As we finish the first quarter of 2024 and prepare for another great year of new and promising games, the time has come once again to refresh IGN’s list of the 25 Best Modern PC Games. But what do we mean by “best?” To be very clear, this is not an attempt at an “objective” ranking that will indisputably line up with the tastes of gamers of all types. That, sadly, can never exist; when one person’s grand strategy masterpiece is another’s boring and impenetrable slog, they’ll never see eye to eye on where that game should rank against others of different genres. Even the personal lists of two people who love the same type of game will rarely line up exactly.
Instead, this is a list of games that IGN’s crew of self-identifying PC gamers recommend as a group, ranked using our Face-Off tool so that everybody got to weigh in on which games they thought should be placed above others. It’s presented in the spirit of recognizing games we love, and encouraging others to try them if you haven’t.
With only 25 slots to fill, there are tons of amazing recent PC games that didn’t float to the top – but that doesn’t mean we don’t think they’re awesome, too! Everybody who participated in voting has tons of personal favorites that didn’t gain quite enough traction with the group to make the cut, which is inevitable when there are this many games and so many different perspectives.
Bear in mind that our criteria for this list narrowed the pool down to focus on “modern” PC games, which means it only covers games released or majorly updated during the past 10 years – in this case, back to the beginning of 2013. 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 more, but they’ve graduated from modern to all-time classics. To find those you’ll need to check out our list of the Top 100 Games of All Time – or our other lists that strive to capture the best of a given genre.
Most importantly, remember that this list is just our group’s perspective and is no more “right” or “wrong” than a list that you create yourself. Speaking of which: if you have your own ranking you’d like to put out into the world, we’d like to invite you to make your own top 25 (or top 100!) list of PC games using our Playlist tool and share it in the comments.
Most recent game updates were made on March 21, 2024.
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25. Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight is one of the best modern Metroidvania’s around. It’s beautiful, expansive, and full of delightful secrets to discover that can keep you playing for dozens of hours. The kingdom of Hallownest is a brutal one, and Hollow Knight doesn’t ease you into it. That may have caused a lot of people to bounce off of it initially – but when it finally gets its hooks in you it’s irresistibly hard to put down.
Sprawling caves open up and offer multiple paths to you at any given time, but no matter which way you go there are exciting bosses to fight and significant power-ups to make you stronger. And even though it was already a massive game, Hollow Knight has only gotten bigger since its launch in early 2017. Developer Team Cherry released multiple free updates with new areas and bosses, each harder than the last. But whether you just want to get to the credits, find the true ending, or push even farther than that, Hallownest is a world worth exploring.
The sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, was supposed to be released in the first half of 2023, but Team Cherry delayed it further due to ongoing development. Will 2024 be the year we finally get more Hollow Knight?
Check out our Hollow Knight review.
24. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
For many younger fans, From Software may be known primarily for its work with the Souls series. But for the elders, the studio won over hearts and minds with the sci-fi mecha action of Armored Core. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon manages to take the tried-and-true fundamentals of the classic series and combine them with the learnings and experience gained over the years of developing the Souls series.
The result is an action-packed, at times brutally difficult, but also carefully calculated action game that rewards smart preparation as much as it does your twitch reflex skills, with some of the most outstanding boss encounters we’ve seen in a long time.
Check out our Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon review.
23. Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered
Not since the Batman: Arkham series has a game so effectively distilled the power fantasy of a fan-favorite superhero and injected it so expertly into our eyeballs. Spider-Man Remastered may be native to the PlayStation 5, but on a high-end PC you can push it even farther than what a console can muster and experience swinging around in the open world of New York City, plus Spidey’s free-flowing combat and a fantastic story, all with the ray tracing wizardry pushed to the limit.
Check out our Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered review.
22. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Standing tall as one of the strongest single-player shooters in recent memory, Machine Games’ Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus turned the rebooted Nazi-killing rampage series into a character-driven story that gave BJ Blaskowitz not only a wonderfully satisfying arsenal of alternate-history weaponry, but added new dimension to him as a person and introduced a fantastically evil villain in the gleefully sad*stic General Engel. This cautionary tale of fascism conquering America has only become more relevant in the time since it came out in 2017.
Check out our Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus review.
21. Final Fantasy XIV
In short, Final Fantasy XIV is not just the best MMO you can play right now, it’s a fantastic Final Fantasy game in its own right. Through its relaunch and subsequent four expansions, FFXIV has slowly morphed from a relatively generic good-versus-evil plot into a sprawling, political, and fantastical thriller. The latest expansion, Endwalker, brings a satisfying conclusion to the game’s now 8+ year storyline, returning some familiar faces, settling old scores, and of course saving the world from the greatest calamity yet.
