First gaming PC in 9 years, what have I missed in that time?

So yeah, ordered myself a PC and I am guessing during my 9 year console hiatus there must of been some amazing PC games I have missed?

Can anyone recommend some games they would consider must try's? I generally don't play FPS unless there is some RPG element ala Borderlands, but apart from that I'm willing to play almost anything.

I think my first purchases will be Gone Home, Jazzpunk and Divinity:original sin.

@coljae: There are a ton of great PC games...what are the specs of the machine you ordered though? I don't want to start recommending things you won't be able to play.

@coljae: Some of us here (including myself) would probably say that you should have built the PC and we would have been more than happy to help you out with your questions. :D

You should try out the Witcher games, both the first and the sequel. They go on sale for dirt cheap on Steam so wait for the sale. Plus if you own both games, you can get a $12 discount off of the Witcher 3 as well! Another thing, is that if you have a copy of them on Steam, you can also get backup copies of them on GOG.com for free.

If you've got friends to play with, check out DOTA and Diablo III. Both lots of fun, and something computers do best. Your first purchases are really, really solid though.

Have you heard of this little game called Minecraft?

There is also a free Starter Edition of Diablo 3 now, so you can try it out in the lower levels without committing to buy anything first.

@mb So quick copy and paste of specs:

Processor: i7-5820K

Motherboard: ASUS X99 DELUXE

Memory: 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X PREDATOR QUAD-DDR4 2666MHz

Graphics Card : 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970

@gaspowerI really did consider building it myself, I even work in IT but I am nothing in not a lazy lazy man.

@mosespippy & @mikeeegeeeI've played minecraft and own Diablo III on PS4 and yeah it's awesome! I am going to try DOTA for sure, but man that games seems intimidating looking in from the outside.

Witcher - yeah! That's something I think I could get into, especially with the 3rd due. Nice one!

Yeah there were tons of games in between that 10 year period. Are you looking for PC exclusive games or games in general?

@i_stay_puft PC exclusive really. Anything that crossed over onto either the PS3, 360 or PS4 I've probably played and I'm not really a double dipper.

You didn't miss too much in the last console gen years, everything kind of went to shit with crappy console ports for a while there and everything else was eventually ported competently back to consoles.

Unfortunately while you were gone RTS basically died, though any of the relic games are high on my list - Company of Heroes probably at the top followed by dawn of war 2 and retribution. It still looks pretty good nowdays also. Otherwise the Wargame series is pretty good also Total war Rome 2 or shogun 2.

Sins of a solar empire, and the civ games as far as 4x games go. Tropico 5 is pretty good as far as city building/simulation, also an early access title called prison architect is pretty fun.

Divinity:OS is pretty amazing for sure and it's the sort of thing you would get the most out of as far as recent PC only releases.

Diablo 3 is pretty decent now after a year or two of mediocrity.

If your PC has decent specs I would recommend the Witcher 2 in case you missed it on console,

As far as adventure games maybe checkout double fines first half of broken age.

Recently I really enjoyed Lichdom Battlemage although it has mixed reviews and can be very difficult depending how you craft, it's sort of a FPS though (except no guns, spells) It has a pretty neat crafting/loot element though.

Otherwise the PC is basically a madhouse of random early access stuff at the moment - mainly survival crafting games, personally i'm sick of seeing them on the steam store but people seem to like them so maybe give one or two of those a whirl. Day Z and Rust and shit like that seem to be all the rage with the kids. Everything else is basically a Minecraft clone or something - I never got into the genre including minecraft so I cant say much except minecraft seemed to popular on a ridiculous scale.

Some MMO's came out while you were gone, most failed. Again it's not my genre at all but it seems that any of the really established ones are probably hard to get into nowdays if you haven't played them. Don't expect much as far as gameplay - the genre hasn't really advanced beyond "kill 10 of these" etc as far as I can tell. But if you like numbers and loot and stuff I don't know. Like I said Diablo 3 is pretty good now.

Your best bet is to just install steam and take a while looking around in the store to see what people recommend.

• Civ V
• Kerbal Space Program
• FTL
• Rust (with friends, yes. without, hell no)
• Euro Truck Simulator 2
• The Banner Saga
• Wasteland 2
• Antichamber
• Prison Architect
• Crypt of the Necrodancer

that'll keep you busy a while

@rowr will check out those RTS titles. That is one thing I have missed playing as the have never crossed over well.

