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GamingPC GamesSci-Fi

What are the best sci-fi PC games?

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38 Games Considered

Best sci-fi PC games	Price	Genre	Platforms
-- Mass Effect	$19.99	Action Role-Playing, Third-Person Shooter	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows
-- Portal 2	$19.99	-	-
-- FTL: Faster Than Light	$9.99	Roguelite	Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS
-- Warframe	Free	Action	-
-- XCOM 2	$49.99	Turn-based Tactical RPG	Windows, Mac, Linux, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, Android

Mass Effect

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Memorable cast of authentic characters

Mass Effect has an amazing cast of both human and alien characters who feel like real people. While just about any NPC you meet is fantastic, your squad members are the ones that stand out the most. They all have backstories and traits that are believable and natural. Ashley is a human soldier who joins your team early on. As you chat with her in between missions, you get to learn about her history with her family and religious faith back on Earth. But then as you explore the Citadel, the game's main hub area, she makes snide comments about all the aliens around, keying you in on her true feelings about non-humans. By contrast, your scientist team member Liara is an asari: Mass Effect's species of blue female-only aliens. Despite being reserved and shy, Liara often jumps at the chance to gush about her research. Talking to her gives you the chance to learn more about the asari and why exactly she's so devoted to her academic studies. Getting to know everyone through dialogue and squad banter is a lot of fun, making it easy to grow attached to your favorite characters. See More

Top Con

Tedious inventory management

The game overloads your inventory with weapon upgrades, modifiers, equipment, and all sorts of duplicates of those items. Clearing out your inventory can take several minutes at a time since there's no quick way to select the things you don't want and get rid of them. If you're diligent enough to trek to a store to sell things off every single time you're low on inventory space, you can make quite a bit of money, but it's not always convenient to do this, like when you're out in the middle of a remote planet. It takes a lot of patience to not get annoyed with managing all of your items and components. See More

ExuberantPallas's Experience

The universe they've built was quite extensive. Had to restart the game a couple times just to understand the history shown at the citadel in ME1 about krogans and such. Didn't want to advance games story before understanding it. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Third-Person Shooter

Top Pro

Calm and thoughtful atmosphere

There's something calming about Mass Effect's atmosphere that really gives you the space to think and reflect. Exploring places like the indoor trade port Noveria feels special because of the cool blue color scheme, the blizzard blowing outside the full pane windows, and the ambient, yet quietly emotional synth music looping in the background. Even the title screen has a thoughtful song playing over the beautiful sight of Earth from orbit. The atmosphere is wonderful in a way that's almost nostalgic, making you feel right at home each time you start up the game. See More

Top Con

Clunky third-person shooting combat

The third-person shooting part of Mass Effect isn't that fun because of how janky it is. Your character gets glued to cover whenever you're close to a wall instead of letting you press a button to enter cover whenever you want. The actual shooting mechanics are slow and heavy, and with guns that overheat if you keep firing them for too long. Suicidal squadmates run around getting killed unless you remember to keep directing them to hide behind cover everywhere you go. The combat is just unsatisfying, clearly taking a backseat to the game's story and characters. See More

Top Pro

Good romance subplots

The romance subplots in Mass Effect are great. Playing as male Shepard, you can romance either Liara or Ashley, while female Shepard can romance Liara or Kaidan, your human male squadmate. There are certain consequences for being unfaithful where your partner will confront you or the person you're cheating with in a heated showdown. Sticking with one person for the whole game rewards you with a romantic scene near the end of the story. A lot of care and attention went into these subplots, giving you the chance to see each of the characters in a new light. See More

Top Con

Vehicle controls with the Mako are absolutely terrible

Driving around on planets to get from place to place in the Mako is awful. Controls aren't as responsive as they should be and the vehicle's physics are all over the place. Just trying to make basic turns is bad enough; roving up a rocky mountain, for example, makes the Mako bounce and spin around like it's in zero gravity. These driving parts are mandatory and unskippable, so there's no way around them. It's so bad that the developers got rid of the Mako in Mass Effect 2 and 3, but you unfortunately still have to deal with it here. See More

Top Pro

Your choices have true consequences on the story

Your choices have direct consequences on how the story plays out, not only in this game but also across the rest of the Mass Effect trilogy. You get to choose between options like sparing or killing off an entire race of potentially dangerous enemies, saving or sacrificing one of your own squad members to finish an operation, and dealing with an enraged teammate who feels betrayed by your actions. How you handle certain side objectives during story missions can also have an impact on how the galaxy at large reacts to you. Each of your decisions, big and small, carry over through your save files to Mass Effect 2 and 3, opening things up for many different playthroughs to see how things turn out with other choices. See More

Top Pro

You can customize your protagonist Commander Shepard

There are lots of ways to make Commander Shepard feel like your own character. The character creator at the start of a new game lets you change all sorts of options, from your hair, to your skin color, the shape of your nose, mouth, and ears, and so much more. Or, if you prefer, you can simply stick with the default male or female Shepard. You also get to pick which class you want to be for combat: soldier, infiltrator, vanguard, adept, or sentinel, each with their own unique abilities, like the adept's helpful "magic spells" and the infiltrator's specialty with sniper rifles. You can role-play as Shepard however you want, with plenty of options to customize your looks and your combat specialties for whichever role suits you the most. See More

Portal 2

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Co-op does not punish when you want to goof off with or troll the other player

While Portal 2 requires focus and logic, it does not punish players for causing a bit of mischief. The instant respawn system means trolling your friend will affect almost nothing in the game, as there are no in-game setbacks when you die. Being able to stop at any point in the game to just goof around is great for releasing some steam, even when it is at the expense of your co-op partner. See More

Top Con

It's already on every co-op list since 2011

Yanis's Experience

What an adventure !! See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Top Pro

Challenging puzzles that require creative thinking

The game challenges your brain to use portals, cubes and other mechanics in order to solve simple and complex puzzles in interesting ways. Trying to figure out the best placement of entrance and exit portals in order to gain access to (perceived) inaccessible places takes a lot of thought, especially in the later game. See More

Top Con

Steep co-op learning curve

Although the single-player campaign features a gradual learning curve, co-op offers no mercy. The puzzles start off hard and only get harder. It’s highly recommended that you play through single-player first if you are not familiar with Portal's mechanics. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform co-op

