The 10 Best PC Games to Play Right Now

1. Baldur's Gate 3

Call it recency bias if you must, but IGN’s 2023 PC Game of The Year winner also takes the top spot in 2024’s Best PC Games list. Baldur’s Gate 3’s massive roleplaying adventure is both enormously ambitious in its scope and yet endearingly old-school in its style. Its storytelling is epic, stocked with memorable characters rendered in impressive detail, and a multitude of meaningful choices to make along with them. Its tactical combat is a throwback to the turn-based BioWare RPGs of old and loyal to its Dungeons & Dragons roots to the point where it can be quite intimidating to get into, but when you do you’re in for over 100 hours of all-thriller, no-filler questing.

2. Hades

Hades is the current gold standard of the roguelite genre, and it isn’t even close. From its exhilarating combat, to its incredible soundtrack, to its clever and well written narrative with characters that seemingly never run out of meaningful things to say, all the way to its deep and innovative post game that keeps you wanting to come back for more even after beating the last boss.

It may be incredibly difficult, but it never feels punishing in defeat. Dying is part of the fun, and actually comes with its own rewards in the form of new conversations with its fascinating cast of characters, new opportunities to purchase game changing upgrades, and an opportunity for a brand new run with a completely new set of godly boons that dramatically alter how you approach combat. Hades is a masterclass of roguelite design, and just another example of how Supergiant Games just doesn’t miss.

3. Disco Elysium

Disco Elysium took age-old CRPG mechanics and created something entirely modern with them. As well as transplanting the dice-rolls and deep dialogue options from Dungeons and Dragons into a lesser-seen noir-detective setting, it offers entirely original ways to play, such as such as debating against 24 different sections of your own brain, each representative of a different skill or trait.

Your down-and-out detective is thrust into circumstances where you must solve a murder, but as with all great stories it’s not the conclusion that is solely gratifying, but the journey through a ludicrously detailed world and cast of characters you took to get there. It’s all supported by some of the best writing seen in a game to date, and playing Disco Elysium feels entirely fresh and pretty much unlike anything else you’ll have experienced on PC in any era, let alone this one.

4. Slay the Spire

In a roguelite, variety is king: Slay The Spire's constantly changing decks of ability cards, powerful and transformative relics, and the four drastically different playable characters keep these turn-based battles fresh and engaging for far longer than they have any right to. Watching your character's attacks, defenses, skills, and powers evolve across its three chapters is a journey, and throwing your hand in at the end of a run knowing you may never see its like again can be like saying goodbye to a friend you were only just getting to know.

Of course, the possibility of getting an even better combination the next time through makes it tough to resist hitting the New Game button, and the randomized Daily Climb runs give even veterans a new and interesting way to play every day. And there’s just something about the distinctive, hand-drawn art and odd lore of this weird and punishing world that feels welcoming every single time.

5. Elden Ring

In just the year and change since its release Elden Ring’s reputation has only grown, which is insane to even think about considering that its reputation right when it came out was “one of the best-reviewed games of all time.” It’s all deserved praise, because Elden Ring truly is a monumental achievement in the open-world and soulslike genres.

Its world is a wonder to explore, with memorable experiences, valuable rewards, and imposing boss fights covering nearly every square inch of its absolutely enormous map. The only thing that holds it back on this list is the fact that it still struggles a bit performance-wise on the PC. But that doesn’t stop it from being an easy pick for our top five best PC games of all time.

Elden Ring is one of the best-reviewed games in modern history, and was crowned Game of the Year by IGN and The Game Awards in 2022. Now in 2024, we’re only a few months away from the first Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree.

6. Red Dead Redemption 2

Arthur Morgan’s sprawling tale of loyalty, conviction, and the price of infamy is only the beginning of Red Dead Redemption 2. The marvelous PC port overhauled and further enhanced the gorgeous wild western atmosphere of Rockstar's most recent open-world adventure and added even more activities, unlockables, and impossibly fine details to its expansive map to what was already a massive game. It's possibly one of the biggest and best single-player PC games ever – and it has an extensive multiplayer mode, too.

The potential for hijinks within this enormous sandbox of towns, outlaws, and wildlife was already nearly limitless, but the PC version factors in new missions, treasures, gear, and more layered on top of the already 60+ hours of story content in the base game. That’s not even counting all the multiplayer bells and whistles included in Red Dead Online, to say nothing of the ability to expand and customize with mods. RDR2 on PC is handily a must-play for anyone with a rig beefy enough to run it – or even a Steam Deck.

Red Dead 2 cracked the top five on our updated list of the best open-world games. In just five years, it's also earned a spot on the list of the best-selling video games of all time.

7. Cyberpunk 2077

This is the first time Cyberpunk 2077 has made our Best PC Games list. While it was arguably great on PC when it came out at the end of 2020, it wasn’t until CD Projekt Red launched the major 2.0 patch and the Phantom Liberty expansion in 2023 that you didn’t really have to argue anymore. Even more gorgeous than ever and with years of polish and refinement to its combat and skill systems, exploring the gleaming yet seedy open world of Night City stands apart from anything else out there.

Out of the box you’re in for more than 30 hours of the original story alongside Keanu Reeves as rockstar radical Johnny Silverhand, but when you include the spy-themed Phantom Liberty expansion you get another 20 starring Idris Elba as sleeper agent Solomon Reed. This chapter brings with it new and more interesting themes as it explores the intersection of capitalism, police states, and the mind-warping effects of near-future technology and human augmentation.

8. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Deep, lengthy RPGs are a staple of PC gaming, and very few have put a larger chunk of sophisticated content forward than The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has. Its massive sandbox open-world areas impress, both in terms of scope and density; they’re generously dotted with great monsters to slay, tantalizing mysteries to solve, and personal stories to unfurl.

It’s also one of the most impressive overall productions in gaming history, with reams of excellently written dialogue performed by a stellar voice cast, an incredible original soundtrack, and graphics that qualify as both a technical and artistic achievement.

CD Projekt Red is working on a new Witcher trilogy, as well as an Unreal Engine 5 remake of The Witcher 1.

9. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen

XCOM 2 builds on the brilliant, high-stakes tactical combat that Firaxis reinvigorated with XCOM: Enemy Unknown back in 2012, and its War of the Chosen expansion made it even better. It features the same tension of going from a technologically inferior underdog to powerful war machine, amplified with the constant threat of the permanent deaths of your customized soldiers looming over every decision.

However, it turns the formula of defending Earth from alien invaders on its head by boldly recasting XCOM as a guerrilla force attempting to liberate the planet from alien occupation, making the situation feel even more desperate. This bigger, deeper sequel adds not just complexity in the form of new and more powerful soldier classes, equipment, and aliens, but also a huge focus on replayability. Procedurally generated maps keep you from falling into a repeatable pattern in tactical missions, frequent random events on the strategic map shake up your build and research orders, and of course, there are mods galore to change the rules whenever you like.

10. Dishonored 2

Arkane is known for many games, but – not to take anything away from the also-fantastic Prey and Deathloop – for our money, Dishonored 2 stands as its masterpiece. The darkly fantastical world of magic and intrigue that the original created is built upon in the thriving city of Karnaca, filled with convincing NPCs and towering Clockwork Soldiers that represent both dire threat and tempting opportunities if they can be turned against their masters.

Two separate playable characters – Corvo Attano and Emily Kaldwin – each have their own set of supernatural abilities, immediately doubling the original’s potential for creative and stealthy solutions as you thwart the latest coup attempt. An unforgettable series of 10 brilliantly designed levels, including the magnificent Clockwork Mansion, make it an absolutely compelling adventure to either kill or sneak your way through as you see fit.