Since 1873, the workforce at Rock Paper Shotgun have gathered annually to pick out what they imagine to be the most effective PC video games of all time. Admittedly, they solely began writing the checklist down in 2021, however attempt to not maintain their spotty recordkeeping in opposition to them.
Should you’ve been following alongside at house, you’ll have seen that what we take into account to be the most effective PC video games of all time adjustments considerably from 12 months to 12 months. We’re capricious souls and agency believers in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s maxim {that a} silly consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. Simply because we ranked a recreation one 12 months doesn’t suggest it’ll without end make the lower. It is a checklist that displays the present workforce’s present tastes.
Creating lists is an thrilling problem. Even when there have been a thousand locations to fill, we might wrestle to slot in each recreation we thought of to be the most effective PC video games of all time. As such, now we have chosen our private favorite video games. We have not added video games as a result of they’re thought of vital or influential. And, as Katharine (RPS in peace) stated again when the primary of those lists was revealed, “Bear in mind, if there is a favorite recreation of yours we’ve not included, know that it is at quantity 101”.
We’ll be revealing our picks all week. So, with out additional ado, listed below are the primary video games within the RPS 100: 2025 Version.
100. Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth
After bouncing off its predecessor, I used to be hesitant to evaluate Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth evaluate. Regardless of blazing by all of the video games main as much as Yakuza: Like A Dragon, the collection’ swap from real-time goon-smacking motion to turn-based RPG battles with the in no way confusingly named Y:LAD left me chilly. I missed the straightforward, cathartic fist swinging brawls of the sooner entries.
Infinite Wealth modified all that. Set throughout sun-drenched Hawaii and extra acquainted stomping grounds in Japan, Infinite Wealth provides Ichiban Kasuga – the face of the collection’ new turn-based period – and basic protagonist Kazuma Kiryu – he of the beat-em-up fury – double-billing as twin leads. The Yakuza video games have all the time needed to steadiness critical Japanese gangster drama with surrealist laughs, and the 2 leads’ contrasting quests to seek out household and grapple with mortality assist the completely different settings in providing loads of scope for significant smiles and disappointment with out risking tonal whiplash.
From a sensible perspective, maybe the higher time I had with it was just because I used to be extra acutely aware of the necessity to hunt down each battle, constructing my energy so the story by no means screeched to a halt when encountering a high-level boss, because it had in my Yakuza: Like A Dragon run. However greater than that, I used to be in a position to recognize that the basic swap to turn-based RPGdom hadn’t dulled the mainline collection’ skill to supply the form of simple romp which made me initially fall in love with Karaokegangstermanslappingoons Simulator. – Mark
99. Inscryption
Daniel Mullins’ Inscryption begins with you sitting in a log cabin dealing with a scraggly gremlin who will get a kick out of shoving his knobbly fingers in your face. However there’s no time to have a dialog about private area as a result of your new good friend is jazzed to play his card recreation with you. Slightly like Slay The Spire, it sees you progress by a haunted forest, preventing woodland animals with the playing cards in your hand. The sport is tough, tipped in opposition to you. Animals rip and tear at you, ending your run wanting the cabin on the finish of the wooden. So that you play, time and again, crushed repeatedly as a result of this crinkly ogre is straight-up dishonest.
However there are methods you possibly can cheat again…
To say far more would take away from the surprises up Inscryption’s sleeves. It’s a horror recreation that transforms earlier than your eyes time and time once more, flipping programs it launched hours in the past, enjoying round with important mechanics, and attractive you to interrupt its guidelines and rig its programs in your favour. It’s uncommon to discover a recreation so ingenious, so sudden. – Callum
98. Home Of The Dying Solar
Not one to let bygones be bygones, the ultimate order of your murdered emperor in Home Of The Dying Solar is a punchy one: hunt the traitor lords and convey wreck to their individuals. So begins your brief rampage by the photo voltaic system, blasting away fighters, frigates, and capital ships with vengeful abandon.
Home Of The Dying Solar is an area fight recreation constructed within the mould of Wing Commander, Descent, and Star Wars: X-Wing Vs Tie Fighter. Every battle in its brief marketing campaign sees you warp right into a map suffering from asteroids and different stellar litter, and a goal you need to terminate earlier than their backup arrives and outguns you.
