Here’s a list of the 25 finest PC games available now. There’s something for everyone, from MMORPGs to shooters to strategy games, and each year it’s tougher to pick which title to cut to make room for another. Most of our games will be familiar to you, so we want to keep things interesting.
We can assist you to choose the right new PC. Want to build a gaming PC? Want a gaming laptop to take with you? We have guides, including a list of the top gaming PCs. Valve’s Steam Deck is another popular alternative for taking PC games on the go; read our full review.
Let’s look at the top new releases and PC games.
The best PC games to play right now https://t.co/Cw0HMuineL pic.twitter.com/TgL0RI7o0j
— PC Gamer (@pcgamer) June 3, 2018
Best Computer Games
Cowabunga Collection
The Cowabunga Collection is a nostalgic compilation of Dotemu’s Shredder’s Revenge. The collection adds online multiplayer, which at the time of writing should work better but is still a great cause to ring up your teenage pal who now lives far away to relive arcade gaming memories. Behind-the-scenes artwork, manual scans, and various covers are also available.
Rollerdrome
Roll7 has shown they adore arcade sports games with OlliOlli World. Rollerdrome combines Roll7’s favorite sport, roller skating, with a dystopian combat royale.
Kara can halfpipe with the greatest, but she’s also skating for her life in Rollerdrome, a halfpipe skating, and third-person shooter. The Moebius-like art style is stylish and memorable, and the soundtrack drives the experience and portrays pace. Rollerdrome is a fun indie game experiment.
Golf’s Curse
What happens when roguelike levels meet golf? Cursed to Golf is a strategy golf game. You play as a charming little golfing champion who is hit by lightning and placed in hell for all his golf-related offenses.
To escape, he must clear 18 holes, a daunting task. Cursed to Golf is a precision platformer where you must consider your strength, club, and ball bounce. Without a decent feel for its physics system and a lucky hand with the game’s ace cards, you’ll likely never make it out. Each run has new levels and traps. Cursed to Golf’s smart design, superb animations, and chiptune soundtrack make it simple to play “just one more round,” but it takes patience.
Immortality
Sam Barlow develops unusual FMV, hidden objects, and interactive movies. Immortality increases the bar for Barlow Both mechanically and narratively, there’s more to find and work out, and the plot is unique.
Barlow knows how to grab an audience with secrets and surprises that can only be decoded if you find the proper scene and put it in context, making interactivity gratifying and moderately difficult at the same time. It’s worth it, though.
Fight Express
If you prefer Streets of Rage-style brawlers, try Midnight Fight Express, a stunning 3D brawler. Beautiful animations, a good isometric perspective, and satisfying combat. Midnight Fight Express is enjoyable, but beware of its abrupt difficulty surge.
OFK
After A Way Out, developer Hazelight is back with another co-op-only adventure, It Takes Two. May and Cody’s relationship is over, but their daughter doesn’t want to hear it and locks them in dolls using a sentient self-help book. Since Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, designer Josef Fares has demonstrated he knows what he’s doing.
It Takes Two is the only game that offers so many options for two players to work together. It Takes Two is a co-op experience with something for everyone thanks to its variety of gadgets, locales, and mini-games.
26. Isolation
BEEP! Alien: Isolation’s motion tracker is a godsend and a curse: a terrible indicator that the beast is near, and even the sound makes us nervous. We daren’t put it away in case we turn a corner and the alien is on us, ending the game and forcing us to take a long, sluggish walk. We hide under a chrome desk with the tracker, hoping the alien won’t find us.
The flickering monitors and creaky computers in Isolation assist build the atmosphere. The alien is one of the best video game monsters. Intelligent, crafty, and frightening, it’s always hunting. Hide your tracker.
25. Skylanders
It’s like football, except with vehicles. Rocket League is a rapid arcade game where vehicles collide at 100 mph and sometimes bundle the ball into the net. As you master the controls, you may perform front-flip assists, mid-air twirls, and last-second wins. Rocket League is fun both ways.
Set up a casual 1v1 competition with bonus points for flashy goals. You can team up and focus on tactics, rotating goalkeepers, and scoring a team goal. You can play hockey instead of using a puck. Your first good goal, not one you accidentally scored with your bumper, is a memorable moment.
24. Knight Hollow
Hollow Knight is a secret underground labyrinth: enter its towering caves, tight passageways, and stunning destroyed cities, and you won’t want to leave. As you hop and slice through it, you’ll eventually unpick its lore and realize its story is deeper than you thought. Even late in the game, you’ll discover massive new places. When you journey through them, they’ll instantly make sense and feel natural.