The FPS I would recommend are the Half Life games if you did not play them. System Shock 2 is a great game, better than all of the Bioshock games. I would also check out Counter Strike and TF2. If you can get a copy the No One Lives Forever games are the best FPS.

On the RPG front, ARCANUM: OF STEAMWORKS AND MAGICK OBSCURA is old but one of the best RPGs out there. Others in that vein are the Fallouts, Wasteland 2, and Divinity OS.

For strategy games if you liked the new Xcom try Jagged Alliance 2, again it is old but one of the best games ever. Starcraft 2 is good along with the Supreme Commander games. Medevil 2 Total War is my favorite game of the Total War series. Company of Heroes is a good RTS along with the Dawn of War games. I also love Majesty it is fun.

All of these games are on Steam or GOG except sadly No One Lives Forever.

@rowr said:

@coljae: Yep, I'd second Dawn of War 2 + expansions. I played the shit out of that game.

Original most wanted if you can find a copy, team fortress 2, ftl trying to think of more later

Either League of Legends or Dota 2
Civ 5
Starcraft 2 (The single player is a bunch of fun, even if the multiplayer is falling off these days)
Kerbal Space Program
The Stanley Parable
Banished is neat, though it gets old eventually
Don't Starve is quite fun (though I think it may have come out on other platforms, not really sure)
I think The Sims 3 is pretty great, but you have to enjoy the Sims games.
WoW has improved a huge amount in the last 9 years.

Also, the total war games are supposedly really good, though I haven't played them so I can't necessarily support that.

There are no PC exclusives worth playing. You wasted your money bro.

An update to Minesweeper.

Sumotori Dreams

Is this a ruse?

If someone actually serious about the topic of missing out on 9 years of PC gaming is reading, then I'd recommend games from the Mount and Blade series (which also don't require a workstation cpu and motherboard).

I can't come up with games you'd only find on PC and are must plays within the last 9 years (there probably are some, but everyone else can come up with those).

What I'm going to do is suggest you use steam, gog.com, and humble bundle/humble store so you can always get the best prices on games. You can also use cheapshark.com to check which place has deals or to more easily find deals on games you may specifically be looking for. Darkadia.com/game-sales is also a decent place to check for game deals (the darkadia site is for keeping track of your game collection using Giantbombs api so it's cool too if you're a stickler for that stuff like me).

The number one thing you missed on PC was great games for 75% off =P

Seriously, though, have fun duder! Hope this tip helps- it's surprisingly easy to get any PC game you want cheap if you don't have to play it on day 1 (you should support games day 1 that you feel you would love anyway).

I just noticed how weirdly like advertising my post is and it's freaking me out. For reals, just some advice- i'm not shilling for these companies haha

@genghisfun: He's going to run those games at 4k downsampling at 144fps with 32x AA...and the GPU & CPU temps will probably not even go above idle!

Nice!

Roundabout, FRACT OSC, Race the Sun, Assault Android Cactus and Audiosurf 2 are all great recent indie games.

I would suggest Star Wars The Old Republic. Right now and until december 1st there is a 12x XP boost on class story quest. That means you can play the game as KotOR 3. There are 8 different classes, each with a unique story. Before you had to grind through generic missions to level up enough through the game but now you can just do the story and you will level more than enough. It now feels like a KotOR game. Like they have cut away all baggage an MMO entails and you only play it as a single player or co-op RPG. For everyone who complained they didn't get KotOR 3, this is it! The very best part of the game playable with all the grindning stipped out.

Surprise! It's jArmAhead here again to try and rope some poor innocent fella' into the dark side.

ArmA 3 is quite excellent with the right group to help get you into it, so you don't have to figure things out yourself and usually you just download their mods instead of having to worry about which M4 pack is actually worth getting.

And it's one of the most PC ass PC games you'll find out there. Sure, there are games like Divinity that are best on PC, but those games are totally playable on a console (well, when they end up on console. MBad example but whatever). ArmA 3 can only really exist on a PC, between mods and just pure requirements for more intense missions and stuff.

