8 Games Every PC Gamer Should Have Played

[Nazulu]

Oh good. For once I've done the majority of one of these lists. But!

Warcraft 3 over Starcraft? Booooo. Half Life 2 over the original which won all the awards? Boooo. Minecraft and World of Warccraft? BOOOOOOOO!

Hehehe. I bet you expected a million of these responses.

Is there really a game all PC Gamers should have played? They're all so diverse. I mean, I would love to say Half Life and Starcraft: Brood War, but it seems many have trouble getting into those today. Deus Ex is a good pick, but not everyone can appreciate it.

I think Portal would be one of mine since I think most people can enjoy that.

 

[Kyrian007]

I really didn't agree with much other than Minecraft and Deus Ex. I'd have taken Warcraft 2 over Warcraft 3... but then I'd have included neither on a list over StarCraft or C&C Red Alert. I would have included Ultima 7, as it basically set the definition as we know it for the open world RPG. Ditto with Alone in the Dark, the genesis of survival horror as it would remain until they all became action/adventure. I'd have put HL1 on over HL2, but Portal would have been higher than either. Masters of Orion 2 would have made my top 3 easily, along probably with Tie Fighter and Ultima 7.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

You do realize most of the games you've named are either causal or have become causal due to streamlining (the worst fate that can befall a game)

It's a joke. In any case, I was just talking about him not mentioning any of the games in those series I listed at all.

 

[nyysjan]

No Baldur's Gate 2?
No Planescape: Torment?

List invalid (played 3 of them, WoW, WC3 and Deus Ex)

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Now I need to re-install Age of Empires II and play it for weeks.

 

[Hawki]

3/8 for me. Arguably 2/8 as I played HL2 on console.

...I'll see myself out.

 

[AuronFtw]

No Baldur's Gate 2?
No Planescape: Torment?

List invalid (played 3 of them, WoW, WC3 and Deus Ex)

^ this guy gets it. Those weren't just good PC games, those were top of the line RPGs *period*. They were the precursor to games like kotor, mass effect, and dragon age, and were better than all of them. They're hands down better than all of the titles on the list regardless of genre, especially if you consider mod content as part of the complete package (and let's be serious, why wouldn't you).

Anyway, lemme check this list...

Age of Empires was a mediocre RTS in an era of far superior ones. It was predated by WC2 (which was better) and SC1 (which was the best RTS for a decade, and possibly ever). Replacement on an actual "greatest games" list: Starcraft

Warcraft 3? Ehhh... easily Blizzard's weakest RTS ever made, the story goes in crazy places, centuries-old alliances are shattered by mere words of minor characters, and all the lead characters have downs. Worst thing to happen to the entire Warcraft universe, at least as far as story is concerned. The introduction of hero characters is shit, the 4 playable races have very wonky balance (on top of the already wonky balance of individual hero units). All in all, not as good as starcraft - or even Warcraft 2. Replacement on list: Warcraft 2... or anything else, really. Once starcraft is on the list, it's not like you're going to get a better RTS. Could throw BG2 or PS:T here.

Civ 5? Ehhh... k. The massive over-DLCification really hurts this title (fuck you, Firaxis). Otherwise fine.

Half-life 2? Yeah, that's alright.

Simcity? That's... a bit of a stretch, honestly. That entire franchise is more for the lobster accountant middle manager than most PC gamers. Could easily replace this one with one of the early PC titles, something like lode runner or doom. One of those things that kickstarted PC gaming, yknow?

Minecraft? Ehh... 3d lego simulator is alright. It's notable for being the best selling PC game, but it's actually not that great as a game. Especially if you spent any time beta testing it... which many "PC gamers" did. Probably the best sandbox/building game though, since Lego Island is a little too linear and a little too shit to take its place.

Deus Ex? That's... eh. This game had so many bugs I was surprised it wasn't a Bethesda product. That plus the sin of illusion of choice (it's possible... likely, even, on a first playthrough... to choose skills that will simply not let you beat the game) really hurt it in my eyes. But it was definitely way ahead of its time, and the story is indeed great. Probably would drop this for BG2/PS:T.

