Thousands of games release on Steam alone each year, beckoning to you from algorithmic recommendation engines, the bottom halves of TikTok videos, and the review sections of websites like PC Gamer. So how the heck do you decide which are the best PC games to play right now?
We figure the best way to help is to tell you what we're playing. Chances are, if PC Gamer's staff of 30+ videogame enthusiasts and network of contributors is putting hundreds of hours into a new game, it's something you might enjoy, too.
We also hope to expose you to indie gems that might only have captured the attention of one or two of us, but have really captured it.
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How we determine the 10 best PC games to play now
We rate and rank games in lots of ways at PC Gamer, and further down this page you can find a list of our highest recent review scores, the champions from our annual Top 100 list, and more ways to find a new game to play.
The list of 10 great games in the next section, however, is made just for this article and updated at least monthly. We consider three main things when picking the games to put on it:
- Are we currently playing it? The goal of this list is to recommend games that we love right now, not what we were playing last year or in 1996, so we regularly poll the team to see what everyone's been up to.
- Is right now the best time to play it? Great games don't always have great launches, and when big updates drop, older games can suddenly become the best place to be.
- Would we recommend it to our friends? Ultimately, we put games on this list because we think they're worth playing—by you, us, and everyone we know.
The 10 best PC games to play right now
July 3, 2025: This article has been renovated into the new form you're seeing now. Check this space in the future for notes on changes to the list below.
1. Peak
Released: June 2025 | Review: 86% | Steam| PCG's recent playtime: 30+ hours
This $8 co-op climbing game has been the biggest surprise hit of the year so far (next to REPO, perhaps). The goal is simple: Climb the mountain at the center of the island. Accomplishing that goal, however, is not so simple, but you can get help from up to three friends as you scavenge for supplies, scale rock walls, and explore caverns. Conquer the summit and you win, but only until tomorrow, when a new island with a new mountain appears.
2. Dune: Awakening
Released: June 2025 | Review: 80% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 100+ hours
Despite some endgame problems (what MMO doesn't have 'em?), the new Dune survival game is still thrilling even dozens of hours in. As Chris put it in his Dune: Awakening review: "The best compliment I can bestow is that even after 100 hours, when I see a sandworm breach or I hear another player's 'thopter approaching, Dune: Awakening still makes my heart pound."
You don't necessarily need to be a Dune fan to enjoy it, but it's also more than a generic survival game with a Dune skin on it, with sandworms, spice, and lots of blood-drinking.
3. Rematch
Released: June 2025 | Review: 86% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 25+ hours
We've been joking that it's "Rocket League with feet," but that's not a terrible description: Rematch is a 5v5 football game in which each human player controls one virtual player, and teamwork is essential to win.
Developer Sloclap is known for martial arts games Sifu and Absolver, but the switch to team sports feels natural, and you don't have to be a big football fan (soccer to Americans) to get into it—Rematch's love of the sport is "infectious," we said in our review.
4. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Released: April 2025 | Review score: 70% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 10+ hours
Our reviewer wasn't over the moon about this Persona-inspired French RPG, but there are some on the wider PCG team readying GOTY nominations, and it's one of the most popular games of the year so far. The premise has you and a squad of adventurers on a quest to defeat "The Paintress," who Thanos-snaps masses of people by age group each year.
If you're normally intimated by the size of RPGs, Clair Obscur lands in a nice middle ground—at 30-60 hours it certainly isn't short, but it's far from the 250 hour slog the genre has a reputation for.
5. The Alters
Released: June 2025 | Review score: 90% | Steam/GOG | PCG's recent playtime: 30+ hours
Its developer recently stepped in it with some generative AI placeholders, but that aside, this singleplayer sci-fi survival thriller is one of our favorite games of the year.
You've crashed on an alien planet, but you don't have to go it alone, because you've got technology/a storytelling device that allows you to create alternate versions of yourself who each made one significantly different decision in their pasts. Just try to make sure they don't decide to rebel against their creator.
6. Elden Ring: Nightreign
Released: May 2025 | Review score: 80% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 40+ hours
The co-op Elden Ring spinoff is full of little cruelties and quirks, but we can't help but continue to be FromSoft sickos. Nightreign is the "most aggravating, player-hostile FromSoft game I've played, but I keep staying up past 3 am for 'one more run'," Ted said.
7. Monster Train 2
Released: May 2025 | Review score: 91% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 10+ hours
The first of these deckbuilders was a bit overshadowed by Slay the Spire, which preceded it, but some say it was the better game, and the sequel doesn't let up: "Slay the Spire 2 might have to grant access to actual Heaven to top this," Abbie said in our review.