Don’t be scared away by the fact that it’s online. Despite being an MMO, Square-Enix has streamlined things so much that, if you don’t want to, you really don’t have to play with other people. Story missions are intended to be tackled solo, and even instanced dungeons now have an option for you to enter with computer-controlled party members instead of forcing you into a group with strangers. Of course, it’s also a fully-fleshed MMO with end-game raiding that ranges from totally accessible to maddeningly punishing.
Final Fantasy XIV’s Dawntrail expansion launches July 2.
Check out our Final Fantasy XIV review.
20. Final Fantasy VII Remake
It’s hard to define Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Recreating the opening hours of the original RPG as a full-blown action game in downright gorgeous style, it isn’t afraid to play with those iconic characters and the story around them in ways that often feel more like a sequel than a remake. But no matter what path this seemingly new series continues blaze, and however you want to label FF7R, one thing is for sure: whatever this is absolutely rules.
Its combat is some of the best around, the city of Midgar is dense and stunning, and its characters are lovable recreations of the low-poly people fans fell in love with years ago. It may not be the faithful reimagining some were hoping for, but it’s also loaded with enough nostalgia that it’s hard to be too mad about that. FF7R not only brought the original back to life, it set the stage for a whole new adventure that’s just as exciting.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is available now.
Check out our Final Fantasy VII review.
19. Resident Evil 4 Remake
Simultaneously one of the newest games on this list and also the oldest, the 2023 remake of 2005’s Resident Evil 4 took everything that made the original a standout action-horror classic and modernized it to thrill present-day gamers just as much as it had those who always saw it through rose-tinted glasses. Rebuilt from the ground up, it builds tension with high-intensity combat against a ferocious cast of creatures and brings the Resident Evil world to life with rich detail as the story rapidly guides you through a series of unwaveringly impressive action sequences. There’ve been many games that have attempted to evoke RE4’s style over the years, but none that nailed it quite as well as this.
Check out our Resident Evil 4 Remake review.
18. God of War
God of War made a huge impact when it launched as a PlayStation exclusive in 2018, even taking home IGN’s Game of the Year award. But its greatness didn’t hinge on its platform, and its arrival on Steam in early 2022 opened it up to a whole new audience – one that should absolutely take the opportunity to play it if they haven’t before.
This reinvention of the classic series is truly fantastic, all the way from its excellent and challenging combat to the incredibly touching story that weaves it together. It’s gorgeously presented and thorough in its detail, taking advantage of its roots while innovating on them in a way that feels fresh again. It’s a true standout from the last decade, and it absolutely deserves to be counted amongst other PC greats now that it’s here.
The highly anticipated sequel, God of War: Ragnarok, is now available on PS5 and PS4. IGN awarded it a 10/10 review score and named it the Best Action-Adventure Game of 2022. See our guide to the God of War games in order for more on the series.
Check out our God of War review.
17. Doom (2016)
One of the greatest reimaginings of a classic game ever made, the 2016 reboot of Doom held nothing back as it launched us face-first into a horde of space demons and invited us to rip and tear them to shreds, then feast upon the glowing bits that popped out so that we could do it again and again. While the sequel, Doom Eternal, arguably improved on the combat by making it even more technical, for us nothing beats the relative simplicity of the satisfying slug-fests of Doom.
This wildly aggressive style of single-player action felt like it broke first-person shooters out of a rut – the year before had seen Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Battlefield Hardline, Halo 5: Guardians, and Star Wars Battlefront, all of which focused on multiplayer and didn’t age especially well. Doom, however, has become even easier to appreciate with how well it holds up, and it’s hard not to notice its influence in the games that’ve come along since.
Check out our Doom (2016) review.
16. Hitman: World of Assassination
Seeing as it collects all of the deviously designed scenarios from Io Interactive’s recent Hitman trilogy under one banner, Hitman: World of Assassination is too good to pass up. With all of the rich, rewarding, and highly replayable sandboxes at your fingertips, there’s virtually no end to the cold-blooded and often hilarious trouble you can cause as Agent 47. Tracking down a multitude of surprising and imaginative assassination opportunities requires examining every nook and cranny, carefully observing every NPC’s behavior, and making full use of every piece of gear and weapon – and getting away with a perfect hit with no one even knowing you were there is one of gaming’s biggest and most satisfying thrills.
Check out our Hitman 3/World of Assassination review.
