The best PC games right now
2022 is over halfway over, and despite some notable delays, it’s been a strong year for PC games. The release calendar for big budget games like Starfield has taken a beating, but there’s still been a lot to celebrate in 2022: a slick port of Monster Hunter Rise, gleeful destruction engine Teardown, backyard survival game Grounded, cosmic dreadfest Scorn, and, of course, that little game called Elden Ring.
2022 games: This year’s launches
Best free PC games: Freebie fest
Best laptop games: Low-specs
This list is specifically our answer to the question “What new PC games should I play right now?” with picks pulled from the best PC games of the year, old favorites we think now is a good time to revisit, and some 2022 hidden gems. It’s a reflection of what the PC Gamer team is playing right now, not a list of the all-time best games ever, although there’ll be overlap. (Our highest review score of 2022 is a 95%. Very few games have scored higher than that in PC Gamer’s nearly 30-year history.)
For a more comprehensive list of great PC games past and present, check out our annual Top 100 list of the best games on PC. We have some fresh picks for the best Steam Deck games if you have one of Valve’s handhelds on the way.
We also stay on top of the year’s calendar with our guide to the new games of 2022, organized by month.
Some good news related to this list: The graphics card shortage is finally easing up, which means it’s now possible to build a new gaming PC for a non-outrageous price. We have a guide to putting together an entry-level gaming PC for around $750, and we have some recommendations for pre-built PCs, too.
Icon key
Reference these emojis to narrow down what you’re looking for in our selection of the best PC games.
- 💻 = Suitable for low-end PCs
- 🙋♀️ = Singleplayer
- 🙋♀️🙋♀️ = Multiplayer
- 🎮 = Best with a controller
- 🆓 = Free-to-play
What we’re playing now
These are the games the PC Gamer team is currently playing: the up-to-the-minute (or at least, month) stuff on our Steam quick launch menus. You can see all of our recent game reviews here.
Elden Ring (90%) 🎮🙋♀️🙋♀️
Surprise, surprise: The latest fantasy gauntlet from Dark Souls creator FromSoftware is brilliant. The real treat of this enormous RPG is that it’s so open-ended, you can easily start up a second or third run to carry you through the quiet summer months.
Best of the best
These games aren’t all piping hot out of the oven, but some things get better with age. They’re the cream of the crop on PC, either scoring 90%+ in a review or appearing on our list of the Top 100 PC games. If you just want a damn fine PC game from the last several years, check these out.
- Disco Elysium (92%) 🙋♀️💻: Our 2019 Game of the Year and #1 best PC game for two years running.
- Crusader Kings 3 (94%) 🙋♀️🙋♀️💻: The king is dead, long live the king!
- Hitman 3 (90%) 🙋♀️: The art of assassination, polished as finely as Agent 47’s head.
- Slay the Spire (92%) 🙋♀️💻: The deckbuilding roguelike all others aspire to beat.
- Minecraft (96%) 💻🙋♀️🙋♀️: Build anything you can imagine, as long as it’s made of cubes.
- The Witcher 3 (92%) 🙋♀️: Still one of our all time favorite RPGs.
- Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker (89%)🙋♀️🙋♀️: An MMO we can’t get enough of.
- Total War: Warhammer 3 (90%) 🙋♀️🙋♀️: A brilliant final act with the series’ most inventive and unusual factions yet.
- Strange Horticulture (90%) 🙋♀️💻: A beautiful and engrossing detective game packed with mysteries, puzzles, plants, and intrigue.
- God of War (90%) 🙋♀️🎮: The best game on PS4 is now one of the best games on PC.
- Monster Hunter: Rise (90%) 🙋♀️🙋♀️💻: Arguably the greatest entry in Capcom’s flagship series, and a game that simply never stops giving.
- Forza Horizon 5 (90%) 🙋♀️🙋♀️🎮: Even a marginal improvement on the best racing series around is worth celebrating.
- Wildermyth (90%) 🙋♀️🙋♀️💻: Narrative design as genetic engineering, it will live in your head like an imaginary friend.
- Valheim 💻🙋♀️🙋♀️: A survival sandbox that rekindled our love for chopping, mining and building with stylish, savvy streamlining.
The best competitive multiplayer games right now
Apex Legends (93%) 🆓🙋♀️🙋♀️
One of our favorite current battle royale games. The map is fantastic, the ‘ping’ communication system is something every FPS should have from here on, the guns and movement are great fun (no wallrunning, but sliding down hills feels great).
Hunt: Showdown 🙋♀️🙋♀️
Quietly one of the best multiplayer games you can play today. Morgan elaborated on why last year: “When enjoyed with friends, Hunt is one of those games that seems to magically manufacture special moments.”
Rainbow Six Siege (90%) 🆓🙋♀️🙋♀️
Siege might lack the sharp hit detection and purity of CS:GO, but it’s a more accessible and modern FPS that rewards clever timing and coordinated teamwork as much as aim.
The best PC games by genre
Find our selection of the best PC games just a bit too broad? Perhaps you know you’re after a gripping story, or an intense racer, or the kind of sim you can spend a whole weekend playing like a second job. Our genre lists have curated recommendations for RPGs, racing, strategy, and more. Check ’em out:
