PCG Article 10 PC games that everyone has to love

[Brian Boru]

Been a while since we had a good ol' stand-up brawl here, so here we go—but I'm a gonna sit down

https://www.pcgamer.com/the-10-pc-games-that-everyone-has-to-love/

[Edit: fixed link.]

Tyler Colp must be in serious need of punishment to publish such a list, but hey big kudos for courage—or is that foolishness, it's often difficult to distinguish
Anyway, Tyler's titles:

Deus Ex
Diablo 2
Doom
Grim Fandango
Half-Life 2
Minecraft
Myst
Planescape: Torment
Quake
The Sims

Three questions for y'all:
1. Which of these have you played?
2. Which of these do you love?
3. What's your 10-ish to love?

 

[Brian Boru]

1. Which of these have you played?
Deus Ex
Doom—briefly
Grim Fandango
Half-Life 2
Myst
Quake—briefly

"briefly" meaning a few hours followed by 'not for me'.

2. Which of these do you love?
Deus Ex
Grim Fandango
Half-Life 2
Myst

Great, memorable, seminal games without a doubt.

3. What's your 10-ish to love?
Civilization
Command and Conquer or Red Alert
Crysis
Far Cry
Lemmings
Portal
Prince of Persia
Royal Envoy
The Talos Principle
Wolfenstein 3D

I've played a version of each of those—ie one or more from the series—multiple times, and they have all brought me much pleasure.

 

[Pifanjr]

Been a while since we had a good ol' stand-up brawl here

And Tyler comes out swinging. Minecraft is still quite controversial among the younger games who see it as too childish or ugly, just like it was when it just released (I had a friend who refused to play it because of the graphics).

1. I've played:
- Half-life 2
- Minecraft
- The Sims

2. I love:
- Minecraft

3. My 10:
- Civilization V
- Portal (2)
- Age of Empires 2
- Medieval II: Total War
- Skyrim
- Roller Coaster Tycoon 2
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Stardew Valley
- Crusader Kings 2
- Minecraft

P.S. please remove the "#comment-jump" from the link in the OP.

 

[ZedClampet]

1. Which of these have you played?

Half-Life 2
Minecraft
Myst (didn't finish, but I enjoyed what I played)
Planescape: Torment (didn't finish)
Quake

2. Which of these do you love?
None of them at the moment

3. What's your 10-ish to love?
Portal
Portal 2
The Talos Principal
Roller Coaster Tycoon 2
Atlas (It pains me to admit this)
Resident Evil 4
Total War Warhammer 3
Forza Horizon 5
V Rising
The Witcher 3
XCOM 2
Fallout (original)
Fallout 2
Soma
Alien Isolation

Eh, I should stop there, but there are lots of games I love.

Can you believe I played Alien Isolation, start to finish, without realizing the scanner was pointing me to my objective? I kept looking at the map.

 

[Pifanjr]

Was point 3 supposed to be the games we love or the games we think everyone has to love? I chose my list according to the latter criteria.

 

[ZedClampet]

Was point 3 supposed to be the games we love or the games we think everyone has to love? I chose my list according to the latter criteria.

My list would be the same. I can't tell other people what to love. All I can do is list what I love. I suppose I could list my favorite game from each genre...

 

[WoodenSaucer]

The only game in that list that I have no experience with is Planescape: Torment. Other than that, I actually agree that there are reasons to love them all. That doesn't mean I would necessarily love playing them all at this point in time. But if you look at them through the lens of when they were released, they're all respectable for different reasons.

As for my list of 10 games. That's a tough one. I'm not sure I could make a list of games that everyone has to love, and I don't think this subject is meant to just be our personal Top 10 lists. Plus, I'm at the point now where I've abandoned that notion. My youngest son (13 years old) told me a few weeks ago that I must have about a hundred games in my Top 10. Lol. I told him I've learned to not even try, and I just either enjoy, or don't enjoy games. There are too many great games to try to order them all.

But maybe when I have more time later, I'll come back and take a stab at it.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

1. Which of these have you played?

Deus Ex
Diablo 2
Doom
Half-Life 2
Minecraft
Myst
Planescape: Torment
Quake

2. Which of these do you love?
Deus Ex
Half Life 2
Planescape: Torment

3. What's your 10-ish to love?
So I take it as its games that most would love, and everyone should be able to appreciate are great even if its not for them?

