What are the best e-sports games on PC?

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Aug 3, 2021

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7 Games Considered

Best e-sports games on PC	Price	Steam Rating	Genre
-- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive	$14.99	Very Positive	-
-- Quake Live	-	Mostly Positive	-
-- Dota 2	Free	Mostly Positive	MOBA
-- Overwatch	$59.99	-	Hero-based FPS
-- League of Legends	Free	-	-

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score 4 · Answer 1

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Top Pro

Carefully-executed changes to existing maps

The updates and improvements made to existing maps have been pretty clever and useful. For example, cracked glass is more opaque, making it harder to go on a sniping rampage. Or the stairway which was added to the bottom of de_dust made the route more viable for the Terrorists, while keeping the original purpose of that area serving as a bottleneck. See More

Top Con

Has a large skill gap

Since it's a pretty old game, most players are veterans at this point and have been playing for a long time. This may make it hard for newer players to jump in and play. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Runs well on most hardware and even on older hardware

It's a very optimized game and runs smoothly on even outdated hardware. See More

Top Con

Less time spent playing a game

This is a feature that makes kills and hits (no health regeneration) more impactful, but also a lot less time is spent playing the game, especially if you die early to a sniper peek. Newbies will be playing a lot less of the game than more experienced players. See More

Top Pro

Driven by tactics and cooperation

Each round of CS feels more like a game driven more by careful tactics than a frivolous fast-paced and lethal paintball arena of which too many modern First-Person Shooters are guilty of. Positioning, timing and thinking are key ingredients of a successful game and cooperation is crucial if you want to win. See More

Top Con

Hard to see if you are hitting someone

One of the things that were changed in CS:GO is firing feedback. When someone is shot in GO, they don't wince, there's only a small amount of blood and audio that conveys the information that you are actually hitting someone. But omitting wince animation from character models makes it harder to see if you are actually hitting another player, especially at distance. See More

Top Pro

Will be familiar to CS 1.6 and CS: Source players

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive builds on the strengths of its predecessors, even though those predecessors have been constantly improving for over a decade now. Nonetheless, Counter-Strike veterans will feel right at home in Global Offensive, albeit with some minor differences. The MP5 is now the MP7, The TMP has left its place to the MP9 and you can't attach a suppressor to the M4. See More

Top Con

Can have a bad community

As it is a large game, it should come as no surprise that the community just won't be up to par. You may be kicked for strange reasons (like bottom scoring or the all too common random hacking accusation) and many could give you a 7 day ban. It can be very frustrating as missions in the mission system require you to play certain things while crossing your fingers. See More

Top Con

New maps and modes feel pretty mediocre

Even though old maps have been revisited and improved by a wide margin, new maps and modes released with CS:GO are pretty mediocre. Half of the maps available are locked under Arms Race (which is a re-imagining of the original community-created GunGame) and Demolition (GunGame without insta-respawn and bomb defusal) modes. These game modes feel pretty safe and unimaginative, especially for veterans who have played their predecessor. Some of the new maps are pretty compact and designed to act as instant-action meat-grinders akin to modern FPS (like Call of Duty) instead of requiring any tactics to win. See More

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score 6 · Answer 2

Quake Live

Top Pro

Low system requirements

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Top Pro

Multiple game modes

Such as deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, etc. See More

Top Pro

Easy access through steam platform

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score 4 · Answer 3

Dota 2

Top Pro

Very active professional scene

Dota 2 has one of the most if not the most active professional scenes in e-sports today. See More

Top Con

Game has been broken down to make it noob friendly

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Genre:MOBA

Top Pro

Most Diverse MOBA

This game has a steep learning curve, but it's well worth it. The games that came after Dota like League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm, Smite, and other lookalikes don't even compare to the complexity of Dota 2. Every hero is unique and valuable in one team composition or another. The amount of versatility of each hero is amazing as well. The mechanics by far destroy any other Dota style game (MOBA) and that's what makes this game top tier in it's genre. This game is the highest grossing E-Sport game in the world and will probably continue to be for a long time. See More

Top Con

Rude, toxic community

Many players feel free to flame and insult, especially in the lower ranks and from non-english speaking countries. See More

Top Pro

Deny creeps

You can kill your own low-health creeps to deny experience and gold to the other team. See More

Top Con

Will consume a lot of time if you are not careful

Dota 2 has the potential to suck the player in. See More

Top Pro

Has user-created custom games

Dota 2 includes Workshop Tools that allow users to create custom games as well as other play them. See More