WoW? Yeah, I can see that. I really wish Blizzard would put some effort into cleaning up/streamlining the leveling experience from 1-90 (it's currently an absolute nightmare and really fucking boring) but the endgame content has never failed to be spectacular. Except Dragon Soul. That shit was the worst. Got a typo in the writeup, though (decades -> decade).

4/8 list. Could be better. Minus points for not including the best PC games and RPGs of all time, though. Those rate incredibly highly every time there's a poll, and they're the most bought on sites like gog. Shoulda been obvious.

 

[nyysjan]

Deus Ex belongs in the list, it is one of the best computer games, ever.
it is flawed, it has bugs, but overall, it is a glorious gem of a rpg/fps hybrid.

WoW, was pretty revolutionary, not from gameplay or storytelling point of view, but from how it popularized mmo's, and contributed to the exploding market makes it a game changer.

I actually almost wrote WC2 instead of WC3, and either way it could be replaced by Starcraft.

not sure if the list is supposed to be a "list of awesome great games you totally should play" or "list of genre/industry defining games that you should play to better understand gaming as it currently exists", but either way, the list is horribly flawed.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Played all of these. What's more, played all of them on a Mac... so much for the whole 'PC gamer' thing

Of the actual list, I'd say that only WoW, Minecraft, Deus Ex and Sim City 2000 are really emblematic of PC gaming. Add in Starcraft, Baldur's Gate II, Civ II and Far Cry, and you'd have a much fairer list.

 

[ffronw]

This comment thread is a case in point of why I love PC gaming. There is literally a mountain of games available, and everyone has their own list of what they think the must-play titles are. Heck, I wish I could have listed them all, but I spent too much time narrowing this one down as it was.

Love all the suggestions, though.

 

[Jadedvet]

I agree these are all games that PC gamers should at least try at some point but the list seems a bit disjointed. Civ5, in particular, is list worthy (with expansions at least) but it isn't a good fit with the rest.

If you are making a list to show new PC gamers where we came from then the list is missing the likes of Ultima, Wofenstien, Command and Conquer and more.

If you are making a genre sampler, it would be cool to see different examples from the same genre. Like putting Eve Online across from WoW or Starcraft next to AOE.

A list of current, outstanding games would be helpful as well. Civ 5 would go on that list next to Cities Skylines and other modern hits.

 

[FoolKiller]

Umm... this is a rather weak list created by a fan of a particular subset of a particular style of game. A lot of RTS in there and a couple of very popular additions. Even the choices in the series seem to be the wrong choices (Civ V over Civ IV)

There are just too many revolutionary games in other genres that should be on this list. And for there to be this much RTS but missing Starcraft is just awkward and odd.

I get that the Gallery of 8 is a neat feature I look at every week, but I feel as the people making these lists need to be more well versed in the topic they're discussing.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

For once I have actually played all of the listed games, heh.

Though I still don't agree with most of them. So it goes with abundance, variation and tastes.
My own list would be too long, despite my choices being games from mostly 10 years ago or indie titles.

Ok, I'll give it a try anyway.

...
..
.

Sorry, can't do it.

 

[Signa]

For once I have actually played all of the listed games, heh.

Though I still don't agree with most of them. So it goes with abundance, variation and tastes.
My own list would be too long, despite my choices being games from mostly 10 years ago or indie titles.

Ok, I'll give it a try anyway.

...
..
.

Sorry, can't do it.

I'll try for you. I know I've not played a few "must play" games, but I'll list my surrogates at least. I'm not going to put much effort into explaining them either, because if they aren't obvious why, then any justification I put forward is just arguing about preference.

