Ads
related to: best pc exclusive games100% free arcade games. Collect as many points as possible and become the best player. Play the best games on your phone or PC: without downloads, 15 000+ free games
100% Best Games Free For Play Online in Browser on your PC or Mobile Phone
Search results
- Half-Life 2 VR. I know Half-Life 2 was technically released on consoles as part of the superb Orange Box back in 2007, but that was back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
- Escape From Tarkov. I’ve played hundreds of shooters over the years, and nothing comes close to the feelings of tenseness and panic in Escape From Tarkov.
- Guild Wars 2. MMOs offer a social gaming experience like no other. The downside is they are a time and financial commitment as most require a monthly payment.
- Counterstrike 2. While many have mixed feelings about the “skins” aspect of Counterstrike 2, there’s no denying its position in the market as a top first-person shooter.
- Overview
- 1. Half-Life: Alyx
- 2. Total War series
- 3. Disco Elysium
- 4. Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
- 5. Dota 2/League of Legends
- 6. Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition
- 7. Rimworld
- 8. Crusader Kings 2
- 9. Guild Wars 2
Best
By Robert Zak
published 2 September 2020
Putting those loudmouth consoles to shame
The PC has easily the biggest catalogue of exclusives on any platform. The lack of licensing fees mean it has an unrivalled indie roster, it’s the rightful home of MMOs and strategy games, and you can play the greatest games going back decades without worrying about backwards compatibility.
Of course, you don’t hear much about PC exclusives, because unlike the PS4 or XBox One it’s not a unified platform with a marketing machine behind it. So, this PC Gaming Week 2020, we’re going to do what the humble PC doesn’t, and show off all the best games you’ll only find on PC.
Really, you could put all the Half-life games on this list, but the technical VR marvel that is Half-Life: Alyx feels like a worthy representative. It’s not enough to say there’s no game quite like it, there’s no experience quite like it.
It looks incredible for a start, glistening with detail in every surface, right down to the creepy suckers in the mouths of alien grubs that you crush to regenerate health. It amps up the horror elements of the series, balancing it with trademark humour and great writing. And it never gets old flicking far-away objects into your hands using the Gravity Gloves, which simultaneously feel great and solve that old VR bugbear of item procurement.
Half-Life 3? Who needs it!
Today's best Half-Life: Alyx deals
No price information
Check Amazon
What flavor of grand-scale warfare and timesink campaigning are you after? Historically meticulous deep-dives into the politics and conflicts of ancient China, Japan or Rome?
More focused zooms into the conquests of Attila the Hun or kingdom scuffles in Anglo-Saxon Britannia? Or the dark-fantasy world of Warhammer where dwarves, elves, lizardmen, ratfolk and others collide?
Point being, the Total War series is the very best at battle simulation, framing its thousands-strong scuffles within huge story-rich campaigns. Each iteration is so distinct and adept on capturing its historical (or fantasy) theme that every player will have a different favourite. So do your research, take your pick, and write your own history.
Today's best Total War: Three Kingdoms, Total War: Warhammer, Total War: Warhammer 2 and Total War: Rome II deals
$14.99
View
It’s a bold move in today’s world of Witchers and Skyrims to make an RPG that involves almost no physical combat. This murky, masterfully written noir story takes place in a downtrodden city, pitting you as a mentally troubled hard-drinking detective trying to solve a murder.
The magic is in the dialogue, as you can develop the detective in any number of directions - from an over-sensitive maths genius to a blithe capitalist propagating the miracle of neoliberalism. It’s a dark and funny evolution on games like Planescape: Torment, and a great choice for those who appreciate the finer points of RPGs beyond swords and sorcery.
Today's best Disco Elysium deals
No price information
Check Amazon
We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Mount & Blade is many things: feudal life simulator, medieval RPG, battle sim where you’re both an individual soldier and commander, and management game that tasks you with expanding a kingdom.
Bannerlord only recently entered beta, but despite its oftentimes janky state it’s already showing the potential to merge all its parts into a majestic and impressive whole. Its predecessor Warband set the standard, and Bannerlord looks set to be a worthy heir, ready to deliver an experience that encompasses all your fiefdom fantasies.
Today's best Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord deals
No price information
Check Amazon
We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Look, we don’t want to cause any infighting here among the PC faithful. This is a celebration of all that is unique to PC, and when you have two MOBAs that have been so influential in expanding the reach of video-games and eSports, they deserve to share a spot on the list.
