A New PC Gamer.

[danielpholt]

Ok so as a few of you know, i recently purchased a new PC. Its all fine and dandy, the only problem is that i don't have anything to play on it. Aside from the Torchlight and Tropico 4 Demo's.

 

I'm looking for some suggestions. I know about the 'uber' popular Console Ports (COD, Battlefield etc etc), so i'm looking for something a little different. The only request i make, is that the game in question be available on Steam, Origin or Good Old Games, because i'm trying to cut out the middleman.

 

So fire away. I'm really looking for as broad a range of games as you can muster. I'm open to most titles, provided i've not played them already. I guess a better question might be this. What games should a new PC Gamer buy immediately?

 

Thanks guys and girls.

[toxicitizen]

Deus Ex series is currently 75% off on Steam. Definitely worth a look.

 

Other than that, there's very likely going to be a massive summer sale on Steam in the coming weeks, so you might want to hold off on buying anything until then.

[TheMightyEthan]

Starcraft/Starcraft 2.

 

Can't buy them on any of those three services, but they are available for download on Blizzard's site. Starcraft 2 is still $60 though, which is nuts considering it's been out for nearly two years.

 

Also, at least one game from the Civilization series. I can't decide whether to recommend IV or V. I like V's hex grid and lack of unit stacking, and it's probably more new-player friendly, but IV has more complex systems and a lot of people like that.

 

I'd also second FLD's comment about the Deus Ex Steam sale currently going on, and also agree that unless you find a really good deal on something you should probably wait for the summer sale on Steam. That'll help you fill up your library real quick, for very little dough.

[Thorgi Duke of Frisbee]

Any game from Valve, really. My favorite from theirs might be Portal 2.

 

Deus Ex Human Revolution is multiplatfrom, but it had a specialized PC version that controls more like the classic game. Plus, it's only something like $7 this weekend, so jump on that.

 

Bit.Trip.Runner and Super Meat Boy are great if you can handle challenging platformers.

 

If you're an adventure game fan, check out anything by Wadjet Eye. Their Blackwell series and Resonance are on GOG, and Gemini Rue is on Steam.

 

Into horror? Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a must buy. Not for the feint of heart.

 

Atom Zombie Smasher is a top-down strategy game that is oozing with style.

 

Audiosurf, if music games hold any interest for you.

 

The Binding of Isaac is an excellent combination of dual joystick shooters and Rougelikes, with some cute, horrific imagery.

 

Freedom Force: Campy, top-down superhero game.

 

Frozen Synapse: Brilliant competitive game with completely randomized levels.

 

Garry's Mod: You'll have to own a Source game like Half-Life 2: Episode 2 to play this, but you can do amazing shit with it, like building airplanes made out of bathtubs or posing ragdolls in silly positions.

 

Hard Reset: Neat arena style shooter that will test your reflexes with plenty of tough, robotic enemies.

 

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis: Old school adventure game with Indiana Jones.

 

Jamestown: Bullet hell shooter which asks the question, "What if the revolutionary war happened on Mars?"

 

Lone Survivor: Dark, moody, Silent Hill-esque game where you have to keep yourself alive and sane.

 

Overlord and Overlord II: These were also multiplatform games, but if you're truly looking for something unique and different, you'll want to check these two out. You play an evil, Sauronic villain who takes little imps by his side into combat, fighting various parodies of Tolkein and fantasy lore.

 

Painkiller: No one does arena-style shooting better than Painkiller. Better than the first one, anyway. Don't buy the sequels. They're shit.

 

Civilization V: An amazing, addictive strategy game that will have you playing until you glance up and realize it's morning and you never went to bed. Also, the best in the series, despite what some may tell you here.

 

Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP: Just buy this fucking game. It's brilliant.

 

Team Fortress 2: Completely free, and completely amazing.

 

Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers: Short and a little frustrating, but there's nothing quite like it, and you'll easily fall in love with the world it's created.

 

TrackMania: There's a free version on Steam somewhere. Crazy racing game; you can race with over 300 people at the same time, you drive through each other's cars like ghosts, the maps are all insane and user-created, and it's incredibly addictive.

 

Trine: A side-scrolling fantasy action game, with gorgeous visuals and an amusing story.

 

VVVVVV: Platformer that looks like it was ripped right from the Commodore 64, but the soundtrack and gameplay are truly wonderful.

 

Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II: It's a Company of Heroes-like RTS that makes excellent use of squad mechanics.

 

That reminds me, I forgot to recommend Company of Heroes. Get that one.

 

The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings: If you're into third person action RPGs at all, this is a must-buy. In fact, it's the most brilliant RPG ever made.

