Not sure what to play next on your PC? You're in the right place. This list covers 30 of the best games you can play right now in 2026 — from massive open-world adventures to tight, story-driven indies. We've picked games that are fun, well-made, and worth your time, whether you just built a new gaming PC or you're looking for something new to play on the one you already have.
The list is ranked from #1 (our top pick) down to #30. Let's get into it.
1. Baldur's Gate 3
Developer: Larian Studios | Publisher: Larian Studios | Release Date: August 3, 2023 | Genre: RPG
Baldur's Gate 3 puts you in charge of a small group of adventurers trying to survive a brain parasite infestation in the world of Dungeons & Dragons. Built on the actual 5th Edition D&D ruleset, it lets you build your character from scratch, choosing your race, class, and background before setting off on a journey through the Sword Coast. You can play it solo or bring in up to three friends for full online co-op, and almost everything you do — how you fight, what you say, who you help or betray — changes how the story unfolds around you.
What makes it stand out is just how much freedom you're given. Fights can be won with swords and spells, sure, but just as often you can talk, sneak, or trick your way out of a confrontation entirely. Combat itself is turn-based and genuinely tactical, rewarding clever use of terrain, elemental effects, and party positioning. A single playthrough can easily take dozens of hours, and much of the content is easy to miss on a first run — companions have their own hidden storylines, and major choices can lock you out of whole areas. It's widely considered one of the best RPGs ever made, and it's easy to see why once you start playing.
2. Red Dead Redemption 2
Developer: Rockstar Studios | Publisher: Rockstar Games | Release Date: November 5, 2019 (PC) | Genre: Action-adventure
Red Dead Redemption 2 tells the story of Arthur Morgan, an outlaw and member of the Van der Linde gang, as the gang's grip on its old way of life slips away in the final days of the American frontier. It's a prequel to the original Red Dead Redemption, and it's a slow-paced game that rewards patience — you'll spend as much time hunting, fishing, cooking over a campfire, and talking to strangers on the road as you will in shootouts and heists.
The world is the real star here. Every town, forest, swamp, and mountain range feels handcrafted down to the smallest detail, with weather, wildlife, and NPC routines all reacting believably to what you do. The characters you meet along the way, especially the members of your own gang, are some of the best-written in any game, and the story builds toward one of the most emotionally devastating endings in modern gaming. On PC, it looks even sharper than on consoles, with higher graphical settings, longer draw distances, and other technical enhancements, making it one of the most visually stunning open-world games you can play today.
3. Cyberpunk 2077
Developer: CD Projekt Red | Publisher: CD Projekt | Release Date: December 10, 2020 | Genre: Action RPG
Cyberpunk 2077 had a rough launch, but years of major updates and the excellent Phantom Liberty expansion have turned it into one of the best RPGs on PC. You play as V, a mercenary trying to survive in Night City, a massive, neon-soaked metropolis packed with side stories, warring gangs, and corporate conspiracies, all while racing against the clock to remove the Relic, a prototype biochip containing the digital engram of Johnny Silverhand.
The game lets you build your character however you like — sneak past enemies using stealth and hacking, go loud with a full arsenal of guns, or lean into cybernetic augments that let you dash, double-jump, or tear doors off their hinges. Night City itself is dense and vertical in a way few open worlds manage, with distinct districts that each have their own look and feel, and along the way V has to contend with the digital ghost of Johnny Silverhand, a rockstar-terrorist engram slowly overwriting their mind. The Phantom Liberty expansion, which adds a whole new spy-thriller storyline featuring Idris Elba, is widely regarded as some of CD Projekt Red's best writing yet, and it's a big part of why the game has been so thoroughly rehabilitated in the eyes of players and critics alike.
4. Elden Ring
Developer: FromSoftware | Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment | Release Date: February 25, 2022 | Genre: Action RPG
Elden Ring takes the tough, deliberate combat FromSoftware is known for from games like Dark Souls and drops it into a massive open world you're free to explore however you like. There are no quest markers telling you exactly where to go — you just wander, follow your curiosity, and figure things out through exploration, item descriptions, and the occasional cryptic hint from an NPC.
