3D, though the pain from its sequel may keep you from playing it.

Fallout 1 and 2 might.

Other than those, I can recommend getting emulators. Pick up a PC controller and then play through some of those console classics! I'd recommend Visual Boy Advance at least.

EDIT: Also, see if OnLive is an option. If you're willing to go that route and have the connection for it, you could rock your socks off on some more modern games.

Halo does not run on it, Half-Life 1 might.
DOOM does but I recently finished it on my 360.
Topdown.
Duke Nukem 3D.. Do you know how well it works on Windows XP? I know it doesnt work on 7.
Fallout 1 & 2 are top down.
Emulators Ive got.

 

[redisforever]

Atom Zombie Smasher is fantastic fun, even has a netbook mode. $10 on Steam
It is, top down however.
Duke 3D works on everything. You just need DosBox, or something like eDuke32.

 

[NuclearPenguin]

You could probably play Morrowind, or maybe even Oblivion (judging after a quick glance at WoW and Oblivion minimum specs).

It might help if you could post more detailed specs of your netbook though (or at least the brand and model).

Oblivion will in no way run.
Morrowind can only be run at the lowest view distance which kills the game for me because I can only see about 2 feet.

As an owner of my own 13" netbook, allow me to fill you in on what I've found works well for me:
Minecraft, Frozen Synapse, Terraria, Homeworld 1 and 2, Torchlight, The Baldur's Gate Series and Diablo 2 (Though I know you already mentioned them), Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe (free)...that's about it for me, really. There isn't much, given the limitations of the hardware beyond the screen's size. Every Half Life game (1, 2, and all expansions), Portal, Alien Swarm, and League of Legends also all work on mine, but my Asus N10J isn't a typical netbook.

Oh! UFO: Alien Invasion is fun, too. Also, it's free.

There. Try those!

Minecraft does not work, it lags to all hell, Frozen Synapse Ill take a look at, Terraria I've played to death, Homeworld 1 & 2, again, I'll take a look at, Torchlight is topdown and therefore a massive eyestrain on this computer, same with Baldurs Gate & Diabl, Ill check out the transport tycoon.
Half-Life 2 would rape my computer, as would Portal & Alien Swarm. League of Legends bluescreens my computer.

I don't think Half-Life 2 would run on it, but the first one would.

The original Halo might also run on it.

DOOM.

The original Starcraft, or other '90's strategy games.

Duke Nukem 3D, though the pain from its sequel may keep you from playing it.

Fallout 1 and 2 might.

Other than those, I can recommend getting emulators. Pick up a PC controller and then play through some of those console classics! I'd recommend Visual Boy Advance at least.

EDIT: Also, see if OnLive is an option. If you're willing to go that route and have the connection for it, you could rock your socks off on some more modern games.

Halo does not run on it, Half-Life 1 might.
DOOM does but I recently finished it on my 360.
Topdown.
Duke Nukem 3D.. Do you know how well it works on Windows XP? I know it doesnt work on 7.
Fallout 1 & 2 are top down.
Emulators Ive got.

Sorry, I forgot that topdown games weren't acceptable. Is it possible for you to invest in a monitor, mouse, and keyboard?

Also, a quick Google search reveals this number [http://www.netbookgamer.com/], which I haven't thoroughly investigated but you might want to check out.

It is not. I am only here for weekdays and its only for a few weeks. I have my PC mouse with me but my screen I can not be assed bringing on a 3 hour train ride twice a week.

 

[z3rostr1fe]

Facebo-oh wait...

Red Alert 2!!!

 

[V8 Ninja]

Other than being a great game, VVVVVV [http://store.steampowered.com/app/70300/] should work on pretty much anything that didn't come from the 90s.

EDIT: Considering that you can run World Of Warcraft, you might be able to run the old Serious Sam games. They're great fun and a personal favorite of mine.

 

[DazZ.]

Torchlight is topdown and therefore a massive eyestrain on this computer

Torchlight has a netbook mode, download the demo and see if it makes it better. I love that game.

 

[NuclearPenguin]

Facebo-oh wait...

Red Alert 2!!!

Read all the other posts by me please.
Hell, read just one of them through to the end.

 

[NuclearPenguin]

Torchlight is topdown and therefore a massive eyestrain on this computer

Torchlight has a netbook mode, download the demo and see if it makes it better. I love that game.

Doesnt work. Already own a copy.

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

solitare? hearts? xD

 

[Slash Dementia]

You can try Quake 1, if shooters are your thing. It's pretty old but very fun. The game is probably the best Quake game--to me.

Also, you might want to try Thief 1 and 2. They worked on my very old PC that couldn't even run Runescape (-Lowers head-) that great. They're very intense stealth games with great story and acting.

 

[hannes2]

XIII, a cel shaded FPS.
Thief 1 and 2 should work.
Painkiller might.

 

[z3rostr1fe]

Facebo-oh wait...

Red Alert 2!!!

Read all the other posts by me please.
Hell, read just one of them through to the end.

My bad... I obviously did a TL;DR.

Well, with that, I could think of PvZ... I dunno if CS 1.6 is gonna work or even your type of game. I just got "Ben There, Dan That" and "Time Gentlemen, Please", which is a point-and-click adventure of some sort. So far, that's what I can recommend.

 

[psicat]

GOG: Blood 1 and 2, Outcast, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, Arx Fatalis, Myst, Darkfall: The Journal, Giants: Citizen Kabuto.
Steam: Half-Life 1, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Free: The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall at http://theelderscrolls.wiwiland.net/?title=Daggerfall_:_DaggerfallSetup_EN