As long as both players have a Steam account, the co-op is able to be played even if one user is playing on the PS3 while the other is on a PC. See More

Top Con

Main co-op campaign is short

The co-op campaign in Portal 2 is about 4 hours long for experienced players, meaning it could be beaten in a just a couple days. With almost zero replayability, this makes the game feel incredibly short. Luckily, hundreds of hours of user-generated content is available. See More

Top Pro

Witty and funny character driven story

Four major characters drive the single player campaign, and they are amazing. Three of which have explosive personalities, bring humor, suspense, sadness, and empathy. The other being Chell, who doesn’t speak but her interactions with the rest of the cast make her all the more mysterious and interesting. Most of the time you don’t even see or directly interact with the characters, but that just shows how great they are. See More

Top Con

Late game single player can be quite difficult

While the single player learning curve is quite gradual, late game the puzzles can become quite difficult, sometimes leading to the player being stuck for long stretches of time. While not impossible to solve, some creative thinking will need to be done in order to finish. See More

Top Pro

Huge selection of user-generated content that should appeal to any use-case

The game has more than 60,000 co-op puzzles created by users through the Steam Workshop and through mods. Because it is user-generated content, the quality and size of these puzzles vary widely, including everything from simple, one-off chambers to full-fledged expansions with high-quality stories, voice-overs, and new gameplay elements (for example, Mel). By having such a selection of content, there should be something that appeals to just about anything someone is looking for. See More

Top Pro

Entertaining and well delivered voice acting

Voice acting for Wheatley the robot is done by Stephen Merchant (Extras, The Office UK, Life's Too Short) in humorous fashion. His delivery is well executed on all dialogue. On top of this specific experience, the rest of the voice acting of every other character in the game is performed just as well, in part due to the fact that the dialogue was written in a smart and entertaining fashion. This makes for a top quality listening experience that shows a lot of care was taken with the voice acting of the game. See More

Top Pro

Creates a sense of accomplishment through a high level of teamwork

Co-op multiplayer offers a completely different set of puzzles from the single-player campaign, which keeps things fresh for those that finished the single player campaign. Almost all co-op puzzles require a high level of teamwork, creating a great sense of accomplishment for the players working together. See More

FTL: Faster Than Light

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Allows for highly strategic gameplay

The rougelike game design combined with the huge amount of choices that can be made in both encounters as well as ship management makes FTL a highly strategic game as you never quite know what the game is going to throw at you. There are many decisions that can be made in the game, such as what parts of an enemy ship to target (their shields, their weapons) or where to concentrate your defensive strategies, such as powering up an ion engine to run, or powering up ones shields to stay and fight. These choices can all effect the final outcome of the game, so it is up to the player to make the best decisions at their disposal. There are also many choices of ships to use and equipment layouts for each that can be tweaked. Depending on the ship used and what equipment is used or where it is place can greatly affect how the game will play out as well as how the game will need to be played. If choosing a fast ship with low shield power, it will be best to outrun a lot of encounters. Where as if choosing a slow ship with good gun capabilities and a high shield power, a good strategy would be to go in guns blazing for each encounter. See More

Top Con

Lackluster interface on iPad

The weapons panel often covers up vital information on ones crew health. The problem being that this panel needs to be on screen when in a battle, which is also the exact time that crew health is very important. See More

Specs

Genre:Roguelite

Co-Op:Single player

Top Pro

Has modding support

There are multiple mods available for FTL that can greatly change up the gameplay and looks of the game. This adds a lot of replayability to the title. See More

Top Con

Can be pretty difficult

The amount of choices to be made (many not being good ones) and the randomization of the game makes for a situation that may be too difficult for some. This is not a game that you will beat in one play session nor 10, it takes a lot of time to get in a good run that results in winning, which some people may not have patience for. See More

Top Pro

Morality based decisions

The game works a lot like a text adventure in a roguelike wrapper. The decisions asked of the player during this adventure can affect much of the stories plot, making for an interactive story through choices such as telling aliens you are a god in order to potentially receive less trouble in your encounter with them, to abducting aliens in order to sell them for a profit. One choice may appeal to the player more than another, it also provides a way to role play as a morally bankrupt space captain. All in all though this is all up to the player, which can be really fun to see what may happen. See More

Top Con

Late game battles are long and boring

In the later parts of the game battles are very long which can make for a bit of a boring experience, especially for those that would rather be exploring than spending so much time on battles. See More

Top Pro

Stress free timely decision making

The game can be paused at any time, which allows for one to contemplate their next move in the game. This makes for a less stressful experience since one can leisurely make their decisions without it impacting the gameplay. See More

Warframe

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Great selection of classes

In Warframe, you're able to play as one of the many Warframes, which are essentially character classes. You start off by choosing one of the three basic frames. Excalibur who specializes in swords and has an ability to equip an energy sword and shoot beams of energy. Volt who uses electricity to boost his damage, movement speed and attack speed. Or Mag, a frame specializing in magnetism and controlling the enemy. After that you can run missions to find plans for new ones, or purchase them with platinum (the real-money currency). There are currently more than 30 basic Warframes and their "Prime" variants, which are superior versions of the basic frames. See More

Top Con

Can get repetitive easily

At the very core, Warframe is a game that needs a lot of grinding. You'll always be grinding for new blueprints, relics, materials, credits or just leveling your existing equipment. After a while some of the mission types such as defense (where you fend of waves of enemies), will get really boring. Then it turns out the blueprint or relic is really rare and you'll probably have to repeat that mission about a hundred more times. Coupled with the fact that there's no real progression outside the Mastery Rank, some players may quickly lose interest. See More

Specs

Top Pro

Fast-paced, space ninja action

Warframes are essentially space ninjas that can move incredibly fast. Just running won't be enough, so you'll have to build momentum by sliding, jumping, and rolling. Each of these moves also help you dodge enemy attacks, while allowing you to attack. It takes a while to get used to the fast pace, but when you do, it feels incredibly satisfying. See More

