Name me some of your favorite PC titles this gen.

Just got my first gaming PC and am open to any recommendations to games I've been missing out on. I like all kinds of stuff so fire away!

If you like strategy give Wargame: European Escalation a shot. It's got massive maps, looks great, and it's got literally hundreds of different units in eight different armies. The sequel is coming out in like a month and a half, too.

In terms of free to play, there's a lot of good stuff out there. I'd highly recommend World of Tanks, War Thunder, or Mechwarrior Online for military-style vehicular combat.

I also have a lot of fun with a couple FPS titles, namely, Planetside 2 - which is also free to play - and Battlefield 3. BF3 costs money but damn is it worth it.

http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/kidavenger/lists/pc-exclusives-everyone-should-have/73737

Company of Heroes, Chivalry, BF3, and Skyrim.

EDIT: Dammit, forgot about the Witcher series. 2 in particular is quite fantastic.

EDIT EDIT: The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series too.

It's tougher and tougher to pick out outstanding PC exclusives due to the increasingly multi-format focus of the industry. Generally just check out the PC version of any multi-format game which takes your fancy, since it's likely to be significantly better looking than its console counterparts, unless the porting job is known to be awful.

Other than that, turn your eye towards strategy games like the Civ series. The Football Manager series is my particular pick of detail-heavy, in-depth sports-strategy games. It will swallow your life if you have the faintest interest in football/soccer. Crusader Kings II is also meant to be awesome, although personally I'm finding it a little impenetrable so far.

Other than that, the first Witcher game never got a console release and was excellent. Check out the GB QL to see if it's what you want.

If you're looking for a great PC RPG this gen you can't do much better than The Witcher 2.

I feel Chivalry is a great example of a pc game. Along with the crowd funding and being at great game.... it also had alot of added free content. Around 20-30 maps, new game mods and new weapons in a single update.

Ya can't go wrong with a bit of Team Fortress 2. Still widely played on PC, and if you just ignore all the useless fluff of Hats and Weapon Crafting that they implemented, it's still a solid FPS rich in content.

I'd also suggest some of the multi-plat games that have come out, but look incredibly detailed on PC. DmC's 60fps, Sleeping Dogs' high res texture pack. Just look around man. PC is just a platform, the games are still games and can either vibe with you or not. There's no "1 PC game formula" that has a list of the absolute best PC games that YOU will like, unfortunately.

I would argue Skyrim in it's vanilla state is a terrible console port. With mods, it becomes an incredible (if buggy) experience. However without any third party users touching it... it's a fairly slapdash porting job with litle regard for the pc interface.

I thought vanilla was fine. But then again, I used a controller rather than M+K (*holds up flame shield*). Once they implemented the Steam Workshop though, it became a much better experience.

I also use a controller. The game is quite clearly built for it. I feel for sorry for people unlucky to not own a windows 360 pad though. The default m-k is terrible.

Dragon Age: Origins. I don't care if you already played it on a console, play it again. You will have a far better experience. And then proceed to not play Dragon Age 2.

All of the games mentioned so far are fantastic choices. I'd like to throw the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series into the mix as well. Clear Sky is considered by many to be the weakest of the three, but it's still enjoyable. There's plenty of mods out there that improve the experience for each game, however you can't go wrong if you want to play without them either.

Starcraft II, Civilization V, and The Witcher are great games.

The Witcher/The Witcher 2 and the original Crysis.

Civilization V, Deus Ex, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Metro 2033, Battlefield 3, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2, STALKER (any of them), Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Sleeping Dogs....

A lot of very fine games mentioned here (reminded me to get a couple of them...), but I'll throw my two cents in here. Since you didn't mention a genre, I'll just throw it at the wall and see what sticks:

X-Com: Enemy Unknown - Excellent TBS with the added base building between missions. Also a great for instilling near-hulk levels of rage when playing the hardcore mode...

