The Top 13 computer games

DESTINY 2

Destiny 2 combines a typical loot-based shooter with Bungie’s best-in-class gunplay, and the result is one of the greatest MMOs on the market.

The Destiny franchise has had some rough patches and was met with a mixed reception at its initial launch. But in the eight years that it’s existed, Bungie has drastically improved the formula via multiple expansions and a complete sequel. Now, the studio has one of the most well-supported live-service games in 2022. Every few months, Destiny 2 gets a new season or expansion, adding missions, activities, and endgame content like raids. Each of these different activities then provides its unique rewards, creating an endless loop of grinding new activities for new weapons, which you’ll then use to grind the next season’s content. What makes that fun and not tedious, however, is Bungie’s extremely smooth gameplay, which can remain fun for thousands of hours and nearly a full decade later.

DWARF FOREST

An in-development version of Dwarf Fortress for Steam features a mountain stronghold with enormous pools of lava.

Dwarf Fortress’s new, more legible version will be available on Steam soon. You can’t do much worse than Dwarf Fortress if you’re in the mood to play god. As the title suggests, this is a simulation/management game about constructing, optimizing, supervising, and, accidentally or not, destroying a dwarven stronghold. What the title does not tell you is that you must consider the soil type, elevation, and weather patterns of the region. You’ll also need to consider the features of each of your seven beginning dwarves, such as their skill sets, physical characteristics, and mental dispositions. 

DANGEROUS ELITE

Elite Dangerous is getting on in years, but she’s got it where it matters, child. The spacefaring MMO offers everything you might desire in a game of its type — it’s simply that some parts are better than others. The first-person shooting, for example, is adequate. However, Elite more than justifies its place on this list because of the sense of adventure, discovery, and risk that comes with every flight. That’s because this 2014 game recreates every 400 billion star systems in our galaxy, each with hundreds of bodies that you can explore and even walk on in first person. It is still one of the most compelling reasons to purchase a VR headset — or to construct a working cockpit inside one.

FORTNITE

The ultimate video game playground is Fortnite. Is it a fight to the death? Is it a construction game in which you can create custom maps and games for your friends? Is it still the strange zombie game that it was touted as? Inexplicably, the answer to all of those questions is yes. Importantly, Fortnite is the only game where you can swing around with an official Spider-Man web-slinger while dressed as Goku before blasting Commander Zavala from Destiny with a shotgun, chopping down a tree with the Staff of Ra from Indiana Jones, and then getting sniped by Darth Vader as he rides by on a wolf. It’s crazy video gaming madness unlike anything else.

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

League of Legends is one of the most influential video games of the last decade, and it helped to define what a continuous game should be. It’s a fantastic live-service game with a tonne of fresh stuff released every year. It’s a complicated strategic game that never repeats itself. It is one of the most popular esports on the globe. It’s also absolutely free to play. While League was not the first game to get any of these honors, Riot learned from its predecessors (such as Starcraft and the original DOTA mod) to push the boundaries of what a prestigious competitive game might be, and has managed to keep it relevant for 13 years. In classic MOBA fashion, 10 players form a match and are divided into two teams. Each player on each squad is then allocated a position, and they can support their comrades by selecting from over 160 distinct characters. The goal of the game is to get to the other side of the arena and demolish the opponent team’s base. This causes a tense push and pulls between both teams as they acquire gold and boost their heroes.

FLIGHT SIMULATOR BY MICROSOFT

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a technological marvel. It imports almost two petabytes of Microsoft Bing map data to create a high-quality, VR-compatible flight simulation. Then it adds real-time air traffic and weather just because it can. Float planes, ski planes, combat jets, racing planes, and even Halo’s Pelican are all available after you visit the in-game third-party storefront. While MSFS is also compatible with Xbox systems, it shines on PC, bringing up a world of tinkering for die-hard aficionados.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE OBRA DINN

Return of the Obra Dinn is one of those uncommon games that I wish I could forget. Not because it’s weighty or particularly terrible, but because I want to relive it with fresh eyes. It’s a game that, like Outer Wilds, is mainly reliant on discovery and the application of newly acquired knowledge. The less known about Return of the Obra Dinn before playing, the better, so take our word for it and go play for yourself… Still not convinced? Fine. I’ll tell you right now that you get to play as an insurance investigator. Nothing will get you to install it if that doesn’t work. Return of the Obra Dinn, on the other hand, places you in the shoes of an insurance investigator (that part isn’t a joke) for the East India Company 1807.