If you decide to get in on it, message me on Steam (same name as here on GB) and I'll try to introduce you to the game. My crew is kind of on hiatus at the moment but we'd be sure to welcome you if you are looking for a smaller group to get into it with. If not I know there are GB duders that get together and play (although I'm not sure if that's been going as strong as it was a while ago).

Space Engineers is another game that I honestly don't think could exist on consoles today. It barely works on PCs with pretty significant limitations (I'm not trying to undersell here, because it's a bad ass game that goes pretty crazy in a lot of ways with what you can do and stuff. It's just tough to run without a PC like yours, so you're in luck!) as it is.

Otherwise, just browse through games on Steam until something looks interesting. Try out the curation stuff that's new to Steam, see if it shows you interesting things. Try some weird stuff like Banished.

@coljae: Surprise! It's jArmAhead here again to try and rope some poor innocent fella' into the dark side.

ArmA 3 is quite excellent with the right group to help get you into it, so you don't have to figure things out yourself and usually you just download their mods instead of having to worry about which M4 pack is actually worth getting.

And it's one of the most PC ass PC games you'll find out there. Sure, there are games like Divinity that are best on PC, but those games are totally playable on a console (well, when they end up on console. MBad example but whatever). ArmA 3 can only really exist on a PC, between mods and just pure requirements for more intense missions and stuff.

If you decide to get in on it, message me on Steam (same name as here on GB) and I'll try to introduce you to the game. My crew is kind of on hiatus at the moment but we'd be sure to welcome you if you are looking for a smaller group to get into it with. If not I know there are GB duders that get together and play (although I'm not sure if that's been going as strong as it was a while ago).

Space Engineers is another game that I honestly don't think could exist on consoles today. It barely works on PCs with pretty significant limitations (I'm not trying to undersell here, because it's a bad ass game that goes pretty crazy in a lot of ways with what you can do and stuff. It's just tough to run without a PC like yours, so you're in luck!) as it is.

Otherwise, just browse through games on Steam until something looks interesting. Try out the curation stuff that's new to Steam, see if it shows you interesting things. Try some weird stuff like Banished.

Betrayer, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, Dota 2, Hack 'n' Slash, E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy, Metro: Last Light, Metro 2033, Magicka, Miasmata, Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Papers Please, Civ 5, The Witcher, The Witcher 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Puzzle Agent, Puzzle Agent 2, Dungeons of Dredmore, Jazzpunk, The Stanley Parable, Gunpoint, FTL, Terraria, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Cryostasis, Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy, Space Engineers, Kerbal Space Program, Legends of Grimrock, Rogue Legacy, Starbound, Shovel Knight, and Car Mechanic Simulator 2014 (yes, I'm serious. It's a lot of fun if you're into that sort of thing). I don't know if you played them already but the Dark Souls games are also on PC and they're pretty great ports.

Yeah, I basically just went down my steam library list and picked out my favorites. So Welcome to the best platform for gaming! Be sure to get yourself an Xbox One controller (I like to use it for 3rd person gaming, racing, and side-scrollers) and a cable to hook it up to your PC. It will work with almost any modern PC game because the games just see it as a 360 controller. Sadly not many games recognize the PS4 controller which is my preferred controller of the new consoles.

Rogue Legacy- For its addictiveness, its replayability, and its fresh persistent take on roguelikes.
Portal and Portal 2- One of the most addictive puzzle games ever made
Alpha Protocol- Super cheap at this point, but one of the more interesting uses of "choice" I've ever seen in a game
Gone Home- For a beautiful story told in a unique way
Skyrim- For a great game that you can basically have any way you want it (thanks to mods)
Antichamber- For when Portal isn't enough of a headtrip
Minecraft- For when you just wanna veg and play with legos
The Stanley Parable- For a fun deconstruction of video game narratives.
Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City- For Batman
DoTA 2- For it- just kidding. Don't play DoTA 2.
L.A. Noire- For the detective in you
Max Payne 3- For matrix bullet time effects without the shitty matrix games
Bastion- Because it's a chill game, man

Thanks guys! Looks like I will be busy for a good few months.

@genghisfun: No ruse. Been saving and planning for this for a few years and without going into too much details, it's basically a treat for myself.

League of Legend, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Dragon Age, SMITE, Titanfall, Diablo III, Final Fantasy...So many games wait for you.

