Recommended PC Games List 2011 - current

[chimera201]

Some people have been asking for game recommendations some being console gamers coming to the PC platform. So I made this list of great games available on PC. List spans all genres so if you are picky about a particular genre you might still find a game to your liking in this list. Ones in bold are great games, rest are good games. If tom'sHardware did a benchmark review of a game the link has been provided on the game's title.



2011

■ The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Open World, RPG, Fantasy)[-]
■ Portal 2 (Puzzle, Co-op, First Person)[-]
■ Batman: Arkham City (Action, Open World, Batman)[Nvidia]
■ The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (RPG, Fantasy, Mature)[-]
■ Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Cyberpunk, Stealth, RPG)[AMD]
■ Dead Space 2 (Horror, Action, Sci-fi)[-]

■ LIMBO (Indie, Platformer, Puzzle)[-]
■ Bastion (Great Soundtrack, Indie, Action)[-]
■ Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Action, Adventure, Open World)[-]
■ Battlefield 3* (FPS, Multiplayer, Action)[Nvidia]
■ Terraria (Sandbox, Adventure, 2D)[-]
■ Saints Row: The Third (Open World, Action, Comedy)[-]
■ Bulletstorm (Action, Gore, Violent)[-]
■ Crysis 2 (Action, FPS, Sci-fi)[Nvidia]

2012

■ The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series (Zombies, Adventure, Story Rich)[-]
■ Far Cry 3 (Open World, FPS, Action)[AMD]
■ Dishonored (Stealth, Steampunk, Action)[AMD]
■ Torchlight II (RPG, Action RPG, Hack and Slash)[-]
■ XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Turn-Based Strategy, Tactical, Strategy)[Nvidia]
■ Borderlands 2 (FPS, Co-op, RPG)[Nvidia]

■ Guild Wars 2* (Massively Multiplayer, RPG)[-]
■ Diablo III (Action RPG)[-]
■ Hotline Miami (Great Soundtrack, Action, Indie)[-]
■ Max Payne 3 (Action, Third-Person Shooter, Bullet Time)[Nvidia]
■ Alan Wake (Action, Horror, Adventure)[-]
■ Counter-Strike: Global Offensive* (FPS, Multiplayer, Action)[-]
■ Darksiders II (Action, Adventure, RPG)[-]
■ Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (RPG, Dark Fantasy, Difficult)[-]
■ Sleeping Dogs (Action, Open World, Martial Arts)[AMD]
■ Mass Effect 3 (RPG, Sci-fi, Third Person Shooter)[-]
■ Spec Ops: The Line (Story Rich, Third Person Shooter, Action)[-]
■ Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (RPG, Fantasy, Open World)[-]

2013

■ BioShock Infinite (FPS, Action, Story Rich)[AMD]
■ Tomb Raider (Adventure, Action, Female Protagonist)[AMD]

■ Dota 2* (Free to Play, MOBA, Strategy)[-]
■ Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (Adventure, Atmospheric, Indie)[-]
■ Metro: Last Light (Action, Atmospheric, Post-apocalyptic)[Nvidia]
■ Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (Pirates, Open World, Action)[Nvidia]
■ The Stanley Parable (Comedy, Narration, Indie)[-]
■ Path of Exile (Free to Play, Action RPG, Hack and Slash)[-]
■ Outlast (Horror, Atmospheric, First-Person)[-]
■ Saints Row IV (Open World, Action, Comedy)[AMD]
■ Battlefield 4* (FPS, Multiplayer, Action)AMD]
■ DmC: Devil May Cry (Action, Hack and Slash, Spectacle fighter)[AMD]
■ Fez (Platformer, Indie, Puzzle)[-]

2014

■ Divinity: Original Sin (RPG, Turn Based, Co-op)[-]

