Monster Hunter Wilds sets a new standard for Capcom’s long-running series. And though we wish pairing up with friends was easier, the satisfaction of taking down powerful beasts with your crew is unrivaled. Like its predecessor, this game will be a monster hit with dedicated Monster Hunter fans. In my own time with Warframe, I’ve uncovered the secret origin of the player character, resolved a spacetime paradox, captained my own spaceship and ended a war several millennia in the making.
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. Much of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s appeal can be attributed to its Pawn system.
My favorite level remains the luxury Titanic-style yacht floating on the Ocean Styx—it’s overflown on account of all the killing you’ve done, you see—and makes use of one of my favorite level design shticks. You go through the ship as expected in the first half of the level, but then it starts sinking and you have to trek back through upside-down. De_rats funhouse stuff might be the quickest way to my heart, as far as level design goes.
Videos
Secrets lurk around nearly every corner, and it feels truly awesome to be whisked away by a mimic chest, to encounter a boss that only strikes at a certain time of day or to find a whole new underground layer to the world. What a world it is, with so many different lands to explore and difficult bosses to tackle, you’ll easily put a hundred hours into the game exploring its deep depths and high peaks. You clear out the weeds and rocks until you get tired, and then you do it again. You get into the rhythm of daily life–visiting friends, watering crops, occasional light spelunking.
Playing God
It’s a coin toss between Rockstar’s incredible cowboy prequel and GTA V over what the greatest open-world of all time is. This majestic, melancholic Wild West tale is a love letter to the movies of Western director Sergio Leone. Feudal Japan looks gorgeous and is brimming with activity and idle chatter, while the story itself is compelling. Naoe and Yasuke offer different fighting and stealth styles, and the vast range of enemies will have you actually thinking about your move — something many haven’t done since Syndicate.
On this list, you’ll find the best PC games from the past few months, classics we think now is a good time to revisit, and some hidden gems you might’ve missed among the big releases. It’s a reflection of what the PC Gamer team is playing today, not a list of the all-time best games ever, although there’s overlap. Those familiar with Titanfall – set in the same universe as Apex Legends – would attest that combat is among the best aspects of these games. Respawn shines in the weapons department with Apex Legends, offering a multitude of exciting guns and attachments to experiment with and discover your favorites. As with similar titles, post-release content such as new characters and weapons is introduced through seasons.
Best immersive RPG
It’s a short jaunt of a game that chronicles the life of a recently deceased person game review that you play as, but the catch here is that every time you blink, time moves forward. It’s a terrific idea, incredibly well-implemented, and ties in perfectly with themes of memories, life, and storing those precious moments within ourselves. Unusual but packing a heavyweight emotional punch, you won’t want to take your eyes off of this game for a single instant. A deceptively simple concept with an incredible degree of replay value, Balatro is based around the familiar rules of poker.
But the open world elements, character creator, and an amazing core experience make the statement hard to argue with. Those of a certain age who are longing for a single-player space shooter reminiscent of the Wing Commander series or Freelancer don’t have many options these days. The primary gameplay mechanic of catching and storing over 100 different types of fish is enjoyable in its own right, and following the main storyline, exploring the map, and taking on jobs adds an extra dimension to the experience. It was the first PC “designed with upscaling in mind” which was also a worry.
Genuinely funny videogames are rare treasures that only come around once every thousand years, so Thank Goodness You’re Here is a very, very special three-hour romp. It’s ostensibly a puzzle game where you, a diminutive fellow who communicates exclusively with gentle slaps, must assist the eccentric residents of a fictional Yorkshire town. It was only by quiet and colossal violence that the pleasant technocrats of the world gummed up the wheels enough to keep the locomotive in place for a few decades. Disco Elysium takes place when that violence is boiling over into the streets, tearing the old order apart and giving rise to something new. We’ll probably never know what, thanks to capital and all, but frankly? It’s a miracle we even got one game this good, in this setting, from these people.
Tsushima blends stealth gameplay with samurai-style combat and complete freedom to move about the world (and interact with NPCs) as you please. The PC port includes the Iki Island expansion and the Legends multiplayer mode. Originally released in 2009 and receiving a glossy remake last year, Solium Infernum is still one of the most interesting and distinct grand strategy games of the past few years.
While Baldur’s Gate 3 is also available to play on PS5, the PC version is the clear leader thanks to its intuitive keyboard-and-mouse controls–and it’s a welcome return to form for longtime Baldur’s Gate fans. This fantasy tale is set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, but the most incredible part is how it approximates actually playing a game of D&D, with all the freedom that entails. You can tackle problems and navigate the world with an almost overwhelming amount of choice and agency, making it easy to get lost for hours and then start all over again with a new character. Alyx feels like a proper evolution of Half-Life 2, one of the greatest shooters of all time. It combines a gripping, emotional story with the most detailed level design you’ve ever seen.
Remakes, on the other hand, rebuild the entire game from the ground up with new assets, models, and even content in some cases. Things have gotten a bit more confusing as of late, with plenty of remasters looking like remakes, and some remakes calling themselves remasters. Remasters remain the best way to relive classic games from older video game consoles on modern hardware. We cut through all that confusion to craft a definitive list of the best video game remasters of all time. The Final Fantasy series is known for having a strong focus on storytelling with colorful characters who get into over-the-top battles, and the MMO Final Fantasy XIV manages to stay true to what the series is all about.