Top Con

Crafting new equipment takes really long

The crafting system in Warframe involves very long wait times, varying from 12 to 72 hours. The wait times can be be skipped by paying platinum (bought in the in-game store with real money), but most of the time it's not worth it. See More

Top Pro

Great contact physics

Many online titles and MMOs feature combat with poor contact physics, so it often feels like you're not actually hitting the enemies. In Warframe, hitting an enemy with a hammer will make them fly and sliding at their legs will make them trip. This makes it feel more like a single player game than an online co-op game. See More

Top Con

New content is poorly optimized

Warframe was released in 2012 and has received a lot of improvements over the years. This includes updating the old tilesets with new textures, which has caused a lot of performance drops. The prime example would be the Earth tileset update, which caused performance drops and made it unplayable to a lot of people, even though they could play normally before it. See More

Top Pro

You can choose your own play style

In Warframe, there are tons of weapons, both ranged and melee, that will let you fight however you like. Maybe you want to be a long-range sniper, or a massive melee beast with a huge hammer, or maybe you want to stick closer to the ninja tradition and use a sword and a bow. Whatever you prefer to play, Warframe has an option. See More

Top Pro

A huge array of weaponry

Warframe boasts over 300 weapons, split into 3 classes: Primary, Secondary, and Melee. Primary weapons are the big guns such as assault rifles, shotguns, bows, and grenade launchers. Secondary weapons are the sidearms, usually handguns, machine pistols, and thrown weapons. The melee weapons consist of swords (even katanas), hammers, fist weapons, scythes, and others. Most of the weapons have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. For example, the Simulor is a weapon which creates small balls similar to black holes, which pull in and kill enemies. Unfortunately, the range is very short, so you'll have to predict enemy movements and place the shots carefully. Another example is the Zarr, a massive canon, which has two firing modes, allowing you to use it as a canon or a shotgun. The downside is that you'll get damaged by your own explosions, so you have to always keep distance. The weapons can also be upgraded, adding various elemental damage types such as radiation or corrosion. You can also improve other stats such as rate of fire, crit or reload speed. See More

XCOM 2

Top Pro

Makes you feel more for your characters than most character driven games

One of the more fun parts about this game is managing your squad. You can customize the looks, voices, and even names of your soldiers. As you take your soldiers on missions you'll get attached to them. This will create a lot of tense moments when your soldiers are about to die and you desperately try to save them. If you decide to input the names of your friends or family, multiply the tension by ten. See More

Top Con

Steep learning curve

XCOM 2 is not just about managing a squad of soldiers, you also have to manage your base and operations on a global scale. This includes managing your resources, identifying which missions you should prioritize, and allocating research for new technologies. It might take a while to learn everything needed to fully enjoy this game, especially on higher difficulties. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Turn-based Tactical RPG

Top Pro

It's fun to manage your squad

One of the main aspects of XCOM 2 is preparing your squad for each mission. You need to consider the terrain, objective, and enemy types. Based on these you'll select the appropriate soldiers, weapons, and gadgets. A lot of the missions have some leeway, so you'll be able to form a squad that fits your playstyle. It can either be a group of stealthy rangers, running in with machetes to surprise the enemy. Or it can be a group sharpshooters, allowing you to systematically clear the area from afar with sniper rifles. After each successful mission/kill your soldiers will earn experience. With enough experience you'll be able to promote them and earn learn new skills. You can also research new weapons and build them. A lot of it comes down to looting alien technology and reverse engineering it back at the base. All these things add up and it's really exciting watching your soldiers grow into unstoppable killing machines. See More

Top Con

Performance could be better

Even when using well above the recommended hardware the game does show some performance issues as it is difficult to hold 60fps. While not the biggest problem thanks to this being a turn based game it would have been nice to see better performance and a constant 60fps when using what the developers recommended for best performance. See More

Top Pro

Excellent suspense

Throughout the campaign you'll always be running against the clock. You have a limited window of time to save humanity before the aliens take over completely. Successful missions only set them back slightly. Unsuccessful missions set you back significantly. It always feels like you're in an uphill struggle and failing means the end. It always feels like you're not gaining an advantage and the aliens have something else in store. This is reinforced in the missions. You never know what type of aliens there will be or what their reinforcements will bring. Encountering new species makes you fear for the well-being of your squad. It's rare for a game to keep you feeling like this. See More

NieR: Automata

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Fast-paced and action packed combat

he combat in NieR: Automata is incredible. It has a very hack-and-slash feel to it, with an emphasis on agility and acrobatics. You will have to switch from using small, quick jabs with your weapon, to devastatingly strong attacks. You also have to utilize ranged attacks, as well as the companion that follows you around if you want to have any hope of surviving every encounter. It can be very difficult to win battles sometimes, but it also feels equally rewarding when you finally achieve victory. See More

Top Con

Some boring fetch quests

The pacing gets messed up when you're forced to run certain fetch quests near the start of the game. This is somewhat forgivable after the fun and action-packed introductory level, but the quests themselves are still a drag to play through. Some of the side quests can also boil down to the same thing. Even though these quests give a lot of useful information about the world, they're not all that fulfilling, and you may dread having to repeat them when playing through the game again. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing

Top Pro

It's got a hauntingly beautiful environment

NieR: Automata is set in an apocalyptic time where Earth has been overrun by robots, and the artists really nailed what that would feel like. Abandoned and overgrown cities litter the landscape along with old refineries, graveyards, and eerie forests. When you add the beautiful soundtrack to the experience, it fills you with a bittersweet mix of loneliness and hope. See More

Top Con

Buggy

Some players have been complaining about the game crashing, freezing, save files missing, etc. See More

Top Pro

A unique take on storytelling leads to a very entertaining experience

NieR: Automata's outlook on storytelling is great: in order to get the full experience, you've got to do multiple playthroughs of the game. You unlock more chapters of the story as you complete the previous chapters more times: completing the first chapter twice will unlock the second chapter, then when you complete that you will unlock the third. When you begin, you play as an android known as YoRHA. However, subsequent playthroughs will allow you to choose different characters. This lets you experience the story from a different perspective. It's really interesting and certainly serves to make the game more fun overall. See More

Top Con

Random lag spikes

When walking into an abandoned city, or during cutscenes, you'll randomly experience lag from time to time. See More

