The best PC games in 2024 are those that make the most of the powerful hardware they're available on, and the vast and varied library that can be downloaded. Because of this, you never really know where you'll end up, whether it's amidst quirky indies, mind-churning strategy games, or just ports of the latest and greatest launches. There's a lot to love, and a lot of routes PC gaming can offer.
For fans of using a keyboard and mouse, PC Gaming just clicks. Whether that's due to the technical advantages that the best graphics card can offer or love of some of the weirder and more esoteric games on the market, there's no denying the PC is a strong choice for primary platform. Especially now you can play most of these games on the Steam Deck or just plug in one of the best PC controllers and play games with higher framerates, resolutions, and features such as ray-tracing, DLSS, and HDR. Also, while I'm biased, if you know your way around a mouse then the PC is the best place to play first-person shooters too. Sorry, but it's true.
So whether you have a tricked-out PC gaming setup or looking for games to play on your productivity laptop, we’ve put together a list of the best PC games you can find right now. Of course, not every game is for every person, but there are definitely at least one or two titles on there for you.
Best PC games 2024
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"Whether you’re familiar with Atlus’s flavor of turn-based RPGs or not, Metaphor: ReFantazio is an essential play. The developer has built on its legendary ‘press turn’ combat with the innovative Archetype system, allowing for an unprecedented amount of customization and party composition when compared to its other popular series. Throw in a constantly gripping, politically-charged narrative and a diverse cast of wonderful characters and you have what is absolutely the best RPG of the year and a certified modern classic." - Rhys Wood, TechRadar Gaming Hardware Editor.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is the latest from Atlus, the team behind the Persona series. It's distinctly more of a fantasy game, however, which may seem like a tougher sell at first blush. Rest assured, if you like Persona, you'll find a heck of a lot to love here, with an overhauled combat system standing out as the main reason to give Metaphor: ReFantazio a try. The story is epic, the characters are complex, and there's an overall darker theme to proceedings when compared to Atlus' recent games.
The social aspect of the Persona series is tweaked slightly here, as you'll build relationships with Followers, over the course of four months. Time still advances day by day however, meaning you'll need to make the most of your time as the story unfolds. In short, Metaphor: ReFantazio is familiar, yet different, offering up a new take on the fantasy RPG genre, while staying true to its roots.
"Frostpunk 2 is a brutal but incredibly moreish post-apocalyptic city builder that’s easy to sink hours into despite the thankless trappings. A humbling array of deep systems engaged my inner tactician without ever making me feel overwhelmed. Plus, with multiple game modes and difficulty settings, even the pain-hungry Frostpunk veterans will likely be satisfied." - Sarah Thwaites, TechRadar Gaming reviewer.
Frostpunk 2 is a very different kind of city-builder than you're probably used to. While others focus on giving the player escalating tools and resources to help them thrive, Frostpunk 2 is all about surviving by the skin of your teeth. The game is filled with difficult choices, be that whether or not to let a family out of quarantine, or how to divert your resources to best serve the greater population. It's a bleak, brutal but utterly compelling time, one that keeps you coming back for more, even after you've just lost everything.
Thankfully, there's a whole host of difficulty settings to help tailor your experience. You can crank up the challenge, making every single choice you make feel like life or death. Conversely, you can stack the deck in your favor somewhat, giving you the space to take in the narrative, and better learn the game's many interconnected systems.
Coming off the back of two legendary expansions, Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail has its work cut out for it. Thankfully, it’s a superb foundational expansion that evolves the world of the game in meaningful ways with a main scenario quest line chock full of excellent characters and phenomenal, culturally-rich worldbuilding. Even early on, content is some of the most engaging it’s been in years, with phenomenal dungeon, raid, and trial design.
Final Fantasy 14 has gone through one heck of a glow up since it launched. After a very shaky initial release, the game was retooled into Final Fantasy 14: Realm Reborn, and the game has gone from strength to strength ever since. The most recent expansion, Dawntrail added an excellent main scenario, as well as some truly engaging and challenging encounters.
