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.
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
October 20, 2025: Added Battlefield 6, and Arc Raiders may soon follow.
1. Battlefield 6
Released: October 2025 | Review: 82% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 100+ hours
You can skip the campaign, but otherwise, Battlefield's back. We have some quibbles (more closed weapons playlist please!) and wish there were more big maps at launch, but DICE and the other Battlefield Studios have pulled off the comeback they promised they would.
2. Hollow Knight: Silksong
Released: September 2025 | Review: 90% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 100+ hours
The enormously hyped sequel to 2017 metroidvania Hollow Knight has finally dropped. Hollow Knight: Silksong is by far the most played game among PC Gamer's staff right now. It's tough as nails, but worth it, Tyler Colp said in our 90% review: "Silksong can be ruthless, but it's hard to pry yourself away from its haunted little world that never seems to end."
3. Silent Hill f
Released: Sep 2025 | Review score: 90% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 15+ hours
"Silent Hill f isn't some spin-off or experiment for Konami to indoctrinate its players into performing perfect dodges or counters—it's the next step for the iconic horror series, which is finally dragging itself to new horizons," Elie said in their review.
4. Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles
Released: Sep 2025 | Review score: 91% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 20+ hours
'90s classic Final Fantasy Tactics is now on PC, and done well.
"Somebody pinch me," Kerry wrote in her review. "They've done it. They've actually done it: Not only can I finally play Final Fantasy Tactics on my PC, but this timeless classic has been done justice. It's not some old game hastily shoved in an emulation wrapper and sent out to die. It's not some brand new thing so polished and changed it feels ashamed of its heritage, either. It's simply everything I had hoped for."
5. Elden Ring: Nightreign
Released: May 2025 | Review score: 80% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 100+ 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.
I've popped Nightreign back up to the top of this list thanks to a new mode that dropped in September, which is sucking the PCG team's fans back in: Even after already putting 170 hours into Nightreign earlier this year, Elie has been hooked again.
6. Abiotic Factor
Released: July 2025 | Review: 92% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 100+ hours
One of our favorite survival games ever has left early access. Abiotic Factor is more or less the co-op survival version of Half-Life, sending you and your friends deep into a Black Mesa-style research facility full of interdimensional horrors and terrible ideas for meals.
"Deep Field Games takes the survival framework of Valheim and Project Zomboid and fully commits to the idea of nerds with zero survival skills and male pattern baldness thwarting an interdimensional apocalyptic invasion with nothing but office equipment, PhDs, and gallons of coffee," Morgan wrote in his glowing review.
Morgan isn't the only one on the PC Gamer team cooking up questionably edible lab meals with friends; we've collectively put over 100 hours into Abiotic Factor recently.
7. 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.
8. Baby Steps
Released: Sep 2025 | Review: 85% | Steam | PCG's recent playtime: 30+ hours
We've had a lot of praise for QWOP creator Bennett Foddy's latest, a truly weird "literal walking simulator," but it's admittedly sometimes hard to tell that we like it. Jody called the game "a Sisyphean challenge" in his positive review, and Shaun called it "a depressing, confrontational horror game about thwarted modern masculinity"—but also "a masterpiece, obviously."
9. 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.
10. 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.
More games we've been playing in October 2025
- Metal Gear Solid Delta: A successful remake of MGS3 (Steam)
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor: One of the best Vampire Survivors-likes. (Steam)
- Rematch: We've been joking that it's "Rocket League with feet," but that's not a terrible description (Steam)
- Caput Mortum: "Renaissance-flavored psychedelia," as Ted put it in his review (Steam)
- Herdling: A short, charming game about caring for magical beasts (Steam)
- The Rogue Prince of Persia: 2D PoP roguelike that left early access recently(Steam)
- Mycopunk: Fight "a planet-wide fungal catastrophe." (Steam)
- System Shock 2: 25th Anniv Remaster: Best way to play a classic (Steam)
- Umamusume: Pretty Derby: Horse girls idol management (Steam)
- The Horror at Highrook: An "occult card crafting narrative RPG" (Steam)
- Haste: Gotta go fast? Get Haste (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)
- Abiotic Factor: 92% (Review | Steam)
- Hollow Knight: Silksong: 90% (Review | Steam)
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor: 90% (Review | Steam)
- Silent Hill f: 90% (Review | Steam)
- Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles: 91% (Review | Steam)
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 2025.
Whereas the list on this page is entirely focused on what to play right now and mainly features newer games, our Top 100 also considers historical significance.
The selection changes year-to-year not just because there are new games we want to include, but also because our collective tastes change as people join or leave the team, or because we've reevaluated a classic since the last vote.
The games that fell out of the top 10 this year are: Doom (1993), Minecraft, Persona 5 Royal, and Half-Life 2. New to the top 10 are: Dwarf Fortress, Crusader Kings 3, Caves of Qud, and Red Dead Redemption 2.
- 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)
- Dwarf Fortress: There's nothing quite like this fantasy civilization sim (Steam)
- Crusader Kings 3: There's also nothing quite like this historical sim series (Steam)
- Stardew Valley: Still our favorite farming/life sim (Steam/GOG)
- Caves of Qud: A ridiculously deep roguelike (Steam/GOG)
- Balatro: The poker roguelike sensation was our 2024 Game of the Year (Steam)
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: Set a high bar for open world RPGs (Steam/GOG)
- Elden Ring: Another day, another FromSoftware masterpiece (Steam)
- Red Dead Redemption 2: Rockstar's classic western (Steam)
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
1. Best gaming laptop: Razer Blade 16
2. Best gaming PC: HP Omen 35L
3. Best handheld gaming PC: Lenovo Legion Go S SteamOS ed.
4. Best mini PC: Minisforum AtomMan G7 PT
5. Best VR headset: Meta Quest 3
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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