Just bought a high-end PC - recommend me some games

[theglasscannon]

Hey all

After years of making do with my glorified calculator I've finally taken the plunge and depleted my savings account with a high-end PC (R9 290 graphics card, since you're asking).

I now need things to play on it and I'd love some personal recommendations.

I've already got a xbox 360/ps3+4, so I'd prefer them to be PC exclusives unless we're talking about a game with amazing mod potential (hello Skyrim, my first purchase).

As for what I enjoy playing - RPGs, action-adventures, strategy, FPS, MMOs are all great, but I'm certainly open to new things if people speak highly enough of it.

Ideally I'd like it to be something that tests out the new system (before the LoL and Hearthstone recommendations pour in).

Thanks!

 

[Twinrehz]

For strategy, I can recommend Civilization 5, Europa Universalis (heard a lot of good things about this one), Sins of a Solar Empire-series, King's Bounty isn't too bad, it's a Might & Magic: Heroes 6 kind of game, which I can also recommend, Age of Empires 2 is on steam, and so is Age of Mythology. Oh, and Settlers, if you're into that sort of thing.

 

[Artaneius]

Total War - Shogun 2 and Napolean
Unreal Tournament 1-3
Quake 1-Live

 

[unstabLized]

Watch Dogs that's coming this Tuesday. I just said that because it's all that's been on my mind for the past week, and I'm getting hyped a bit again.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Here is a list [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_11_support] of DX11 compatible games for your consideration. Of those on the list, games that are actually good games to play, as well as looking good and making use of that nice new hardware, I would suggest: The STALKER series (with "Complete" mods), Skyrim (directx 9) but with all the HD textures/models, looks really, really nice, Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut (disabling "Postprocessing" in the options removes the yellow filter), Saints Row 3/4, Sleeping Dogs and top of the list, Far Cry 3 and BioShock Infinite. Both are very pretty, offer FoV changes in game and benefit from beefier hardware.

Forthcoming games...Star Citizen will be one to look forward to. A bona fide PC exclusive, they're using 100k+ poly models for everything in game, compared to less than a tenth of that for consoles.

 

[Madkipz]

If you are looking for easy to access f2p titles then planetside 2 is great. Practically requires a good pc to run smoothly, and even then you might want to disable shadows.

 

[SidheKnight]

As somebody mentioned before: Far Cry 3 and Bioshock Infinite.

 

[Jaximus Decimus]

Far Cry 3 is amazing on PC when compared to console. Some great mods available, too.

Deus Ex Directors Cut is fantastic and you can usually find it on sale for less than $10 somewhere.

There are some classics like the original Deus Ex and System Shock 2 that you should check out if you haven't played them already for some reason.

ARMA 3 for your infantry combat. DCS World for you flight simming.

 

[Princessbabe]

Metro 2033 and Last Light. 2033 Still looks amazing on full settings and Last Light is one of the most beautiful games there is. In terms of gameplay I prefer the way that 2033 handled things like stealth and ranger mode but I am a purist and I prefer Metro at it's most brutal and immersive. 2033 has the bonus of being cheaper, though it is a bit less accessible than the sequel. Both have an added bonus of not requiring any fiddly mods to play, it looks mind-blowing right out of the box (by which I mean Steam).

STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl and Call of Pripyat. I recommend you hunt down a disc copy of Shadow of Chernobyl and install the SoC Complete 2009 (I think that is the latest version). You need the disc version because the mod is incompatible with no-cd patches as far as I can tell. The mod makes it almost as beautiful as 2033 for a open world game, though it has a more dry colour palette. Incredible atmosphere, challenging gameplay, lots of exploration and secrets. The AI in the game is outstanding even by today's standards. Bandits, scavengers, soldiers, many types of mutants ranging from animal to horrific once-human to full blown nightmare fuel all have their own motivations, behaviour and reactions and watching the interplay between those systems creates many unique moments.

Dark Souls 2 is what I'm playing at the moment. It looks fantastic on PC, and while it isn't a graphics powerhouse, the 60fps (smooth and readable fighting), the strong online community and the fact you already have a controller to plug in make it a good choice with a lot of play in it if you like it. I haven't tried them, but I've seen good things regarding the ENB graphics mod system, which you should also definitely add to Skyrim, along with the HD texture pack.

