So as most forums get flooded with "what games to play?" threads I thought I would condense it all into one. Also if there are some you guys feel need to be added let me know and I will add them.
 
 ____________________________________________ SHOOTERS ___________________________________________

Arma 2  
 
 Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead

Battlefield 2142  
 
Battlefield 2

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 

BioShock 

BioShock 2 

Borderlands

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 

Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason

Crysis

Crysis Warhead / Wars 
 
Day of Defeat
 
Day of Defeat: Source

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
 
Far Cry

Far Cry 2 
 
F.E.A.R
 
F.E.A.R: Perseus Mandate

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
 
Half-Life
 
Half-Life: Blue Shift

Half-Life 2  

Killing Floor

Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead 2

Medal of Honor Airborne

Metro 2033

Orange Box, The

Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45

Serious Sam HD

Shattered Horizon

STALKER: Call of Pripyat

STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl

STALKER: Clear Sky 
 
Counter-Strike 1.6

Counter-Strike: Source 
 
Gears of War

Team Fortress 2

TimeShift

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2

Unreal Tournament 3

Wolfenstein


__________________________________________ ROLE-PLAYING __________________________________________

Arcanum 
 
 
Dragon Age: Origins
 
Diablo 1/2

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
 
Fallout 1
 
Fallout 2 

Fallout 3

Jade Empire

Last Remnant, The

Mass Effect 

Mass Effect 2 
 
Morrowind

Risen 

The Witcher

Titan Quest

Torchlight
 
Baldur's Gate 1/2
 
Planescape: Torment

Icewind Dale
 
Neverwinter Nights
 
Vampires the Masquerade - Bloodlines
 
 


________________________________ ACTION / ACTION-ADVENTURE / STEALTH _______________________________

Assassin's Creed  1/2

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Condemned: Criminal Origins

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

Dead Space

Devil May Cry 4

Grand Theft Auto IV 
 
Grim Fandango

Hitman: Blood Money

Just Cause 2

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary

Mirror's Edge 
 
Mafia

Overlord

Prototype

Resident Evil 5

Saboteur, The

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction

Zeno Clash


___________________________________ ADVENTURE / SURVIVAL HORROR __________________________________

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey 
 
The Longest Journey

Drawn: The Painted Tower

Penumbra: Overture

Penumbra: Black Plague

Runaway: A Twist of Fate

Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle

Sam and Max: Complete Series

Secret of Monkey Island: Complete Series

The Whispered World

Void, The
 
 ___________________________________ FLASH/BROWSER BASED GAMES __________________________________ 
 
Transformice

 

________________________________________ STRATEGY / TACTICS _______________________________________

Anno 1404

BattleForge

Battlestations: Pacific
 

Starcraft II

Whoa nice list, you already have everything I wanted to suggest.
 
I'mma check some out!

I don't know about gears of war, however I found that game to be alot of fun. Maybe it's not for everyone. Also you should add assassin's creed 2.

What about Counterstrike: Source?

There's a mod section without Research and Development :o
 
Why only Season 1 of Sam and Max? The seasons have been getting progressively better...

How do you not have any Blizzard games on a PC games list.
 
Starcraft series
Diablo series
Warcraft series
 
then there's alot of crpg's that you missed
 
Baldur's gate 1 and 2
icewind dale
neverwinter nights

Grim Fandango needs to be in the Adventure section.

Added. Keep em' coming.

Day of Defeat? Also, what about casual games like Plants Vs. Zombies, World of Goo, etc. And maybe stuff like Audiosurf or Beat Hazard too.
 
Edit: Nevermind, just saw Audiosurf... and PVZ... fuck it, forget this post.

Those are indeed games that are on the PC.

I wouldn't call Audiosurf a Racing game, as the scores and objectives are score-based not time-based, even if the player is a vehicle.  It is pretty much in the music genre, with light puzzle elements.
 
Overall, a cool list you have there.

I would change ArmA 2 to ArmA 2: Operation Arrowhead. It's hands down a better game.

You're missing the greatest game ever. Planescape: Torment.

No Age of Empires or Civilization under the strategy section?  SHAME. 
 