■ Dark Souls II (RPG, Dark Fantasy, Action RPG)[-]
■ South Park: The Stick of Truth (RPG, Comedy, Adventure)[-]
■ Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Action, Open World, Adventure)[Nvidia]
■ Dragon Age: Inquisition (RPG, Fantasy)[-]
■ Alien: Isolation (Horror, Survival Horror, Sci-Fi)[AMD]
■ Wolfenstein: The New Order (FPS, Action, Shooter)[-]
■ Far Cry 4 (Open World, Action, FPS)[-]
■ Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Great Soundtrack, Action, Hack and Slash)[-]

2015

■ The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (RPG, Open World, Story Rich)[Nvidia]
■ Grand Theft Auto V (Open World, Action, Multiplayer)[Nvidia, AMD]
■ The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Hearts of Stone [DLC]
■ Undertale (Great Soundtrack, RPG, Funny)[-]
■ METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN (Stealth, Open World, Tactical)[Nvidia]

■ Cities: Skylines (City Builder, Simulation, Strategy)[-]
■ Ori and the Blind Forest (Great Soundtrack, Atmospheric, Platformer)[-]
■ Pillars of Eternity (RPG, Isometric, Fantasy)[-]
■ Life is Strange (Story Rich, Choices Matter, Great Soundtrack)[-]
■ Rocket League (Multiplayer, Racing, Soccer)[-]
■ Batman: Arkham Knight (Batman, Action, Open World)Nvidia]
■ Fallout 4 (Post-apocalyptic, Open World, Exploration)[-]

2016

■ The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine [DLC]
■ Dark Souls III (Dark Fantasy, Difficult, Atmospheric)[-]
■ INSIDE (Atmospheric, Dark, Indie)[-]

■ Titanfall 2 (FPS, Action, Multiplayer)[-]
■ Battlefield 1* (FPS, Multiplayer, Action)[-]
■ DOOM (FPS, Action, Gore) [-]
■ Overwatch* (FPS, Multiplayer, Action)[-]
■ Dishonored 2 (Stealth, Action, First Person)[-]
■ Rise of the Tomb Raider (Adventure, Lara Croft, Action) [Nvidia]
■ Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (Cyberpunk, Stealth, Action) [AMD]
■ XCOM 2 (Strategy, Turn Based, Tactical)[-]

2017

■ NieR: Automata (Great Soundtrack, Story Rich, Action) [-]
■ Resident Evil 7: biohazard (Survival Horror, First-Person, Atmospheric)[-]

* Basically a multiplayer game. Experience will change based on players, no. of players, updates to the game, servers, etc

 

[whiteknights]

thanks man .. btw , i have a cheap PSU on my mid-range specs. and works fine since 2 years till now 😛

 

[chimera201]

thanks man .. btw , i have a cheap PSU on my mid-range specs. and works fine since 2 years till now 😛

What model is it? Using a cheap PSU is a gamble and its failing depends on a number of factors. PSU's have an electronic component called capacitors and most of the time its the capacitors that fail.

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=388

How long will it take for the capacitors to fail? That is something which depends on many variables. Bad voltage supply to the caps from a low quality, underpowered PSU without a UPS connected could decrease their life. Heat is another important factor, if you live in a hot climate your caps will not last so long. Also if your computer case is not adequately cooled, of small size or the heatsinks are covered with dirt then again the caps will have a shorter life. Extreme heat can even cause good capacitors to fail early. Furthermore the position of the CPU heatsink is also an issue, if it is hot and is so large that it is leaning against capacitors then those will blow first. Voltage requirements are also an issue, your faster cpu and motherboard chipset, your larger fans connected to the motherboard headers are all drawing more voltage than an inferior system and putting a strain on your capacitors. Overclocking is of course putting an extra strain on the capacitors and power supply.

So think about cooling, having a large case with some good fans will prolong the life of all your system, not only the capacitors. Think about which components are causing the most heat. I have seen quiet Zalman power supplies with a quiet but poor fan making excessive heat. I have also seen lower end graphics cards without a fan on the heatsink making a huge amount of heat in the case. Correcting these excessive heat producing components by changing the fan of the PSU to a more efficient one, modding the graphics card to a larger heatsink and fan made a huge difference in the computer case, as did putting two exhaust fans from papst which blow a good amount of air and do not raise the noise level too much.