You’ll fight 28 enemies and tour huge greenhouses and snowy planes covered in ash. As you continue, you’ll enhance The Knight with charms that change his playstyle: one wounds enemies whenever he’s harmed, and another lets him blast energy from his sword at full health. Charms are one of the many reasons you’ll want to play it again for a different ending (all five are worth seeing if you can find the time).
23. FF14
The initial game was tedious and not much to write home about, but Square Enix improved FF14 with every expansion. Now it has one of the best stories in online roleplaying and is a game for everyone – those who like to play with friends and strangers and those who just want to explore a fantasy world alone.
Endwalker concludes the Hydaelyn–Zodiark storyline and raises the stakes. Final Fantasy 14 has proved that the best Final Fantasy game may be an MMO and can teach other MMOs about year-long plot arcs. A five-year content pipeline exists, so it’s never too late to start playing.
22. Remastered Spider-Man
As a PlayStation exclusive, this game satisfied Spider-Man fantasies. Web slinging feels great in combat and as a traversal mechanism, and Spider-New Man’s York is a stunning cityscape. The tale is enjoyable even if you’re not familiar with Marvel comics, and even the side quests are fun.
Marvel’s Spider-Man is the superhero action game to measure licensed games by. It combines stealth, action, and a terrific plot, and the upgraded PC version looks especially sparkling.
21. Warzone
Warzone is the best PC battle royale right now. Apex Legends is a close second if you want to handle mobile heroes with unique abilities, but Warzone plays like the genre’s greatest hits with some novel twists. When you die, you can resurrect by winning a 1v1 gunfight, creating remarkable comebacks. Contracts structure each round by requiring you to uncover a sequence of chests, defend a particular area to expose the next play circle or hunt down a map-revealed enemy. All this earns you money for between-game kill streaks and load-outs.
It features Call of Duty’s hallmark high-octane action and low-recoil gunplay, balanced so PC players may team up with console teammates. Some map locations are based on Call of Duty maps. The terrain gives you loads of tactical possibilities, whether you’re fighting on a big ice lake or in military bunkers. You can play single, duos, trios, or four-player squads; trios are ideal.
20. Elysium
Disco Elysium’s alcoholic detective cliche. After 10 seconds, you’ll know better. You may die trying to free your necktie from a ceiling fan. You can convince yourself you were a rockstar or analyze the political breakdown of a corrupt metropolis with a racist truck driver. In the first 30 minutes.
Disco Elysium is an RPG sans fighting where all duels are verbal and every chat is spiced with hilarious asides from different parts of your personality. You have many dialogue options, and what you say affects other characters. We love its wit and bleakness.
Disco Elysium was launched in March 2020; if you buy it now, you’ll get the Final Cut version. This version adds an English voiceover, additional animations, characters, cinematic scenes, a new setting, and more. Studio ZA/UM says this is the definitive version, so play it now.
19. B2
Bungie’s co-op shooter had a poor start, but each expansion improves it. More than just an infinite loot quest, Destiny 2’s greatness comes from how fantastic it feels to utilize your powers and see sparkles and colors explode on the screen.
It’s a wonderful pad shooter, but a mouse and keyboard help you manage your bullets better. Last year, it premiered as a free-to-play game on Steam, so now is the best time to start. You won’t get the latest expansions, but the original game, early expansions, and PvP will keep you busy for hours. Console saves are transferable.
18. Wilderness
A fun space story with a character who dies every 22 minutes. During each life, you explore its folksy sci-fi environment and see it transform, with planets separating apart. You try to learn something new, close your eyes, and the world resets, giving you 22 more minutes to figure out what’s going on.
It’s a great way to immerse in its stories. Your improvised spaceship can reach any planet in minutes, giving you time to explore ruins and converse with NPCs. You never learn the complete truth, leaving story threads for your future existence. Slowly, you’ll start to connect these strands, and the universe will only get more interesting. The ending is worth waiting for.
17. TS4
The best PC life simulator is getting better. The DLC is expensive, but always adds something new to your Sims’ lives, such as magic spells, a tropical island planet, or a themed bedroom set. We never tire of its complex narratives — family dramas, love triangles, and personal problems – which keep us coming back year after year, expansion after expansion. It’s almost five years old, but EA shows no signs of slowing down fresh content.
16. Subnautica
Subnautica’s idea is similar to many survival games: you’re dropped into a distant, unfriendly country and told to make stuff. Subnautica isn’t typical. Its underwater wildness modifies the structure, pace, and tone of your expedition and generates a genuine sense of horror as you search for resources (was that a tentacle that just brushed past your peripheral vision?).
Subnautica gives a distinct framework that other survival games lack: develop your base and leave the planet. It features a satisfying story and ending that pulls you through your adventure, giving you a goal. It’s also well-made, making mining, creating, and exploring a joy.