8. Warhammer 40K: Darktide
Released: Nov 2022 | Review: 80% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 45+ hours
This co-op horde shooter had a mildly rocky launch, but its popularity has steadily grown over the past few years thanks to a class overhaul and other free updates. Darktide just got a new $12 DLC class and lots of people jumped back in, including us.
9. Wanderstop
Released: March 2025 | Review score: 84% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 12+ hours
Manage a teashop and maybe learn a little about yourself in a cozy game with serious themes from Stanley Parable and Beginner's Guide developer Davey Wreden and co. You play as an exhausted warrior who's left with no choice but to take a break from swordplay and do some introspection (and make some tea).
10. System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster
Released: June 2025 | Review score: 85% | Steam/GOG | PCG's recent playtime: 18+ hours
System Shock 2 is a classic immersive sim, and this light touch remaster is now the best way to play it.
"You could approximate the remaster with a constellation of mods and quality of life fixes: The venerable NewDark engine upgrade, texture and model packs, maybe some cheeky tweaking of EAX sound files," Ted said in his System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster review, "but Nightdive's System Shock 2 removes the headache, offering a well-curated suite of changes and upgrades (with some of that dedicated mod community even represented on the dev team)."
More games we've been playing in July 2025
- Space Marine 2: Update 8 added a horde mode (Steam)
- KOTOR: Sometimes you just feel like some KOTOR (Steam/GOG)
- Stellar Blade: Has anyone called it "HorNieR: Automata" yet? (Steam)
- Diablo 4: The latest season's not bad (Steam/Battle.net)
- Path of Exile: While PoE 2 cooks in early access, the original's still great (Steam)
- Mount & Blade 2: We've been checking out a feudal Japan mod (Steam)
- South of Midnight: Southern gothic action-adventure (Steam)
- The Bazaar: F2P autobattler which got a lot better in April (Official site)
- Skin Deep: The immersive sim tradition lives on (Steam)
- TMNT: Shredder's Revenge: Retro beat-'em'up (Steam)
- Left 4 Dead 2: It's still great! (Steam)
- The Horror at Highrook: An "occult card crafting narrative RPG" (Steam)
- Haste: Gotta go fast? Get Haste (Steam)
- Factorio: The automation hit got a big expansion last year (Steam)
- The Excavation of Hob's Barrow: Folk horror adventure (Steam)
High scores: 90% and up
If we score a game 90% or higher in our review, we think it's stupendously good. Here are the games that have joined the 90-and-up club so far this year:
- Caves of Qud: 94% (Review | Steam/GOG)
- Promise Mascot Agency: 94% (Review | Steam)
- Blue Prince: 92% (Review | Steam)
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2: 90% (Review | Steam/GOG)
- Keep Driving: 90% (Review | Steam)
- Monster Train 2: 91% (Review | Steam)
- The Alters: 90% (Review | Steam/GOG)
All-time greats
Below are the top 10 games from the latest edition of PC Gamer's yearly Top 100 list, which was published in October 2024.
Whereas the list above is entirely focused on what to play right now and mainly features newer games, our Top 100 also considers historical significance. A new edition is coming later this year.
- Baldur's Gate 3: Our 2023 Game of the Year and a brilliant RPG (Steam/GOG)
- Disco Elysium: Our 2019 Game of the Year and former #1 game (Steam/GOG)
- Elden Ring: Another day, another FromSoftware masterpiece (Steam)
- Minecraft: One of the most influential and fun games ever made (Official site)
- Persona 5 Royal: The most stylish RPG on PC? (Steam)
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 🛁: Our favorite game about Geralt (Steam/GOG)
- Half-Life 2: Valve's groundbreaking shooter turned 20 last year (Steam)
- Balatro: The poker roguelike is the newest game in the top 10 (Steam)
- Stardew Valley: Still our favorite farming/life sim (Steam/GOG)
- Doom (1993): We used to call FPSes 'Doom clones' (Steam/GOG)
More resources and lists
Looking for more recommendations? We've got you covered.
- Steam Curator page: See our recommendations directly on Steam
- 2024 Game of the Year awards: Our favorite games of last year
- New games of 2025: What's ahead in PC gaming
- Gaming PC build guides: You'll need some hardware for all these games
- Steam sale dates: Find out when these games will be cheapest
- The best Steam Deck games: Great games for handhelds
- The best laptop games: Great games for laphelds
- The best free games on Steam: Can't beat the price
- The best indie games on PC: Also many of the best games period
- 14 underappreciated recent games: Great games you might've missed
Best games by genre
Find our selection of the best PC games just a bit too broad? Our genre lists have curated recommendations for RPGs, racing, strategy, and more.
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