Top Con

You love and hate the game

While infuriating at times the addictiveness of the game keeps the players coming back. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Available on Windows, OS X, and Linux. See More

Top Pro

Regularly updated

Dota 2 is regularly patched and changed with new characters being introduced and balance changes made. This can prevent the game from becoming too stale as the tactics utilized by players changes often. See More

Top Pro

Dota 2 has the world's biggest e-sports tournament

At The International 4 in summer 2014, players raised the prize pool to more than $10 million, one of the largest prize pools in E-Sports history. See More

Top Pro

Moba-leading graphics

When compared to other leading MOBAs, Dota2 has some of the best graphics to be found. See More

Top Pro

Start with all heroes

You don't need to unlock or purchase characters. See More

Top Pro

Players can trade self-made cosmetic items

The game includes a system for players to create, buy, and sell cosmetic items. See More

Top Pro

Incredibly deep gameplay

For players who put the time into Dota 2 to get past the early beginner phase, Dota 2 can become an extremely satisfying game. There's a reason it's one of the most popular eSports titles in the world. The amount of strategy, skill and variables involved make it a very deep game where anything could happen. See More

Top Pro

Fair free-to-play business model

Microtransactions involve only cosmetic items such as custom weapon designs or clothing colors and tickets to view live events. See More

Top Pro

Can be played online and offline

With different Bots difficulty levels, if you play offline, you still need to be logged in Steam. See More

Top Pro

Game balanced well by IceFrog

Gameplay is balanced in the sense that while other MOBAs would have only around 30-60 viable picks for the competitive scene, Dota 2 has heroes and strategies in the game that are more varied, which enables more heroes to be picked in the competitive scene. Number of Heroes Picked in Dota 2's Recent Major Tournament in the past 4 months (as of July 2016) is 86/111 heroes picked and 100 out of 111 heroes picked. To compare between Dota 2 and LoL pick diversity, LoL has 64 out of 131 champions picked for LCS. There are also factors such as the ban/pick phase difference and the more rigid positions in LoL that may limit the viability for different playstyles and hero picks (typically it is 2 (AD, Support Bot) -1 (AP mid) -1 (Tank Off) - 1 (Jungler), with a possibility of double junglers in LoL). On the other hand in Dota 2, there are a lot more different positions compared to Lol/Smite such as Duo Mid (1-2-2), Traditional (2-1-2), One Jungler (1-2-1-1, most similar to league), One Roamer (1-2-1-1 as well with the difference being the hero roams the map for kills to create space for the mid and safelane rather than farm the jungle which can weaken a lane), Duo Roamer (1-1-1-2, all lanes are weaker in lane presence with the tradeoff being they get solo experience with two aggressive supports roaming), Trilane (1-1-3, Aggresive or Passive Trilane) and Abandoned Offlane (0-1-3-1 where the offlane is completely left empty due to a strong duo or trilane on the opposing team). More heroes are viable and balanced in Dota 2 partly due to the greater flexibility in laning. This can be attributed the mechanics such as creep pulling and creep stacking which allows the team doing trilane to make up for the shared experience between three heroes. Besides that, the existence of teleport scrolls that allow you to defend your towers or punish a tower dive also allows you to react and assist other lanes. In pub games, any hero/lane/lineup can work, and it is more about your individual mechanical skills (understanding of hero, combo execution, map awareness, last hitting, timings, item builds, flow) over the lack of coordination and teamwork (on both teams). See More

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score 3 · Answer 4

Overwatch

Top Pro

Unique progression system

Each character in the game can have upwards of 90 different unlocks, which will take a lot of time invested from the player in order to use the majority. This gives incentive in order to keep the player coming back. Unlockables include things such as emotes, skins as well as victory poses. These can all signify a more advanced player, which makes for great bragging rights. See More

Top Con

Lacking in story

There is no campaign mode in the game meaning there is not really any story to learn about. While there are some clues dropped here or there by NPC chatter between team mates, really there is not much to learn about the game, its world or the characters within. See More

Specs

Genre:Hero-based FPS

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Top Pro

Simple and easy to understand

The gameplay itself is quite simple, it is hero on hero first person shooting. There is little to keep track of other than the main goal of defeating the other team, which makes the game easy to pick up and play. See More