If you didn't know, Final Fantasy 14 is the MMO entry in the series, and is an ongoing project at Square Enix. With each major expansion, the game is bolstered with new soundtracks, new jobs, and sometimes full story arcs that psh the overall narrative moving forward. There's a reason this one has lasted as long as it has, with players consistently rewarded for returning, and the developer continuing to deliver with each new release. Definitely one to check out if you're looking for an online game for you and your friends to dive into.
Disco Elysium offers up one of the most unique settings in all of gaming. As Harry Du Bois, you'll work to solve a murder, try to forget your ex, and hopefully track down your missing firearm. For fans of weird and witty writing, and larger than life characters.
Disco Elysium is a must play for RPG fans on PC. It puts you into the rather incompetent shoes of Harry Du Bois, a detective who's on the hunt for a murderer in the city of Revachol. The game plays out like a TTRPG, in that many of your actions are determined by dice rolls and skill points. You get to decide how you approach tasks, and in how you want the game to end.
With its striking art-style and best-in-class writing, Disco Elysium stands head and shoulders above its competition, offering up a heady, philosophical story filled with mystery, debauchery and plenty of kooky characters. This one is definitely for fans of pen and paper RPGs, tabletop games, and games that elevate narrative design above all else.
Much of Dragon's Dogma 2's appeal can be attributed to its Pawn system. While adventuring with your party, you'll be able to hire Pawns that help you in battle, chat to you as you go, and sometimes even save your life. Dragon's Dogma 2 is the definitive way to play one of the most beloved cult favourites of the last two decades.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is something of an oddity, serving as both a sequel to the beloved 2012 fantasy RPG, and a sort of remake. It places players into the shoes of the Arisen, a powerful warrior motivated by prophecy, one that must slay the great dragon, or die trying. As you adventure across the massive open world map, you'll recruit Pawns to assist you in battle. Over time, these Pawns can be upgraded, able to propel you into the air to strike from above, buff you with elemental magics, and even catch you when falling from a great height.
It's the Pawn system that really helps Dragon's Dogma 2 stand out from its competition. Each Pawn is unique, and many of them have been designed by other players. By combining different types, you'll completely change the combat style of your party, and the kinds of interactions you'll have with NPCs around the world. Combat is also quite unique, landing somewhere between DragonAge and Monster Hunter. You can climb on just about any enemy, as you edge closer and closer to weak spots before diving off to move in for the final blow.
If you're a fan of emergent RPG gameplay, Dragon's Dogma 2 will consistently surprise you. Battles are hard fought, but as you make your way through the several classes available to you, you'll work out the best strategies to fell everything from Dragon's to charging minotaur enemies. All of this is wrapped up in a truly epic story, one which has multiple endings, and different ways to complete main quests. Become the Arisen and slay the dragon, while having an absolute blast along the way.
Few games can pull off a successful musical number, but not only does Alan Wake 2 nail it, it does it so well it's far and away the most memorable moment in the game.
Alan Wake 2 is absolutely terrifying. Remedy returns to the horror franchise it created after 13 years away, except while Alan Wake was an action thriller, Alan Wake 2 is a terrifying dive into survival horror, with several situations that will make your skin crawl.
A beautiful game with a fascinating story, in addition to some rock hard puzzles. The well-written characters and reality-bending cutscenes should give you more than enough reason to play through the game, but the tense combat also makes this a compelling entry into the stealth genre.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a fine contender for one of the best video game RPGs ever made. It’s the most ambitious RPG out there, and the painstakingly accurate rendition of Dungeons & Dragons will delight fans. A must-play, even if some frustrations with D&D’s format might grate.
One of the best RPGs in recent years, Baldur's Gate 3 invites you to explore a rich fantasy world full of a mind-boggling array of possibilities. A traditional RPG in the mold of Dragon Age: Origins, and the original Baldur's Gate series, Baldur's Gate 3 has you control a group of adventurers, stopping for occasional bouts of turn-based combat as you make your way through the bright and often wacky world.
The game boasts hours of cinematics, offering a level of directorial ambition that rivals many of the other entries on this list. The main story is an immersive, high-fantasy adventure worthy of even the best Dungeons and Dragons campaign, while the combat mechanics give even the best PC strategy games a run for their money.