15. PS2
Psychonauts 2’s popularity may be nostalgic. After 16 years, it’s fair to say they don’t develop action platformers like this anymore. The first Psychonauts followed a medium named Razputin on his journey to join a supernatural spy organization. This rapidly devolves into a rescue mission that takes Raz into multiple people’s thoughts.
Raz hasn’t made a Psychonaut in Psychonauts 2, but he’s an intern. In Psychonauts 2, the mind is no longer weird for the sake of being strange; it represents the numerous challenges humans encounter. Raz uses superpowers like levitation to navigate the mind’s jungle. Psychonauts 2 isn’t simply a great sequel; it can make you feel like a child, marveling at a new level’s subtleties or chuckling at Tim Schafer’s humor. It takes time to be delicate with its characters’ brains, creating a pleasant experience. Psychonauts 2 review: more info.
14. 2XCOM
XCOM 2 is a turn-based strategy game without heart. As you battle an alien invasion, you’ll upgrade, customize, and give your team personality. One incorrect move and a towering, faceless, pink mutant will rip off their face, and you can do nothing. Irritating.
XCOM 2 includes this loss. Without it, winning wouldn’t feel as wonderful and you wouldn’t spend so long deciding where to run next. Once you get into the rhythm of combat, the simple controls and intuitive UI make it easy to yell out orders and watch your soldiers jump in and out of cover. There’s no better game for testing your tactical skills, notwithstanding the occasional hiccup.
13. Deathloop
Arkane delivers. Dishonored 2 has been in our top 25 for a while, but its sequel merits a slot. First-person shooter Deathloop has time-looped components. Assassin Colt must kill nine targets and break a time loop to escape a gun-toting island. Since you can only visit one region of the island per day, you must herd these targets together over the plot.
You must understand your target’s routines and the ins and outs of each part, Hitman-style. Arkane’s level design provides lots to explore. Gunplay feels great and is bolstered by important skills in true Arkane fashion. This time loop game retains enough equipment and progress to avoid frustration. Few repeats exist. Death loop has a lot to offer, and while it refines systems from previous games, it’s a distinctly Arkane affair, handled with style and deeply rewarding.
12. Asura
Once again, one of the best PlayStation-exclusive games has been ported to PC, and it’s wonderful. God of War is not only a tech showpiece thanks to its graphics and environment with no loading screens, but also a strong action game. Thanks to outstanding acting and writing that lets characters express themselves truthfully and paces its huge, show-stopping moments well, you can understand and empathize with the story of a guy attempting to make peace with his past.
God of War’s gameplay may be predictable, but Kratos’ axe is fun to use thanks to its recall feature, and every action feels impactful. Add some interesting puzzles and stunning landscapes, and you get one of the best action adventures you can play.
11. Alyx
Alyx is the best VR game to date and feels like Half-Life 2 evolved. It has an emotive plot and detailed level design. Everything can be studied and smashed. Sometimes that’s incidental – when you’re opening drawers, destroying boxes, or grabbing vodka bottles – but often it’s crucial to growth. You must cover Alyx’s mouth when sneaking past a blind monster to stop her coughing. This amount of participation makes the game feel alive and immerses you in it.
The shooting is okay. Your small arsenal is punchy, dangerous, and feels great in your palm. Manual reloads are fiddly at first, but speed up over time and become second nature. Smart puzzles and calmer, evocative moments break up frantic firefights. VR makes City 17 scarier than we recall.
The story is series-worthy. As Alyx Vance, you search City 17 for your father Eli as Russell chimes in. Your quest’s stakes rise, but we won’t spoil the spectacular ending.
10. Elden ring
Elden Ring mixes FromSoftware’s best Souls games with a fascinating open world. You’re free to wander without task markers, and there are plenty of surprises and hidden passageways. This is a dark but beautiful realm whose mysteries may not be revealed for years.
Elden Ring is a demanding game, maybe the most difficult FromSoftware game yet, yet you can design your path and there are quality-of-life modifications likely inspired by prior titles. This game will be enjoyed and spoken about for years to come. It shows why FromSoftware is popular. Review of Elden Ring.
9. Minecraft
Minecraft keeps growing, just like its architecture. It’s the only sandbox game that delivers on its promise of unlimited freedom: you can break and place bricks any way you want, replicating Game of Thrones’ Westeros or erecting a seaside hut and surviving off the land with a fishing line.
Its numerous modes let you play however you wish, but opponents, hidden riches, and twisting cave systems give it structure. Its sandbox universe inspires bold ideas, and before you realize it, you’ve spent five hours building your next goal. Mods and custom maps expand their breadth, and it’s greatest when used collectively.