It's a difficult game, and you will die a lot, but that difficulty is the whole point. Every boss you finally beat after a dozen attempts, and every hidden catacomb or legendary weapon you stumble across while just exploring, feels genuinely earned in a way scripted games rarely manage. The open-world structure also means you're never stuck — if one boss is giving you trouble, you can simply go explore somewhere else and come back stronger later. With the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion adding an entire new region on top of the base game, this is one of the richest, most rewarding games you can play on PC right now.
5. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Developer: CD Projekt Red | Publisher: CD Projekt | Release Date: May 19, 2015 | Genre: RPG
The Witcher 3 follows Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter for hire, as he searches for his adopted daughter Ciri across a war-torn fantasy world loosely based on Slavic folklore and Eastern European history. What sets it apart is its side quests — even ones that seem minor at first, like investigating a haunted house or helping a village deal with a local curse, often turn into surprisingly detailed stories with real emotional weight instead of feeling like filler content.
The world is huge, gorgeously designed, and filled with morally complicated characters and choices that actually ripple outward and matter, sometimes not showing their consequences until dozens of hours later. Combat blends swordplay with a set of magical signs, and Geralt's alchemy system lets you brew potions and oils to prepare for specific monster hunts. Years after release, it's still considered one of the best RPGs ever made, and it holds up remarkably well today, especially with its two substantial expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, both included in the definitive edition.
6. Forza Horizon 6
Developer: Playground Games | Publisher: Xbox Game Studios | Release Date: May 19, 2026 | Genre: Racing
Forza Horizon 6 takes the series to a fictionalized version of Japan, featuring the largest open world in the series so far, including a recreation of Tokyo City that Playground Games says is five times larger than Guanajuato, the biggest city featured in Forza Horizon 5, making it the largest urban area the series has produced so far. You start out as a tourist and work your way up through the ranks of the Horizon Festival, racing across neon-lit streets, mountain passes, and the countryside on your way to becoming a Legend.
A new feature called Car Meets lets you connect with other players in dedicated social spaces inspired by real Japanese car culture, adding a layer of community that past Horizon games didn't really have. The game also brings back a dynamic seasonal weather system that changes the way the world looks and drives as you play. With more than 550 licensed cars to collect and customize, gorgeous visuals, and silky-smooth handling, it's already being called one of the best-looking and most polished entries in the series yet.
7. Resident Evil Requiem
Developer: Capcom | Publisher: Capcom | Release Date: February 27, 2026 | Genre: Survival horror
Resident Evil Requiem follows two characters whose separate investigations eventually collide: Grace Ashcroft, an FBI analyst looking into a string of mysterious deaths at a hotel, and Leon S. Kennedy, the long-running series hero, back in his first major appearance in years. It's a major new entry in the franchise, built once again on Capcom's RE Engine, and it's set in a devastated version of Raccoon City, including familiar locations from the series' history.
The game splits its horror and action elements between its two leads, so you get a mix of slow, genuinely unnerving exploration during Grace's sections and more combat-driven, high-tension sequences when you're playing as Leon. You can also switch between a first-person and third-person perspective depending on how you want to experience the scares. Since launch, it has racked up some of the best user scores in the series' history and had surpassed 6 million copies sold within about three weeks, and Capcom has since confirmed additional story content is in development, which says a lot about how well it's been received.
8. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Developer: Sandfall Interactive | Publisher: Kepler Interactive | Release Date: April 24, 2025 | Genre: RPG
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG set in a fantasy world inspired by Belle Époque France, where a mysterious, godlike figure called the Paintress wakes once a year to paint a number on her monolith — and everyone that age instantly vanishes. You join Expedition 33, a group of fighters whose entire mission is to reach the Paintress and stop the cycle for good before their own time runs out.
Its combat blends classic turn-based RPG structure with real-time dodging, parrying, and aimed attacks, creating a combat system that feels both familiar and distinctly its own, so battles stay tense and active instead of just watching menus play out. Combined with its striking Belle Époque art direction, an outstanding orchestral soundtrack, and a surprisingly emotional story about grief and mortality, it quickly became one of the most acclaimed and talked-about RPGs of the past two years, topping numerous "best of the year" lists.
9. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Developer: Warhorse Studios | Publisher: Deep Silver | Release Date: February 4, 2025 | Genre: Action RPG
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II continues the story of Henry, a blacksmith's son turned reluctant warrior, as he travels with his friend Sir Hans Capon through a Bohemia torn apart by real 15th-century civil war. It's a direct sequel that picks up right where the first game's cliffhanger left off, and the map is twice the size of the original, spread across two large, freely explorable regions.