Performed on a gamepad, your little fighter feels each nippy and highly effective, in a position to pull off maneuvers that might be unattainable in gravity. By holding down the left shoulder button, you possibly can shut off your rear thruster and spin spherical to fireplace on enemies chasing you, all whereas retaining your ahead velocity. It is the closest I’ve come to feeling like Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica outdoors of the demo for the (sadly cancelled) Past the Crimson Line Freespace mod.
Whereas there are bigger and extra complicated area fighter video games, they overstay their welcome and run out of concepts. Home Of The Dying Solar is an adrenal shot of moody cool area shootery. And, in the event you’ve a VR headset, it is the most effective video games to play with a display screen strapped to your head. – Julian
97. Dragon’s Dogma II
To the folks who insist Dragon’s Dogma II is merely a remake of the primary recreation, I hear you. But it surely nonetheless sticks with me as a singular case of Capcom utilizing their fancy RE Engine to create the equal of a D&D marketing campaign run by an improvising Dungeon Grasp. Living proof: as you stroll from city to city or trip a caravan (there is not any quick journey right here), you will stumble upon an enormous ogre, say, and chaos will ensue. You will scramble up its again to whack its noggin. As you accomplish that, there’s an opportunity the ogre will bump right into a griffin, and out of the blue a complete bloody kaiju battle has commenced within the forest.
Whereas the primary Dragon’s Dogma had these moments of barely-controlled chaos, it did not have an merchandise known as the Unmaking Arrow. An merchandise that kills no matter it touches in a single shot. Dragon’s Dogma II makes this checklist, then, for the chutzpah it possesses to forego fashionable gaming habits and tropes, much like a Dungeon Grasp throwing their palms up and exclaiming, “Okay, you wish to use the Unmaking Arrow on the ultimate boss? The one I spent all week making ready? Superb. However it’s a must to stay with the implications.” – Jeremy
96. Devotion
Devotion is remembered for being hounded off the web by Chinese language bigwigs over an in-game reference to a meme about Xi Jinping resembling Winnie the Pooh. Stated Chinese language bigwigs may need been much less narked if builders Crimson Candle weren’t Taiwanese.
In any case, Devotion deserves to be remembered for greater than denting Winnie Jinping’s ego. It’s the most effective horror video games ever made, a story of despair, kooky cults and crushing familial expectations that charts a number of intervals in a single majestically creepy residence constructing. It makes beautiful use of a tiny structure, increasing the setting into delusion the place needed, and mixing in Edith Finch-esque dalliances with different genres and aesthetics. Its manipulations are dreadful: you’ll see a Factor, make a gradual deduction and switch to seek out that, sure, there’s one other Factor behind you. When it comes to atmosphere, it’s not worlds away from P.T. and Silent Hill 4, nevertheless it’s far too artful a recreation to be known as a homage. Happily, now you can purchase it direct from the builders. – Edwin
95. DayZ
Nicely earlier than anybody fought by trembling palms within the closing ring of a battle royale, or stole the spoils from a murdered stranger in an extraction shooter, there was DayZ: a zombie-flavoured ArmA II survival mod whose unbearably tense PvP shootouts led the world in shaky palms and stranger homicide alike.
This, the standalone model, remains to be outlined by the hazard of being cruelly shot by a person dressed as a shrub from 400 yards away. And whereas years of early entry refinements and post-1.0 launches have fleshed out sandbox components like base constructing and illness administration, each these and, certainly, the zombies stay secondary issues to the chance of player-induced demise.
Settle for this threat, nevertheless, and DayZ can nonetheless ship the thrills that the mod did in 2012. Exchanges of gunfire stay heart-punchingly intense, and looting what seems to be a very deserted hut nonetheless carries the strain of realizing {that a} Czech psychopath might stick a Mosin by the window at any second. This uneasiness continues to flavour encounters with friendlier gamers too – even telling somebody you’re solely passing by, and them believing you, is like narrowly surviving one other shut name. Dying is in every single place in DayZ, and but few video games make me really feel so alive. – James
94. Wreckfest
Bang. Bash. Bonk. Wreckfest is a driving recreation that wishes you to do all of those plosives. It encourages you to select any observe, be it a dust circuit, stunt run, or determine eight and smash shit up. It has a pleasant roster of customisable scrapyard-dwellers so that you can try this smashing with. They thunk and bump to bits in immensely satisfying vogue, particularly in the event you’re hit or hit somebody from the facet or head-on.
