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This list is specifically our answer to the question "what new PC games should I play right now?" with picks pulled from the best recent PC games, a few old favorites we think now is a good time to revisit, and some hidden gems. It's a reflection of what the PC Gamer team is playing right now, not a list of the all-time best games ever, although there'll be overlap.
For a more comprehensive list of great PC games past and present, check out our annual Top 100 list of the best games on PC. We have some fresh picks for the best Steam Deck games if you have one of Valve's handhelds on the way.
We also stay on top of the year's calendar with our guide to the new games of 2024, organized by month.Need something to play these on? We have a guide to putting together an entry-level gaming PC for around $750, and we have some recommendations for pre-built PCs, too.
Icon key
- ๐ป = Suitable for low-end PCs
- ๐โโ๏ธ = Singleplayer
- ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ = Multiplayer
- ๐ฎ = Best with a controller
- ๐ = Free-to-play
What we're playing now
These are the games the PC Gamer team is currently playing: the up-to-the-minute (or at least, month) stuff on our Steam quick launch menus. For more, check out all of our recent game reviews as well as last year's GOTY winners.
Animal Well ๐ป๐โโ๏ธ
When you get to the end of this retro metroidvania, that's when the mystery really begins. "The most engrossing exploration platformer I've played in years," Shaun said in his review.
Abiotic Factor ๐ป๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ
It hasn't blown up like some other recent early access survival games, but a couple of us at PC Gamer are really enjoying this six-player co-op survival-crafting adventure where you're scientists stuck in a Black Mesa-like paranormal science facility.
Manor Lords ๐โโ๏ธ
We haven't reviewed this early access medieval town builderโwe'll do that when it hits 1.0โbut we quite like it so far, and it runs well for an early access game. The dev has some exciting ideas for its future, too.
Helldivers 2 (86%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ
Helldivers 2 is a phenomenally fun Starship Troopers-inspired co-op shooter with some of the best physical comedy in a recent gameโit's also become an ongoing, unpredictable soap opera that feels like the future of live videogame storytelling.
Dragon's Dogma 2 (89%) ๐โโ๏ธ
A "glorious, thrilling, accidentally hilarious, frustrating, maddening" RPG, as Fraser called it in his review. It's got its share of jankโand you can ignore the silly microtransactionsโbut more than makes up for it with its phenomenal combat system, goofy NPC companions, and slapstick goblin fights.
Tekken 8 (89%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ๐ฎ
It doesn't quite crack 90% in our review, but Mollie's enthusiasm for Tekken 8 is barely held back by its netcode problems and limited character customizaton: "Tekken is freakin' back, baby, and I couldn't be happier," she wrote.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (80%) ๐โโ๏ธ
Infinite Wealth is "indulgent in a way few games get to be," wrote Dominic in is review of the latest and biggest ever Yakuza RPG, which is unreasonably stuffed with goofy minigames and urban crime drama.
Against The Storm (91%) ๐โโ๐ป
This roguelike city builder was one of our favorite games of 2023. Be careful, it's the sort of game that can suspend perception of timeโyou might put several dozen hours in before you know it.
Alan Wake 2 (88%) ๐โโ
"In the first playable moments of Alan Wake 2, you control a naked, balding, middle-aged man stumbling in confusion around a forest." Never stop being Remedy, Remedy.
Jusant (89%) ๐โโ
"An incredible rock climbing game", as we put it in our review, with "a compelling narrative that gently weaves its way through your journey."
Baldur's Gate 3 (97%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ
Our highest review score in 16 years went to "an unrivalled RPG that will swallow your life whole." It's true: Few of us at PC Gamer haven't been swept up by Baldur's Gate 3's D&D sandbox. Starfield's good too, but it has struggled to pull us away from our tadpole friends.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (87%) ๐โโ๏ธ
Not only do we really like Cyberpunk's first and only expansion, we're very pleased with the 2.0 update, which is free for all owners, and improves the whole game with changes to skill progression, AI, and other fundamental aspects of the RPG. Now is definitely the time to play Cyberpunk 2077, if you haven't.
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon (87%) ๐โโ
Another FromSoftware banger. AC6 departs from the Souls formula the studio has become most associated with over the past decade to revive its action series where you're a "a one mech army instead of some nasty little guy," as Wes put it in his review.