 

World of Goo: Puzzle game involving creating structures with cute little goo balls and leading them to safety.

 

Zeno Clash: First person fighting game set in one of the most bizarre worlds you've ever encountered.

 

I could come up with more suggestions if you want them. I own something like 324 games on Steam, so I have quite the library to draw from when it comes to recommendations.

 

I also mostly left out multiplatform suggestions since chances are you've probably played stuff like BioShock and Batman Arkham Asylum.

Edited June 23, 2012 by DukeOfPwn

[TheMightyEthan]

If you're interested in multiplats I could name a bunch more.

 

Bethesda RPGs are always going to be better on PC than on console, they've got fantastic mod support.

[Mal]

First off, since I'm that guy:

 

Minecraft - You build, your survive, and build some more.

 

Now for others off the top of my head:

 

Mount and Blade: Warband - Play as a lowly sellsword that eventually works his way up to lordship and perhaps kingship (I never got that far.) That or get crotch shot by a cannon ball in the expansion Napoleonic Wars. Glob, people hate fifers.

 

ARMA II - A military sim/shooter that will make you cry with joy and anguish on the complexity of it all. Grab Combined Operations.

 

Just Cause 2 - More tomfoolery than before.

[Maritan]

Congratulations. What are the specs?

Do you need PC-only games or just good games to play on your PC?

If the latter, then I'll also add something to the suggested games:

Metro 2033

Crysis 1-2(why not?)

Max Payne 3(it's MUCH better on PC)

Oh, and Legend of Grimrock, can't remember anything else right now.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Steam, Origin and Good Old Games ARE the middlemen, FYI. If a developer has a game for sale on its site directly, 100% of the funds go to the guys & gals who made the game. Except for Valve games on Steam, EA games on Origin, and CD Projekt games on GOG of course.

 

I'll recommend just a few to get you started:

 

VVVVVV is one of my favorite games ever. The gameplay is perfect.

 

The entire Half-Life series is worth playing. Start with Half-Life 1 and move onto Half-Life 2 and its episodes. Half-Life's expansion pack Opposing Force is worthwhile too but not necessary.

 

Bastion is a fine action RPG with awesome presentation.

 

Jamestown is one of the best shoot-em-ups I've played, with a great soundtrack, graphics, and gameplay. Best in co-op.

 

Dungeons of Dredmor is a great roguelike, tough as nails but very fun to play.

 

---

 

As FLD said, there will be a summer sale coming up so hold off on these until then. I also check on Cheapshark often to see what's on sale digitally.

[deanb]

The only request i make, is that the game in question be available on Steam, Origin or Good Old Games, because i'm trying to cut out the middleman.

*Goes into FDS mode* But they are the middlemen. e.g (and I'm not recommending this but others might) Legend of Grimrock can be bought on GOG, Steam or their own site. I assume you mean you don't want ot be bothering buying something off Amazon that you just end up sticking the code in Steam n downloading off their anyway? I think cutting out other sites is a bit silly cos yuou'll frequently find great offers be it on Amazon(kinda rare though) or Greenmangaming(fairly common).

 

FFFUUUU. As I finish typing "1 post has been posted" n it's P4 saying same thing.

 

 

As you've got no Raptr or similar listed no idea what you're into so I guess I'll just throw stuff out into open:

(Oh and all of this is with a "unless it's on sale now, don't buy it cos the Steam sale starts in a few days)

 

Orange Box..maybe. I'm not sure on the value now given TF2 is now free n I think Portal get's handed out like free candy. But pretty much most Valve Source titles are pretty nifty. Though skip L4D1 for L4D2 if you're doing that. It's an MP game so the sequel fares better.

 

Skyrim: "Better with PC". Steam Workshop, mods, higher res textures(though tbh kinda shit), UI customisations for all the quirks etc. And farily decent n high bang to buck game.

 

Defence Grid: Nice Tower Defence game, has a free "Borderlands" (name only, not related to the Gearbox title) expansion included, and a bunch of cheap enough level packs to bolster it up. It's one of my most played games on Steam.

 

Fallout New Vegas: My GOTY when it came out. Nice atmosphere, nice range of weaponry and the faction stuff makes it a lot neater to play than FO3. Like Skyrim (pretty much same engine) has a bunch of mods, though not through SteamWorkshop.

 

Sins of a Solar Empire: Very neat 4X space RTS. If just to scroll all the way in and out. Same engine in Elemental which looked even prettier to zoom in n out but was unfortunately a pile of wank. You can get the trilogy for cheap fairly often and an expandalone is coming out soon. You control fleets of space ships, put bounties on each other, research new weapons, out culture everyone etc. It's also fairly long.

