PCG's top 100 discussion: Agree or no?

[DXCHASE]

The top 100 PC games

Welcome to the 2024 edition of the PC Gamer Top 100—our annual list of the best PC games around.

www.pcgamer.com

I know theres a thread for articles, but i thought this could use its own conversation.

Do you agree with PCGs list mostly, somewhat or not at all?

Personally, after looking through, i fall into "somewhat" agree, i dont agree with the top 5. I also feel some are way up the list that should fall closer to 1 (Helldivers 2, Destiny 2, Max Payne, Doom, Diablo) and, yes i know its a subjective list, they def. have Half-Life 2 and The Witcher 3 in the right area and i know PCG is huge on CRPGs/TBS games but i just reallllly dont think BG3, Disco Elysium and Elden Ring should all be in the top 5. Thats my take right now.

 

[Johnway]

Honestly nothing stands out as absolute BS. Might be debatable as to whether one game should be ranked higher then the other but overall its reasonable. Nothing strange or dodgy to what's been picked. I might omit one or 2 of the picks like destiny and fortnight, but i don't play em so...

 

[ElvenNeko]

Overall i have different tastes and would rank differently. But most of those are really good games deserving the attention regardless of my personal taste.

But it seems like it's more focused on mainstream gaming (hence bg3 is on first place, not to mention bg2's presence), you can tell by absence of less popular games that still have cult status (Spec Ops the Line, Dreamfall, Brigandine, To the Moon, Inscryption, Shadowrun Dragonfall, Urban Dead, and This War of Mine, for example, and a lot of others as well), and by having things like Rust that's just one of the worse examples in entire genre, or re4 over original trilogy. Surprised that with such approach Wukong or League of Legends is not there. Most of the games that created or popularized entire new genres are also omitted, same as one-of-a-kind games that try to bring innovative game designs like TimeZero, What remains of Edith Finch, Pathologic, Zeno Clash, etc.

At least Disco Elysium is approx on the same place i would put it.

Overall, pretty decent opinion piece from people who mostly know games and what makes them good, but not something i would fully agree with. Also i would probably leave first spot blank because there are many good games on the top level of quality, so it's not really possible to pick one above the rest.

 

[Pifanjr]

My thoughts:

I should really get around to playing KOTOR 2 one of these days. And Caves of Qud. And Baldur's Gate 2, though I might need to retire before I have enough time to get through it.

Ah, I was wondering if Vermintide 2 would be on here when I saw Left 4 Dead 2.

Ah, I was wondering where WoW would end up when I saw Guild Wars 2.

Maybe I have some time left after Baldur's Gate 2 to also try Planescape Torment.

Ah, I was wondering if there were any more grand strategy games besides Stellaris, but CK3 being this high makes sense.

I didn't expect Dwarf Fortress to appear after Rimworld was already so high, but it does make me happy.

Overall, I think it's a pretty solid list, but it's rough that there's only one RTS on there. Sure, there is another one in the personal picks, but I feel like at least Age of Empires 2 also deserves a spot on the list somewhere.

 

[Brian Boru]

Strange there are so many genres missing in a list 100 long—unless of course I'm blind.

Spoiler: My very imperfect Genre List

Adventure
Board
Browser
Builder
Card
Casino
Christian
Educational
Esports
Fitness
Hidden object
Horror
Idle
Match 3
MMO
Mystery
Party
Photo
Platformer
Puzzle
Racing
Role-playing
Sandbox
Shooter
Simulation
Social deduction
Sports
Strategy
Time Management
Tower Defense
Trivia
Typing
Visual Novel
Word

To pick out just a few, is there no…
Horror
Match 3
Party
Platformer
Racing
Sports
Tower Defense
…game worthy of the top 100?

I understand PCG is RPG-centric, but surely some balance should be sought when billing this as "the best PC games around".

More likely I missed them in my quick skim, but titles [or one from series] I'm surprised not to see:
Call of Duty
Eve Online
Horizon Zero Dawn
Metro
MS Flight Sim
Satisfactory
Sniper Elite
Subnautica
The Stanley Parable
Tomb Raider
I haven't played most of these, but I see them regularly highly praised.

 

[Pifanjr]

Strange there are so many genres missing in a list 100 long—unless of course I'm blind.

To pick out just a few, is there no…
Horror
Match 3
Party
Platformer
Racing
Sports
Tower Defense
…game worthy of the top 100?

Resident Evil 4 and Inside are horror games and Inside and Pizza Tower are platformers.

Match 3, Party and Tower Defense games are pretty niche and I can't think of one I would include.

The absence of any sports or racing games is strange though.

I understand PCG is RPG-centric, but surely some balance should be sought when billing this as "the best PC games around".

More likely I missed them in my quick skim, but titles [or one from series] I'm surprised not to see:
Call of Duty
Eve Online
Horizon Zero Dawn
Metro
MS Flight Sim
Satisfactory
Sniper Elite
Subnautica
The Stanley Parable
Tomb Raider
I haven't played most of these, but I see them regularly highly praised.

I was wondering whether Subnautica would be on this list. Personally I think the game got a lot less interesting in the last half of the game.