This is a game that leans hard into realism, and it rewards genuine patience. Sword fighting uses a directional combat system that takes real practice to master, lockpicking and pickpocketing are skill-based mini-games rather than simple prompts, and NPCs remember how you've treated them and react accordingly. The sequel also adds new tools like crossbows and early firearms that weren't in the first game. If you stick with it, you're rewarded with one of the most immersive and historically detailed open worlds in any RPG on PC, and its success speaks for itself — the game crossed 1 million copies sold within its first 24 hours and passed 2 million in under two weeks.
10. Black Myth: Wukong
Developer: Game Science | Publisher: Game Science | Release Date: August 20, 2024 | Genre: Action RPG
Black Myth: Wukong is based on Journey to the West, one of the most famous stories in Chinese literature, casting you as the Destined One, a staff-wielding monkey warrior on a quest to recover six relics connected to Sun Wukong's powers and legacy. Combat is fast and acrobatic, mixing heavy staff strikes with the ability to transform into different creatures and enemies mid-fight, giving you a surprising amount of tactical flexibility against the game's many, often massive bosses.
The game's biggest strength is its visual design — its environments and enemies draw heavily from Chinese mythology and folklore, and it's rendered with a level of detail that made it an instant benchmark for what Unreal Engine 5 can do. It became one of the most-wishlisted games on Steam in the months leading up to launch, reflecting the huge anticipation surrounding it going into release. It's a genuinely challenging action RPG in the vein of Dark Souls, but with its own distinct rhythm, and it remains one of the best-looking games currently available on PC.
11. Alan Wake 2
Developer: Remedy Entertainment | Publisher: Epic Games Publishing | Release Date: October 27, 2023 | Genre: Survival horror
Alan Wake 2 splits its story between two characters: Saga Anderson, an FBI agent investigating a series of ritualistic murders, and Alan Wake himself, a writer trapped for thirteen years in a nightmarish alternate dimension called the Dark Place. It's a direct sequel to the 2010 original and shares its universe with Remedy's other game, Control, so fans of that world will spot plenty of connections along the way.
The game blends live-action video footage with in-game visuals in a way few other titles attempt, creating a genuinely unsettling, dreamlike atmosphere that shifts constantly as the story unfolds. Combat leans on a light-and-shadow mechanic where you have to burn away enemies' protective darkness with a flashlight before you can hurt them, while puzzle-solving ties directly into Alan's ability to rewrite reality using his own manuscript pages. It's one of the most stylistically ambitious horror games in recent memory, and a must-play if you enjoy stories that keep you constantly guessing.
12. God of War Ragnarök
Developer: Santa Monica Studio, Jetpack Interactive (PC port) | Publisher: PlayStation Publishing LLC | Release Date: September 19, 2024 (PC) | Genre: Action-adventure
God of War Ragnarök continues the story of Kratos and his now-teenage son Atreus as they prepare for Ragnarök, the prophesied end of the world in Norse mythology. It builds directly on the excellent combat and storytelling of 2018's God of War, adding new weapons, more enemy variety, and noticeably more freedom in how you approach each fight.
What really stands out is the relationship between Kratos and Atreus, which the writing treats with real care — their bond, and the tension between Kratos's instinct to protect and Atreus's need for independence, gives the whole story genuine emotional weight. The game also lets you explore all Nine Realms of Norse mythology, each with its own distinct look, culture, and side content. The PC version, brought over by Jetpack Interactive, runs great on modern hardware and includes support for ultrawide monitors and uncapped frame rates, making an already gorgeous game look even better.
13. Ghost of Tsushima
Developer: Sucker Punch Productions, Nixxes Software (PC port) | Publisher: PlayStation Publishing LLC | Release Date: May 16, 2024 (PC) | Genre: Action-adventure
Ghost of Tsushima puts you in the role of Jin Sakai, one of the last samurai on Tsushima Island, as he's forced to abandon the traditional code of the samurai and adopt more ruthless, unconventional tactics to repel a Mongol invasion in the 1270s. Combat is satisfying and deliberate, built around a stance system that lets you switch fighting styles on the fly depending on the enemy type you're facing, and every duel rewards good timing over button-mashing.