Wheels, bodywork, detritus, your entire boxy pores and skin of a motorhome, or the twisted type of a faculty bus that’s been buckled almost in half, all of it goes flying or drags alongside in your wake. Like wrapping paper on Christmas morning. Should you’re fortunate, your trip would possibly nonetheless run on the finish. Even when it would not, you’ll have had a blast. – Mark
93. Dyson Sphere Program
Dyson Sphere Program was such an formidable thought for a recreation, I instantly scoffed upon listening to it. A manufacturing unit constructing recreation like Factorio, set on an precise spherical planet? Oh excuse me – not only one planet, however dozens of planets throughout a number of star programs, all completely traversable? And the goal is to create a Dyson Sphere out of a whole bunch or hundreds of components, able to harnessing the facility of a star to run a complete civilization residing inside a digital actuality simulation? Bah! Preposterous! Seems, they fully and totally nailed it.
From the primary moments trundling in regards to the floor of a planet mining ores along with your fuel-powered mech, I used to be bought. The sport ran easily, the scope and soundtrack have been inspiring, and the lure of steadily automating mega-factories spanning complete photo voltaic programs, and creating large interplanetary transport and logistics networks, was totally charming. It is a actually particular recreation. – Ollie
92. BattleTech
What units BattleTech aside from the opposite turn-based tactical video games on this checklist is a wholesome infusion of callous capitalism. As you fly from planet to planet within the Internal Sphere, commanding your lance of mechpilots on competing jobs for feuding warlords, you are by no means removed from the mercenary firm’s P&L sheet.
Every month you want sufficient cash within the financial institution to pay your pilots and the upkeep value of their mechs. Fail and you will have a mechanised mutiny in your palms. This does not simply imply you will take nearly any job simply to maintain the engine operating, however in battle it impacts your whole selections. Repairs are expensive, so fast kills will maintain your overheads low. Nonetheless, if you need beneficial loot, it’s good to disable enemy mechs with out destroying them outright – bringing them low by sniping at their legs as an alternative of the upper hit-chance torso pictures.
This vein of sci-fi accountancy brings stunning dramatic weight to the battlefield, which is spectacular in a recreation already dotted with 100-tonne struggle machines. – Julian
91. Full Throttle
There are various arguments over which Tim Schafer journey recreation is greatest, and whereas Grim Fandango is definitely worthy of reward, my favorite has all the time been Full Throttle. Perhaps it is my internal dieselhead talking, or maybe it is the excessive manufacturing values of this LucasArts masterwork, which kicked my ass with its opening rock music “Legacy,” courtesy of The Gone Jackals.
Specializing in a biker named Ben who’s caught in the course of a motorbike firm takeover orchestrated by the corrupt businessman Adrian Ripburger (voiced with sinister glee by Mark Hamill), Full Throttle oozes type because it prods you to unravel puzzles and punch thugs within the face whereas driving at 90 miles per hour. It is a very brief affair – solely requiring about two hours of your time if you understand what you are doing – however that is the worst factor about it. Channeling Mad Max with a splash of that customary LucasArts humour, Full Throttle was considered one of Tim Schafer’s most interesting works, and it is a rattling disgrace that the sequel by no means happened. – Jeremy
90. Deep Rock Galactic
Constructed by a small studio in Copenhagen, Deep Rock Galactic is a wonderful instance of doing extra with much less. Its alien mines are proc-genned as an alternative of handcrafted, however the system produces such visible placing and spatially participating cave networks that it’s arduous to complain. The 4 courses of playable area dwarf all use pitch-shifted variants of the identical strains recorded by a single voice actor, however this easy modifying bodge produces a lot distinction between their granted bantz that it’s arduous to note.