The absence of any factory/automation games is a bit strange as well. Both Factorio and Satisfactory are well regarded and quite popular as far as I know.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

A good lot of my favourites in there, a lot of multiplayer stuff Im not really interested in.

Decent list again all in all IMO. I would have liked to see Against the Storm from my more recent favourites, and I really like Suzerain which no one ever talks about. But I guess there needs to be at least a few people going to bat for a game for it to stand a chance.

 

[DXCHASE]

To pick out just a few, is there no…
Horror
Match 3
Party
Platformer
Racing
Sports
Tower Defense
…game worthy of the top 100?

I understand PCG is RPG-centric, but surely some balance should be sought when billing this as "the best PC games around".

I feel like there shouldve been at least 1 in platformer, horror and party, but the others...no not 100 top games worthy imo too lol.

 

[Pifanjr]

I feel like there shouldve been at least 1 in platformer, horror and party, but the others...no not 100 top games worthy imo too lol.

Which party game would you pick?

 

[Zloth]

I'm always stunned by how games can drop so fast. Dave the Diver was a big deal last year. This year, #97. Must be the "hotness" factor, plus it isn't like the exact same people are voting every time.

Strange that neither Horizon game got on the list at all.

At least 4X games showed up again with Civ 5 - last year, the whole genre was off the list. Of course, that's a 14 year old game. The whole Age of Wonders thing isn't impressing PC Gamer so much.

BUT!! City of Heroes is on the list! AND it beat Guild Wars 2! All is forgiven.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I feel like there shouldve been at least 1 in platformer, horror and party, but the others...no not 100 top games worthy imo too lol.

@Pifanjr pointed out above theres some horror games. I get Signalis, Alan Wake 2, RE 4, and I think System Shock counts?

As well as Pizza Tower, Dead Cells, Hollow Knight, and Spelunky are arguably 2D platformers. I cant think of a 3d platformer on PC that made any kind of splash though.

Agree that if I saw a Match 3 or straight up 2D Tower defence game in there I'd be a bit miffed. Racing games being missing is a bit of a glaring omission though. I dont care for them personally but theyre pretty popular.

Would be interesting to see a breakdown by genre. Whatever genre is these days. I count 5 Isometric (6 if including Dragon Age: Origins) CRPG's, personally that makes me happy. Maybe theyre clinging on to Baldurs Gate 3's coat tails, but maybe not. I think in previous years theres always been at least a couple.

 

[Frindis]

@Pifanjr pointed out above theres some horror games. I get Signalis, Alan Wake 2, RE 4, and I think System Shock counts?

I think so too as System Shock has both gore and other types of horror elements.

The list does not have any Gabriel Knight games, no Monkey Island games, no Psychonauts, and for that reason, I am out!

I don't think BG3 should have the 1st place and this comes from a fan of both the game and Larian Studios. The game is fantastic, but it has not done as much to the gaming community as some of the older games. The modding community has just started to get their hands on the game and make some pretty cool stuff, but I believe that in the upcoming years, we will see just how much this game will shine in the hands of the community as we have with older games like Skyrim. Therefore I would be confident in putting BG3 in 1st place some years down the road.

 

[Pifanjr]

I don't think BG3 should have the 1st place and this comes from a fan of both the game and Larian Studios. The game is fantastic, but it has not done as much to the gaming community as some of the older games. The modding community has just started to get their hands on the game and make some pretty cool stuff, but I believe that in the upcoming years, we will see just how much this game will shine in the hands of the community as we have with older games like Skyrim. Therefore I would be confident in putting BG3 in 1st place some years down the road.

You need to decrease Baldur's Gate 3's importance score by almost 2.5 points before it goes down a single spot on the list.

 

[Brian Boru]

Bit of extra info about the list in this article:

RPGs are king, and 6 other things the PC Gamer Top 100 tells us about the state of PC gaming

Breaking down PC Gamer's 2024 list of the top 100 greatest PC games.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Rolfil]

I'm not sure Playability should be used to score on. Either a game is playable on Windows 10 and 11 or it isn't. If not then it's discarded. I suppose there might be workarounds to get something working but the top 100 should be for mainstream audiences. Eg. you can buy an old game on GoG.

As other people have said why are there no driving games? Surely Forza Horizon 5 needs to be there and arguably in the top 20.

I can't believe that no Assassin's Creed game was included. Odyssey was fantastic!

 

[Pifanjr]

I'm not sure Playability should be used to score on. Either a game is playable on Windows 10 and 11 or it isn't. If not then it's discarded. I suppose there might be workarounds to get something working but the top 100 should be for mainstream audiences. Eg. you can buy an old game on GoG.

I don't think Playability is only about whether the game runs, but also about how outdated the mechanics/UI are.

 

[BeardyHat]

I'm mostly just glad that Pentiment and Obra Dinn made it on there; two of my favorites from the last 10 years.

Otherwise, seems that it is what it is. Nothing stood out as particularly egregious to me, though something feels "icky" to me about multiplayer games being on there, given that it seems they're generally just designed as skinner boxes, to be as addictive as possible. Would anyone still be playing these games if they didn't employ psychologists to best figure out how to exploit player behavior?