Rather than relying entirely on traditional map markers, the game guides you with the "Guiding Wind," a gust that blows toward your next objective, along with other environmental cues like birds and foxes leading you to secrets. That choice makes exploring feel far more natural and immersive than most open-world games. It's one of the most visually stunning games available on PC, praised for its striking use of color and light, and the story of Jin's transformation from honorable samurai to feared "Ghost" is genuinely compelling from start to finish.
14. Monster Hunter Wilds
Developer: Capcom | Publisher: Capcom | Release Date: February 28, 2025 | Genre: Action RPG
Monster Hunter Wilds sends you out into huge, seamlessly connected wild environments to track and hunt massive, often terrifying creatures, either solo or with friends in full cross-platform co-op. Unlike previous entries in the series, its regions are built as large, open, interconnected zones rather than a patchwork of separate hunting areas, so tracking a monster feels far more continuous, and dynamic weather events can change how a hunt plays out as you go.
The hunting itself is the main draw — monsters behave unpredictably, react to their environment, and sometimes fight each other, so every encounter can play out differently depending on the circumstances. Weapon variety remains a series strength, with more than a dozen distinct weapon types that each change how you approach combat entirely, from the nimble dual blades to the massive, slow-swinging greatsword. If you enjoy games built around mastering tough encounters through preparation and skill rather than raw stats, this is one of the best on PC right now.
15. Crimson Desert
Developer: Pearl Abyss | Publisher: Pearl Abyss | Release Date: March 19, 2026 | Genre: Action-adventure
Crimson Desert is a large, open-world action-adventure game set on the continent of Pywel, where you play as Kliff, a mercenary trying to rebuild his fallen faction, the Greymanes, while getting pulled into a much larger conflict. Combat is physical and grounded, with real weight and impact behind every swing, block, and dodge, closer in feel to a Soulslike than a typical open-world action game.
The world is genuinely massive, spanning everything from bustling cities and icy tundras to scorching deserts and dense forests, all built around a strong sense of exploration and discovery. The story also gives you choices that can affect how Kliff interacts with the people and factions around him. As one of 2026's biggest new releases, it's already earning praise for its scale and combat, making it a strong pick for fans of big, ambitious open-world adventures.
16. DOOM Eternal
Developer: id Software | Publisher: Bethesda Softworks | Release Date: March 20, 2020 | Genre: FPS
DOOM Eternal is a fast, relentlessly aggressive first-person shooter that rewards constant movement and smart weapon switching over hiding behind cover. You play as the Doom Slayer, tearing through hordes of demons using a huge arsenal of guns, brutal melee glory kills, and tools like the flamethrower and chainsaw that double as resource generators mid-fight.
The game's "push forward" combat philosophy means standing still gets you killed fast — you're always meant to be moving, managing ammo, health, and armor by actively engaging enemies rather than retreating. Its level design leans heavily into fast platforming and verticality between fights, which was a bigger departure from the 2016 reboot than many expected, and it works brilliantly once it clicks. It's one of the most technically impressive and mechanically satisfying shooters on PC, and still a great showcase for what a high-end gaming rig can do with its frantic, high-frame-rate combat.
17. Resident Evil 4 (Remake)
Developer: Capcom | Publisher: Capcom | Release Date: March 24, 2023 | Genre: Survival horror
This remake rebuilds Capcom's classic 2005 original from the ground up using the RE Engine, keeping the tense, over-the-shoulder combat that made the original so influential while modernizing the controls, inventory management, and enemy AI for a modern audience. You play as Leon S. Kennedy, sent on a mission to rescue the president's kidnapped daughter from a remote, cult-infested Spanish village.
The pacing is noticeably tighter than the original, enemies react more intelligently and coordinate attacks, and the game does an excellent job balancing frantic combat encounters with quieter, genuinely tense stretches of exploration and resource management. New additions like the parry system and an expanded knife mechanic give combat more depth without losing what made the original feel so good. It's a rare case of a remake that improves on a beloved original in nearly every way, and it remains one of the best survival horror games you can play on PC today.
18. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Developer: Kojima Productions | Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment | Release Date: March 19, 2026 (PC) | Genre: Action-adventure
Death Stranding 2 continues the story of Sam Porter Bridges as he travels beyond America into Mexico and a vast, fractured Australia, reconnecting isolated communities through a new expanded network in a world still recovering from the mysterious Death Stranding event. It's a strange mix of delivery simulator, survival game, and stealth-action title, built around traversing genuinely difficult terrain while carrying precious, breakable cargo on your back.
The PC version brings the game's already striking, cinematic art direction and star-studded voice cast to a wider audience, with PC-typical enhancements like higher frame rates and broader display support layered on top. As in the original, other players' structures — bridges, ziplines, signposts — appear asynchronously in your own world, creating a strange sense of connection with people you'll never actually meet. If you enjoyed the strange, meditative pace of the first Death Stranding, this sequel expands on nearly everything that made it interesting, with more combat variety and a much larger world to traverse.
19. Hades II
Developer: Supergiant Games | Publisher: Supergiant Games | Release Date: September 25, 2025 | Genre: Roguelike / Action RPG
Hades II follows Melinoë, Princess of the Underworld and sister to Zagreus, the protagonist of the original Hades, as she fights her way through the Underworld and beyond to take down Chronos, the Titan of Time. Each run gives you a fresh set of weapons, Boons from the Greek gods, and story beats to piece together, so even repeated failures keep feeding new context into an ongoing, slowly unfolding narrative.
The combat builds on everything that made the first Hades great while adding new tools, like the ability to cast spells and set traps using Melinoë's witch abilities, giving runs a noticeably different rhythm from the original. The game spent roughly a year and a half in early access, first launching in that form for Windows in May 2024 and macOS in October 2024, before reaching its full 1.0 release in September 2025, with Supergiant using that time to refine pacing, balance, and content based directly on player feedback. Combined with the studio's usual excellent voice acting and hand-painted art style, it's a worthy sequel that expands on everything people loved about the first game without simply repeating it.
20. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Developer: FromSoftware | Publisher: Activision | Release Date: March 22, 2019 | Genre: Action-adventure
Sekiro drops the character-building and stat allocation of other FromSoftware games in favor of pure sword-fighting skill. You play as a shinobi known as Wolf, seeking revenge and a way to rescue his kidnapped lord in a fictionalized version of feudal Japan, and success depends almost entirely on learning enemy patterns and mastering the game's posture-based combat system.
Instead of a stamina bar governing dodges, combat here revolves around breaking an opponent's posture through well-timed deflects, eventually opening them up for a lethal strike. A grappling hook lets you move through the world with real verticality, and a resurrection mechanic lets you revive once mid-fight to turn a losing battle around. It's one of the toughest games on this list, but also one of the most rewarding once things click — every boss fight feels like a puzzle you solve with your hands rather than your inventory, and beating one is one of the most satisfying feelings in gaming.
21. Minecraft
Developer: Mojang Studios | Publisher: Xbox Game Studios | Release Date: November 18, 2011 (Java Edition) | Genre: Sandbox
Minecraft lets you build, explore, and survive in a blocky, procedurally generated world with essentially no limits on what you can create. In Survival mode you gather resources, craft tools, and fend off monsters that come out at night; in Creative mode you get unlimited materials and the ability to fly, turning the game into a pure building tool used to recreate anything from castles to working computers.
Mojang regularly ships free content updates that add new biomes, mobs, and mechanics to the official game, and on top of that, the PC-native Java Edition has an enormous community-made modding scene that goes even further, so there's always something new to try even more than fourteen years after launch. The game also supports massive multiplayer servers, ranging from small survival worlds with friends to enormous public communities with their own economies and rules. It remains one of the most flexible and creative games ever made, welcoming to players of any age or skill level, and it's still one of the best-selling video games of all time.
22. Grand Theft Auto V
Developer: Rockstar North | Publisher: Rockstar Games | Release Date: April 14, 2015 (PC) | Genre: Action-adventure
Grand Theft Auto V follows three very different criminals — retired bank robber Michael, street hustler Franklin, and unhinged loose cannon Trevor — as they pull off increasingly ambitious heists across Los Santos, a massive, detailed recreation of Southern California. Switching between characters mid-mission, sometimes mid-action, keeps the story feeling fresh and lets Rockstar tell a much larger, more varied crime story than a single protagonist could.