Top Con

Low character count on release

So far there are only 12 characters announced for release, while the developers have stated they will add more the game may not offer from the start the kind of selection MOBA players are used to. See More

Top Pro

Solid presentation

Developed by the world renowned Blizzard Entertainment, they are quite familiar with what it takes to create a game with solid gameplay and polished looks. The gameplay itself feels very satisfying as a responsive first person team based shooter. On top of this the presentation feels quite polished as the graphics are vibrant and clean, which gives the player a more immersive experience due to the high level of design. The animations found in the game are done well, which makes each weapon feel realistic. The sound design also fleshes these weapons out thanks to the unique sounds each one has when using them, Overall this is a game that will not disappoint when it comes to the overall presentation See More

Top Con

No mod support

The game is dependent on how much Blizzard develops for it as there is zero mod support, which may limit the amount of longevity to the title. Of course Blizzard may support this for years to come with plenty of new game modes, but that is yet to be seen and is something to consider. See More

Top Pro

Good variety of maps

Each game mode in the game features three separate maps to play on for a total selection of 12 maps. This ensures the player does not get too bored with the looks and gameplay of each as there is another to play when one feels too played out. See More

Top Con

Being successful requires a good amount of teamwork

For those that are more interested in solo play with little cooperation the game may not be a good choice as winning often requires a team that communicates well. For those that don't have an easy way to communicate or are just not interested in team play it may not be as fun as it should be. See More

Top Pro

Beautiful graphics

The graphics are very clean as well as brightly colored. Characters n the game each have their own individualistic appearance and exist in a world that looks futuristic as well as beautifully animated. Much of the game stands out in standard Blizzard form as a game that will age well much like World of Warcraft, but still exudes its own style. See More

Top Pro

Unique and fast paced FPS gameplay with character depth

Overwatch combines team-fortress style game modes, traditional FPS gameplay and MOBA-esqe abilities. There are a variety of characters that play completely differently from each other, for example one is a melee basher with a charge ability while another is a super agile character with the ability to zip around the battlefield. Every character also has an ultimate ability that re-charges throughout the match and can single-handedly change the outcome of a fight. See More

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score 1 · Answer 5

League of Legends

Top Con

Limited champion/hero roster for beginners

For new players, they can only play a limited roster of champions that changes every week. If you want to play your favourite champions, you have to buy one of them. See More

Top Pro

The most popular MOBA by a huge margin

More than 27 million players log in each day to play the game and more than 67 million players log in to play each month. It has peaked at 7.5 million concurrent players. See More

jungle_mole's Experience

It's funny how there is no most massively played and (by far) the biggest e-sports infrastructure game is not on a list, but some obscure madden etc are. See More

Specs

Co-Op:Online PvP

See All Specs

Top Pro

One of the world's biggest e-sports titles

League of Legends is one of the worlds top e-sport titles placing fifth in highest prize pools. See More

Top Pro

League of Legends Championship Series

League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) is a weekly 10-team league. See More

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score 2 · Answer 6

World of Tanks

Top Pro

Fast games

Top Con

You need about 5000 games to know how it works

Top Pro

Tanks!

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score 1 · Answer 7

Madden NFL 19

Top Pro

True-to-life gameplay that accurately simulates the NFL

The gameplay in the Madden series excellently plays out just like the professional American football league in real life. You get to play as teams from the current year's league, with rosters that are up-to-date with the latest players, including the biggest celebrity names. The actual NFL rules are in play as well, where you control your quarterback while on offense, passing to other players in order to score, or managing your defensive players when the other team has the ball, working to tackle them and earn turnovers. If you're a diehard fan of American football, then Madden NFL 19 is a great way to live out the experience of being in the NFL through a video game. See More

Top Con

Boring game, interesting to Americans almost exclusively

It's American football, what do you expect? Action? See More

Specs

Genre:Sports

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Top Pro

Responsive and organic controls for maneuvering your players

The latest update to the long-running Madden series gives you more freedom in how you control your player when he has the ball. You can change your speed while running to throw off opponents, such as hesitating to force the other team to stop while you find an opening and make a run for the touchdown. You can also side step the defense, spin around other players, and pretty much pull off the same types of moves that you see in real life from players out in the field. This makes the game feel like much more of a simulation of the sport with the way you have much more natural control over your team members. See More