Extra importantly, Deep Rock Galactic is simply merely a really, superb co-op shooter. Bouts of chunky insect-blasting combine satisfyingly with teamplay-heavy spelunking, aided by a set of traversal instruments which can be versatile sufficient to permit for extra expressive and artistic deployments in fight – a favoured level defence tactic amongst my regular crew is to have a Driller dig out a makeshift bunker within the nearest wall whereas an Engineer blocks off the ceiling with deployable platforms, funnelling bugs right into a tidy frontal killbox.
This straightforward synergizing is only one of a number of qualities that contributes to Deep Rock Galactic’s pleasant, laid-back vibe, which in flip retains it as a welcoming retreat for anybody burnt out on the competitiveness and/or day by day login grind of up to date stay service FPSes. Others embody the mission management base having a functioning pub, the inherent comedian worth of by chance downing half the workforce with wayward explosives, and the devoted keybind for shouting out “Rock and Stone”. Rock and Stone. – James
89. Stray
Stray stays my favorite of the early 2020s cat video games, which have been oddly quite a few, now that I give it some thought. And regardless of the sci-fi components of this third-person (for need of a greater phrase) journey throughout the streets and roofs of a Kowloon-styled walled metropolis, a part of its enchantment does lie in how authentically cat-like your ginger tabby feels by the thumbsticks. The sunshine trotting! The little wind-up earlier than a bounce! The knocking over of objects that might ideally not have been knocked over! I’ve by no means had “be a home shorthair” on my most-wanted checklist of online game fantasies however hey, seems they will make fairly the charming protagonists.
Even higher than the feline kinetics, thoughts, is the town itself. It’s a brilliantly realised area, all however a couple of areas being chokingly dense, hyper-detailed city canyons the place manky partitions and rain-soaked pavements bathe within the gentle of neon indicators and the optical sensors of pleasant robotic inhabitants. It’s gross and lovely and steeped in an environment that manages to seek out the heat among the many gloom. Not the worst situations for a cat, there. – James
88. Return Of The Obra Dinn
Because the offspring of two mother and father who devour a regarding quantity of detective exhibits, it was inevitable I’d inherit a genetic disposition in the direction of fixing whodunits. Although I do not spend my Sunday afternoons bingeing the Alibi channel, I moonlight as a digital gumshoe, chowing by each detective recreation I can discover. Nonetheless, after enjoying Return of the Obra Dinn, none of them scratch that itch fairly the identical.
You are investigating an insurance coverage declare on the Obra Dinn, a ship owned by the East India Firm., understanding who, if anybody, is owed a payout. The vessel arrived in port with no surviving crew or passengers. It is your job to find out what occurred to all sixty of them. Although, the smattering of corpses on board, recommend one thing unsavoury occurred.
Due to your pocket watch, the Memento Mortem, you examine a physique to see the final seconds earlier than its demise. From these frozen snippets, you need to work out who you’re watching, their job, their relationships, and their secrets and techniques. Your notes and timelines shortly flip right into a conspiracy board. It is a thriller and story you possibly can solely unravel by attending to each tiny element. – Callum
87. Vegetation Vs Zombies
I replay the unique Vegetation vs. Zombies almost yearly, and annually it jogs my memory with out fail why no different tower defence recreation comes shut. It looks like a recreation from an alternate universe the place everybody is aware of all you want is a single static display screen, some vibrant sprites, and an unbelievable quantity of attraction and charisma to make a masterpiece.
In Vegetation vs. Zombies, you need to defend your own home by inserting vegetation within the lanes of your backyard, so you possibly can defend in opposition to the waves of zombies seeking to feast in your brains. With nearly each considered one of its ranges, you get a brand new kind of plant to play with, and a brand new kind of zombie will seem, gently forcing you to rethink your ways and check out new issues. The rhythm is additional damaged up by minigames each 5 ranges or so, the place as an alternative of inserting down vegetation you are enjoying Whack-A-Zombie, or going Wall-Nut bowling. And each ten ranges, the setting adjustments. All of a sudden you are within the again backyard, the place the center two lanes are a pool of water that solely permits sure vegetation. Or maybe it is nighttime, and graves seem in the direction of the top of the lanes which spawn further zombies throughout the closing waves.