The open world is packed with things to do outside the main story, from side activities like golf and tennis to a stock market you can manipulate for profit. Years after launch, GTA Online continues to receive substantial new content and updates, keeping millions of players active in its own persistent open world of heists, races, and businesses, and the game itself has since received a free GTA V Enhanced upgrade for existing PC players, bringing improved visuals and performance to modern hardware. Combined with the strength of the original story mode and the game's dark sense of humor, it's a game that's aged remarkably well and still holds up as one of the best open-world experiences on PC.
23. ARC Raiders
Developer: Embark Studios | Publisher: Embark Studios | Release Date: October 30, 2025 | Genre: Extraction shooter
ARC Raiders drops you into a hostile, robot-filled surface world where you scavenge for resources while trying to avoid both dangerous machine enemies, known as ARC, and rival human players doing the same thing. Matches are genuinely tense — you can play solo or in a squad of up to three, and if you die before extracting, you lose everything you were carrying, which keeps every decision feeling meaningful.
The gunplay is tight and grounded, closer to a tactical shooter than an arcade one, and the game's map design encourages careful movement, scouting, and knowing when to fight versus when to retreat. Regular content updates have continued to expand the game after launch, keeping the community engaged well past its debut. It's quickly become one of the standout multiplayer shooters of the past year, especially for players who enjoy high-stakes, tactical gameplay over more casual, respawn-heavy shooters.
24. Helldivers 2
Developer: Arrowhead Game Studios | Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment | Release Date: February 8, 2024 | Genre: Co-op shooter
Helldivers 2 is a chaotic, third-person online multiplayer shooter where you deploy to hostile planets, solo or in squads of up to four, to fight off alien threats in the name of "managed democracy," a satirical stand-in propaganda machine that runs through everything in the game. There's no traditional offline or split-screen mode — even playing "alone," you're connected to the same live online galactic war as everyone else. Friendly fire is on by default, and calling in support weapons and airstrikes from orbit leads to just as much chaos among your own squad as it does among the enemy.
The game leans hard into its over-the-top, propaganda-style satire, with in-game news broadcasts and loading screens playing everything completely straight, while still delivering genuinely fun, tense combat that scales well whether you're playing with one or two friends or a full squad of four. A live, evolving Galactic War connects individual missions to the broader campaign shared by the entire player base. It's one of the best games to play with friends right now, mixing humor, cooperative strategy, and non-stop action in a way few other shooters manage.
25. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Developer: GSC Game World | Publisher: GSC Game World | Release Date: November 20, 2024 | Genre: Survival horror FPS
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 sends you into the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone as Skif, a veteran of the Ukrainian Marine Corps who ends up smuggled into the Zone seeking work after his own apartment is destroyed by an anomaly, only to get pulled into a much bigger mystery involving anomalies, mutated creatures, and rival factions fighting over scarce resources. It's the first mainline entry in the series in fifteen years, rebuilt from the ground up on Unreal Engine 5, and its development was directly affected by the real-life war in Ukraine, which delayed the game multiple times.
Survival here isn't easy — ammo, medical supplies, and even basic safety are never guaranteed, and radiation, anomalies, and emissions can kill you just as fast as any mutant or rival stalker. The game's unpredictable AI and oppressive, atmospheric sound design make the Zone feel genuinely alive and dangerous in a way few other games manage, with factions that fight each other independent of anything you're doing. It's a demanding, slow-burn experience, but one that rewards players looking for a true survival challenge over a more forgiving shooter.
26. Lies of P
Developer: Neowiz Games, Round8 Studio | Publisher: Neowiz | Release Date: September 19, 2023 | Genre: Action RPG (Soulslike)
Lies of P reimagines the story of Pinocchio as a dark, gothic action RPG set in the collapsing, mechanized city of Krat, with tough combat clearly inspired by games like Bloodborne and Elden Ring. You play as Pinocchio, fighting through hordes of berserk puppets while a "Lie System" tracks the choices you make, subtly shaping the story and even which ending you get based on how honest you choose to be.
Its standout feature is a deep weapon-crafting system that lets you mix and match blades and handles from dozens of different weapons to build a fighting style that suits you, whether that's a fast, nimble build or a slow, hard-hitting one. Pinocchio's mechanical Legion Arm also gives you a set of special abilities, from a grappling hook to a flamethrower, that add real tactical variety to fights. Combined with genuinely creative boss designs, it's one of the best Soulslike games made outside of FromSoftware, and a strong pick for fans of the genre.