 

ARMA 2/Day Z: I've yet to play it but it seems to be sweeping the net by storm, so that may be worth getting into. Day Z is a mod though.

 

Dragon Age Origins(ultimate): Still not finished it yet, but love it. Very PC game, don't quite understand how well it translates to console but others have said it's fine enough.

 

Frozen Synapse: I'd ask around on this one cos it comes with two copies of the game so someone may be up for going halfsies. Turn based tactical top down shooter thingy. I think there's a demo. Nifty tunes, nifty gameplay and multiplayer that doesn't require both sides to be on at the same time.

 

Killing Floor: The rather decent and rather British alternative to Left4Dead. Unlike L4D which has you going from A to B Killing Floor is wave based. Few more players at once too. Great christmas game to play too.

 

I second a bunch of other titles already listed too.

 

btw for those of us with our Steam ID listed you can click to get to our profiles and check our recommended titles from there.

 

Also since you're British a bit more relevant cheapy games (Though it covers other platforms too it's mostly PC): http://savygamer.co.uk/ (There's a twitter link up top if you're into that stuff and he said about a revamp to the site coming soon.)

[Luftwaffles]

As Malicious and Dean have said, ARMA 2 if you have even a passing interest in simulators. It's got quite a learning curve, but I'm sure myself or MaliciousH would be happy to help you learn the controls and systems.

 

Other than that, Starcraft 2 is a must (skip SC1 unless you want to play the campaign), Diablo 3 is great (although many will disagree), and Dawn of War/Company of Heroes/Men of War should scratch any RTS itch.

 

Other than that, I'd advise playing any sort of game that plays better on PC. IMO, Skyrim plays okay on consoles, as does The Witcher 2 (although I think you said you already played it), but any sort of FPS or RTS plays far, far better with a mouse and keyboard. Same goes for sims and god-games. So I'd look into anything in those genres, really.

[deanb]

Oh yeah Relic RTS titles are pretty neat. Nice titles to play without the Blizzard bother. Though Dawn of War 2 (but not the expansions) is GFWL. Latest expansion is Steamworks.

 

Oh and I forgot to add: Buy a wired 360 controller. Can be had on Play for like £15 (maybe cheaper if you deal hunt). Yes kb/m is the definitive input of PC titles, but not so much for many multi-plat titles(and stuff like Jamestown that you might want ot do in co-op). Pretty damn good purchase all around.

[TheMightyEthan]

Oh and I forgot to add: Buy a wired 360 controller. Can be had on Play for like £15 (maybe cheaper if you deal hunt). Yes kb/m is the definitive input of PC titles, but not so much for many multi-plat titles(and stuff like Jamestown that you might want ot do in co-op). Pretty damn good purchase all around.

 

Seconded.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

If you need something cheaper, I do have a Logitech Rumblepad that I like quite a bit. It can be finnicky with cross-plats designed for the 360 though.

[danielpholt]

Yikes. Thanks for the suggestions guys. I've added a good few titles to my Wishlist. Including, Company of Heroes VVVVVV (?), Bit.Trip, Super Meat Boy, Atom Zombie Smasher, Warhammer 40k, Metro 2033 (which i planned on getting on the 360), and Portal (i've played and completed P2).

 

What i meant when i said 'the middle man', was that i intend to cut out the dvd/media aspect of buying games. I've not bought a CD in about 7 years, and whilst i dont think gaming has come that far i think i can survive without buying a PC game on disk. Unless its at a severely reduced price.

 

Games like The Witcher 2 would have been immediate downloads, but i already own the 360 version.

 

Once again, thanks for the suggestions. I'm downloading Company of Heroes right now.

[MasterDex]

Take time to enjoy Company of Heroes. It's a game that gets better the more you play it.

 

I'm trying hard to think of other good, somewhat recent examples that haven't already been mentioned but everyone else has done a pretty good job getting the essentials down.

 

If you've never played EVE, you might want to give that a go, it's not to everyone's taste however. I think I mentioned Total War on the front page already but they're awesome grand strategy games, especially with some of the great mods the community created. The original F.E.A.R plays lovely on PC too so even though it's a bit old now and you may have played it before, it's worth revisiting - as are Baldur's Gate 1&2 (trilogy mod) and Planescape: Torment.

 

Another great strategy game I bought recently on Steam was Wargame: European Escalation. It's a fantastic rts with a plethora of different units and stats to geek out with. If you really wanna geek out however, check out Dwarf Fortress. It's absolutely free. Download the lazy newb pack for it and it'll set everything up quickly and make the game look pretty. Then open the Dwarf Fortress wiki and get ready for the schooling. Remember Losing is Fun! Sticking with complex games for complex minds, Paradox's strategy library is full of deep, complicated strategy titles for the discerning armchair general; titles such as Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron.