Should you’ve by no means performed a recreation in your life, let Vegetation vs. Zombies be your first. The whole lot is comprehensible at a look, and – maybe extra importantly – endearing at a look too. The vegetation are all stupidly lovely, and one way or the other so are the zombies. The bobbing Sunflowers, the little smile of the Wall-Nut which turns unhappy as an increasing number of of it will get eaten… And all of the whereas, the timeless soundtrack by Laura Shigihara performs within the background, making it genuinely unattainable for you to not play with an enormous dumb smile in your face. – Ollie
86. Pentiment
Should you’ve ever puzzled what sixteenth century monks had for lunch, Obsidian and Josh Sawyer have gotten the sport for you. Pentiment’s about loving historical past in all of its most pedantic element, placing you within the sneakers of artist turned impromptu detective Andreas Maler. There’s a homicide thriller to unravel and in basic RPG vogue, the lives of everybody within the village of Tassing and Kiersau Abbey might be affected by the alternatives you make as you seek for the wrongdoer.
The artwork type, impressed by illuminated manuscripts and early printed works, is attractive and provides the entire thing a fascinating storybook really feel. That stated, it’s not afraid to sort out the chilly realities of a strictly stratified medieval society and the deep results life’s ugly twists can have on individuals. That’s when it fancies rolling away from the form of nice attraction that comes from chatting to somebody in regards to the numerous features of Andreas’ life and skillset. You may decide completely different choices for these traits for every playthrough, opening up completely different bits of dialogue and pathways for some good replayability.
As one of many few video games I do know for certain I can run on my common previous laptop computer, it’s inevitably gotten whipped out throughout summer season vacation evenings for the final couple of years, and might be for years to come back. – Mark
85. Gorogoa
One of the best factor about writing up Gorogoa for this checklist is that I’ve form of forgotten about Gorogoa, and might go uncover it once more. Right here’s what I bear in mind: you are attempting to assemble mundane issues and locations into a picture of the divine. The sport takes place in hand-drawn worlds of castles and staircases, orchards and towers. These scenes occupy 4 panels, and might be dragged about, mixed and remodeled to permit a wanderer to maneuver between them. The artwork is 2D and depthless in each senses: every picture hosts others, secreted within the texture or revealed by the use of your rising understanding of unstated cosmic ideas. Between the folds of the palimpsest, you see the peacock’s eye and infinite rolling scales of one thing like a god. I do marvel in hindsight if Gorogoa is simply too cleanly-made and gratifying, nearly soporific in its gracefulness, however nonetheless, I’m unsure I’ve ever performed something fairly this enchanted. – Edwin
84. Conquests of the Longbow
Robin Hood has starred in his justifiable share of digital amusements (Defender of the Crown, anybody?) however there’s just one recreation that lovingly encapsulates the center of Nottingham’s favorite forest fella. Conquests of the Longbow explores Robin’s drive to unite his merry males in opposition to the foul Sheriff in a story that we have heard earlier than. However what makes it stand out past typical fare of the period is an earnest dollop of historic authenticity because of director and author Christy Marx (of Jem, Elfquest, and Crimson Sonja fame). It is a recreation that inhabits the Robin Hood fable. It brings to stay 1190s England, filling it with puzzles, workers preventing on Watling Road, archery contents, and even a recreation of 9 Males’s Morris – a type of copy safety, little question, however at the very least a enjoyable one.
The sequel to Conquests of Camelot, a 1990 effort that shone an analogous gentle on Arthurian legend, Conquests of the Longbow stays a worthy but missed gem. The place else are you able to calm down with a pixelated Friar Tuck whereas musing over the vagaries of Sherwood Forest and listening to lute tunes as translated by way of the sleek sounds of an AdLib soundcard? Prepared your arrows and provides this one a go in the event you’re bored with pirate wannabes in your journey video games – the unique outlaw can provide ’em a run for his or her cash. – Jeremy
83. Into The Breach
Earth is misplaced, the supersized alien bugs have gained. Throughout the globe, cities burn as mandibles click-clack in celebration. Humanity’s solely hope is to ship a workforce of mechpilots again in time to stamp out the insect invaders earlier than they will overwhelm the planet’s defenders.