Which isn’t to say that these games are the same. Dota 2 is a little tougher on new players, League of Legends is more accessible and experimental with its game modes. But both are masterfully balanced games with diverse heroes to choose from, endless tactical approaches, and a fast flow to matches that’s as compelling to watch as it is to play.
Today's best Dota 2 deals
3 Amazon customer reviews
☆☆☆☆☆
No price information
Maybe it says something about the state of real-time strategy that one of the best games in the genre is still one of the oldest. On the other hand, it’s a credit to this game that the recent Definitive Edition, which packs many years of expansions into one beautifully remastered package, became an instant hit on Steam.
People still play Age of Empires 2 enmasse because its distinct factions are perfectly balanced, its campaigns are compelling, and its multiplayer remains one of the best ways to play online with or against friends. Thanks to polish and a thousands subtle improvements in all the right places, this Definitive Edition ensures that a classic game has become truly timeless.
Today's best Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition deals
589 Amazon customer reviews
☆☆☆☆☆
$18.89
A fine example of one of the thousands of great indie games that started life in the low-cost climes of PC. With a similar art style and premise to the great Prison Architect, Rimworld tasks you with starting and running a colony of people on a barren planet.
Each individual in your colony has a unique set of skills, personalities and needs, making the game a hotbed of emergent stories. The random generation of each world and variety of ways in which you can make the colony prosper or collapse makes it feel limitless in its possibilities; a fitting microcosm of the PC platform itself.
Speaking of story generation, unfathomable number-crunching and depth, few can do it quite like Crusader Kings 2. This grand-strategy medieval dynasty simulator tasks you with keeping a noble (or royal) family bloodline going across a few hundred years by conspiring, backstabbing, and inbreeding (relax, it was totally cool in the Dark Ages) your family to power.
What distinguishes it from its colonial counterpart Europa Universalis IV is that it’s more about character development rather than just expanding your empire across the map. It’s an RPG-grand-strategy hybrid, and with Crusader Kings 3 coming up it’ll be fascinating to see just how much deeper this grandest of saga-sims will go.
Today's best Crusader Kings 2 deals
No price information
Check Amazon
We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
MMOs can often feel like an anachronism - A dying genre whose games are rarely worthy of mainstream console release. But Guild Wars 2 was different when it came out, with a whole new approach to MMO storytelling, questing, and PvP that made it stand out from its peers.
Which is why this eight-year-old game still thrives today. At a time when many MMOs overly rely on microtransactions and Pay-to-Win skulduggery, Guild Wars 2 has remained player-friendly and pure, and on current form will continue to be a paragon of how great games in this oft-exploitative genre can be.
Today's best Guild Wars 2 deals
738 Amazon customer reviews
☆☆☆☆☆
$24.99
- Robert Zak
A list of the top PC games across genres and platforms, updated regularly with new releases and reviews. Find out which games are the best for racing, co-op, horror, sports, RPG, and more.
Mar 21, 2024 · We still love games like the original Doom, Half-Life 2, Portal, Skyrim, StarCraft 2, Mass Effect 2, Minecraft, BioShock, KOTOR, Fallout: New Vegas, Batman: Arkham City, and many, many...
- Isaiah Mccall
- Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak (79) Homeworld fans were greeted with an unexpected (and shocking) surprise in 2016 with the sudden release of Deserts of Kharak, a planet-based prequel title to the original Homeworld games.
- Black Mesa (84) It took forever to come out, but this fan-made, ground-up recreation of the original Half-Life finally saw an official release in March of 2020, and it was well worth the wait.
- Rimworld (87) At first glance, Rimworld looks dated, but don't let the visuals fool you. This indie gem scored big with both critics and users for its excellent take on the sim game formula.
- Subnautica (87) Survival games took a much different approach with 2018's Subnautica, which changes up the landscape formula for an underwater ocean on an alien planet dubbed 4546B.
Mar 27, 2024 · Discover some of the most creative and unique games that are only available on PC, from fantasy RPGs to rogue-like shooters. Learn why these titles are worth playing and how they stand out from the crowd.
People also ask
Are MMORPGs PC-exclusive?
What are the best PC games of all time?
Do you need a console if your PC has exclusive games?
What games are still popular today?
Aug 28, 2024 · Discover eight titles you can only play on PC, from MOBAs like Dota 2 to sandbox games like Kenshi. Learn about the features, genres, and platforms of these PC-exclusive games.