27. Hollow Knight: Silksong
Developer: Team Cherry | Publisher: Team Cherry | Release Date: September 4, 2025 | Genre: Metroidvania
Hollow Knight: Silksong follows Hornet, a supporting character from the original Hollow Knight, after she's captured and taken to Pharloom, an unfamiliar kingdom ruled by silk and song, where she must fight her way to its peak while uncovering its buried secrets. It keeps the tight, punishing 2D combat and exploration the first game was known for, while introducing new abilities like a glide move and a noticeably faster, more aggressive playstyle built around Hornet's needle.
The game is bigger than its predecessor in almost every way, with a large roster of enemies and dozens of boss fights spread across a huge, interconnected map full of secrets, hidden paths, and optional areas. After a genuinely legendary six-year wait that became something of a running joke across the gaming community, Team Cherry delivers the same kind of moody, hand-drawn atmosphere and clever level design that made the original one of the best games of its generation. It's easily one of the best Metroidvania games you can currently play on PC.
28. Hades
Developer: Supergiant Games | Publisher: Supergiant Games | Release Date: September 17, 2020 | Genre: Roguelike / Action RPG
Hades casts you as Zagreus, son of the god of the underworld, trying to fight his way out of Hell to reach the surface world above. Every attempt ends in death, sending you right back to the House of Hades, but each run brings new weapons, powerful Boons granted by the Olympian gods, and fresh story dialogue, so even a failed run never feels like a waste of time.
Its combat is fast, precise, and satisfying across six very different weapons, each of which can be built out in wildly different directions depending on which gods' Boons you pick up along the way. The way its story unfolds gradually, with characters commenting on your specific deaths and remembering past conversations, is one of the smartest uses of the roguelike format in any game, turning repetition into genuine narrative progress. Even years after release, and with a sequel now out, it remains one of the best games in its genre and a great entry point if you've never tried a roguelike before.
29. Split Fiction
Developer: Hazelight Studios | Publisher: Electronic Arts | Release Date: March 6, 2025 (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S) | Genre: Action-adventure / Platformer
Split Fiction is a two-player-only co-op game about Mio and Zoe, two aspiring authors — one writing sci-fi, one writing fantasy — who get trapped inside a machine designed to steal their creative work, forcing them to fight their way out through their own imagined stories. From the team behind It Takes Two, it keeps that game's constant sense of invention, with almost every level introducing a brand-new mechanic you'll likely never see again.
Across a single playthrough you'll fly on the backs of dragons, swim as mermaids through underwater ruins, challenge a monkey to a dance battle, and ride hoverboards through a neon-lit cityscape, all built specifically around two people working together rather than one player carrying the experience. The game includes a Friend's Pass, which lets a second player join in for free without owning their own copy, making it one of the easiest and most generous co-op games to actually get a friend to play with you. It's a great pick if you're looking for something genuinely fun and inventive to play with someone else.
30. Disco Elysium
Developer: ZA/UM | Publisher: ZA/UM | Release Date: October 15, 2019 | Genre: RPG
Disco Elysium puts you in the shoes of a detective who wakes up with total amnesia in a rundown hotel room, tasked with solving a murder while slowly piecing together who he even is. There's no combat anywhere in the game — instead, every interaction, from interrogations to simply trying to get out of bed, is handled through dialogue and skill checks tied to 24 different aspects of your personality, some of which will straight-up argue with you in your own head.
The writing is sharp, darkly funny, and often surprisingly emotional, tackling ideas about politics, addiction, and identity with a level of depth rarely seen in games, all set against the beautifully painted, decaying backdrop of the city of Revachol. Choices genuinely shape how the story plays out, from which political ideology your detective leans into to whether he manages to piece his life back together at all. It's one of the smartest, most original RPGs ever made, and a must-play if you enjoy games that prioritize story, character, and ideas over action.
That wraps up our list of the 30 best PC games to play in 2026. Whether you're after a huge open world to lose yourself in or a tight, story-driven game you can finish in a weekend, there's something here for you. Got a favorite that didn't make the cut? Let us know in the comments.