Your favourite PC game of recent times

[Hoonigan]

Basically, I'm just asking what everyone's favourite PC game is of recent years, say 2008+

I'm asking this cos I'm trying to find some decent games to play on my PC during my free time, so if people share their thoughts I can hopefully build up a picture of some good games.

A small explanation of why it's your favourite would be good too.

Thanks in advance

[kalniel]

Pretty sure there's a similar thread recently, but hey ho.

The Witcher and the Witcher 2 are the best games of the last few years for me.

My Witcher first impressions:
http://forums.hexus.net/general-gami...s-witcher.html

And Witcher 2 review:
http://forums.hexus.net/general-gami...iler-free.html

And some other noteable games IMHO:

Mass Effect 2 is a solid sci-fi shooter - much better gameplay than the first one.

Fallout: New Vegas - huge amount of content, humorous, great value.

Portal 2 is a supremely polished experience and great fun.

Shift 2 Unleashed is probably the most Forza/GT5 like game on the PC - looks better than either of them and has slightly exaggerated hairy bits which make it a blast to play. Just doesn't have as much content.

[l33t-krew]

The Witcher bored me a lot. Maybe I should have tried for longer?

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 was very fun, along side Fallout 3

[Ferral]

I have enjoyed Farcry 2, albeit the respawning enemies can get a little tiresome as well as degrading guns. The overall scope and location though are fantastic, visually the engine is absolutely fantastic, it really imerses you in the world.

Fallout New Vegas I find better than Fallout 3, the DLC for it is also pretty decent. I preferred the setting to this one with it being on and around the strip.

Deus Ex Human Revolution. See the other thread here to see what everyone thinks on it, absolutely fantastic game if you have the hardware to run it in highest quality settings and DX11.

Witcher 2 like Kalniel has already said, its more playable and accesible than the first game. The world itself is amazing, it has been mentioned that it looks like it has Tesselation they have put that much work into it, it is however running on DX9.

Arcania : Gothic 4, I dont care what the reviews said about this game, I find it better than the previous games in the series. Main thing for me is that there are map markers on this game to show the rough direction you need to be going in to get to quests, the previous games didnt have this and it annoyed the life out of me.

[MadduckUK]

Minecraft with us lot on Allens great server that can eat hours like you wouldn't believe.

Really enjoyed DOWII + Chaos Rising, Retribution lost the way a bit and i never really felt attached to my squad in any way, the original and first expansion are wonderful however.

Fallout III - slow start, but wow. haven't played anything else like it. it all feels right, and i cant really say why specifically without spoilers. However its not a real GOTY for nothing.

Borderlands - You need to play it with friends though, or you will get depression as you footslog it in silence for 10 mins for the billionth time

Thats it for the moment, I really don't play all that much now, and even less memorable, ill put some more up if i think of any.

[sweey]

Probably have to go for Mass Effect 2 although I've very much enjoyed Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Portal 2, Risen and Black Mirror 3 in recent times as well.

[Bugbait]

Depends on what style you prefer but Starcraft II is definitely high on my list. Good story for single player, balanced sides, and generally one of the best RTS's currently around.

[kalniel]

Depends on what style your prefer but Starcraft II is definitely high on my list. Good story for single player, balanced sides, and generally one of the best RTS's currently around.

Agreed. I was very pleasantly surprised how fun it was.

[pauldarkside]

Similar tastes by the looks of it:

Fallout 3 - I had it for a year before finally giving it a fair chance. I then put in around 100 hours over the course of 7 days. Turned out it was the most pleasurable single player open world experience I've ever had. New Vegas hasn't bitten me yet and I'm sort of afraid I'll lose another week when it does.

Borderlands - played it to death on the 360 then did the same again on the PC version. Whilst it wasn't particularly well ported, Gearbox seem to be addressing the shortcomings in the sequel, it was still a heck of a lot of fun. Really looking forwards to the next outing.

Batman: Arkham Asylum - whist not as time sapping as the above, I found the combat immensely satisfying.

There are others which I always fall back to such as the Dawn of War series, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, Sins of a Solar Empire and the Civilization series. Each either great for skirmishes, co-op or competitive multi-player.

[Hoonigan]

Fallout 3 sounds like it's a big hit, it's been out for a while now aswell so shoul be able to pick it up cheap . I played it on the xbox a while ago but just didn't like it, I only played for about half an hour though, maybe didn't give it enough chance to prove itself.

Might see if I can find The Witcher games as well..

[planet436]

Fallout 3 and NV - open world fps can lose yourself in.
Borderlands - rpg/fps hybrid, plays like a single player mmo.
Bioshock 1+2 - atmospheric shooters with adult themes.
Atom Zombie Smasher - indie game with zombies, hard to describe but very original.
Shatter - block braking indie game with amazing soundtrack
Frozen Synapse - xcom style turn based game, again amazing soundtrack.
Braid - Indie platform with ingenious time mechanics.
VVVVVV - platform game where you joyfully die hundreds of times.
The Witcher 2 - adult rpg, suffers from a bit from multiplatform development but recommended.

[cptwhite_uk]

It's not been mentioned yet, but Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (1) should probably be on your list. That wa s a fantastic single player experience.

I'd also suggest Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance (and the orignal) if you like strategy games and BIG scale.

Another vote for Borderlands (with at least 1 mate for co-op)

[Pob255]

Fallout3, I'm actually prefering this to new vegas, although there's a lot of bit of new vegas I like, and the story is better (well the main story line is less goody-two-shoes) although a lot of the other new features they basically pinched from mod's and thats one thing that makes FO3 very strong is there's a massive amount of mods out for it.

Borderlands is fun and the co-op is much better now they've fixed many issues with it, it does lack replayability, the fact that you have to replay it to get to max level isn't the issue it's you get to the stage that you're just mowing through bad guys on the off chance you get a better gun and there's quite a bit of going back over the same ground in one playthrough, esp if you do the side quests.
Still it is good fun.

MineCraft !!! ok some people will not like the total sandbox nature of it, there's no story line or goal, it's graphics are simplestic yet striking as is the game play.
Yet it's such fun and easy to lose hours of your life too.

[kalniel]

I'm glad I held off for a little bit until I bought Fallout 3. I heard nothing but praise for it.

It is a fantastic game, why are you glad you held off?

[boxerusman]

COD MW and COD BO, best all time games

[Zadock]

In no particular order...

The Witcher 2 (waiting to play this again following the V2 update at the end of the month)

Mass Effect 2

Borderlands

Fallout 3


Most of those have already been said already but there is one last one that hasn't, which I think deserves a shout out and that is Left4Dead 2 Thoroughly amusing game and a great multiplayer experience.