PC Gamer reflects on MegaPak, a series of budget PC game compilations sold during the 1990s, arguing that they offered a kind of unexpected discovery now diminished by digital storefronts and recommendation algorithms. The article does not reject modern services such as Steam; instead, it contrasts today’s abundance, discounts and advance information with the pleasure of receiving a varied physical collection of unfamiliar games.

The first MegaPak arrived in 1994 with eleven games, and nine volumes followed between 1994 and 1998, before a final Empire Interactive-published edition in 2001. Notable later collections included games such as Jagged Alliance, Caesar II, Heroes of Might and Magic, SimCity 2000 and MechWarrior II; the author particularly recalls MegaPak 5, received in 1997, for its hefty box, separate CDs and mix of strong, mediocre and strange titles.