So really nobody can say when your capacitors will fail if they are of bad manufacture. It could take months, a year or even 3 years if you are not stressing them. On the other hand capacitors from one of the trusted brands namely Rubycon, Sanyo, Nichicon, Panasonic are expected to last the useful life of the motherboard unless your case is extremely hot.

 

[NightAntilli]

Putting Mass Effect 3 on its own... I'd say that's a game where the whole trilogy is a must play. If you don't play the first two, don't play the 3rd. Get the trilogy package that came out, and get all the DLC, and you're all set.

 

[chimera201]

Putting Mass Effect 3 on its own... I'd say that's a game where the whole trilogy is a must play. If you don't play the first two, don't play the 3rd. Get the trilogy package that came out, and get all the DLC, and you're all set.

I have listed games starting from 2011 since most people would be looking to play more recent games. ME1 and 2 were released before that. Also it would be nice to list games for the new decade. Of course ME1 and 2 are great games. If someone likes a game from this list like ME3, it's not rocket science for him/her to know that ME1 and 2 existed

 

[whiteknights]

thanks man .. btw , i have a cheap PSU on my mid-range specs. and works fine since 2 years till now 😛

What model is it? Using a cheap PSU is a gamble and its failing depends on a number of factors. PSU's have an electronic component called capacitors and most of the time its the capacitors that fail.

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=388

How long will it take for the capacitors to fail? That is something which depends on many variables. Bad voltage supply to the caps from a low quality, underpowered PSU without a UPS connected could decrease their life. Heat is another important factor, if you live in a hot climate your caps will not last so long. Also if your computer case is not adequately cooled, of small size or the heatsinks are covered with dirt then again the caps will have a shorter life. Extreme heat can even cause good capacitors to fail early. Furthermore the position of the CPU heatsink is also an issue, if it is hot and is so large that it is leaning against capacitors then those will blow first. Voltage requirements are also an issue, your faster cpu and motherboard chipset, your larger fans connected to the motherboard headers are all drawing more voltage than an inferior system and putting a strain on your capacitors. Overclocking is of course putting an extra strain on the capacitors and power supply.

So think about cooling, having a large case with some good fans will prolong the life of all your system, not only the capacitors. Think about which components are causing the most heat. I have seen quiet Zalman power supplies with a quiet but poor fan making excessive heat. I have also seen lower end graphics cards without a fan on the heatsink making a huge amount of heat in the case. Correcting these excessive heat producing components by changing the fan of the PSU to a more efficient one, modding the graphics card to a larger heatsink and fan made a huge difference in the computer case, as did putting two exhaust fans from papst which blow a good amount of air and do not raise the noise level too much.

So really nobody can say when your capacitors will fail if they are of bad manufacture. It could take months, a year or even 3 years if you are not stressing them. On the other hand capacitors from one of the trusted brands namely Rubycon, Sanyo, Nichicon, Panasonic are expected to last the useful life of the motherboard unless your case is extremely hot.

yeah man i guess I'm lucky or its sufficient for my current rig , its Thermaltake 450w (peaks at 500w) but not sure about its model number it starts with TT, my GPU is 7870 XT.

why not Assassin creed 3 ?

 

[chimera201]

AC3 didn't make it to the list for a lot of reasons
- Not well optimized for PC
- There was absolutely no need for hunting and there was a 1-hour tutorial for it
- Altered the what could have been the true ending to Assassin's Creed so that they could make AC4
- More specifically designed for consoles (gamepad)
- No feel of being an assassin

Even AC:Revelations barely managed to make it to the list. (It's at the bottom of the list). For the PC platform Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is the best in the series

 

[whiteknights]

if the list is from the highest to lowest ..i think Hitman absolution was better than Max Payne 3 , also Skyrim should not come on the top of the list , Batman Arkham City & Ac brotherhood was the game of the the year (2011). i didn't play portal or witcher 2 though.