Top Pro

Varied genre spanning gameplay elements

Side scrolling platformer one second, top down bullet hell the next. The gameplay never gets stale. See More

Top Pro

An incredible amount of gameplay

You can easily spend 60 plus hours exploring the world NieR: Automata, and still have much more to do. See More

Prey (2017)

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Rewarding exploration

Throughout each level, there are several items to pick up in Prey, in order to save them to recycle into more useful items. There are also computers for the player to browse and read descriptive emails and data logs with new information, or electrical flames acting as obstacles that the player can extinguish with special tools. Environments are dense, telling a story all their own that adds to the intrigue of the main plot. As Morgan levels up, he or she can also unlock new ways to explore earlier locations, such as a feature to glide across locations to reach inaccessible areas, opening up new possibilities to discover. See More

Top Con

Inconsistent graphics

Prey's environments and lighting effects are beautiful, with polished surfaces and fizzling bits of electricity coming from broken wires, but the human models in the game are decidedly average in comparison, their skin looking somewhat bloated or blotched at times that don't seem intentional. Thankfully, the humans in the game aren't as much of a focus as the environments are. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:First-Person Shooter, Immersive Sim

Top Pro

Morality system is well-implemented

Prey has a strong focus on the protagonist Morgan's actions to determine his or her morality, The choices in the game deal with choosing to kill a group of mind-controlled enemies or finding a way to save them. spending limited resources to go out of your way to fight enemies who pose a threat to the space station, or even saving groups of people who don't like you and won't appreciate your sacrifice. It's up to you to weigh the pros and cons and do what best reflects your own morals. These types of choices come up throughout the game, and they feel well-executed and implemented in ways that serve as an example for other morality-based titles to follow. See More

Top Con

Weak stealth options

Because the player isn't forced to choose a dedicated playstyle from the onset, stealth or shooting, it's clear that having both forced the stealth option to suffer, with the primary mechanic being tiptoeing around enemies and hoping that they don't notice. With the dozens of options to mod Morgan's gun and inspire different uses for his or her weapon, the stealth painfully lacks in comparison. See More

Top Pro

Options to stealth or shoot

Although the effectiveness of the stealth option leaves a lot to be desired, Prey at least gives the player the opportunity to either focus on straightforward combat or sneaking around enemies instead. Much like in the Deus Ex games, not being locked to either playstyle opens up a lot of freedom for exploration and taking on foes. See More

Top Con

Overuse of jump scares

The blob-like, ink-black mimics that appear throughout the space station often sneak up on the player by way of jump scares that gradually overstay their welcome, becoming more of an annoyance than anything, especially for players who dislike horror mechanics. The first few instances of this happening can be a complete turn-off, discouraging those who might have enjoyed the game without this particular design decision. See More

Top Pro

Strong opening

The introduction to Prey's story and setting is intriguing, messing with the player's head and forcing them to question if what they had just experienced was real. There's an unsettling air of sterility and complacency where certain factors of the game expect the player, as the protagonist Morgan, to obliviously go along with the proceedings as if nothing is wrong. These events are ultimately more interesting than the rest of the story, but Prey nonetheless has an unforgettable hook that will keep players invested from the get-go. See More

DOOM

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Fast-paced, exhilarating combat

DOOM differs from most modern shooters because it abandons cover-based gunplay and instead encourages you to never stop advancing. This is achieved by not only making your character very nimble, allowing you to run at high speeds and jump great distances, but also by removing weapon reloading entirely. There is also the glory kill system, which restores your health whenever you melee kill an enemy, so no waiting for your health to restore by itself either. All of this creates exhilarating gunplay where you never have to pause for anything. See More

Top Con

The gore might not be for everyone

DOOM has a fair amount of gore. Whenever you kill an enemy there's blood, guts, and limbs flying everywhere. Melee kill are particularly brutal with your character twisting enemy necks and breaking their bones. Some may find that level of graphic violence off-putting. See More

Specs

Genre:Horror FPS

Top Pro

Fantastic level design

The levels in DOOM are quite large, with multiple floors/levels, and many secrets. Some areas are very spacious, making large-scale battles possible, and some are labyrinth-like, hiding enemies behind every corner. You'd think it would be a very linear and guided experience, but most of the time it's up to you where to go and how to get there. Each one of these aspects make it a blast to fully explore the levels. See More

Top Pro

Level editor for endless content

The game comes with a level editor, which allows you to create new maps and game types. These can be maps that play similarly to the campaign or even unique puzzle maps. You can share your creation online and also download other players' creations. This provides an almost endless stream of content, adding considerable longevity to the game. See More

Top Pro

Superb graphics that run quite well

Highly detailed environments, fearsome enemies, colorful particle effects, beautiful lighting, and a lot more. Whatever you're looking at in DOOM, it's a treat for the eyes, all without ever dropping below 60 frames per second. See More

Top Pro

Great customizable weapon selection

There are more than 20 weapons in DOOM, including the super shotgun, the rocket launcher, and even the BFG9000. Each weapon has two modes that can be improved with one of three upgrades, totaling to over 100 possible combinations. Most of the combinations are really fun to use, which creates enough variation to keep you entertained for multiple playthroughs. See More

Top Pro

Refreshing single purpose gameplay

There is no character development, this is a single purpose game that makes itself very clear from the outset. You are in this game to do one thing, kill demons, sometimes in the most gruesome ways possible. The game is very unapologetic about this, which is refreshing in a time when many games focus on story and play out like an interactive movie. This is much more a throwback to simpler times, run and gun, and it can be quite fun. See More

Top Pro

Fun hidden secrets

There are quite a few easter eggs and hidden secrets in the game, such as old school Doom 95 levels, a Commander Keen skull, a Terminator 2 animation, and even hidden Doomguy toys that your character will fist bump. There's a lot of these to find, creating a very entertaining side activity. See More

Wolfenstein: The New Order

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Well written and acted characters

While the overarching storyline isn't anything noteworthy, the characters in it stand out due to great voice acting and surprisingly well-written lines. You'll actually enjoy listening to the characters talk, cracking jokes, and contemplating moral dilemmas, causing you to want to learn more about them. This is especially the case with the main character. You'll empathize with his situation and motivations, making you feel a deeper connection than with most modern FPS protagonists. See More

Top Con

Dynamic resolution might feel distracting

When there's a lot of on-screen action the resolution will get scaled down to keep the gameplay running at 60 frames per second. This doesn't happen too often, but it might feel a little distracting since it feels like your vision is going blurry. See More

Specs

Genre:First-Person Shooter

Top Pro

Rewarding exploration

In most modern shooters you just rush through very linear set pieces, shooting waves upon waves of enemies. Wolfenstein: The New Order rewards you for taking the time to explore. You can find many collectibles, secrets, and even hidden paths, giving you easier/safer methods of clearing a level. See More

Top Con

Dual wield feels out of place

Using two guns at the same time, while a cool concept does not feel fully fleshed out in this title. It is often cumbersome and does not wield great results in firefights, which asks the question of why it was included. See More

Top Pro

Solid gameplay

Even though the gameplay doesn't innovate, it's really solid. The controls are sharp, the guns feel great, and the stealth sections give it a refreshing amount of variation. All of this will keep you wanting to play a little more, providing your hours of entertainment. See More

Factorio

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Charming old school graphics

While not the most technically advanced graphics the look of the game is much like a game from the 90s but seeing it in action when an assembly line starts moving there is an impressiveness to it that suits the game quite well. See More

Top Con

Can become rather repetitive

There's really little payoff for being able to build really long chains of automation, it usually results in being able to open a new tech tree which allows the player to continue the process of building automation chains ad infinitum, which, admittedly can become rather boring after a while. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Genre:Realtime Strategy (RTS)

Co-Op:16+ Player Online (100+ has been done)

Top Pro

Endless solutions

With proper planning users can "code" together very precise ways to create all the things needed for the game, some in very inventive ways that can differ quite a bit. This allows for tons of replayability. See More

Top Con

Still in Alpha

The game is still in Alpha which means there will be bugs as well as missing features. See More

Top Pro

Massive and infinite procedurally generated world

The playing world is as large as you want to explore, it automatically generates it as you explore more areas. See More

Top Pro

Under active development

The game is still in Alpha which means endless future possibilities. See More

Top Pro

Cooperative or PvP building

Factorio also supports multiplayer, allowing many players to cooperate and assist each other, or work against each other in PvP. By default, multiplayer games run the CO-OP freeplay scenario where all players work together to launch a rocket with a satellite into space. See More

Starbound

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Boss levels

For what is a procedurally generated game, Starbound offers boss levels that once beaten unlock new sectors of space to explore. See More

Top Con

First few hours can be boring

Initially the player needs to amass enough coal to fuel their ship, which is a bit of a grind. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Co-Op:Online Co-Op/PvP

Top Pro

Incredibly deep gameplay

The exploration, crafting and combat are all both very polished and deep in terms of what you can do, especially compared to other games in the genre. This makes the sandbox very fun to play in as you're never really stuck doing the same thing over and over. See More

Top Pro

Informative and well paced tutorials

Starbound allows the player to go at their own pace while completing the tutorials. By the end of the tutorials the player will have the skills and equipment to succeed in the game and have fun doing it. See More

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

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Allows for choice and consequences

Each mission is branching depending on how the player has chosen to solve it. Depending on what the outcome is of each missions means there may be consequences for one's action or rewards. This means on each mission the player can choose to make ethical or non ethical choices that will effect the outcome of the game. See More

Top Con

Boss fights take you out of the experience

Boss fights are too structured. For a game designed around player choice and different outcomes, the boss fights stick out as too linear. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Stealth, First-Person Shooter

Top Pro

Personalized experiences

Through the amount of customization in the game, unlocking and upgrading ones abilities allows for a personalized experience in how the game plays. One person's build may be completely different from the next persons, meaning each ones experience has been different. See More

Top Con

The ending sucks

The game is all about choices and consequences. However, regardless of the choices you made throughout the game, you are still offered with the same 4 choices of ending. You then just receive a slideshow of images, while listening to a speech by the protagonist. See More

Top Pro

Amazing futuristic themes and visual style

Deus Ex: Human Revolution has a great aesthetic that fits with its setting and themes. The visuals have plenty of bright golds and harsh blacks, and many recurring instances of hard geometric shapes to match with the prevalence of augmented humans with cybernetics. Along with this rapidly expanding technology, the story delves into the angle of what would happen if corrupt corporations became more influential than the government, bringing up some tough parallels to the current year in the real world. The unique look of the game goes so well with the subjects it tackles, creating a cohesive and stylistic whole. See More

Top Con

You must be lethal during boss fights, even on a pacifist run

It's really disappointing that the game doesn't let you take a purely pacifist approach. You can sneak around all you want while making sure to only perform silent takedowns, but the moment you step into a boss room, all of that role-playing goes out the window. You have to kill the boss, no questions asked. It would have been nice to have the option to outmaneuver them instead and lead them into non-lethal traps. Thankfully, the devs addressed this issue in the sequel, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, but you still have to deal with it here. See More

Top Pro

You can take a lethal or pacifist approach to missions

You have total freedom in how you approach missions, mainly with whether you want to take the silent approach or go in guns blazing. Going with weapons such as stun guns, picking non-lethal knock-outs, and sneaking around through vents and hidden passageways makes up the pacifist methods. The more violent ways of playing include using deadly guns and abilities, killing enemies when you take them down, and generally running head-first into each mission. You don't have to stick with one or the other; if the situation calls for it, you can change things up as needed, keeping things interesting as you go along. See More

Top Con

Needs more polish

The framerate is not the best in the game, there will be slow down in places. The design of some NPCs also tends to look less than stellar compared to the main characters, which shows a lack of care in the design. Overall this adds up to a less than stellar experience, which may pull some people out of the immersion of the title. See More

Top Pro

Cool soundtrack

The music in Human Revolution is an amazing mix of synthwave and other electronic sounds. Each track that plays in the different locations you explore, such as Montreal and Singapore, make you feel like you're in a futuristic version of those places. Even the more atmospheric tracks go a long way to set the mood in any given place, like the somber yet thoughtful track that plays in the main protagonist's home, giving you a moment to breathe after playing through the game's tense and exciting missions. The soundtrack absolutely does its job of setting the stage for wherever you're at while creating emotional memories of where each song plays. See More

