PC Gaming Recommendations

[Jolly Co-operator]

I'll be getting a gaming PC soon, and I'm very excited for it (some of you may have posted in the thread I made recently asking for help with the build). I was browsing through Steam, trying to get an idea of what games I would buy first, and I realized that there are so many to choose from, I'm a little out of my depth. I was wondering if my fellow Escapists could give me some recommendations.

One type of game I'm particularly interested in is Free-to-Play. Since I'll have just shelled out quite a bit of money for a PC, I won't exactly be eager to empty my wallet on a large library of regularly priced games right away, so I thought I'd try out the Free-to-Play genre, which isn't very prevalent on consoles. Aside from the obvious League of Legends and Team Fortress 2, which FtP games do you recommend?

Also feel free to recommend regularly priced games. I'm leaning towards the Witcher series, and a few older games on GoG.com, but I'm open to recommendations.

Thanks for the help

EDIT: It's been pointed out that I should probably elaborate on my taste in games. I'm honestly surprised I didn't do that in the first place

I can enjoy just about any genre, but the two that I'd say I've never really gotten along with are Real-Time Srategy and Turn-Based Strategy (I will admit, though, that my aversion to RTS could easily just because I lack finesse and experience with a mouse and keyboard).

As for what I especially enjoy, I really love a good RPG (either fantasy or sci-fi is fine). Hack and Slash is good, but I prefer some tactical depth to the combat. I enjoy an open world, but it's not a necessity. I absolutely adored the console version of Dragon Age: Origins, and I've heard that the PC version is better. Any game similar in style and quality to Dragon Age: Origins would be great.

I also enjoy a good multiplayer game, the majority of my experience coming from TF2. I like a game where team work feels necessary and rewarding, and different builds and classes can easily help each other. Of course, this doesn't mean the multiplayer has to be based around shooting.

It's getting kind of late, and I'll elaborate further if I can think of anything. Thanks again for your recommendations.

 

[Keoul]

Warframe is pretty good.

I'd say starbound is also worth looking into, it's made by the people of Terraria plus it's on steam so yeah. Still not finished though, not sure if you can get in yet.
http://playstarbound.com/store/

 

[Windcaler]

I should note that any recomendations I have I cant garantee are on STEAM. I use GoG.com (a no DRM digital distibution service) as my main digital distribution platform because DRM always gets in the way of my gaming. STEAMs one I only use if I have to and please for the love of god if you can get a game from the developer itself instead of steam for the same price, do it. Let the developer have all your money instead of STEAM taking that 30% cut. That said I would also recommend checking out other digital distribution services like Desura and Impulse, dont rely solely on STEAM for your games

As a PC gamer you're going to find you can get a larger variety of games, many times for much cheaper prices. So while the initial investments of a top end PC can be daunting the fact that its an open platform gives you far more variety for cheaper costs over time. Plus you can use it for other stuff. Although you should do yourself a favor and get an xbox controller if you dont have one because some games just work better with one.

On to my recommendations

Some of the free to play games Ive played and enjoyed include Raiderz, Tera, Super monday night combat, Blacklight retribution, and Super crate box

Some cheap recent PC games I recomend include FTL, Antichamber, Killing floor, Metro 2033, Dawn of war 2, Dungeon defenders, Legend of Grimrock, Crusader kings 2, Rock of ages, Sanctum, Xotic, Reccetear, Dungeonland, and anything Total War (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)

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).

Its kind of hard to recommend stuff for you since you didnt tell us what you enjoy in genres but these are the kinds of games that I like. Hopefully you will to

 

[xefaros]

Welcome to PC where Valve takes away your money slowly with each 75%off.And thats great.Pc got great offers from times to times but nevermind you will find it out soon enough.As for game suggestion on the F2P front i would recommend some PC straining games just to get you in.
TERA=F2P MMoRPG
Planetisde=F2P FPS with persistent world

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

As far as free to play games are concerned "Hawken" is pretty good. It's very fun and fast paced mech game.

If you're interested in it here's a video about some of the basics of the game:


For paid pc games, I would say one that you really need to buy is Just Cause 2. It's also available on consoles, but the PC version is SOO MUCH BETTER, with mods, and a much greater draw distance. It's also pretty cheap.

If you really want to give your PC a work out you should get Metro 2033. It's a very good game in its own right, but it's also a good "benchmark" game to see how powerful your computer is (Witcher 2 is along the same line, great game that's also a benchmark game).

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

As far as free to play games are concerned "Hawken" is pretty good. It's very fun and fast paced mech game.

If you're interested in it here's a video about some of the basics of the game:


For paid pc games, I would say one that you really need to buy is Just Cause 2. It's also available on consoles, but the PC version is SOO MUCH BETTER, with mods, and a much greater draw distance. It's also pretty cheap.

If you really want to give your PC a work out you should get Metro 2033. It's a very good game in its own right, but it's also a good "benchmark" game to see how powerful your computer is (Witcher 2 is along the same line, great game that's also a benchmark game).

I'm actually quite interested in The Witcher 2, so I guess that'll be my first benchmark. But, to be honest, I think the build I put together (with some help from my fellow Escapists, naturally) is quite powerful, and I doubt it'll be a problem.

Oh, and thanks for pointing out Hawken. I always consider giant mechs to be a plus.

 

[Christopher Fisher]

I'll be getting a gaming PC soon, and I'm very excited for it (some of you may have posted in the thread I made recently asking for help with the build). I was browsing through Steam, trying to get an idea of what games I would buy first, and I realized that there are so many to choose from, I'm a little out of my depth. I was wondering if my fellow Escapists could give me some recommendations.