15. Nier: Automata
Technical problems with the PC version kept Nier Automata off of this list in the past, but with Steam’s user reviews now giving a “Very positive” all-clear its popularity with the IGN staff has powered it into a strong position. This action-RPG opus delivers a ridiculously entertaining journey full of awesome ideas that is equal parts strange and beautiful. There are few games like it in the way that it bounces between genres and styles with aplomb, offering a roller coaster of different gameplay opportunities, wrapped up in a fascinating futuristic dystopia story with many possible endings, encouraging us to poke into every corner of its engrossing world. Couple that with frenzied combat and an unforgettable soundtrack, and it’s more than worth checking out if you missed it.
Check out our Nier: Automata review.
14. Half-Life: Alyx
Valve’s first Half-Life game in 13 years reminded us of the signature innovation that’s made this series so special, and why its return was so anticipated. Just as the first Half-Life proved you could tell a compelling story in a first-person game without taking control of the camera away, and Half-Life 2 pioneered physics-based puzzles and combat, Half-Life: Alyx set a new standard for polish in virtual reality shooters and is a truly unique experience. It's so impressive, in fact, that we believe fully justifies investing in a VR headset for your PC if you haven't already (especially now that a Meta Quest 2 can be had for less than $300 and connects to your PC wirelessly via Air Link).
Alyx's full-length campaign pulls out all the stops for an amazing and horrifying battle against aliens and zombies where the simple act of reloading your weapon becomes a desperate life-or-death struggle as headcrabs leap toward your actual face. Other VR games have great shooting, but even more than a year later nothing has yet matched Valve's level of detail. Clever three-dimensional puzzles and excellent and often funny performances from its cast break up the action, and it's all capped off with a fantastic ending that made the decade-plus we had to wait for the third coming of Half-Life almost feel worth it.
Check out our Half-Life: Alyx review.
13. The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
The Stanley Parable was a triumph when it first came out back in 2013, pointedly messing with player expectations and tried-and-true video game tropes through hilariously written and read narration. Its Ultra Deluxe version from 2022 provides a nice visual refresh on the surface, but its greatest trick is how it hides an entire sequel’s worth of new content just below. Instead of poking fun at games as a whole, it allows its gags to stay impressively relevant by setting its sights on the unsettling rise of DLC since the original. The result is a definitive version of a fantastic game for newcomers and what is essentially a brand new one for returning fans, turning the incredibly difficult task of following up The Stanley Parable with pretty much anything at all into one that feels effortlessly clever.
Check our our The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe review.
12. Outer Wilds
Every 22 minutes, everything ends – and restarts again. The sands that had passed between twin planets go back to their original place, a planet that had fallen apart becomes whole, and you awaken to see a mysterious object in space break apart once again. In Outer Wilds, you live through those same 22 minutes until you can successfully solve the puzzle of why you're stuck in the time loop, among other mysteries, by exploring ruins left by a long-dead civilization across multiple planets.
This gorgeous, heartfelt space adventure is one of the best examples of video game exploration and discovery. Outer Wilds encourages you to hop into your spaceship and go wherever you want – or just stay on your home planet and see what's happening there. Should you feel lost or need a hint on what to do next, all of your activities and progress are saved to your ship's log, which helpfully tells you when there's still more to discover in an area.
The only thing limiting your curiosity is time, but even that can sometimes be your ally. The short expansion's puzzles are just as enjoyable as what you'll find in the rest of Outer Wilds, but the pervasive, menacing tension in Echoes of the Eye makes each step forward in the overall mystery feel even more rewarding.
Check out our Outer Wilds review.
11. Grand Theft Auto V / GTA Online
Grand Theft Auto V’s sprawling yet meticulously detailed map is still the high bar to which most open-world games aspire. Not only is it huge, it’s incredibly dense with excellent content – not just the driving and shooting and three-protagonist story that make up its campaign, and not limited to the numerous side activities, but all the sights, sounds, and bustling activity you'd expect to find in a city teeming with humans – seedy underbelly included. With so much to do, explore, and play with, both as a single-player PC game and Grand Theft Auto Online, plus great creative tools and mods, it’s truly amazing on multiple levels.
As for what’s next, Rockstar has officially confirmed GTA 6 will be released in 2025. It will feature a return to Vice City and star the series' first female playable character in a Bonnie & Clyde-inspired adventure. See our guide to the Grand Theft Auto series for more info.
Check out our Grand Theft Auto V review.
10. Dishonored 2
Arkane is known for many games, but – not to take anything away from the also-fantastic Prey and Deathloop – for our money, Dishonored 2 stands as its masterpiece. The darkly fantastical world of magic and intrigue that the original created is built upon in the thriving city of Karnaca, filled with convincing NPCs and towering Clockwork Soldiers that represent both dire threat and tempting opportunities if they can be turned against their masters.
