Thousands of new PC games release every year, and in theory that should make it easier to find something new to play, but in practice the amount of choice can be overwhelming. Let us narrow things down for you.
Lists like our annual Top 100 (the latest edition of which was published October 2024) focus on the whole history of PC gaming, which inevitably means that a lot of great recent releases don't make the cut. That's why we made this list, which exists to answer one simple question: "What PC game should I play right now?"
On this list, you'll find our favorite recent releases mixed in with great games from the past few years, classics 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's overlap.
For a more comprehensive list of great PC games past and present, check out our Top 100 list. We also have some fresh picks for the best Steam Deck games if you have one of Valve's handhelds. For an overview of what's ahead, check out our full list of the new games releasing in 2025.
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
- 🙋♀️ = Singleplayer
- 🙋♀️🙋♀️ = Multiplayer
Top picks for December 2024
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (86%): MachineGames' best yet
- Infinity Nikki (74%): Open world fashion adventure
- Microsoft Flight Sim 2024 (90%): Soar over a virtual earth
- Fantasian Neo Dimension (84%): Tough turn-based RPG
- The Rise of the Golden Idol (87%): "A gritty detective adventure that's nearly as clever and captivating as the original."
- Stalker 2 (83%): Janky, yes. Great, also yes.
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Factorio: Space Age (92%): "An immediate contender for the best expansion ever made."
Dragon Age: The Veilguard (79%): We're not madly in love with BioWare's new RPG, but it's certainly a return to form after Anthem, and a beautiful game - MechWarrior 5: Clans (82%): Quality standalone mech campaign
- Shadows of Doubt (83%): Innovative immersive sim
- Judero (83%): Delightfully weird
- UFO 50 (83%): Retro indie collab collection of 50 games
- Tactical Breach Wizards (88%): Turn-based military magic
- Black Myth: Wukong (87%): Action RPG based on a Journey to the West
- Sins of a Solar Empire 2 (87%): 4X-RTS hybrid
More recent hits
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 in October 2024. Baldur's Gate 3 has usurped Disco Elysium's throne.
- Baldur's Gate 3 (97%) : Our 2023 Game of the Year and a brilliant RPG
- Disco Elysium (92%): Our 2019 Game of the Year and former #1 game
- Elden Ring (90%): Another day, another FromSoftware masterpiece
- Minecraft (96%): One of the most influential and fun games ever made
- Persona 5 Royal (94%): The most stylish RPG on PC?
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (92%) 🛁: Geralt holds a special place in our hearts
- Half-Life 2 (96%): Valve's groundbreaking shooter turns 20 this year
- Balatro (91%): The poker roguelike is the newest game in the top 10
- Stardew Valley (80%): Still our favorite farming/life sim
- Doom (1993): You'd hear about Doom a lot more if "doomlike" had caught on
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, close your eyes and point at this list—you'll land on something worth playing.
- The Plucky Squire (85%): Glitchy but clever puzzle platformer
- Core Keeper (86%) : Minecraft meets Valheim
- Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (80%) The latest and biggest ever Yakuza RPG.
- Tchia (90%) One of the best open world games of last year and of any year.
- Amnesia: The Bunker (93%) You have one gun, and there is one monster... which can't be killed with a gun. Good luck!
- Remnant 2 (84%) Surpasses the first game with better combat and even more procedural surprises and weird bosses.
- Viewfinder (87%) 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%) A simple fishing and restaurant management sim at first, but it goes much deeper than that...
- Vampire Survivors (87%) 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%) An ode to Wario Land that's better than Wario Land.
- Honkai: Star Rail (90%) : The new RPG from the Genshin Impact studio.
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Pentiment (88%) : A great, narrative-focused murder mystery set in the 1500s.
Marvel's Midnight Suns (88%) : A deckbuilding tactics game and a superhero friendship simulator. - The Case of the Golden Idol (89%): Challenging detective puzzles with a fascinating story.
- Elden Ring (90%): Surprise, surprise: This open world fantasy gauntlet from Dark Souls creator FromSoftware is brilliant.
- Immortality (95%): Her Story director Sam Barlow's latest video mystery is his best yet.
- Teardown (90%): A physics-based destruction engine that would've been fun even if it weren't also a genius puzzle game.
- Hitman 3 (90%): The art of assassination, polished as finely as Agent 47's head.
- Slay the Spire (92%): The deckbuilding roguelike all others aspire to beat.
- Total War: Warhammer 3 (90%): A brilliant final act with the series' most inventive and unusual factions yet.
- Strange Horticulture (90%): A beautiful and engrossing detective game packed with mysteries, puzzles, plants, and intrigue.
- Wildermyth (90%): 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:
