Power Monger on the Sega Genesis is one of those old-school strategy games that makes you feel like a medieval warlord with too many problems. You start with a tiny patch of land and a handful of peasants—good luck feeding them, by the way—and suddenly you're juggling armies, diplomacy, and the constant threat of some rival lord deciding today’s the day to ruin your life.

The map’s this weird, zoomed-in perspective where you move units around like chess pieces, except half the time your knights get stuck in a forest or your farmers revolt because you forgot to stockpile grain. It’s clunky in that charming 16-bit way, but once you get the hang of it, there’s something weirdly satisfying about slowly crushing your enemies under a well-planned economy. Just don’t expect mercy from the AI—they’ll backstab you faster than you can say "treason."

If you’re into retro strategy games that don’t hold your hand, this one’s a time capsule worth dusting off.