Two separate playable characters – Corvo Attano and Emily Kaldwin – each have their own set of supernatural abilities, immediately doubling the original’s potential for creative and stealthy solutions as you thwart the latest coup attempt. An unforgettable series of 10 brilliantly designed levels, including the magnificent Clockwork Mansion, make it an absolutely compelling adventure to either kill or sneak your way through as you see fit.
Check out our Dishonored 2 review.
9. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen
XCOM 2 builds on the brilliant, high-stakes tactical combat that Firaxis reinvigorated with XCOM: Enemy Unknown back in 2012, and its War of the Chosen expansion made it even better. It features the same tension of going from a technologically inferior underdog to powerful war machine, amplified with the constant threat of the permanent deaths of your customized soldiers looming over every decision.
However, it turns the formula of defending Earth from alien invaders on its head by boldly recasting XCOM as a guerrilla force attempting to liberate the planet from alien occupation, making the situation feel even more desperate. This bigger, deeper sequel adds not just complexity in the form of new and more powerful soldier classes, equipment, and aliens, but also a huge focus on replayability. Procedurally generated maps keep you from falling into a repeatable pattern in tactical missions, frequent random events on the strategic map shake up your build and research orders, and of course, there are mods galore to change the rules whenever you like.
Check out our XCOM 2: War of the Chosen review.
8. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Deep, lengthy RPGs are a staple of PC gaming, and very few have put a larger chunk of sophisticated content forward than The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has. Its massive sandbox open-world areas impress, both in terms of scope and density; they’re generously dotted with great monsters to slay, tantalizing mysteries to solve, and personal stories to unfurl.
It’s also one of the most impressive overall productions in gaming history, with reams of excellently written dialogue performed by a stellar voice cast, an incredible original soundtrack, and graphics that qualify as both a technical and artistic achievement.
CD Projekt Red is working on a new Witcher trilogy, as well as an Unreal Engine 5 remake of The Witcher 1.
Check out our The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt review.
7. Cyberpunk 2077
This is the first time Cyberpunk 2077 has made our Best PC Games list. While it was arguably great on PC when it came out at the end of 2020, it wasn’t until CD Projekt Red launched the major 2.0 patch and the Phantom Liberty expansion in 2023 that you didn’t really have to argue anymore. Even more gorgeous than ever and with years of polish and refinement to its combat and skill systems, exploring the gleaming yet seedy open world of Night City stands apart from anything else out there.
Out of the box you’re in for more than 30 hours of the original story alongside Keanu Reeves as rockstar radical Johnny Silverhand, but when you include the spy-themed Phantom Liberty expansion you get another 20 starring Idris Elba as sleeper agent Solomon Reed. This chapter brings with it new and more interesting themes as it explores the intersection of capitalism, police states, and the mind-warping effects of near-future technology and human augmentation.
Check out our Cyberpunk 2077 review.
6. Red Dead Redemption 2
Arthur Morgan’s sprawling tale of loyalty, conviction, and the price of infamy is only the beginning of Red Dead Redemption 2. The marvelous PC port overhauled and further enhanced the gorgeous wild western atmosphere of Rockstar's most recent open-world adventure and added even more activities, unlockables, and impossibly fine details to its expansive map to what was already a massive game. It's possibly one of the biggest and best single-player PC games ever – and it has an extensive multiplayer mode, too.
The potential for hijinks within this enormous sandbox of towns, outlaws, and wildlife was already nearly limitless, but the PC version factors in new missions, treasures, gear, and more layered on top of the already 60+ hours of story content in the base game. That’s not even counting all the multiplayer bells and whistles included in Red Dead Online, to say nothing of the ability to expand and customize with mods. RDR2 on PC is handily a must-play for anyone with a rig beefy enough to run it – or even a Steam Deck.
Red Dead 2 cracked the top five on our updated list of the best open-world games. In just five years, it's also earned a spot on the list of the best-selling video games of all time.
Check out our Red Dead Redemption 2 review.
5. Elden Ring
In just the year and change since its release Elden Ring’s reputation has only grown, which is insane to even think about considering that its reputation right when it came out was “one of the best-reviewed games of all time.” It’s all deserved praise, because Elden Ring truly is a monumental achievement in the open-world and soulslike genres.
Its world is a wonder to explore, with memorable experiences, valuable rewards, and imposing boss fights covering nearly every square inch of its absolutely enormous map. The only thing that holds it back on this list is the fact that it still struggles a bit performance-wise on the PC. But that doesn’t stop it from being an easy pick for our top five best PC games of all time.