Top Pro

Tons of ways to customize your playstyle

Unlocking and upgrading abilities gives you a great chance to tailor how you approach missions and explorations. There are certain perks that lean more toward stealth, like an invisibility cloak, and others that are more lethal-oriented, like a flashy area of effect ability that lets you take out surrounding enemies all at once. And there are other skills that give you a leg up in exploring levels, like boosting the amount of fall damage you can take to prevent death and reach secret locations. One player's build may be completely different from someone else's, adding replay value to experiment with unlocks. See More

Top Pro

Conversations feel dynamic from your dialog choices

Speaking with major NPCs feels natural thanks to the dialog options you get to make. Each character has their own personalities and worldviews, so selecting certain options gives you the chance to move the conversation forward, make the person hand over something you need, or persuade them during debates. You can choose to appease someone who has a dominant personality in order to get what you want from them, or you can intimidate someone with a weaker personality. There's even a cool cybernetic implant you can get that lets you read someone's personality and reactions to you to determine the best options to pick. This gives discussions a lot of weight and impact, making sure that your choices matter. See More

Stellaris

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Great early game exploration

The exploration, and the early game in general, is very interesting, with a plethora of events, not limited to Anomalies surveying player and AI science ships can encounter. See More

Top Con

High learning curve

There is a lot to learn in this game that isn't explained very well and is sometimes hard to find. Edicts, policies, and civil rights for example. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Hybrid: 4X / Grand Strategy

Top Pro

Constant updates

Stellaris is steadily receiving updates, tweaking game balance and fixing bugs alongside with quality of life improvements and new content. Though some of the bigger updates content is often sold as DLC. See More

Top Pro

Highly moddable

The fact that Stellaris is so modifiable makes a huge difference to the game. There are so many ways to customize the game to your liking. If there's a design decision you dislike, you are always capable of changing it yourself (within certain limits), and you can make the game completely different. You can play as a race from your favorite books, anime, whatever, because so many talented people are making mods for the game. See More

Top Pro

Emergent stories

Oftentimes, if you play the game without min-maxing everything, you will find yourself with interesting stories to tell. While the coded events themselves may lose their touch after a while, the interactions with the various races nearby will often be different. You might find yourself in situations where the whole galaxy is against you. You also might find a race of primitives who you uplift, who will become fast friends with you. It's possible that you might grow attached to them, only for them to suddenly and violently be taken over by that Xenophobic Militarist on your borders. The reason some stick with this game for so long is because they love these interactions, despite how shallow they may be sometimes. The fact that you can even be a Fanatic Militarist in the game and still have friends afterward is something that some may find particularly fun. See More

Fallout 4

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Huge world with loads of content

The world of Fallout 4 is massive so there's quite a lot to do. Many areas to explore, tons of quests to complete, and lots of collectibles to find. There's easily enough content to keep you playing for over a hundred hours. See More

Top Con

The dialogue choices are confusing

Most of the dialogue choices will only show a few words that don't actually reflect what your character is gonna say. This creates a disconnect between you and your character, making it seem like you don't control what your character is gonna say at any point. See More

Specs

Genre:Action RPG

Co-Op:Single Player

Top Pro

Solid gunplay with an interesting twist

The gunplay plays so well it almost feels like a pure FPS. You can shoot from the hip, aim down the sights/scope, or even just run and gun. However, what makes Fallout 4 stand out is VATS (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System). When you activate VATS, the time slows down to a crawl, allowing you to mark body parts of enemies. When you execute it your character will automatically shoot the marked body parts. This is very useful for getting out of tight spots, allowing you to instantly clear groups of enemies or kill a really tough enemy charging at you. It also has the benefit of making you feel like an expert gunman, even if your aim isn't that great. See More

Top Con

Occasional bugs

There are bugs in the game that users will run into. While most are not game breaking, it can detract from the experience. See More

Top Pro

Addictive to collect loot

You can pick up most of the stuff you see laying around in Fallout 4. Every item, including weapons and armors, can be broken down into reusable crafting materials. This makes it hard to stop yourself from going around and collecting everything in sight because everything has a purpose. You can also find unique versions of equipment on the corpses of legendary enemies. Each of these items has an additional effect such as speed boost or extra damage. This may cause you to constantly pick fights you'll probably lose, but it's worth it once you get your hands on that extremely good piece of equipment. See More

Top Con

Pipboy UI feels unpleasant to use

When you open your Pipboy (a personal computer that manages your quests, inventory, character data, etc) the screen containing the useful information only covers about a fourth of the entire screen. As a result some of the elements are too crammed, requiring a lot of scrolling. This can be really annoying if you're trying to find something in a list of 100 items. See More

Top Pro

Diverse enemy types keep the gameplay exciting

There a lot of different enemies found in the game such as super mutants, feral ghouls, robots, mutated wildlife, and many others. All of them have their unique behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses. For example, robots often use heavy weaponry such as rocket launchers and lasers, making it really hard to deal with them. Fortunately enough, they're very vulnerable to EMP grenades and can also be hacked. Another example are the feral ghouls that will almost always charge at you. They can surround you really fast, clawing away at your health and affecting you with radiation, but they lack any intelligence. So if you plant mines infront of you and attract them with gunshots, they'll lose their legs in the minefield, leaving them at your mercy. The various enemy types and methods you can fight them with keeps the gameplay fresh for a long time. See More

Top Pro

Addicting building mechanic

One of the more interesting parts of managing your settlement is the house building aspect. There are various preset houses you can put down quickly, but you can make large structures entirely from scratch, starting with the foundation and ending with the roof of a 10 story building. While there are some constraints such as limited building area, you can really let your imagination loose, allowing you to spend countless hours on it. See More

Top Pro

Great storyline

The main story has a very personal theme of family and revenge, featuring a main character looking for their lost son in a post-apocalyptic version of Boston. The side-quests also provide a decent backdrop, expanding on some of the plot elements of the main story. There are many twists and mysteries, but the narrative remains coherent throughout the story, creating a very enjoyable experience. See More

