Xbox to PC transition

Hey guys,

So long story short I've been a console gamer all my life and instead of going for the next gen consoles (so much nope) I went all out and finally got a PC which can run most games on high/ultra. I got sick of seeing people with god damn Zelda Skyrim mods while I'm waiting 10 years to open a door etc.

Looking for games that will show off the new machine and are just good in general for specifically PC.

Cheers! :)

Can you post your specs? And welcome to the pc master race =)

The Witcher 2 is still a really good looking game.

Legend of Grimrock 2 looks pretty great and it's a pretty PC-oriented game.

Keep your eye on Dragon Age Inquisition, it looks like it could be a pretty good CRPG that pushes new machines. Emphasis on could, a lot of people are saying that this game might save or destroy their opinion of Bioware.

The Witcher 3 comes out next year and it's probably going to be your best bet for pushing your PC's graphics card and processor.

Civilization Beyond Earth just came out and it's a PC-centric game, though I don't think it really pushes hardware. I might be wrong, I'd have to check.

Divinity Original Sin is another PC-ass PC game.

Actually, to be honest, there aren't really anymore AAA, big-budget PC exclusives hanging around. Most of the interesting stuff that's exclusive to PC is kickstarted or doesn't have a huge budget. Torchlight 2, Legend of Grimrock 2, Aarklash Legacy, Antichamber, QUBE, Might and Magic X, Wasteland 2, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and The Stanley Parable are all PC exclusives worth looking into, though none will really push your machine. Counter Strike Global Offensive isn't a PC exclusive but, come on, it's fucking Counter Strike.

Good news is, you'll never have to deal with something like Far Cry 3 on consoles again, and AAA games that are released on PC will all look and run their very best on PC!

When I made the switch from console to PC, I looked for games that I couldn't play on console to see what I had been missing for so long. The first game I installed was Empire: Total War, which is a pretty fun strategy game set during the colonial period of American history. I would also recommend Civilization V and Kerbal Space Program. Those two games are a lot of fun, and will never come to consoles.

The ones I always show to people to demonstrate my PC's graphical capabilities (I feel like a DBZ villain right now) are Assassin's Creed IV, Bioshock Infinite, and Far Cry 3. AC is poorly optimized though, so you might get a small amount of lag in some spots, but it's definitely very pretty, especially on the ocean.

@edgaras1103: why thank you! Yeah forgot say it's a laptop btw.

So the specs are i74700HQ 2.4GHz, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD and GeForce GTX 880M. How could I forgot the lovely windows 8.1-_-

@believer258: Hell yes! Haven't heard of lots of those so I'll check them out. So looking forward to jumping into the legend that is counter strike as well...

@kaiserpanda: If you're gonna play counter strike make sure you go keyboard and mouse and not controller or they will eat you alive :)

Yeah avoid non FarCry Ubisoft games as they tend to run like crap even on high end machines. Pretty much any other multiplat is going to look miles better on PC. Definitely recommend Total War games, Company of Heroes, Skyrim, and Borderlands franchise to give a mix of what a PC can do that consoles don't. A lot of the best new PC games are indie and awesome but going to wow visually though.

Also metro 2033 and last light are visually impressive and atmospheric if quite janky. Crysis games are always nice to look at but gameplay and story fall flat imho. Splinter cell blacklist is also not bad looking title and gameplay is quite solid. If I may ask why did you decide for a gaming laptop instead of desktop computer? Because you like mobility? As far as I know at least in my country laptops cost much more than desktops. But by the specs you laptop should be a beast but I am wondering about noise and heat problem when playing graphical intensive games.

@edgaras1103: Yeah all mobility. I move around a lot so it was the right thing to do. Heat won't be a problem; it was too massive batman looking vents at the back. Asus G750JS-T4069H.

Call of Duty looks really fucking good this year.

MGS5 is coming to PC and it is AMAZING graphically, even on old consoles.

I moved from 360 to PC this year as well, but I've found myself mainly playing indie games and MMO's instead of big AAA games, so I haven't really flexed the graphics capabilities yet. I do think Guildwars 2 looks amazing.

I do have Witcher 2 in my Steam backlog though, maybe I should give that a try.

I feel like most of my PC games that look amazing are multiplatform and use a controller, but shadow of mordor looks so amazing on PC at 1080p60

How about i tell you about the not new but fun only on pc games?

Starcraft2, c&c tibrium wars, company of heroes and tw:shogun (rts games)

Xcom (there will be a bundle for both games in holiday sales. Buy it!) and wasteland 2 (tactical games)

Civilization v (addictive game)

Magic and hearthstone (card games. The latter is free and such a great game for casually click to play, hell i play it during work a lot )

Dota and league of legends (moba games)

There is a huge library of old games that still looks great and have the fresh feeling but these are last to current gen only games.

The new Call of Duty, League of Legends, Dota 2, Smite, the new game of the lord of the ring (forgot the name) AND just wait and insta get GTA V for PC this january :))

The vast majority of games (especially AAA games) look waaaaaay better on a high end (even medium spec) PC than consoles. Worth going back and playing your favorites that you had on console (not many are console exclusive these days). Just a warning, you're going to have to get some rubber bands or rope to hold your socks in place cause they are going to be knock the hell off. Also as you mentioned, mods. They really can bring an old game back to life or even give you a nice twist on a newer game.

The best thing about coming to PC is how cheap the games are. So, that's something you can look forward to- it kind of makes the PC pay for itself in a way (plus, I mean, you could start your own business with a computer so that could make it pay for itself too technically =P ).

Before you know it you're gonna have too many games to play and no time to finish them all.

The worlds is yours! MWAHAHAHA!

Most people will have told you by now what games to look for or whatever. I am going to suggest cheapshark.com for when you want to look for good deals on games- assuming you don't mind buying digitally of course. The most common "best" places to get games are steam (during a sale), humblebundle.com, and gog.com. There are other places, but those are the ones I generally stick too. Cheapshark actually aggregates all the sites and looks for their sales and makes it easier to find what you're looking for at a discount.

So, ya, you should be able to get most games for less than 10$- even fairly recent ones sometimes. You just have to know where to look.

Have fun!

Made the same leap in Summer '13 by replacing the consoles in my front room with a PC hooked up to my TV and haven't regretted it.

Started with games that I was familiar with that I knew would look better, or run at a higher frame rate, just to give me that initial vindication of the outlay needed for a nice PC! Then it was games I couldn't play elsewhere, Gunpoint, Papers Please, Hotline Miami (which at the time might have been PC only? I forget), Civilization, world-building games, Wasteland 2 is another one I've started playing recently.

I barely buy any games directly on Steam now either because I can find deals on other websites where they're often much cheaper and I get the keys instantly.

The only thing that bums me out is the odd exclusive, Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon 2, The Last of Us and so on - all games that I'd really like to play. Oh, and multiplayer shooters - whereas I was good at these on consoles, that has been degraded to just holding my own on PC with a keyboard and mouse on the couch!