Tekken 8 is a drastic step up in a well-established fighting game series, and with new mechanics, visuals, and characters, there is a huge amount to mark this game as one of the best PC games currently available. Although fighting games can be a bit of a mixed bag on PC, anyone looking to get into them should start here, and you won't look back.
Every hit in Tekken 8 feels like it packs genuine weight behind it, and whether you're stringing together a ten hit combo or a simple starter you still feel much more than a capable fighter due to the animation.
Visually, Tekken 8 is an incredibly impressive game, and you're bound to be pulled in by its incredible animations and detailed environments. In addition to this, practice and online mode has never felt so accessible, opening up the doors to all willing players regardless of any past experience with the series. Both story modes, The Dark Awakens and Arcade Quest, will get you up to speed with the history of the game and the mechanics you'll need to master to get set up online too.
Heaps of replay value, and a surprisingly robust story make Hades a must-play for fans of the roguelike genre. You'll fall in love, forge bitter rivalries, and fight your father in this action-packed indie game.
Supergiant Games made a name for itself thanks to the great reception that Pyre, Transistor, and Bastion received. Now, fans of the studio have a new entry to add to the studio’s pantheon of great games: Hades. Hades uses the same isometric view of the other games and tells the story of Hades’ son, Zagreus, as he tries to escape the underworld.
This roguelike dungeon crawler has a few new features up its sleeve. Not only can you romance some characters for extra bonuses, but dying in the game doesn’t start you at the last checkpoint. When you die, you might start at the beginning but you’re not starting over. You’re able to upgrade your character and weapons to improve your chances of escaping with each subsequent death. This leads to a sense of progression that makes for a very addictive game.
Forza Motorsport's Car EXP system rewards you for learning tracks and getting better at racing. This means you'll feel like you're actually progressing, but also helps you to get yourself racing online too without it being too terrifying.
Forza Motorsport sees developer Turn 10 Studios bring the sim-racing series back into the spotlight, six years after the previous entry launched. Now that the eighth entry in the Motorsport line-up is finally here, it’s providing a refreshing change of pace from the Horizon subseries.
Forza Motorsport offers a racing model that’s easy to pick up and accessible to all players, while offering a huge range of difficulty options, assists and accessibility settings to help you tailor an experience that’s all yours. It’s also one of the most visually striking sim racers to date, providing players with a game that’s as pretty as it is fun to play.
There's a chunk of authentic-feeling real-world tracks, a ton of cars and more car customising than you can shake a wrench at. If you're a petrolhead or just supercar-curious, this is probably the best racing game for you.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth boasts equal parts entertaining story as it does entirely heart-wrenching story. From the very beginning you'll be charmed by its characters and before long you may shed a tear or two. Essentially, once its got its claws in you, its here to stay.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is the newest addition to the incredibly well-loved series, and frankly, even if you've never played a Yakuza or Like a Dragon game before, you should start now. Infinite Wealth does offer a lot of "for the fans" content, which you'd expect from a story that has been essentially 20 years in the making, but there's also a lot to get new players up to speed and feeling like they've been part of the series the whole time.
In addition to its bulky main story, Infinite Wealth boasts an huge amount of side content. So, there's more than enough to sink your teeth into if you're looking for a decently sized PC game to occupy your time. Be warned though, getting into Yakuza and Like a Dragon is a slippery slope, and once you've finished this game you may find yourself circling back to see what all the hype was about in the first place.
Doom Eternal reinvents the series without abandoning its classic foundations. It has all the blood-pumping, gore-packed fun we expect from a Doom game, while adding a bunch of new RPG-like elements we didn't even know we needed. This is one not to be missed.
Doom Eternal takes everything from the Doom (2016) and turns it up to 11. The game is intense; visually, and sonically overwhelming, and is exactly what you would expect a fever dream inspired by Doom would feel like.
The game offers a seamless first-person shooter where you trek into hell to battle an assortment of never-ending demons and reclaim an overrun earth. Refilling your health sometimes requires quite literally tearing monsters apart, and there is some need to be creative with your weapon choice, depending on what demon you’re facing. However, this game is all about creating havoc and rushing into battle as loud and as brash as possible.