Top Pro

Companions can help make the game a little easier

There are a bunch of companions to find in the game, starting with Dogmeat, the dog. Each companion has their own skills that can help you. For example, Dogmeat can dig up hidden items and bring them to you. They can also distract the enemy, causing the combat to be a little easier since all the attention won't be on just you. The only real downside is that you can only use one companion at a time, but you can easily swap them out. Using a companion is not mandatory either, so if you prefer the added challenge you can travel without a companion. See More

Top Pro

Deep perk/skill system

Fallout 4 has a great selection of perks centered on surviving in the wasteland. You'll gain a point each time you level up, allowing you to select one of the perks. The perks can give you an increase to your sneaking ability, improve your lockpicking skills, or even add unique effects such as causing bullets fired by enemies to ricochet back and killing them. There's easily enough variation to make multiple playthroughs feel fresh and exciting. To make it even better, if you don't like multiple playthroughs, you can just unlock every single perk on a single character, albeit with a much longer playtime. See More

Top Pro

Interesting settlement management

In Fallout 4 you can set up thriving communities in various locations. You'll have to provide the settlers with housing, bedding, water, food, and protection. Over time you'll be able to establish trade routes between the settlements and expand into an empire spanning the entire territory of Fallout 4. This really gives it the feeling like you're trying to rebuild society, which is a welcome change in a post-apocalyptic game. See More

Top Pro

Great selection of mods

You can can find all sorts of mods at the Bethesda website, giving you the freedom to change the parts of the game you don't like. This includes interface adjustments, graphical improvements, additional quests, and many other things. See More

Top Pro

You can adjust equipment to suit your playstyle

In Fallout 4 you have a lot of options when modifying your equipment, giving you a chance to make equipment that matches your playstyle. You can take an assault rifle and change most of its parts. Each part you can change has an upside and a downside to it. For example, adding a long range scope would make the rifle useless in close quarters, but it would be great for pick off targets from afar. You can also tailor your armors for various situations. You can lower the weight or add pockets to make carrying loot easier. Or you can add additional linings or padding to gain increased protection against various hazards such as radiation. See More

Star Trek Online

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Free to play

Star Trek Online was one of the first to go free to play, and has continued to put out great content; including characters from various shows making appearances. See More

Top Con

Ship combat is repetitive and boring

Specs

Steam Rating:Mixed

Top Pro

Ground missions are great

Picking your ground team is great, and the missions really make you feel like you are in an episode of the show. See More

Top Con

Subscription gives advantage

The Developers have been careful to avoid pay-to-win, but being a subscriber or paying some real money for in game quality of life perks can be a big bonus, and offer monthly rewards. See More

Top Pro

Realistic Star Trek universe

Set in the Star Trek Universe, command your own ship and crew, rising in ranks and gaining new ships, while facing perils on away missions and boarding actions alike. See More

Top Con

Bad multiplayer balancing

Many times difficulty does not scale with team sizes, which means if a player had a higher level friend, they would blaze through missions. See More

Top Pro

Fun ship combat

Command your own ship and crew. Customize everything and upgrade as you explore the galaxy as part of several different factions. See More

Prosperous Universe

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Highly realistic space flight

Top Con

Currently missing mid & end game content

As the game is currently at its alpha stage, it's still missing content that makes it fun to play for a prolonged period of time. See More

Mjeno's Experience

Full disclosure: I am now on the team of the development studio myself, but I first followed this game as a fan for several months. I was initially drawn in by the realistic sci-fi setting and the promise of a grind-free experience. I loved Eve Online and Elite Dangerous, but dropped out of both because of the in-game waiting times for which I simply don't have the time anymore. I don't play (or even look at) other browser-based games, but this one really sticks out from the crowd. See More

Specs

Genre:Space economy sim

Controller Support:No

Top Pro

Opt-in to military conflict

You don't have to set your alarm to 4 in the morning because an enemy fleet is inbound and you never have to worry about your hard-earned property to be destroyed. See More

Top Pro

Runs in any browser

The game runs in any browser. There's no flying around in space, which would require a heavy 3D client without adding any actual depth in terms of gameplay. See More

Top Pro

Completely player-driven economy

StarCraft: Brood War

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Well balanced

The game is fairly well balanced, so nobody gets an advantage by choosing a certain race. See More

Top Con

Large focus on micromanagement

Do not get this game if you are more interested in building massive armies and fighting wars of attrition. See More

Top Pro

Well balanced race selection keeps the gameplay fair

The game is fairly well balanced, so nobody gets an advantage by choosing a certain race. While each race will have their own unique abilities, the balancing of these abilities allows the game to play even handed, with no real advantage to any race. See More

Top Con

No widescreen support

Starcraft is only available in a 4:3 resolution. A hack to make it work in widescreen can be found here. See More

Top Pro

Tons of personality that keeps the story and gameplay interesting and entertaining

There are three selectable races in the game, Terrans, Protoss and the Zerg. The Terrans being human, while the other two are alien races. What makes the game stand out is that each race feels exceptionally different from one another, each with their own personalities. This makes for a different experience depending on what race has been chosen to play with. See More

Top Con

Old

With the original release dating back to 1998 the game is quite old now and graphics are not at par with current game offerings. See More

Top Pro

Built-in offline LAN support

Being an older game, Starcraft suports offline LAN due to not as many people having internet back when it was released. This is something that many games (including Starcraft 2) regrettably do not feature anymore. See More

Nex Machina

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Difficult yet rewarding gameplay

Nex Machina's bullet hell gameplay is fast-paced and challenging, with dozens of robotic enemies rushing at you while you use every skill at your disposal to survive and increase your score. Not only do you have to avoid enemies, but you also have to use your ability to dodge hazards on the field such as laser beams. There are also optional human NPCs to save who are usually taking damage by waves of enemies. Clearing the surrounding robots while dodging any nearby lasers to save these humans will award you with extra points to your score, so it's worth it to go after them whenever you can. As you defeat enemies, they'll sometimes drop power-up items, such as shields that will absorb damage that would normally kill you, and tools to increase the range of your bullets. Clearing a level with no deaths earns you a nice score boost at the end, encouraging you to run through the game as best as you can. It takes a lot of precision to dodge lasers while killing the enemies that come at you from all directions, but pulling it off is a rewarding, addicting experience. See More