Top Con

More or less still the same old Madden

Honestly, if you've played any one Madden game, you've played them all. Aside from a few tweaks and experiments here and there, this is an annual franchise that banks on selling the same experience year after year. The graphics get better, and they keep the roster up to date for the current year the NFL season, but there isn't much else that they can do with a sports game that's meant to simulate professional American football. If you don't want to fork over the money to pay for this game when you've already played and enjoyed other Madden titles, you won't miss out on much. See More

Top Pro

Photorealistic visuals

Madden NFL 19 is a great looking game. Players look true-to-life, with their exact proportions, hairstyles, and girth of their muscles matching how they are in actual pictures. You can see the sheen of sweat on their arms and see the ruffles in their uniform as they get tackled. And the weather is nice too, especially with how snow shows up on the field in patches and uneven patterns just like in real life. Just like with every other new Madden game, the devs did an incredible job with improving the graphics, keeping the technology advancing forward. See More

Top Con

Weird clipping issues

There are some strange instances where players' bodies, or sometimes just their limbs, clip through each other in ways that clearly look bad. It happens a lot during tackles and sacks, with players tumbling around over each other on the field. Their physics just look off, clashing terribly with the polished graphics and weather effects on the field, and pulling you out of the experience. See More

Top Pro

Continues the story mode from Madden NFL 18

Madden NFL 18 had a pretty decent story mode that followed the careers of two best friends, with Madden NFL 19 continuing from where the last game left off. It's a nice change of pace to play through a dedicated story mode in a sports game, helping to show the more human side of the league and the types of things that many players go through, in trying to balance their private and family lives with their time out on the field. While it's not exactly a sweeping and intricate narrative, it's an interesting little bonus. See More

Top Con

Occasional game crashes

There are some major problems where the game will crash, forcing you to boot everything back up to try and get back your lost progress. The devs should be able to put out a patch that takes care of this issue, so you may want to hold off on getting the game until then. See More

Top Con

Bland story mode

Even though it's great that Madden NFL 19 continues the well-received story mode from the last game, it doesn't really live up to expectations this time around. Getting to see the two best friends deal with their real-life struggles is still intriguing, but other than that, things feel really forced and generic, and it's way too short, taking about four hours to finish. They continued the story for the sake of continuing it without innovating or keeping things interesting. It's too bad, because they could have done a better job building on the sadly novel idea of having a dedicated story mode in Madden to change things up. See More

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7 Games Considered

My Recommendation for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

My Recommendation for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Carefully-executed changes to existing maps

Has a large skill gap

Runs well on most hardware and even on older hardware

Less time spent playing a game

Driven by tactics and cooperation

Hard to see if you are hitting someone

Will be familiar to CS 1.6 and CS: Source players

Can have a bad community

New maps and modes feel pretty mediocre

My Recommendation for Quake Live

My Recommendation for Quake Live

Low system requirements

Multiple game modes

Easy access through steam platform

My Recommendation for Dota 2

My Recommendation for Dota 2

Very active professional scene

Game has been broken down to make it noob friendly

Most Diverse MOBA

Rude, toxic community

Deny creeps

Will consume a lot of time if you are not careful

Has user-created custom games

You love and hate the game

Cross-platform

Regularly updated

Dota 2 has the world's biggest e-sports tournament

Moba-leading graphics

Start with all heroes

Players can trade self-made cosmetic items

Incredibly deep gameplay

Fair free-to-play business model

Can be played online and offline

Game balanced well by IceFrog

My Recommendation for Overwatch

My Recommendation for Overwatch

Unique progression system

Lacking in story

Simple and easy to understand

Low character count on release

Solid presentation

No mod support

Good variety of maps

Being successful requires a good amount of teamwork

Beautiful graphics

Unique and fast paced FPS gameplay with character depth

My Recommendation for League of Legends

My Recommendation for League of Legends

Limited champion/hero roster for beginners

The most popular MOBA by a huge margin

One of the world's biggest e-sports titles

League of Legends Championship Series

My Recommendation for World of Tanks

My Recommendation for World of Tanks

Fast games

You need about 5000 games to know how it works

Tanks!

My Recommendation for Madden NFL 19

My Recommendation for Madden NFL 19

True-to-life gameplay that accurately simulates the NFL

Boring game, interesting to Americans almost exclusively

Responsive and organic controls for maneuvering your players

More or less still the same old Madden

Photorealistic visuals

Weird clipping issues

Continues the story mode from Madden NFL 18

Occasional game crashes

Bland story mode

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My Recommendation for Garry's Mod

My Recommendation for Garry's Mod

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