Some years in PC gaming get remembered as unusually strong almost by consensus. 1998 is one of them, and two releases explain why.
Half-Life Removes the Cutscene
Valve's Half-Life told its story almost entirely through in-engine, uninterrupted first-person perspective — scripted events happening around the player rather than cutting away to a separate cinematic. Combined with more intelligent enemy behavior than shooters had generally attempted before, it reframed what "narrative shooter" could mean for years of games that followed.
StarCraft Balances Three Genuinely Different Factions
Blizzard's StarCraft took real-time strategy's now-familiar formula and applied it to three factions — Terran, Zerg and Protoss — with fundamentally different mechanics rather than reskinned versions of the same units. Balancing three asymmetric factions convincingly was a genuine design achievement, and it turned the game into a foundation for competitive esports that would outlast the decade by a wide margin.
Why 1998 Feels Different in Hindsight
Both games did more than execute their genre well — they changed what players expected a shooter's storytelling and a strategy game's faction design could look like. That is a higher bar than simply being well-made, and it is why 1998 keeps coming up in "best year" conversations more than most.
Exploring 1998 Further
See the full 1998 catalogue by year, and read the classic strategy games guide for more on how asymmetric faction design changed real-time strategy afterward.