DayZ - An Arma II mod that's still in alpha. It's a first person survival game with zombies. 'Been done countless times before,' you might say. Not like this. The original map is 225 sq.km. in size (and there's about a dozen user made maps when you get bored of those). Up to 50 other people on the same server, most of whom have their eyes on your stuff and will probably kill you for it. It may be janky as hell in places, but I've never played a more immersive game anywhere. Oh, and Arma II and the expansion you need for the game are currently $15 combined on Steam right now.

Portal/Portal 2: If you haven't played these games, go get them right now, I'll wait...

Other than that I'm pretty sure the others off the top of my head have been mentioned:S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Civ V, BF 3, Planetside 2, Wargame: European Escalation, TF 2. All excellent games. I'll add one more, if you're into RTS on a massive scale, try Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, a 4X space based strategy game.

Far Cry 3, looks so damn gorgeous on PC. Other games I can think of that are good visual benchmarks to test new gaming PCs would be Crysis and its expansion Warhead, Metro 2033 which should only be played on PC, Dirt 2 and the newly released Tomb Raider which you should probably turn off tessellation if you don't want the game crashing on you.

Far Cry 3, Diablo 3, Starcraft, Minecraft, Prototype 2. For the mmorpg, DC universe Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Guild Wars 2. I'm still waiting for BLESS, ArcheAge, Ghosts N Goblins Online this 2013.

World of Warcraft, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, Battlefield 3, Company of Heroes are some of my favorite.

Wait, you're looking for the best PC games from the last several decades?? Hm, I'll just try to narrow it down to games made in the last 5 or so years:

• Cryostasis
• Amnesia
• Penumbra: Overture
• Penumbra: Black Plague
• Binding of Isaac
• Resonance
• Gemini Rue
• Dustforce
• Hard Reset
• Legend of Grimrock
• Crysis Warhead

Starcraft II, Civilization V, Planetside 2, Tribes Ascend, Company of Heroes, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Witcher 1, and FTL for exclusives. For games better, vastly, on PC Witcher 2, Crysis 1 (ignore 2 and 3), Far Cry 3, XCom Enemy Unknown, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Battlefield 3, Team Fortress 2, Half Life 2 (with both Episodes), Portal 1 and 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3, Skyrim, and if I'm not mistaken Tropico 4 is also multiplatform now too.

I'll also add in Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. But check that one out first though on Youtube. I love it, but I can understand if it's not everyone's cup of tea. Also some older games that aren't this gen but should be checked out are the original Deus Ex, System Shock 2, and the Thief franchise.

I tell you I have played almost 300 hours of FTL. Its so easy to just open up and mess with, I do it on nearly a daily basis. It is easily one of my favorite games of all time.

Pretty much anything with mod support, really. Mods have helped me return to games I wouldn't have otherwise played and offered fresh experiences.

Besides all those mentioned, there's nothing quite like Just Cause 2 multiplayer. It's still being developed and is only available when they feel like testing it, but when it's open for a weekend do be sure to check it out. It's basically a massive broken griefing simulator, and the best way to experience it is to just go with what your mind tells you. It may not be good, but it's definitely an experience that can't be had elsewhere.

Guild Wars 2 is like an MMO that genuinely strips away the shit I hate about MMO's. Aside from many dungeon exploits it raises the bar on what to expect and puts into qeastion some of the bussiness practices.

FTL.

I'm only gonna say Pc only games well...

-shogun 2

-company of heroes

-guild wars 2

- stalker call of Pripyat with misery mod

- chivalry

- Dcs a10

- team fortress 2

- trackmania 2

- wings of prey

- world in conflict (dont think that came out this gen but whatever, close enough)

- red orchestra 2

- mount and blade warband

- dungeons of dredmor

That's all I can think right now

Diablo 3 was pretty rad... The first play through, anyway, but I lost interest halfway through my second run. Path of Exile seems like it has more longevity to it, and looks more like a successor to D2 than D3 does.