8. Spelunky
During the golden age of indie games, everyone played Spelunky, a challenging roguelike with hidden secrets and emergent gameplay. Spelunky 2 keeps the original’s best features. Its dynamically created tombs are packed with traps and monsters. You now start at a hub that lets you choose which biome to tackle next to make dying less aggravating. New opponents, a wider world with lava, and mounts that die gruesomely for you add variation.
Spelunky’s magic comes in how everything the game throws at you may be exploited to help you. If you can get past the frustration of dying, there’s always lots to see.
7. RGBS
One of the best online FPS PC games, and it keeps getting better. Siege punishes going in guns blazing; you must plan and coordinate with your friends. Your squad takes out CCTV cameras, enters an enemy’s wall, and retains excellent angles to ping headshots.
New players may feel overwhelmed, but the deep roster means they’ll find their stride. Each operator has a function, whether you’re a marksman, demolitions expert, or a muscly man with a gigantic hammer. Out-thinking your opponents feel as wonderful as out-gunning them. Ubisoft continues to support Siege with new maps and operators, and improved tools for beginner players, as well as an unranked playlist, added last year.
6. Hades
After over two years in Early Access, the Bastion rogue-like is now available. Hades mixes Supergiant’s best art direction, sound, and music with a story full of cosplay-worthy characters. This is meant to be an inclusive roguelike with rogue-lite-style permanent bonuses.
Zagreus, the underworld prince, battles through dungeons to reach Olympus. Hades is the best attempt at actual storytelling in a roguelike, with many surprises. It also features fast fighting with multiple skills and weapons to accommodate your playstyle. Since losing isn’t a penalty, you’ll soon find yourself saying “just one more go” and getting to know the gods better with each run. It’s our top selection for 2020.
5. D2
Dishonored 2 is a great assassin sim. In the original, you hunted a target on a huge level and could kill them however you wanted. In the sequel, the maps are bigger and more intricate, your supernatural powers are more impressive, and you can play as Emily, who has her murderous style.
Every level is richly detailed, and every path to your target feels perfect. The map’s smooth traverse makes it easy to look for clues and plan your journey to your final destination. You can go in shotgun blazing, spirit blink to a rooftop and sneak in, or mislead foes into their electricity traps until all the guards are dead. Your blade is in your target’s neck, and you vanish into the night in a flash of metal and blue magic. It’s beautiful.
4. GTA V
Finally! Rockstar’s PS4-exclusive cowboy simulator came to PC in 2019, and it’s the definitive edition. It’s the same story of Arthur Morgan’s quest for atonement in the US wilderness, but with enhanced visuals and upgrades that enable you to skip the prologue, transform into an animal, or convert Arthur into the Joker. No.
Red Dead Redemption 2 runs better on PC than consoles, and a recent DLSS upgrade makes the Wild West look stunning.
3. Assault
Into the Breach is predictable. Its strict rules leave no room for chance or surprise. When you mess up, you’ll know exactly where you went wrong.
You maneuver pixel art pieces across a chessboard-style map, squashing alien invaders. Each squad has a gimmick. One uses moving foes into danger zones rather than direct damage, while another freezes aliens. Applying your arsenal to any situation and staring at the board for 15 minutes until Eureka! – you see your next move.
If you beat the final boss, you can try again with a different group. The randomized, rogue-like world structure means you can instantly load another round with new challenges.
2. Wild Hunt
The original two Witcher games had believable, gritty characters and a low-fantasy environment, but lacked polish. The Witcher 3 combines outstanding literature, interesting gameplay, and a vast, stunning environment. It’s a top open-world and RPG game for a reason.
The Northern Kingdoms are populated by mythological creatures and multidimensional characters. You can’t help but care about their destinies, even Geralt of Rivia’s. Any of them could initiate a five-hour side adventure across the mountain, bog, vineyard, and city. You’ll care about what you’re doing, whether it’s pursuing a mythological creature or solving a lovers’ dispute, and you’ll see magnificent settings.
1. First Sin 2
Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a nostalgic isometric RPG. It combines the greatest parts of the classics — branching narrative, evocative writing, complicated characters, and party building – and mixes them with modern design ideas, such as physics-based spells and mod support. It offers clear rules and encourages you to disobey them, which is even more enjoyable when playing with a friend and using a rock-paper-scissors-style minigame to settle conflicts.
Best-in-genre combat focuses on smart thinking and elemental combos, not dice rolls. When the fighting is over, your characters will always have something important or amusing to say to each other. It’s worth listening to every accidental chat as you explore its fascinating fantasy world.