Asklemmy

Carmaggedon(1997), via a reverse engineered dethrace

Does FreeDoom count? It's as close to the original as I can get anymore.

I played through Phantasy Star one more time not that long ago. It came out (in English) in 1988.

Empires mod (free on Steam) reminds me of old Battlefield but you also have a comander for each team, so it has some base building aspects. Nice balance and no pay to win or comercial exploits.

Sadly the player count is low but every saturday and sunday servers fill upp.

Don't really want to check release dates. I still play some things from c64, and Amiga... That's probably the oldest games I play. Like Bubble Bobble, IK, Giana Sisters. EoTB and so forth...

The oldest game I've played in the past year is the original Toejam & Earl for Genesis, the gameplay and soundtrack still hold up surprisingly well

Solitaire and Minesweeper. Literally the best games for when I just want to play something that doesn't require a lot of attention (no story lines, long load times, or remembering what I was doing the last time I played). Just enough to focus my attention while waiting around, but able to close out when whatever I was waiting on is ready. Just really calming for the most part.

Earthbound

Master of Orion (1993)

The first Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega Drive. I play all 3 (4?) of the original Sonic games, but that's the oldest though.

I play through my Mega Drive games occasionally. Alex Kidd is probably older... Wonder Boy is great, too!

Arx Fatalis has such an unmatched atmosphere and vibe i just love walking around hearing the woosh of the wind through the caves.

The oldest single player game I keep going back to is Super Mario World on the SNES, Copyright 1990.

I will occasionally play games older than that, but the SNES is where my actual nostalgia begins.

Metal Gear (Solid) series, Legacy of Kain series.

Also Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, and Sacred (1&2).

I revisit all these on a rotating basis from time to time.

Civ V

I believe the Pac Man cartridge for my NES is probably the oldest video game I still pick up regularly.

Rise of Nations: Gold Edition (2003).

The controls are ancient, but the gameplay and music still holds up.

Finished Mother 1 from 1989 recently. It's surprisingly good aside from final mountain encounter rate.

I beat Zelda 2 and its stupid.

Edit: i misunderstood the question. Zelda 2 is the latest old game. I come back to one of the many older gauntlet games. The ps2 one i think especially.

Oldest game I still play is probably Taipan.

I first played it on an Apple IIe, but now it is just a web browser thing I poke at once in a while. It is basically spreadsheets and bad luck. You trade, pirates wreck you, the math never quite works out, and you lose anyway. I think that is why I still like it. No graphics to hide behind.

After that, Seven Cities of Gold, usually on a C64 emulator. That one still holds up more than it has any right to. You sail off thinking you are doing something heroic and slowly realize you are kind of a problem. The exploration feels lonely. The map still feels bigger than it actually is.

But the oldest one I keep coming back to is Gorf on the VIC-20.

I owned the cartridge. Bought it not long after it came out. I paid for the VIC-20 by walking beans and putting up hay all summer for a farmer when I was eleven or twelve. Hot, dusty work. Long days. I remember counting the cash and realizing I could actually afford a computer.

Gorf was loud, ugly, and mean. The voice mocked you constantly. The joystick barely survived. I loved it anyway. Sitting on the floor, TV buzzing, thinking this was the future and I had somehow managed to buy a piece of it.

Also, side note. I am trying pretty hard to become a professional writer. I write essays and stories over at tover153.substack.com. If anything there hits a nerve, feel free to subscribe.

So yeah. Taipan, Seven Cities, Gorf. Not because they are good by modern standards, but because they still feel like something.

Shadow President (1993)

Sonic 1 for the Sega Genesis.

Doom. Gothic.

And Warsim is not old but it could very well be. And it's great.

Which is older, Tetris, or Chess? /s

I've been playing jet moto with my kid. Just like I did with my dad, back in 1996.

I still play a phone sudoku game from 2009. I would still play StarCraft and Warcraft 2 if I had hardware capable.