Bioshock
The first action game I remember that also had a story that resonated with me. Best twist in a game probably to this day. Gameplay still holds up IMO too.
Elden Ring
I could have picked Dark Souls or Sekiro, but as it was the first one of those to hit mass market appeal this is the one that has to be here. Huge, beautiful, challenging, weird.
Frostpunk
A city builder where each scenario gives story reasons that connect the player to what is happening on the screen. Dark, grimy atmosphere, and content that still makes it stand out to me in the genre.
Elder Scrolls Oblivion
Skyrim is way better, but if Oblivion hadnt been such a success the whole of AAA gaming would look very different now.
Xcom Enemy Unknown
Again. Xcom 2 is better, but since Xcom was remade in 2012 there have been a lot of games riffing off the combat system it used.
Disco Elysium
A CRPG without combat but still with skill based interactions and a weird, beautiful, ethereal, sad world. Amazing art work and writing.
Doom (2016)
A game that came out that was unlike anything else on the market with a AAA budget. Doom Eternal was good but for me the original was better, less complicated so the combat felt more natural and flowed better, to an average player like me at least.
Total War Warhammer
For an RTS game to have this many factions and work as well as this is incredible. The Immortal Empires campaign is absurdly huge. I'm scared to buy the third game because I'll never scratch the surface unless I dont play anything else for 5 years.
Prey (2017)
I wanted to include an Arkane game because they really do their own thing, and I preferred the interconnected levels and Sci Fi setting of Prey to Dishonored, which is also great.
Ori and The Blind Forest
AAA fidelity 2d platformer with a full orchestral score that also controls really well. Not many of those on PC.
Dead Space
I still love the original, and I thought it held up really well last time I played it on PC. Jump scares and the original had an intriguing story which slowly revelaed itself through the environment and logs, the later games got a bit silly and took it too far, but 2 was still a great game as well. Victim of its own success.
What Remains of Edith Finch
Best of the walking simulators I've played. Havent played any for a few years, but not many games affect me emotionally in that way this did on more than one occasion, and that sticks with you.

 

[Zloth]

Deus Ex: Played it more than once, very very good for its time! Rough graphics for today, even modded, but also really cheap for the game quality. If somebody really loved Prey or Dishonored, I would point them at Deus Ex for sure.

Diablo 2: Played it, but not for long. I bought the whole 'war chest' version, too. Arg. I just don't like the Diablo-style of gameplay. (P.S. The way your character chugs down potions in that game, you would think that bathroom breaks would be a central mechanic!)

Doom: Oh hell yeah! I bought the whole thing, played through more than once, made my own WAD, and so on. Now it's best played as a freebee inside one of the last two Doom games.

Grim Fandango: never played it. Something else cool must have showed up at around the same time?

Half Life 2: Fun game, but I only played through once. I'm still waiting for Valve to finish all the episodes and sell them as a set. (eye roll)

Minecraft: Never played it.

Myst: Pretty good stuff, but I wouldn't say I loved it. I think I managed to get through it without help? Or maybe help with one specific puzzle? Whatever the case, I think I heard Richard Corbette blow some chunks when I read it.

Planescape: Torment: A really good one with excellent characters. I only played through once, but I enjoyed it a lot.

Quake: Played it all the way through the single player campaign, but it was pretty meh. The soul of that game was the online play, and I didn't really want to do that.

The Sims: Haven't played it.

My 10ish

City of Heroes
X3 and X4 from Egosoft
Witcher 3
Final Fantasy 7 (original and Remake)
The Last Remnant
Skyrim
Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children
Xcom2
BattleTech
Outer Wilds
Saints Row: The Third
Yakuza 0
Subnautica
No Man's Sky
Doom
Deus Ex
Baldur's Gate 2
Batman City
Portal 2
Ultima 2
Descent
Star Wars: Rebellion
BattleZone
Sacrifice
Just Cause 2 and 3
Shadow Hearts: Covenant (console only)
Atari Adventure (console only, at least for me)
Empire (played on a PDP10 mainframe)
NetHack
War in Russia
Oblivion
Railroad Tycoon 2
Duke Nuke'm
Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines
Mechwarrior 5
Civlization 5

Am I up to 10 yet??

A lot of those are games that I loved at the time. As GOG has shown me time and time again, several of those old ones aren't nearly as fun now as they were when I played them.

 

[Brian Boru]

Was point 3 supposed to be the games we love or the games we think everyone has to love?

I interpreted it as "we love", it would be impossible to do a broader sweep for me anyway, since there are genres I haven't touched which no doubt have seminal games—eg no Skyrim. Even within my genres, no Bioshock.

Mine are games I love and which I feel are also milestones in gaming history. But it's just a fun thread, so don't stress about parsing or interpreting

I take it as its games that most would love, and everyone should be able to appreciate are great even if its not for them?

Sure, that also totally works

Am I up to 10 yet?

You can check here.

 

[Pifanjr]

I interpreted it as "we love", it would be impossible to do a broader sweep for me anyway, since there are genres I haven't touched which no doubt have seminal games—eg no Skyrim. Even within my genres, no Bioshock.

Any list you make about games you think everyone will love will of course exist entirely of games you love.