Max Payne 3. If you have played GTA4/5 you'll be familiar with the Euphoria and Rage tech those games have. That is the tech that allows NPC's to generate physics based animations in response to the game. It is why a character will cover their head with their arms as they fall down stairs to avoid damage. Max Payne 3 is the most advanced implementation of those systems in a linear and beautiful package. With the high resolution on PC and smooth frame rates you'll be able to see all the detail of destructible environments and weapon animations. If you complete all the gold medal challenges you also unlock infinite Bullet Time which makes the game heaps of fun to replay.

The Witcher 2, which I still can't run totally smooth, but it looks great to this day and has a great branching storyline with meaningful choices. One particular choice at the end of the first act basically makes the entire game including quests and environments totally different. Solid action RPG combat, mature fantasy in a novel world. Just make sure you spread your points between sworplay and magic. At the very least, invest heavily in the defensive magic (Quen) because the game is just brutally difficult if you don't use it and roll dodge a lot.

They won't tax your computer, but there are some incredible point and click games. Look into a SCUMM emulator for most of them:
-Primordia (doesn't need SCUMM and is cheap on Steam and GOG) is a beautiful (if you like good retro graphics) and interesting sci-fi game and features Logan Cunningham (Bastion, Transistor) as the voice of the lead character.
-Day of the Tentacle, a great comedy game.
-The Dig is basically a Steven Spielberg high sci-fi movie turned into an adventure game. Still one of the most beautiful Lucasarts adventures.
-Monkey Island. The first and second have remakes with re-done art and voice acting. The third game, Curse of Monkey Island is the most beautiful and my personal favourite.

Not exactly in the same class as a classic or retro, but a recent good adventure game is Telltale's The Wolf Among Us which already has three episodes out, looks fantastic and has definite replay value for different choices. I personally recommend what I call the "silence and violence" playthrough for your second or third run, where you always choose silence unless you are forced to talk and always hurt people and smash things when you have the option.

I'm not a big strategy player, certainly not by PC standards. However X-COM: Enemy Within is a good tactics game worth a play and The Banner Saga is a painterly hand-animated game of fantasy viking chess with a lot of player choice for replayability, a rousing orchestral soundtrack and the incredible atmosphere of a Norse mythos inspired apocalypse where you have to make hard choices to keep your people alive. A great achievement for a kickstarter game.

I'm not a big fan of F2P, but me and a friend got at least a few days of enjoyment from Warframe.

As for games to look out for, the three person team behind Routine are doing exciting things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=iAcAd1fUiy8 (sorry, not sure how to properly link on this forum yet)

I know a lot of these probably are available on console, but most of these titles have been selected because they are just far and away better and more beautiful on a good PC.

This is already a TL;DR probably, so I've bolded the titles for easy skimming. You should also tell us what some of your favourite specific games are so we don't overlap too much.

Edit: Oh derp. I just noticed your Guybrush avatar.

 

[Windcaler]

Seems like every couple of months we get a thread like this. Ill have to keep updating this list since its becoming so useful to people

Some of the free to play games Ive played and enjoyed include Raiderz, Tera, Super monday night combat, Blacklight retribution, Neverwinter, Rift, Warframe, Path of exile, league of legends, Smite, Firefall, Hearthstone, Dragon's prophet, and Super crate box

Some good recent PC games I recomend include FTL, Antichamber, Killing floor (the best horde mode game on the market IMO), Dark souls (I highly recomend a game pad Im not ready to give an opinion on Dark souls 2 yet but it might be worth a look), Metro 2033, Metro Last light, the banner saga, Outlast, Divinity: Dragon commander, Far cry Blood dragon (pure 80s cheese and its simultaneously awesome and hilarious), Blackguards, Sang Froid: Tales of werewolves, Mark of the Ninja, Sins of a solar empire (Star trek armada 3 mod optional), Shadowrun returns (it has a pretty big and active modding community too), Dawn of war 2, Dungeon defenders, Legend of Grimrock, Daylight, Crusader kings 2, Shadow warrior, Dishonored, Banished, Rock of ages, Guns of Icarus, Sanctum, Xotic, Reccetear, Dungeonland, Arma 3, One finger death punch, Risk of Rain, and anything Total War is pretty good (my favorite is Shogun 2). You could also get Arma 2 for DayZ (theres even a mod to that mod that makes it single player or you can just wait for the stand alone if you dont like it as is) I dont recomend getting the DayZ standalone on steam at this time.