1) Doom (FPS origins)
2) Thief (Stealth game origins)
3) Planescape: Torment (Best RPG)
4) Morrowind (surrogate for Skyrim? Stand-in for mod-able games in general)
5) Supreme Commander (see footnote) [footnote]I never played Starcraft, because I was playing Supcom's predecessor instead. Total Annihilation turned the conventional RTS on its head by changing the resource system to something completely new, and allowed the player to focus more on battles. No artificial selection limit like the Blizzard RTS games had either. SupCom advanced the mechanics and scope of Total Annihilation, and still stands as the best RTS to date for me.[/footnote]
6) Diablo 2 (Solid and popular hack-n-slash RPG)
7) Terraria (Indie game stand-in. Also is a game instead of a lego sim)
8) Freespace (The forgotten Space Combat Sim genre. Almost put Freelancer in instead)

 

[Random Gamer]

Frankly, as a PC gamer who don't need this list to know what I should've played, having already played them, and many more, I'd say all these games arguably deserve to be in such a list.
The real issue is the 8 games limitation, which means you have to be extra-careful. I know I just couldn't do it, even when i try a top-10, I end up with 20.

Still, I would probably have avoided putting 2 RTS there, and possibly would've picked either HL2 or Deus Ex, but not both. That would've made room for a RPG, since that genre is sorely lacking - specially since RPG, like RTS and FPS, is one of the defining genres in PC gaming. Planescape Torment or BG2 obviously.
I also would've picked Starcraft instead of WC3. I fully agree with AuronFTW that it is possibly the best RTS ever made. I'd actually pick Age of Kings as second, and would put WC3 below them.

With Civ, it's really arguable, which one is the best, so I don't dispute your view. I think Civ V now is quite close to how good Civ IV was.

Then of course, if we're talking about games that are purely on PC and wouldn't work or pick the interest of people on consoles and other sutff, hardcore strategy games like Paradox's or AGEOD's should be mentioned. That said, they might be included in "best" or "favourite" lists, but obviously you aren't going to put Europa Universalis in a list of games *every* gamer should play - because obviously, just like the Souls games or Dwarf Fortress, even with PC gamers, it's obvious many gamers wouldn't like them.

 

[CaitSeith]

I only have missed Deux Ex. I gotta to fix that!

 

[RandV80]

Technically I played all of those, but that's because I gave the WoW free trial a try... for a few hours then never looked back.

Thought it was a good list but should have probably had a single player RPG on there like Balders Gate or Morrowind instead of WoW. Problem with WoW is the way it's set up you can spend your time playing games 1-9, or you can play WoW. Of course that's not always the case but it's a polarizing game where many of it's players when they're hooked play it exclusively.

 

[SecondPrize]

SSI D&D gold box games... seriously, those were awesome RPGs, better than (IMO) console contemporaries.

I was going to talk about Quake and BF2 but OMG the Gold Box games. Those and Infinity Engine games should still be played by anyone who likes RPGs and came to PC gaming late.
Edit-Oh and Air Warrior. Seriously, 300+ players in huge and persistent maps, Bombers that fit 7 actual players in the piloting and gunnery positions, great physics engines and damage to components altering flight capabilities, all of it back in the 90s. If everyone had played Air Warrior then nobody would settle for these lobby based games like War Thunder or World of planes competing for players now.

 

[ffronw]

Umm... this is a rather weak list created by a fan of a particular subset of a particular style of game. A lot of RTS in there and a couple of very popular additions. Even the choices in the series seem to be the wrong choices (Civ V over Civ IV)

There are just too many revolutionary games in other genres that should be on this list. And for there to be this much RTS but missing Starcraft is just awkward and odd.

I get that the Gallery of 8 is a neat feature I look at every week, but I feel as the people making these lists need to be more well versed in the topic they're discussing.

You can call me crazy, but Starcraft doesn't even crack my top 10 PC games of all time, and may just barely slip into my top 5 strategy games of all time. Company of Heroes, Civ 5, AoE2, and Warcraft III are all better strategy games than Starcraft. Supreme Commander is worthy too. That's just one fellow's opinion, though.

The Civ V vs. Civ IV debate will never be settled. They're both amazing games, though.