 

In the FPS department there's Red Orchestra 2, Tribes: Ascend and Planetside 2 is on its way. And even though you already know about Battlefield, I'll mention it anyway. It's great on PC.

Edited June 23, 2012 by MasterDex

[fuchikoma]

Genetos is free. The official site seems unresponsive right now (uh oh...) but if you're not a big player of 2D shoot 'em ups, it may change that - it eases you in and takes you through the evolution of the genre, while telling a very sorta "Rez: Area 5" story as you go.

 

Other than that, definitely another vote for VVVVVV and Super Meat Boy if you don't have them on anything else. I prefer less known games, so I don't have much else to recommend... if you like Genetos, maybe the Touhou games from 6 or 7 onward (12 is really hard...)

 

Hardcore Tetris guys like

because you can tweak it to have the right rules and delays for your play style. Make it like an official game, or go crazy like this guy. I haven't tried it ye, but I have played

, a trippy Tetris with glitchy effects and a habit of morphing into other classic arcade games while you play it. (Or if you're crazy, there's 3D autostereogram (Magic Eye) Tetris by 3Dimka. I actually couldn't see these things until I tried this game, now almost all of them work for me easily.)

[toxicitizen]

Also, at least one game from the Civilization series. I can't decide whether to recommend IV or V. I like V's hex grid and lack of unit stacking, and it's probably more new-player friendly, but IV has more complex systems and a lot of people like that.

 

I'd definitely recommend V over IV if he's never played any Civ game before. The UI in V is much more friendly to newcomers and V is just more accessible overall.

 

I bought IV last year and honestly couldn't get into it because I'm so used to V's cleaner UI. I keep meaning to give it another shot but every single time I just end up playing Civ V instead. And now that Gods & Kings is out, I don't see myself going back to IV anytime soon.

[TheMightyEthan]

Yeah, I personally prefer V over IV, but a lot of people prefer IV and I understand why.

 

I wish that they'd added a religious victory type to V. Maybe make it so if more than a certain percentage of the cities convert to your religion (or maybe even all of them) you win or something like that.

[danielpholt]

Just spent 5 Minutes on Civ V and the thing scared the sh*t out of me. I felt to out of my depth. Granted, it was only five minutes. Another question. Is it worth th £11 to buy Sim City 4 or should I just wait for Sim City 5?

[TheMightyEthan]

The help menu in Civ V is fantastic. You can look up almost every aspect of the game in there and it gives you a good description of what it is and how it works, etc. Everything from specific units to abstract concepts like "culture". On piece of advice though: if you search for a unit like "Settlers" and it doesn't bring up what you're looking for, try searching for the singular. Also if you select a unit you can right-click on their icon in the lower left to take you straight to their help page.

 

Finally, if you feel out of depth you can customize how much help the advisors give you in the options menu. I believe the most helpful level is "New to Civ" where they'll tell you just about everything about the game.

[Eleven]

Thanks for the tip on Civ V's help. I'm getting lost in there. The last one I played was Civ 2.

[TheMightyEthan]

Haha, you really confused me by replying to that. I was like "wait, you're not danielpholt... I thought danielpholt was the one who said he got overwhelmed..."

 

Glad I could help though.

[danielpholt]

. I was tempted to give it another look, but seeing as i've now had only 5 hours in two days, i know there's no point. I've decided to download Trine. I've got Metro: 2033 on route (tomorrow hopefully) and Company of Heroes is downloading. All in all, i'm pretty much set for a few weeks.

[deanb]

Also knock the difficulty level down too. That way only certain systems are required. I think on the lowest setting you could probably just make the first city hit "new turn" over n over n still win. What parts you feeling out of your depth on. btw we do have both a Civilization (As in the franchise) and a specifric Civ V thread. So could expand some more there on help n tactics.

 

 

As for Sim City 4 n V, 4 is cheap and still works, though is getting on a bit atm (9 years old). Sim City V is looking shiny, though will cost as much as a new game costs and the always-online DRM can cause hiccups for games. But it also has multiplayer too.

[TheMightyEthan]

SimCity 5 doesn't have always-on DRM anymore, it's just connect-at-startup. So you won't be able to start a game if your connection's down, but if it goes down during play it won't boot you out.

 

*Edit* - Source: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/29/simcity-always-on-clarified-will-need-internet-for-every-launch/

Edited June 25, 2012 by TheMightyEthan