 

[chimera201]

People are going to have their personal opinions. I personally disliked Bioshock Infinite but still i put it at the top of the list because the majority of the world likes it and critics also liked it.

Skyrim and Portal 2 were GOTY 2011. And FYI, Gone Home was PC GOTY 2013 but the world didn't like it
http://www.ign.com/wikis/best-of-2013/Best_PC_Game
http://www.spike.com/vgx/best-pc-game

 

[chimera201]

Update: Added links to benchmark reviews done by tomsHardware

 

[Thaisnang]

PC gaming is incomplete without CIV 5.

 

[chimera201]

Haha , Civ5 was released in 2010. No way i would be missing that

 

[Thaisnang]

Haha , Civ5 was released in 2010. No way i would be missing that

I know it was released in 2010 but the expansions has kept the game fresh and updated. If remakes like CS:GO and DOTA 2 made to this list. Then CIV 5 must be here. This list would be much better with another section consisting of some the good games which were released before 2011. For e.g:- Left For Dead 2, Starcraft 2, Fallout 3/New Vegas, Half-Life 2 Episode 1/2, GTA 4 etc.

 

[Seif Samir]

The Evil Within<2014 .. ?

 

[chimera201]

I know it was released in 2010 but the expansions has kept the game fresh and updated. If remakes like CS:GO and DOTA 2 made to this list. Then CIV 5 must be here. This list would be much better with another section consisting of some the good games which were released before 2011. For e.g:- Left For Dead 2, Starcraft 2, Fallout 3/New Vegas, Half-Life 2 Episode 1/2, GTA 4 etc.

I know. Some of the best games were Deus Ex,Half Life,Max Payne - If i had to list them all i will have to list till 1995 something. I had to cut a line somewhere and chose this current decade to list. This list will grow as games are released. Also it would be harder to find information for older games and will not be much accurate

The Evil Within<2014 .. ?

Didn't make it. Too bad

 

[Seif Samir]

The Evil Within<2014 .. ?

Didn't make it. Too bad[/quotemsg]

at least better than Alien: Isolation ._.

 

[chimera201]

at least better than Alien: Isolation ._.

Not really. More people liked Alien Isolation than the Evil Within on PC.

 

[NightAntilli]

Putting Mass Effect 3 on its own... I'd say that's a game where the whole trilogy is a must play. If you don't play the first two, don't play the 3rd. Get the trilogy package that came out, and get all the DLC, and you're all set.

I have listed games starting from 2011 since most people would be looking to play more recent games. ME1 and 2 were released before that. Also it would be nice to list games for the new decade. Of course ME1 and 2 are great games. If someone likes a game from this list like ME3, it's not rocket science for him/her to know that ME1 and 2 existed

True. But the trilogy was released as a single package for the price of one game, so, yeah... But hey, it's your list. A great list at that.

 

[chimera201]

The Game Awards 2014

Overall GOTY nominees

• 
  ■ Bayonetta 2
  ■ Dark Souls II
  ■ Dragon Age: Inquisition
  ■ Hearthstone
  ■ Shadow Of Mordor

 

[NightAntilli]

Dragon Age Inquisition for me.

 

[RCguitarist]

Remove Battlefield 3, hardly anyone plays that game online anymore. Add Betrayer. It's one of those, you have to try it to realize how great it is games.

 

[chimera201]

Betrayer has got mixed reviews. It is good idea wise but the actual game-play becomes boring afterwards. Far from being recommended.

 

[chimera201]

The Game Awards 2014

Overall GOTY Winner - Dragon Age: Inquisition

 

[genuinethief]

I apologise for the inconvenience

You have an Impressive list.

i like games that are like torchlight 2. could you recommend.

 

[chimera201]

Please don't quote the original post in your comments