Elden Ring is one of the best-reviewed games in modern history, and was crowned Game of the Year by IGN and The Game Awards in 2022. Now in 2024, we’re only a few months away from the first Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree.
Check out our Elden Ring review.
4. Slay the Spire
In a roguelite, variety is king: Slay The Spire's constantly changing decks of ability cards, powerful and transformative relics, and the four drastically different playable characters keep these turn-based battles fresh and engaging for far longer than they have any right to. Watching your character's attacks, defenses, skills, and powers evolve across its three chapters is a journey, and throwing your hand in at the end of a run knowing you may never see its like again can be like saying goodbye to a friend you were only just getting to know.
Of course, the possibility of getting an even better combination the next time through makes it tough to resist hitting the New Game button, and the randomized Daily Climb runs give even veterans a new and interesting way to play every day. And there’s just something about the distinctive, hand-drawn art and odd lore of this weird and punishing world that feels welcoming every single time.
Check out our Slay the Spire review.
3. Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium took age-old CRPG mechanics and created something entirely modern with them. As well as transplanting the dice-rolls and deep dialogue options from Dungeons and Dragons into a lesser-seen noir-detective setting, it offers entirely original ways to play, such as such as debating against 24 different sections of your own brain, each representative of a different skill or trait.
Your down-and-out detective is thrust into circ*mstances where you must solve a murder, but as with all great stories it’s not the conclusion that is solely gratifying, but the journey through a ludicrously detailed world and cast of characters you took to get there. It’s all supported by some of the best writing seen in a game to date, and playing Disco Elysium feels entirely fresh and pretty much unlike anything else you’ll have experienced on PC in any era, let alone this one.
The sad part is that key members of the Disco Elysium development team are no longer with ZA/UM, making a Disco Elysium sequel unlikely. The fallout between those developers and ZA/UM has gotten quite messy.
Check out our Disco Elysium review.
2. Hades
Hades is the current gold standard of the roguelite genre, and it isn’t even close. From its exhilarating combat, to its incredible soundtrack, to its clever and well written narrative with characters that seemingly never run out of meaningful things to say, all the way to its deep and innovative post game that keeps you wanting to come back for more even after beating the last boss.
It may be incredibly difficult, but it never feels punishing in defeat. Dying is part of the fun, and actually comes with its own rewards in the form of new conversations with its fascinating cast of characters, new opportunities to purchase game changing upgrades, and an opportunity for a brand new run with a completely new set of godly boons that dramatically alter how you approach combat. Hades is a masterclass of roguelite design, and just another example of how Supergiant Games just doesn’t miss.
Hades 2 will enter Early Access exclusively on Steam and Epic Games Store in Q2 2024.
Check out our Hades review.
The 25 Best PC Games to Play Right Now
25 games that we, the IGN editors and contributors, collectively recommend the most, based on our own tastes, and all from within the past 10 years. Updated March 21, 2024.
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1. Baldur's Gate 3
Call it recency bias if you must, but IGN’s 2023 PC Game of The Year winner also takes the top spot in 2024’s Best PC Games list. Baldur’s Gate 3’s massive roleplaying adventure is both enormously ambitious in its scope and yet endearingly old-school in its style. Its storytelling is epic, stocked with memorable characters rendered in impressive detail, and a multitude of meaningful choices to make along with them. Its tactical combat is a throwback to the turn-based BioWare RPGs of old and loyal to its Dungeons & Dragons roots to the point where it can be quite intimidating to get into, but when you do you’re in for over 100 hours of all-thriller, no-filler questing.
Check out our Baldur's Gate 3 review.
Upcoming PC Games
No Rest for the Wicked (Early Access) releases April 18. This is followed by Phantom Fury, Rumble Club, and Tales of Kenzera: Zau on April 23; Another Crab's Treasure on April 25; and Sand Land on April 26.
Under Consideration – Recent Games
These highly rated 2024 games are too new for us to rank yet – we have to let the dust settle – but they and others will be included in the next round of voting the next time we update the list.
- Dragon’s Dogma 2
- Balatro
- Sons of the Forest
- Helldivers 2
- Persona 3 Reload
- Tekken 8
- Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Those are our picks for the 25 best modern PC games! Obviously there are dozens of incredible games we couldn't include, but that’s what happens when you only have 25 spots. Let us know in the comments what's on your list that didn't make ours, and be sure to check out our other best games lists — we update them whenever new, great games are made:
- Best PS5 Games
- Best Xbox Series X|S Games
- Best Switch Games
With contributions from Cristina Alexander.