Top Con

Deaths can be too punishing at times

In Nex Machina, you'll die after a single hit from an enemy, causing you to drop one of your power-ups, like your ability to dash three times in a row or increased weapon spread. You'll then have to return to the spot where you died to collect the power-up that you dropped. If you lose all of your lives, you're forced to use a continue, leaving you with only power-up. It'a a punishing system that makes you work harder with fewer tools after continuous deaths. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Shoot 'Em Up

Top Pro

Responsive controls

Since you only have a short window to dodge hazardous laser beams on the field and maneuver your character around swarms of enemies, it's great that the controls are tight and accurate. You can pull off dodges and risky swerves to save a human NPC with ease as long as you master the angles and timing. With a challenging game like this, you don't need to worry about input lag getting in the way of more aggressive playstyles. See More

Top Con

The game is very short

Your first playthrough will only take about an hour or two, which may not be worth it. There are plenty of new paths and secrets hidden across the levels, so a completionist playthrough will take about five or six hours. See More

Top Pro

Great synthwave soundtrack

Complimenting Nex Machina's speedy, chaotic gameplay, the soundtrack matches the sci-fi setting with hard-hitting, energetic synths and modulations. The electronic beats are catchy and fun to listen to while blasting through the game's metallic levels and robotic enemies. The tracks fit into the idea of what it would have been like to play any retro sci-fi game without the musical constraints on games in the 80s and 90s. See More

Top Pro

Boss battles truly test your skills

At the end of each level are difficult boss fights that crank out bullets and beams in all directions that you have to dodge while dealing damage at the same time. The bosses are all different in design, such as a giant ape that lumbers around the field and throws obstacles at you, to a more stationary tower that bombards you with other enemies that you're forced to prioritize instead. Each boss is a comprehensive test of the skills you've learned up to that point, encouraging you to make the best use of your power-ups and dodge timings. See More

Destiny 2

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Really fun gameplay

Destiny 2 is all about killing aliens and destroying massive robots. To do this you have a wide variety of weapons and abilities available to you. This includes hand cannons, shotguns, assault rifles, chain lightning grenades, and many more. Each weapon and ability feels great to use, making destruction and mayhem that much more enjoyable. It's a well-rounded and enjoyable experience, which will keep you interested for dozens of hours. See More

Top Con

Content that was available at the start of the game ended up locked behind DLC

When the expansion Curse of Osiris was released, Bungie ended up preventing players without the expansion from being able to access the prestige versions of the first raid and nightfall strikes, as well as the PvP Iron Banner and Trials of the Nine. For the people who like to hunt achievements/trophies, this move effectively blocked them from earning them. Bungie has since patched things so players are not locked out of the prestige mode of the first raid, as well as nightfall strikes and Trials of the Nine when not using Curse of Osiris maps, making the achievements earnable again. Still, it was an extremely poor decision to lock player out of content they paid for and leaves the question as to will Bungie make another mistake with the next expansion. See More

KindheartedCeres's Experience

its dull game See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mixed

Genre:First-Person Shooter, Multiplayer

Top Pro

Solid controls that don't detract from gameplay

Your character's movement, aiming your gun, and even driving your hoverbike feels really fluid and responsive. As a result, you can make very precise movements, jumps, and shots in any situation, allowing you to land a headshot with your sniper rifle from far away while strafing with ease. See More

Top Con

Inconvenient customization

While most online games usually give you permanent color packs for customization, the shaders in Destiny 2 are divided into single colors that can only be used once. You can't preview your new color scheme either, so if you end up with something you dislike, you're stuck with it because you can't change it back. This also means you shouldn't use shaders on leveling gear since you're gonna replace it anyway. As a result most players don't bother with creating unique appearances and everyone looks nearly identical, which is bad for the social aspect of Destiny 2. The sad part is that even though the shaders can drop randomly in the game world, they can also be bought from the in-game store. This makes it feel like customization has been turned into a cash grab by inconveniencing players. See More

Top Pro

Improving your character is addicting

One of the main aspects online titles like Destiny 2 is character progression, which is done through leveling and collecting new equipment. Your character gets stronger and when you revisit missions/bosses that gave you trouble before, you can beat them with ease, which feels incredibly satisfying. This will push you to play just a bit more, collect a few more guns and armor pieces, defeat a couple more bosses, and before you know it, many hours will have passed. See More

Top Con

Guns and armor do not feel unique like in the prequel

In Destiny 1, the guns and armor felt more unique when compared to Destiny 2. In Destiny 1, a gun or armor could drop that had one set of perks or stats boosts, and then it could drop again with a different set of perks and boosts. Weapons and armor from the raids also gave unique looks as well as perks that helped for that raid. In Destiny 2 those raid perks are gone, making the gear feel no different than what could get from anywhere else. The lack of variation in the guns and armor just make it hard to care about what you get and kills the urge to try to find the best gun and armor for your character. See More

Top Pro

Massive environments that feel alive

The open-world environments in games usually have a lot of empty space, so you spend most of the time traveling without doing much else. Destiny 2 has large areas filled with enemies, world events, and activity in general, eliminating most of the downtime. Because of this it feels like you're actually visiting a planet inhabited/occupied by aliens, which considerably adds to the immersion. See More

Top Con

End game content has no matchmaking.

Most of the multiplayer capable activities have matchmaking, but raids and Escalation Protocol have no matchmaking at all and REQUIRE 6-9 players to complete. See More

Top Pro

Free to Play

As of 1st of October 2019, everything before Forsaken and Shadowkeep DLC went all totally free with its 'New Light' addition. You can still access the whole world except for certain quests, items, etc tied to the DLC missions. See More

Top Pro

Excellent co-op multiplayer

Even though Destiny 2 doesn't have strict class archetypes like most MMOs, each class/subclass has its role in a group setup. So whether you're capturing control points in a PVP match or fighting a tough boss in a raid, you still need to cover for each other's weaknesses. This can be providing support to surrounded teammates, taking the attention of groups of aliens or just picking off troublesome enemies from afar. Because of this you learn to rely on each other and working together feels rewarding. See More

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