Diablo 4 (85%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ
We liked Diablo 4 when it released last year, even if we weren't in love with the live-servicey aspects, and it improved a lot in the months that followed. After the latest update, we called it a "phenomenal action RPG."
Hunt: Showdown ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ
Quietly one of the best multiplayer games you can play today. Morgan elaborated on why in 2021: "When enjoyed with friends, Hunt is one of those games that seems to magically manufacture special moments."
PC Gamer's Top 10
These are the top 10 games from the latest edition of PC Gamer's yearly Top 100 list, which was published last fall. The list was compiled before the release of our 2023 GOTY, Baldur's Gate 3, which I have a feeling just might appear on 2024's listโlook out for that later this year.
- Disco Elysium (92%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐ป: Our 2019 Game of the Year and our reigning #1 game
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (92%) ๐โโ๏ธ: Still one of our all time favorite RPGs
- Crusader Kings 3 (94%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ๐ป: The king is dead, long live the king!
- Dwarf Fortress (84%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐ป: A legendary sim
- Half-Life 2 (96%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ๐ป: You might've heard of it
- Street Fighter 6 (89%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ๐ฎ: The latest Street Fighter rules, especially for newcomers
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (88%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ: Rockstar's western epic
- Counter-Strike 2 ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ: Formerly known as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Divinity: Original Sin 2 (92%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ: Larian's best game before Baldur's Gate 3
- XCOM 2 (94%) ๐โโ๏ธ: Masterful turn-based tactics game
More great PC games
These games aren't all piping hot out of the oven, but some things get better with age. They're the cream of the crop on PC, either scoring 80%+ in a review, winning one of our GOTY awards. If you just want a damn fine PC game from the past several years, check these out.
- Tchia (90%) ๐โโ๏ธ One of the best open world games of last year and of any year.
- Amnesia: The Bunker (93%) ๐โโ๏ธ You have one gun, and there is one monster... which can't be killed with a gun. Good luck!
- Remnant 2 (84%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ Surpasses the first game with better combat and even more procedural surprises and weird bosses.
- Viewfinder (87%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐ป A trippy puzzle game in which you alter reality through "astonishing visual and space-bending tricks you've never seen in a videogame before.'
- Dave the Diver (91%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐ฎ๐ป A simple fishing and restaurant management sim at first, but it goes much deeper than that...
- Vampire Survivors (87%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐ป The best value on Steam: A $5 bullet hell roguelike that would run on a toaster and is hard enough to stop playing that you might want a copy for your toaster.
- Pizza Tower (90%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐ป๐ฎ An ode to Wario Land that's better than Wario Land.
- Honkai: Star Rail (90%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ: The new RPG from the Genshin Impact studio.
- Pentiment (88%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐ป: A great, narrative-focused murder mystery set in the 1500s.
Marvel's Midnight Suns (88%) ๐โโ๏ธ: A deckbuilding tactics game and a superhero friendship simulator. - The Case of the Golden Idol (89%)๐โโ๏ธ:๐ป Challenging detective puzzles with afascinating story.
- Elden Ring (90%) ๐ฎ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ: Surprise, surprise: This open world fantasy gauntlet from Dark Souls creator FromSoftware is brilliant.
- Immortality (95%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐ป: Her Story director Sam Barlow's latest video mystery is his best yet.
- Teardown (90%) ๐โโ๏ธ: A physics-based destruction engine that would've been fun even if it weren't also a genius puzzle game.
- Hitman 3 (90%) ๐โโ๏ธ: The art of assassination, polished as finely as Agent 47's head.
- Slay the Spire (92%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐ป: The deckbuilding roguelike all others aspire to beat.
- Total War: Warhammer 3 (90%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ: A brilliant final act with the series' most inventive and unusual factions yet.
- Strange Horticulture (90%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐ป: A beautiful and engrossing detective game packed with mysteries, puzzles, plants, and intrigue.
- Wildermyth (90%) ๐โโ๏ธ๐โโ๏ธ๐ป: Narrative design as genetic engineering, it will live in your head like an imaginary friend.
The best PC games by genre
Find our selection of the best PC games just a bit too broad? Perhaps you know you're after a gripping story, or an intense racer, or the kind of sim you can spend a whole weekend playing like a second job. Our genre lists have curated recommendations for RPGs, racing, strategy, and more. Check 'em out:
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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- Best cyberpunk games
Tyler Wilde
Executive Editor
Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.
With contributions from
- Wes FenlonSenior Editor
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