Memorable titles from that era include:
Dreamweb - Adventure game, very simple gameplay and puzzles, but, my God, it's atmospheric. The entire game takes place in a rain-drenched dystopian city, and your character, Ryan, has been having a series of dreams of apocalyptic ruin and robed figures telling him that he has to save the world from plunging into darkness. His gradual mental deterioration is detailed in the accompanying 'Diary of a (Mad?) Man' and by the time the actual game begins, he's fully accepted the task of saving the world by becoming a serial killer.
Rise of the Triad - One of the most fun FPSes I've ever played. Loaded with secrets, hidden passages and levels, and crazy power ups like God Mode, Dog Mode, Mercury Mode, Shrooms Mode. Your character can only carry two weapons at once, one of which being simple pistol/dual pistols/machine gun with infinite ammo, and the other a heavy weapon which can range from the usual bazooka to the firewall or, my favourite, the drunk missile launcher.
Darklands - Awesome RPG set in medieval Germany. Your party starts off small and unknown, working its way up from simple jobs to taking on the very demons of hell who have been released by the dark witches and sorcerers. It took me ages to learn alchemical formulae, which medieval saints protected and boosted my party's stats and when were their holy days, searching and finding all the shrines for those saints so that I can give offerings and receiving their blessings before embarking on major quests, learning which cities and townes had what specialty craftsmen to train my party members, learning how to tell time the medieval way, etc. I remember my party becoming expert treasure hunters and slayers of pesky raubritters.
Hell, A Cyberpunk Thriller - In the year 2095, the United States of America is under the control of a brutal fascist-theocratic dictatorship called the Hand of God which has the power to send all its enemies to hell. Husband and wife duo Gideon Eshanti and Rachel Braque were cops loyally serving the Hand of God until they suddenly find themselves declared enemies of the state. Now they're on the run, evading arrest while trying to uncover the secrets behind the government's power and ultimately, to destroy the gateway to Hell. I remember getting this because it had Dennis Hopper playing as the Devil.
BloodNet - Ransom Stark is a mercenary in the future, dystopian New York. After he completes a job for the mysterious Abraham Ven Helsing and his daughter, Melissa, his reward is to be bitten and turned into a vampire. However, his journey into damnation is slowed, thanks to the neural implant he had received years ago. Having on a limited time to cure his vampirism before his implant degenerates, he has to find and recruit allies to help him put a stop to Van Helsing's plans.
Wing Commander series - This was the series that drove me to constantly looking for ways to upgrade my PC. I got my first soundcard and flightstick to play WC1. I remember it taking close to 8 hours to install WC2 from, like, 20 5.25" floppy disks on to my old 286. (And then going nuts when I found out that there was a speech pack add-on that came on another pile of floppy disks.) I pretty much gave up on sleep over the next 4-5 days playing and replaying WC2.
Then there are games Star Control II, MechWarrior and MechWarrior II, System Shock, Blade Runner, Privateer 1 & 2, the Gabriel Knight series, Full Throttle, Out of This World, BioForge, the X-Wing / Tie Fighter series, Star Wars: Dark Forces, Crusader: No Remorse and Crusader: No Regret, Ultima 1-8, and the massively addictive UFO: Enemy Unknown.
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