One type of game I'm particularly interested in is Free-to-Play. Since I'll have just shelled out quite a bit of money for a PC, I won't exactly be eager to empty my wallet on a large library of regularly priced games right away, so I thought I'd try out the Free-to-Play genre, which isn't very prevalent on consoles. Aside from the obvious League of Legends and Team Fortress 2, which FtP games do you recommend?

Also feel free to recommend regularly priced games. I'm leaning towards the Witcher series, and a few older games on GoG.com, but I'm open to recommendations.

Thanks for the help

The best free to play games:

Blacklight Retribution
Planetside 2 (if you're into Battlefield, this is a must)
Hawken
Warframe
Warface
Path of Exile
Tribes Ascend
I think the new Command and Conquer is gonna be free to play
World of Tanks (never tried it, but it's huge from what I've heard)
Star Wars the Old Republic
TERA

Those are the only that come to mind, but I am sure there's more. It's also good to look for beta acess, as it's almost always free to get into.

Oh! Also: Black Mesa, the Half Life remake is free. I don't know if you can get it directly from steam, but I know you can download it from their site and it shows up in your steam game library.

 

[Christopher Fisher]

As far as free to play games are concerned "Hawken" is pretty good. It's very fun and fast paced mech game.

If you're interested in it here's a video about some of the basics of the game:


For paid pc games, I would say one that you really need to buy is Just Cause 2. It's also available on consoles, but the PC version is SOO MUCH BETTER, with mods, and a much greater draw distance. It's also pretty cheap.

If you really want to give your PC a work out you should get Metro 2033. It's a very good game in its own right, but it's also a good "benchmark" game to see how powerful your computer is (Witcher 2 is along the same line, great game that's also a benchmark game).

I'm actually quite interested in The Witcher 2, so I guess that'll be my first benchmark. But, to be honest, I think the build I put together (with some help from my fellow Escapists, naturally) is quite powerful, and I doubt it'll be a problem.

Oh, and thanks for pointing out Hawken. I always consider giant mechs to be a plus.

The Witcher 2 is actually quite easy to max out at 60fps. You just need to turn off that ridiculous "ubersampling" option.

 

[The Madman]

Free to play? Sure, I can do that!

Blacklight Retribution is a surprisingly good free to play shooter you can easily find on STEAM. Not the best looking game out there but still far from bad looking either and hey, can't argue with that price tag of $0. Blacklight is however a COD style shooter so there's not exactly all that much depth to it aside from a few neat tricks (Though to its credit they're damned good tricks indeed!), and I did eventually get bored with it. Still while it lasted it was a lot of fun and I can see myself going back to it again in the future.


For something a bit more thoughtful Mechwarrior Online is free to play and pretty good, but is also still only in the beta stages of development and so not quite done yet. Still what's there is damned solid and if you've never tried playing a simulation style mech game you're really missing out, they're fantastic and MWO is no exception. Game looks great too so you'll get to see your PC flexing its muscles here a bit as well.


Tried Hawken and didn't really like it. Looks extremely good, but I just prefer my mechs more like the above and other than the novelty of being in a cockpit, Hawken felt very 'generic shootery' if that makes any sense. Even moreso than Blacklight in some respects, go figure. Still give it a go, it's damned good looking and maybe you'll like it more than I did.


And another free to play goodie is Tribes Ascend. It's unlike any other shooter you'll have played on consoles, supremely fast paced and with a focus on skill-shots and teamwork. Very much worth playing and, as with all the others, costing a grand total of $0 to try out.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I personally wouldn't recommend Tribes Ascend to someone new to PC games. It's a great game, don't get me wrong, but it's extreme speed and the huge emphasis on quick maneuvering makes it very difficult, especially for people who are new to using a mouse and keyboard for gaming. This is more of an expert level game, once you've mastered mouse and keyboard and feel very comfortable with them. If you're going to get TF2, play a lot of scout, and when you can reliably beat other scouts 1 on 1 then you should try Tribes. Tribes is really an FPS that's built completely around players being really good at the fundamentals of old-school FPS games.

 

[Bostur]

XCOM: Enemy Unknown may be worth a shot. It's not an RPG but if you like the tactical aspect in RPGs it might be something you will enjoy.

Torchlight 2 is a very neat action RPG with a top-down perspective. A bit like Diablo 3 but cheaper and without all the issues of D3.

Dungeons of Dredmor is a small gem worthy of praise. Being a graphical roguelike, it's not a deep game by any stretch of the imagination but a fun diversion with the potential of a lot of cheap entertainment.
http://dungeonsofdredmor.com/

Terraria is another cheap game that can potentially result in hundreds of hours of fun, it's best described as a 2D minecraft clone.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/105600/

There are unfortunately very few modern games like DA:O, the closest thing is the old games of the Black Isle era, the Baldur's Gates, Neverwinter Nights, Planescape: Torment and a few others.

There are some games on the way being funded by kickstarter that you may want to look out for:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns

There has been a shortage of tactical RPGs lately, but it seems they get a bit of a comeback.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

My recommendation for F2P games is Dota 2. I've been playing a bit LoL and Dota recently, and I like Dota a lot more. It's so fun, it's way less slow than LoL. There's also no pain in the ass rune/mastery system that only makes the game less fun, and all heroes unlocked from the get go.