11 Online Games We Used To Play In The 2000s And Where We Can Play Them Now

Gunbound is a free-to-play, multiplayer, and turn-based artillery game released in 2003.

The objective of the game is to survive and destroy other players on the map by firing projectile attacks.

Sadly, the game slowly lost its popularity in the 2010s. According to the developer's website, the international server for the game has been offline since October 2019, while the last game notice on its South Korean server was in May 2015.

The good news is that the game was given a second life when it became a mobile game. It is now called GunboundM and it offers much of the same gameplay as the PC version you are familiar with.

You can download it on Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

MapleStory withstood the test of time and is still relevant in the 2020s.

The game was first released in April 2003. Fast forward 18 years later, millions of players still enjoy playing the two-dimensional game every day. The game now has countless versions and servers in different regions.

In November last year, the multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) made headlines when it collaborated with K-pop mega-group BTS to introduce in-game items designed by the idols themselves.

Today, MapleStory has many new features and quests depending on its version or server. In some editions, characters can train up to 275 levels. Not to mention, several new classes have been introduced to the game over the years.

You can play MapleStory on PC here (Southeast Asia server) as well as on mobile here.

Growing up, I remember Ragnarok was among the first games that ever had an advertisement on Malaysia's television channels.

At one point, in 2004, the MMORPG even had its own 26-episode anime series, titled Ragnarok the Animation.

In recent years, Ragnarok continued to be on gamers' radars, especially after BLACKPINK member Lisa was announced as the game's brand ambassador back in July 2019.

If you want to play the game again in 2021, there are many versions and servers for you to choose from.

To find the versions or servers you wish to play in, visit one of these two websites here and here to download the game.

For the mobile version, you can download it on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Before VRchat was a thing, Club Penguin was the OG gaming-cum-chatting platform. Players often came online to hang out with friends and strangers.

The game was originally released in 2005 before Disney shut it down in January 2017.

Although the entertainment conglomerate did release a 'successor' to the game in March 2017 — calling it Club Penguin Island — it is safe to say that the new game failed to replicate the sentiment of its predecessor. The game was shut down a year later.

Since then, many fans have created private servers of the game, which once boasted 200 million users.

One private server you can play immediately on your browser is hosted by CPRewritten.net. Click here to play now.

If you want to learn about the other available private servers, you can find out more information on Fandom here.

O2Jam is a rhythm-matching game, where players gather in a virtual room to play music by hitting the right buttons at the right time. 

The online version of the game was first released in February 2005. And by December that year, it became a free-to-play game in Malaysia.

Today, the game still remains popular among gamers. On Steam, there are three versions of the game or games with O2Jam packages. One of them is a virtual reality (VR) game, where players have to rhythmically hit virtual balls with their controllers to strike a combo.

To learn more about the PC versions of the game, click here.

Meanwhile, there is also a mobile version of the game on Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Left 4 Dead was launched in November 2008 and it quickly became one of the hottest games in the late 2000s.

The game was developed by Valve. One year after the game was launched, Valve introduced a sequel to the zombie killing game — titled Left 4 Dead 2.

In the late 2010s, Left 4 Dead 3 was rumoured to be the next instalment to the franchise, but Valve officially denied that they were working on the game in January 2020.

However, what fans will get in this June 2021 is Back 4 Blood, a familiar four-player co-op zombie killing game.

According to ScreenRant, Back 4 Blood is developed by a company called Turtle Rock Studios, which was once attached to Valve before they split in 2010.

Although Back 4 Blood is not a direct sequel to Left 4 Dead 2, it is still developed by many of the people who once worked on the zombie franchise.

You can purchase Left 4 Dead games on Steam here and pre-purchase Back 4 Blood here.

Restaurant City was launched in 2009 as a game on Facebook. The game allows you to employ workers to run a restaurant to serve an infinite flow of customers. The objective of the game is to keep making money and upgrade your restaurant to match the looks you desire.

Although the game grew rapidly alongside the social media platform, the game was shut down in June 2012.

The game was developed by Playfish, which was acquired by Electronic Arts (EA) in the same year the game was launched.

EA released a new version of the game in 2011 on Apple's App Store. However, the game is nowhere to be found today.

If you like to play the game again today, you can try Restaurant Streets. It is free to play on your browser, but it is worth noting that the game is not associated with EA or Playfish.

You can check out the game here. 

Counter-Strike is possibly the most popular first-player shooter (FPS) game in the history of games.

It was launched in November 2000. 21 years later, there are about 11 versions of the game.

Developed by Valve, the game is still played by millions of players today.

The latest version of the game is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which boasts a total of nine game modes, such as Competitive, Deathmatch, Arms Race, Demolition, Wingman, and Weapons Course, among others.

You can purchase the game on Steam here.

Defense Of The Ancient — or DOTA in short — is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) custom game built within a game.

In its early editions, DOTA was only playable on Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft III.

The game was created in 2003 by a pseudonymous designer named Eul. Over the next 10 years, many designers worked on updating the game, including a mysterious figure called IceFrog, whose identity still remains a mystery until today.

In 2013, DOTA finally became a standalone game developed by Valve and it has since broken many historical records for being the e-sports game with the largest tournament prize pool.

You can play the latest version of the game on Steam here.

If you wish to go down memory lane and play it on Warcraft III, you can download the game here.

World Of Warcraft is another hit game developed by Blizzard Entertainment.

Launched in 2004, the MMORPG game once had over 12 million active players and was considered one of the highest-grossing video game franchises of all time.

In 2015, the number of players dropped to 5.6 million. Following that year, Blizzard stopped releasing the player count of the game. Statista suggests that World of Warcraft's player count is around 4.74 million this year.

Even with that downward trend, 4.74 million players is still very good for an MMORPG that was released 16 years ago.

Today, you can play the game for free up until level 20. To play beyond that, you will have to pay a monthly subscription fee of USD14.99 (around RM60).

You can download the game here.

RuneScape is another MMORPG that gamers will never get bored of.

Developed by Jagex and launched in 2001, RuneScape takes place in the medieval fantasy realm of Gielinor, a world that is divided into different kingdoms, regions, and cities.

With no linear story, players are able to make their own adventure by slaying monsters, trading, and crafting in a vast open world.

After two decades, the game remains one of the top five MMORPGs with the most active players. The game has gone through many updates and graphic enhancements over the years to keep its players hooked.

Today, RuneScape 3 is the latest version of the game.

It is still free to play. But if you want to have access to a much larger map, as well as a multitude of skills, items, quests, and activities, you will have to pay a membership that costs between RM26.25 and RM33.99 a month.

You can download the game here.

If you want to play the 'Old School' version of the game, you can download it on Apple App Store or Google Play Store.