What's great about the PS2 back catalogue is that it's too vast to have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything in there. The defining 20 or so games on the platform—God of War, Gran Turismo 3, Final Fantasy 10 and so forth—are very well known, and maybe Millennial players can recall a weirdo game or two like Mr Mosquito or Global Defence Force. One look at the games in the Japan-only Simple 2000 series, however, shows you just how deep the library goes. When's Demolition Girl getting a HD remaster, eh?

Still, we're in an era where it's not hard to rediscover the key games of that generation, partly because many platform highlights have found their way to Steam in various forms. Intriguingly, we've also reached a point where developers who grew up with this generation are designing great new games inspired by the classics.

Below you'll find six modern games that are inspired by what's known as the 'sixth generation' of consoles, plus six ports of Dreamcast/PS2/GameCube/Xbox-era favourites. I've kept the latter to games that didn't get a PC release at the time (so GTA: San Andreas would be ineligible, for example). All of the games in both lists are discounted in the Steam Autumn Sale.

Promise Mascot Agency (40% off at $15/£13) is an open world game built around a novel management simulation layer. You send Japanese mascots off to various events while exploring an island that may or may not be cursed. It's actually one of the better open world games of recent years because every sidequest offers something meaningful, like additional mascots to manage or upgrades for your truck (culminating in flight capabilities, as pictured).

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