SATISFACTORY

Management and automation games are classic PC gaming stalwarts, and Satisfactory is one of the best in the present day Satisfactory, you play a space corporation employee who is placed in a dangerous and unfamiliar world. Your mission is to exploit the resources of the planet to construct an extraordinary factory for your overlords, manufacturing increasingly technologically advanced things that you’ll finally transfer back to the mothership via a massive space elevator. The trick with Satisfactory is that everything is in first person, and you’re just one small employee in what may turn out to be a massive factory. You must not just picture how your factory floor will be laid out.

WARHAMMER 3/IMMORTAL EMPIRES TOTAL WAR

Video games can’t always help themselves. They expand vertically, with such systemic complexity that any prospect of balance or grace is lost. They expand horizontally, with larger maps, more characters, or new magical spells, until they’re completely bloated. They eventually fall under the immense weight of their creation.

What started as the first fantasy installment in a history-based franchise has evolved into a trilogy-ending grand strategy game in which armored mammoths, sex-crazed demons, bipedal machine-gunner rats, dragon-mounted high elves, and four-headed hydras struggle in enormous battles. Warhammer 3 is, like the other two games in the trilogy, half empire-building and half real-time tactics. You increase your territory, enhance your towns, raise armies, and march them out to battle.

Valorant

Riot Games’ take on tactical shooters is VALORANT. However, because it is created by the same people who created League of Legends, it mixes its severe, hyper-accurate gunplay with distinct heroes in a vibrant, colorful world. As a result, the game is one of the greatest and tightest shooters available, with far more personality than its drab, militaristic contemporaries. In Valorant, you’ll be able to play both attack and defense on several maps. The offense must plant a bomb at one of several important locations on the map, and the defense must defuse that device. If the bomb detonates or all of the defenders are dead, the offense wins. The defenders win if the bomb is defused or the offense is destroyed. 

WARFRAME

What began in 2012 as a game of ninja battle in cramped spacecraft corridors has evolved into one of the oddest, funniest, and most magnificent science fiction universes in video games over the last decade. It’s also completely free.

Warframe is a game about gathering the titular cyborg space assassins and annihilating tens of thousands — if not hundreds of thousands — of adversaries on planets, moons, and star bases around the solar system. It contains dozens of crafting systems, customizable dojos and landing crafts, three open worlds, daily and weekly activities, and even an annual conference in London, Ontario.

WARCRAFT WORLD

World of Warcraft is the most well-known MMO brand, with Final Fantasy 14 only recently catching up. However, unlike Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft has remained a PC-only title with mouse-and-keyboard capabilities. It has also been in operation for 18 years and is still going strong. World of Warcraft, as one might assume from a game old enough to vote, hasn’t always been one of the best PC games available. It has had brilliant moments as well as periods of major disappointment. Even as the quality of WoW’s content has ebbed and flowed, it has always provided a wonderful world to adventure in, whether alone or with a raucous group of friends. Over time, it has become a fixture in the lives of millions of fans.

XCOM 2:WAR OF THE CHOSEN 

Since Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, XCOM 2: War of the Chosen has had one of the best video game comeback stories. What began as a flawed and occasionally frustrating sequel to Firaxis’ acclaimed XCOM reboot was revitalized with the War of the Chosen expansion, and is now one of the best strategy games in recent memory.XCOM 2 is all about repelling invaders from another world with your army of men, just like the first game. Because it’s a tactical turn-based game, you’ll move each of your characters individually before finishing your turn, prompting the computer to move in response to your actions. It’s similar to a chess game in which you upgrade and bond with your pieces between games.