Welcome aboard the time machine. Like you, I'd never played the AoW games till 10+ years after their release. Now I'm hooked, as evidenced by my name all over the PBEM turn logs. :-)

I've first played AoW 1 in 2002 or so. I was sold. However my brother had the copy of AoW so I couldn't really play. Then one of the first games I bought on GOG was AoW.

Also, 2D games age better in general I think.

I too was pleasantly surprised with how enjoyable these games are, and by how brutally difficult they are.

It's only difficult when you're new to the game. Once you know exactly how to take out the AI, it's not so hard. :)

As Senteria says I think the 2D games have much more gracefully than 3D. I still find myself enjoying the locked off isometric view for games like Baldurs Gate or the cartoony style of Heroes of Might and Magic than most 3D games from that time period.

Biggest problem is really screen resolution as even the best graphics in 800x600 on a 27" monitor might look a bit blocky.

Agree that 2D games age better. A lot of the buzz about 3D games is overblown -- seeing more realistic water ripples is not a major breakthrough in gameplay that obsoletes everything that came before it. Some variation of that came up again and again for the last 20 years and more, and it often came to very little increased value for the customer once the initial "wow" factor wore off. And for people buying the game 10 or 20 years later, the "wow" is almost impossible to recreate or even imagine. Gameplay lasts, but visual innovation leaps onto the stage like a monster but slinks off it like an abused busboy.

I've been playing games since the 80's but didn't play most of the games I've bought on GOG until I bought them on GOG. So I have experience,but not a lot of nostalgia for any game I buy that is new to me. I found Shadow Magic a great game, though it was totally new to me. Maybe I shouldn't, because I've played Heroes of Might and Magic since it first came out, and it is very similar and a superior game. But good gameplay and atmosphere can still make a strong impression, and Shadow Magic did. I don't see any reason to ever stop playing either game. And I may even find the atmosphere in Shadow Magic so strong that it sets a standard any similar game would have a hard time living up to, regardless of technical innovations.