Not only is Doom: Eternal a hell of a ride, but it’s also a gorgeous-looking game that takes advantage of the newest hardware. And, it’s a 2v1 multiplayer mode where one player takes control of the “slayer” and faces off against two more player-controlled demons.
Helldivers 2 is perhaps the most surprising hit of 2024 so far. It's absolutely dominated the headlines since its release, mostly due to the regular updates that've been added in each week. An absolutely pitch-perfect co-op shooter with just the right amount of friendly fire, Helldivers 2 continues to prove its pedigree, as players work together to keep the galaxy safe.
Helldivers 2 is a recent addition to our list of the best PC games to play in 2024, and has solidified its status with some excellent updates post-launch. Helldivers 2 send squads of four to hostile planets filled with either bile-spewing bugs or laser-eyed robots. You'll deploy powerful super weapons as you move from objective to objective, dying a whole lot in the process.
There are many reasons why Helldivers 2 has taken the gaming world by storm this year. It has excellent third-person shooting, hilarious friendly fire mechanics as well as a progression system that rewards players for completing missions on increasingly nightmarish difficulties. Thanks to this wide difficulty system, Helldivers 2 isn't as brutal as it might seem at first blush. By learning how to play as a team, you'll quickly rise through the ranks, employing everything from space lasers to hulking mechs.
You can enable crossplay to join PS5 players, or stick to PC if you'd prefer. We recommend playing with a controller, given how the special abilities are triggered, making them much easier, and faster to deploy using a d-pad. Regardless of how or where you play Helldivers 2, you and your pals will be in for a very good time indeed.
Elden Ring is FromSoftware at its most playful, gleefully throwing out every idea it can conjure up to pull players through The Lands Between. It abandons the tight framework of its predecessors in favor of a more sprawling, overwhelming open world.
Elden Ring took the gaming world by storm when it first arrived, and for good reason. FromSoftware's latest punishment simulator has all the familiar touchstones of a soulslike, but expanded out into an open world with a story crafted by Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, so you know it's not going to pull any punches.
The PC version of Elden Ring is now stable, and seriously impresses in its visuals and performance. Now that some of the initial bugs and wrinkles have been squashed and ironed out, it's unquestionably one of the best games, if not the best, that the studio has ever put out.
As devoted fans of the studio's work since the original Demons' Souls on the PS3, we don't offer that kind of praise lightly, but like the Souls-like genre itself, you gotta earn it, and FromSoftware unquestionably does with Elden Ring.
Best PC games: FAQs
Is it worth getting PC Game Pass?
Game Pass on both console and PC is a fantastic way to try new titles that you may not pick up otherwise, and there's a significant library to explore which is everchanging. We've got a list of the best Xbox Game Pass games, in case you want a little extra guidance on which games to pick up, but generally, we would recommend the subscription service to anyone who's looking to get a little more bang for their buck.
What is the most sold PC game?
As of 2024, the most popular/most-sold game on PC is Minecraft. The sandbox survival title has been incredibly popular since its initial release in 2011, with millions of players have been enjoying its content since. Despite its popularity, we haven't included it on our list due to the game being available across all major platforms, and while it is a fantastic game, we wanted out list to spotlight what we consider to be the titles that make the most of a PC gaming experience.
Looking to pick up some PC games this Black Friday?
PC gaming is a broad umbrella term, covering everything from the machines themselves, to laptop and games. We're keeping an eye on PC deals this Black Friday, meaning you can check out the best Black Friday laptop deals, the best monitor deals, and the overall best Black Friday PC deals that we've found so far.
How we made our best PC games list
The team behind TechRadar Gaming has spent thousands of hours testing out the best PC games, so we know exactly which titles are worth recommending, and which titles are worth giving a miss. Between us, we have interests in almost all genres, so any title you're considering picking up has more than likely been played by a member of the team at some point.
Because of just how long we've spent jumping in and out of games of all kinds, we've got opinions you can trust. Our experience means our picks have been carefully considered, so there's bound to be something you enjoy within one of our best lists.
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