Some cheap older games that are still good and I would recommend include Deus Ex, Master of orion 2, Knights of the old republic, The elder scrolls Morrowind (the moding community is still active and puts out great stuff), Freespace 2 (dont bother buying the first one since you can get its full campaign as a mod), Fate of the world, Planescape Torment, Fallout 1, 2 and 3, Dungeon keeper 2, Descent, and Thief 2 (I never got the chance to play 1 or further sequels so they may be great as well)

Theres also a youtube channel I watch that gives you a good look at PC games of all kinds. Look up Totalhalibut and check out his WTF series, theres a ton of games Ive bought based on what I see out of his videos and theres a lot I avoided because I saw things I didnt like in his videos (note: Im not saying buy/pass on his recomendation Im saying use his videos to come to your own conclusions on whether a games worth your money or not).

Theres probably a ton of other games I havnt thought of but that should keep you busy for the time being

 

[TheAmokz]

S.T.A.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat with MISERY

http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-misery

You think Dark Souls was hard?

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Metro Last Light.


Early access potential:

The forest.
Dead State
Windborne
Planet Explorers
The Stomping Land
Space Engineers
Maia
Gal Civ III
Wasteland II

You forgot the best one. Kerbal Space Program.

Well, maybe not for everyone, but an astronomy/nasa fan would like it.

yeah as someone who is not into simulator games at all, kerbal space program blew me the fuck out of the water with how amazing it is (learning curve at the beginning obviously, but once you understand what's going on on screen, there is nothing more satisfying then your first successful moon landing with a rocket you built from the ground up)

otherwise, twinkie hit quite a few of the good games to get that will look good and are mostly pc exclusive (the ones that aren't are usually highly moddable or are leaps and bounds ahead of the console port)

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2: Episode 1
Half-Life 2: Episode 2
Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes: Opposing Front
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
X-COM: UFO Defense
Team Fortress 2 (Free to Play)
FTL: Faster Than Light
Bioshock Infinite
F.E.A.R.
Just Cause 2
Red Orchestra 2
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut
Dishonored
Portal
Portal 2
Civilization V
Legend of Grimrock
Mark of the Ninja
Rogue Legacy
Antichamber
Bit. Trip. Presents... Runner 2: Future legend of Rhythm Alien
Dust: An Elysian Tail
Cave Story+
Fallout 3
FEZ
FLY'N
Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic (is on a humble bundle right now, go get it!)
Darksiders
Painkiller: Black Edition
Torchlight II
Left 4 Dead 2
Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition
Garry's Mod
Path of Exile (Free to Play)
Blacklight Retribution (Free to Play)
Grim Fandango (if you manage to find a copy)

also yes these are good as well

Hearthstone (Free to Play)
League of Legends (Free to Play)

i think you already knew that but still



just some of my picks, all great games, some of my all time favorites, not many that are graphically intensive but still

 

[Bad Jim]

If you still have a decent amount of money left, one thing I can recommend (if you haven't already got one) is a monitor with a high refresh rate. Stuff really does look better at 100fps+ than at 60fps. Typically you are looking for a 3D monitor, as they need high refresh rates to work, but there are a few that come without the shutter glasses, so you don't have to waste money on that. Sadly, you have to choose between 1440p and 144fps, as there are no standard cables that carry enoungh data to do both.

As for games, the Tomb Raider reboot looks amazing on PC, though I can't say how it might compare to the PS4 version. Also, the original Crysis, if you don't have it already, is still quite taxing on max settings and looks great, and is pretty fun too.

 

[theglasscannon]

This is all really helpful, thanks.

So aside from skyrim what are some classic games that you can massively improve
the graphics of with mods?

 

[CommanderL]

Mount and blade warband
a few good early games are kerbal space programs , kenshi and robocraft


all the elder scrolls have great modding scenes as do the fallouts

kotor 1& 2 have decent ones but not much graphic stuff

sins of a solar empire also has tons of mods

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

This is all really helpful, thanks.

So aside from skyrim what are some classic games that you can massively improve
the graphics of with mods?

morrowind and oblivion obviously as well, they have many different mods that enhance the games graphics to the limits.

I think there was a mod for neverwinter knights (I think the second one? maybe the first one.) on the nexus that imported baldurs gate into it (a.k.a. baldurs gate from more of a third person perspective with enhanced graphics) and they might have even been getting the second game into it too (I believe the expansions were included as well!)

^obviously with that though, you need to have both games purchased/installed, because I think they directly import the files on your computer to the other game.