In Into The Breach you command these time-travelling, mech-piloting, bug-stomping troopers in a turn-based tactical providing in a tiny package deal. Every procedurally-generated map is just an 8×8 grid, made up of civilian-filled metropolis blocks, forests, rivers, and mountains. But, regardless of their measurement, these diorama-like ranges are filled with life. When your mechs beam into motion, speech bubbles relaying messages of reduction seem above the houses that dot the map.
You and the aliens take turns attempting to destroy one another, however intelligent tweaks to the style’s tried-and-tested method remodel Into The Breach into one thing distinctive. For a begin, your well being is not tied to your mech pilots’ survival, however the civilians’. If too many die then it is recreation over. Second, the aliens telegraph their meant strikes, providing you with whole information (and accountability) for what the enemy achieves in its flip. Third, whereas your cannons and artillery do harm, in addition they shove their targets away from the explosions. Every flip turns into an intricate puzzle of the right way to use your restricted actions to derail the bugs’ plans. Utilizing your weapons to shove and pull foes into a brand new sample that sees their assaults hit allies as an alternative of your mechs.
But it surely’s offloading your well being bar to the civilian constructions that makes probably the most influence. It is a twist that factors at your position as humanity’s defender. Over a marketing campaign, you’ll select to make heroic sacrifices, transferring your mechs into enemy hearth to dam pictures that might in any other case degree a metropolis block. You grow to be the valorous commander from a kaiju film, defending harmless life above all else. – Julian
82. The Stanley Parable
I’ll degree with you, reader, I hate describing why The Stanley Parable is sweet. It’s precisely the sort of recreation the place, ideally, the one factor you’d learn about it getting into is whether or not or not you meet the system necessities.
Then once more, it’s additionally stunning, humorous, and ingenious sufficient that it might most likely endure a spot of gushing. I’ve adored The Stanley Parable’s strolling simulation, by which you wander an workplace in accordance with or in defiance of a caramel-voiced narrator, since its authentic Half-Life 2 mod; its standalone remake in 2013 enormously expanded the scope of your potential disobedience and honed the sharpness of the jokes, earlier than the Extremely Deluxe version (which might be the one you can purchase at the moment) did each but once more.
The ensuing complexity would possibly tempt you in the direction of performance-enhancing guides, mapping out the sport’s many secrets and techniques and myriad endings. Please attempt to withstand. The Stanley Parable’s offbeat attraction is really singular, and thus, greatest appreciated with as little information and as few expectations as attainable. – James
81. Peggle
I’ve performed greater than 200 hours of Peggle, so I’ve to imagine there’s something extra to it than bouncing marbles between pegs in a determined want to listen to Ode To Pleasure.
Perhaps it is in regards to the randomness of the universe. A parable of how we’re however marbles flinging by life, pinging between encounters with household, buddies, and strangers. Usually these conferences go nowhere, we bounce away incomes solely an ungainly reminiscence – like that point you stated “And also you too!” to the individual within the trainstation ticket sales space who wished you a nice journey.
However generally… generally, one connection pings you into one other. You strike up a chat with a stranger on the prepare and realise they went to your faculty. You’ve got buddies in widespread. You want the identical band. It is a second of joyous synchronicity. You realise that is what individuals name kismet; it is as if the universe is aligning round you. Each beat within the dialog looks like a hyperlink in a preordained chain of occasions that flies within the face of the concept that the universe is a simplye sea of chaos. You step off the prepare collectively, able to discover this fledgling friendship, and step proper into the 100,000 level bonus bucket, Ode To Pleasure begins enjoying and your sick rating earns you the admiration of a unicorn known as Bjorn.
Look, I do not know. It is Peggle. I’ve performed 200 hours of it and it is nice. – Julian
Come again tomorrow to see what we take into account to be the eightieth – 61st greatest PC video games of all time.
Or, in the event you’ve an insatiable style for recreation rating. Learn by what we selected as the most effective PC video games of all time in 2024, 2023 (half 1, half 2), 2022 (half 1, half 2), and 2021 (half 1, half 2).
You nonetheless starvation for lists? Nicely, see what our readers stated have been the most effective PC video games of all time in 2023 and 2022.