Mine are games I love and which I feel are also milestones in gaming history. But it's just a fun thread, so don't stress about parsing or interpreting

I wasn't stressing, I just enjoy being pedantic.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

eg no Skyrim.

 

[Brian Boru]

Pushing the Envelope of Mediocrity

You need a new pic!

 

[WoodenSaucer]

You need a new pic!

Assuming you're talking about the angry protesters, that has been my trademark pic for probably over a decade. Haha.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

angry protesters

Seeing the St Georges cross in the background I'd always thought it was English Football hooligans.

 

[mjs warlord]

Grim Fandago , half life and myst

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Seeing the St Georges cross in the background I'd always thought it was English Football hooligans.

I researched the pic once. I can't remember all the details, but the guy pointing his finger is some political protester somewhere in Europe. I can't even remember what he is all about.

Edit: It's the English Defense League, whatever that is.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Ahh yea. Probably best not to get into all that!

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Ahh yea. Probably best not to get into all that!

I don't care about all of that. I just like the picture.

 

[Sarafan]

1. Which of these have you played?

Deus Ex
Diablo 2
Doom
Planescape Torment
Quake
The Sims

2. Which of these do you love?

Deus Ex
Diablo 2
Planescape Torment
Quake

I also like Doom, but in a refreshed version with Brutal Doom mod. Never liked The Sims.

3. What's your 10-ish to love?

It's a really hard choice, but here we go:

1. Baldur's Gate 2
2. Planescape Torment
3. Fallout 2
4. Deus Ex
5. Morrowind
6. Neverwinter Nights
7. Quake
8. Soul Reaver
9. The Witcher 3
10. KOTOR 2: The Sith Lords

Unfortunately Diablo 2 didn't make it into TOP 10, but it's close behind! I also think that it's very harmful to many titles to post only TOP 10, so I decided to post more of them without particular order:

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Diablo 2
Batman: Arkham City
Heroes of Might & Magic 3
Neverwinter Nights 2
Shadow Warrior 2
Shadowrun Dragonfall - Director's Cut
Torment: Tides of Numenera
Disco Elysium
Doom 2016

Now I'm satisfied!

 

[mjs warlord]

1. the thing
2. frim fandango
3.age of mythology .. the origonal version
4.all witcher
5 all dragon age
6 all mass effect
7.stubbs the zonbie
8 manifold garden
9.legend of grimrock
10. warframe
11.skyrim
12. horizon zero dawn
13 the witness

yes i know its more than 10 but i never was any good at counting

 

[mainer]

That was a strange title for the article, not that I'm knocking the article itself, it's just that gaming is so subjective and even here on our small forum there are a wide variety of game preferences among members. Anyway, these are my responses to @Brian Boru 's questions:

Which of these have you played?
Deus Ex
Diablo 2
Doom
Half-Life 2
Planescape Torment

(I'm adding this section) Which of these do you have zero interest in?
Grim Fandango
Myst
The Sims

Which of these do you love?
Deus Ex
Diablo 2
Half-Life 2
Planescape Torment

What's your 10sih to love? (Stop me when I get to the 10ish mark or I'll keep going)
Ultima 5, 6, 7, & 7.5 (Serpent Isle)
Ultima Underworld 1 & 2
System Shock 1 & 2
Might & Magic 6-8
Wizardry 8
Lands of Lore 1
Betrayal at Krondor
Baldur's Gate 1, 2, & Throne of Bhaal
Icewind Dale 1 & 2
Planscape Torment
Neverwinter Nights 1 (plus expansions) & NWN2
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2
Dark Forces
Elder Scrolls Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, & Skyrim (+expansions)
Fallouts 1, 2, 3, 4, and New Vegas (+expansions)
Gothic 1-3
Elex 1 & 2
Dragon Age Origins, DA2, & Inquisition (+expansions)
Mass Effect 1, 2, & 3 (+expansions)
The Witcher 1 & 3
Titan Quest
Diablo 1 & 2
Sacred 1 & 2
Deus Ex
Half-Life 1 & 2 (+episodes)
Fear 1
Dungeon Siege 1
Two Worlds 1
Outcast
Devine Divinity
Realms of Arkania 1 - 3
Tomb Raider 1-3

 

[Brian Boru]

your 10sih to love

At least it's not 10shi-
But I am starting forum math classes for you and @Zloth before your backlogs turn into fronttrees!

How many of those 50+ are on your replay list for sometime? You could be set for life already

 

[Zloth]

Errr, maybe 5 of them? Can't keep playing the same thing over and over - onward and upward!

 

[Brian Boru]

Can't keep playing the same thing over and over

As a former sports player, I emphatically beg to differ!
As a former Civ 4 addict, I emphatically beg to differ!
As a former… but you get the idea