And actually, I guess I disagree with WoW. I haven't played since trying the last expansion (Shadoowlands), but WoW is a shadow of its former self. I'd accept WoW Era 2004-2008ish, but beyond that, eh...

 

[mjs warlord]

Who compiled this so called top 100 was it readers or pcg own staff , a lot of the games in the chart have been round so long they must be covered in dust.

My all time favourite pc game is satisfactory and unless i missed something its not in the chart or even mentioned in dispatches as somebody's favourite.

My current ( second ) playthrough is 4,000 hours long and it is the most enjoyable , frustrating and complex game i have ever used. It must have take years of story boarding to plan this game and right up to 1.0 their were lots of .... can we have ... and the answer was no ..... Then in 1.0 their were a lot of the things they said would never happen so i guess the jokes on us.

The machines , especially the ones in 1.0 release are so well designed you could actually believe they exist.

The team at coffee stain studios deserve as many gaming industry awards as they can get THANKS GUYS

 

[Brian Boru]

Who compiled this so called top 100 was it readers or pcg own staff

Staff.

"Every year, I ask the PC Gamer team a question: What are the 100 best games on PC?"

 

[Pifanjr]

And actually, I guess I disagree with WoW. I haven't played since trying the last expansion (Shadoowlands), but WoW is a shadow of its former self. I'd accept WoW Era 2004-2008ish, but beyond that, eh...

Shadowlands is no longer the last expansion, there's been Dragonflight and now The War Within, both of which have been very well received as far as I know.

 

[DXCHASE]

Who compiled this so called top 100 was it readers or pcg own staff , a lot of the games in the chart have been round so long they must be covered in dust.

Honestly, if i didnt see a game from the 90s or earlier, i wouldve dismissed this whole list lol. There are franchises from then that are still around, still played by a lot of people (Im referring to Doom). But i feel it should be higher.

 

[Zloth]

There are two big barriers to lists like this: did you play it, and do you remember playing it.

If your group only has one person that has played a given game, then you've got to set up your system in a way that doesn't turn that one person's opinion into the whole group's opinion. If nobody has played it, well, of course the game can't be on the list. (Must be why the awesome Troubleshooter game isn't on the list!)

With older games, it's just about impossible to remember how good the game was. Screenshots help me out a lot, but plenty of games aren't great for screenshots, and some are way older than my collection. How are you supposed to compare a game you're playing right now against one where all you remember is that you had a lot of fun with it at the time??

The answer to both is: you can't. But give it a try anyway, because it makes for a fun list. Just make sure you don't take the lists too seriously, and it's all good.

I'm not sure Playability should be used to score on. Either a game is playable on Windows 10 and 11 or it isn't. If not then it's discarded. I suppose there might be workarounds to get something working but the top 100 should be for mainstream audiences. Eg. you can buy an old game on GoG.

Yep, that's one of the kinds of lists you can make: "The *current* top 100 games" where importance and hotness don't mean squat. Great if you are looking for something new to play right now. You could even make hotness a bad thing and get the "Top 100 hidden gems" list. There are many, many lists that can be made! (YouTube is setting about to prove this by demonstration.)

 

[ZedClampet]

Strange there are so many genres missing in a list 100 long—unless of course I'm blind.

Spoiler: My very imperfect Genre List

Adventure
Board
Browser
Builder
Card
Casino
Christian
Educational
Esports
Fitness
Hidden object
Horror
Idle
Match 3
MMO
Mystery
Party
Photo
Platformer
Puzzle
Racing
Role-playing
Sandbox
Shooter
Simulation
Social deduction
Sports
Strategy
Time Management
Tower Defense
Trivia
Typing
Visual Novel
Word

To pick out just a few, is there no…
Horror
Match 3
Party
Platformer
Racing
Sports
Tower Defense
…game worthy of the top 100?

I understand PCG is RPG-centric, but surely some balance should be sought when billing this as "the best PC games around".

More likely I missed them in my quick skim, but titles [or one from series] I'm surprised not to see:
Call of Duty
Eve Online
Horizon Zero Dawn
Metro
MS Flight Sim
Satisfactory
Sniper Elite
Subnautica
The Stanley Parable
Tomb Raider
I haven't played most of these, but I see them regularly highly praised.

Exactly right all around. No factory games. No simulation games. I don't remember seeing a survival game, though there almost has to be one somewhere. Alien Isolation isn't on the list. Resident Evil 4 isn't on the list. Satisfactory and Factorio aren't on the list. I don't remember seeing Portal 2. IMO, it's a pretty poor list.

List is filled with little indie nothings. Balatro is a nice game, but a top 100 of all time? Ridiculous.

Maybe we should make a thread titled, 'you top 10 games' and make our own top 100 from it.

 

[Zloth]

List is filled with little indie nothings. Balatro is a nice game, but a top 100 of all time? Ridiculous.

Oh no! Somebody get a bunch of plastic bags to PC Gamer offices STAT! We're about to have dozens of hyperventilation cases!!