What, really?

Isn't the gameplay still all MMOey?

I'm not a fan of the pointless grindy repetition of MMO's but i kind of always wanted to give this game a whirl given it's heritage and for the fact they seemed to try and make it more cinematic story wise.

Is it really playable from the point of view of someone who enjoys rpg's but despises mmo's?

It should be noted that to get that 12x XP you have to be a subscriber and you have to pre-order the Shadow of Revan expansion.

I will recommend SWTOR all day it is one of my favorite games of the last generation. But if you're going to get into it I recommend you downloading it for free and then just paying the $15 for a one month subscription. That way you can see if you like it and you get the full experience without a lot of things behind a pay wall. It's worth the $15 in my opinion, each class story is unique and just about everything in it is voiced fully. Plus you can play through the entire class story without having to group up.

Nice, i might check that out thanks for the advice.

Can I ask about the nature of the mission design though? Is there much to it as far as - I don't know, environmental design or something to keep it entertaining?

All I can imagine is wading through samey environments trying to kill 20 of the same type of creature for every mission. I mean obviously some of that is to be expected and I have some tolerance as long as there is enough other stuff going on.

The F.E.A.R. series?

I know the popular opinion is that the Crysis games aren't great, but I think Crysis 1 (and Crysis Warhead) is one of the better games of the last decade, and if nothing else, Crysis 2 and 3 are still better than the average FPSes of recent years, so I certainly recommend them too.

Aesthetically every planet is different looking. I feel like the stories themselves keep the game interesting I also enjoy the combat and animations (that goes a long way to keep it entertaining). There's also the leveling up which happens often enough to keep it entertaining and so does the new gear you get. There's also crafting, which is easy to do and understand, so while you're wondering around you can be making new stuff for you to use or sell.

Hitting some of the same notes as others, the primary genre you were missing with consoles is strategy so that is where you will get the most original content.

Civ V

Warhammer 40k Dawn of War 2 was amazing, definitely outshines Company of Heroes

Civ: Beyond Earth shortly

Endless Legend (if you enjoy 4x)

Game Dev Tycoon

I would recommend Shogun 2 over Rome 2 if you look at Total War

Planetary Annihilation

Banished

X-Com if you didn't play it elsewhere

And for not strategy, off the top of my head...

Witcher 2, then maybe try 1 if you love the story

Hammerwatch

Magicite

Kentucky Route Zero

Elite: Dangerous Beta

Torchlight 2 if you enjoy Diablo 3

Hope this helps!

rts- company of heroes, dawn of war, total war series and starcraft 2 as a base (frozen synapse for a great turn based strategy game)

4x - civ series anything you didn't play was excellent, gal civ

fps- lovely planet, natural selection 2, heavy bullets, drunken robot pornography, eldritch, sanctum 2, zeno clash 1 and 2, chivalry: medieval warfare, cs:go, left 4 dead (this should be a good start have more if you want)

odds and ends- typing of the dead: overkill, i have no mouth and i must scream (old one though), the fall, deponia trilogy, home, gemini rue, dungeon defenders, risk of rain, recettear: an item shop's tale, tabletop simulator, defcon, magicka

i know there are things i am missing but this should be a decent list to start with

@mrbubbles: Awesome! Thanks again for the info, i'll definitely give this a whirl.

I noticed that Dragon Age: Origins was mentioned and remembered that it's free right now on Origin (EA's service) until October 15th. So even if you're not sure about the game, you might as well just sign up for Origin and grab it.

• Any of the post-Fallout 2 Fallout games with mods
• The Elder Scrolls Skyrim and Oblivion with mods
• Any of the STALKER games, specifically Shadow of Chernobyl and Call of Pripyat
• The Witcher 2
• Civilization V
• Hotline Miami
• Wasteland 2 (kinda a slow burn, but great if you love old-school CRPGs)
• Saints Row 3 and 4 are SUPER cheap on steam right now. If you didn't play them on consoles, pick them up. They run great on PC.

haha this is really funny, I just went to post a remarkably similar thread. I just built a gaming rig this weekend which marks for me about 10 years sans PC Gaming. Glad to see all these fine folks' recommendations. Looking forward to trying out so many games!