Also, BF2 would be way easier (at least for me) to recommend than BF2142 and would more than likely still have a stronger online community.  BF2142 was kind of the middle child that the parents do not care as much about.   They STILL update BF2 (Especially that update that made disks optional). 
 
Other than that, solid list.  And I agree with the above poster about Audiosurf.  It's a puzzle/music game.

I'dd add EVE online under MMO's. Maybe not for everyone, but a very solid game. Synergy and Goldeneye Source are my favorite mods. Synergy is co-op for HL2's campaign and Goldeneye is... well, goldeneye.

If it's one big ass list I don't think it helps anyone anymore. Then the person is kinda at the same state like before he asked the question. Also, not all titles might suit for those who can give u a concrete description of what they wanna play.

MMO: Allods online is the best free one out to date 
 
Puzzle games i would say World Of Goo

" If it's one big ass list I don't think it helps anyone anymore. Then the person is kinda at the same state like before he asked the question. Also, not all titles might suit for those who can give u a concrete description of what they wanna play. "

The lack of the whole Half Life series is quite disturbing.  
 
Also since you put up Dawn Of War II, Dawn of War and Dawn Of War: Winter Assault are pretty darn good too.

How about the real Fallout games? Or Arcanum, which itself is more Fallout than Fallout 3. Mount & Blade (plus Warband) should be in the strategy/tactical one.
 
And I'm probably the biggest STALKER fan on this board, and even I say Clear Sky doesn't belong on that list.
 
Audiosurf isn't racing.

What about Mafia? To this day, I still consider it one of the finest games ever released on the PC.
And personally I would put in the entire Monkey Island Series... No, all the old LucasArts Adventure games.
Also, Dreamfall but not the original The Longest Journey? Shame on you.
Morrowind.
 
And I, like many others could keep going forever, but I'll stop here :)

" Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines for rpgs. Even with it being as buggy as it is, it really is a must-play. "

" @Ivos said:

" Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines for rpgs. Even with it being as buggy as it is, it really is a must-play. "

Agreed entirely. "

Maybe this would be better if it had a more clear focus...Perhaps PC exclusive, games from the last x years, games somehow voted by the community as the best, etc...
 
Right now it's actually probably not that useful, I can look up any number of lists online...continuing on from the idea of games chosen by the community, maybe everyone could state 3 PC games that they think are great (ones which haven't already been said by another user) and those could form the basis of a new community list.

Transformice (browser/flash/platformer)

Heroes V is there, but Heroes III has to be there. Bloody fantastic game.

List updated.
 
BTW can a mod stick this???

" @Cwaff said:

" @Ivos said:

" Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines for rpgs. Even with it being as buggy as it is, it really is a must-play. "

Agreed entirely. "

Yep. All three of Troika's games should be up there. "

This list needs moar Median XL.
 
Mod for D2 LoD:
 http://modsbylaz.hugelaser.com/
 
Never gonna play cLoD again.
 

" @MrKlorox said:

" @Cwaff said:

" @Ivos said:

" Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines for rpgs. Even with it being as buggy as it is, it really is a must-play. "

Agreed entirely. "

Yep. All three of Troika's games should be up there. "

What other Troika games do you recommend? "

I would say fallout 3 if and only if the Fallout Wanderers Edition mod is installed.
Also: Marts Mutant Mod, but that's secondary.

I feel like this list is lacking direction. What purpose does it server? It's not helping anyone. Person A has decided they want a new PC shooter. They look at this list. How does a list of 45 shooters help them at all? "Here are a bunch of shooters that have been released on the PC in the last 15 years."  There's nothing categorizing or qualifying any of the games beyond just being on the list.

Damn, that fighting games section makes me sad.  Come on Namco, can I get a Tekken?
 
Could add some general notes for each game regarding pc requirements. A simple High, low, medium tag or something along those lines wouldn't hurt. Just a thought.

" @ajamafalous:@RVonE: It's a list of game recommendations, I can say a fair bit of people have played lots of the games on the list but there are lots they haven't. So if you don't have any recommendations why post?  "

Well I compiled a list of games that pc gamers have recommended to play, I think that is useful for lots of people since most of the time people look for games by genre.