If you are searching for modern challenging games, you have landed on the correct destination. In this list, you’ll find games that will take your excitement to a whole new level. Though it mostly includes recent hits, some are classic ones that any veteran gamer would approve.
We have tried to capture almost every major genre and will continue to update this list as promising new games make their way to our hands.
Table of Contents
16. ARMA 3
ARMA 3/Bohemia Interactive
Genre: Tactical Shooter
Developer: Bohemia Interactive
ARMA 3 is a full-fledged military simulator set in fictional islands of Tanoa, Altis, and Stratis. In the single-player campaign, players assume control of Corporal Ben Kerry of the U.S Army and take on almost everything from stealthy lone warrior missions to executing large scale coordinated assault operations.
The first part of the game takes place on Stratis Island, where players are properly introduced to the game-world. Missions include small-scale and relatively ‘comfortable’ armed confrontations. The highlight of the game, however, is its second or final part in which players take charge to carry out large scale operation.
ARMA 3 makes it possible for players to employ different tactics or approach with a wide range of weapons and other equipment i.e artillery and close air support at their disposal. The game, compared to previous entries in this series, does well to keep things more lively and user-friendly.
15. Overwatch
Overwatch/Blizzard
Genre: First-person shooter
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Overwatch is a popular team-based FPS game in which players try and defend multiple ‘control points’ over the map while securely shipping payloads from one point to another in a set period of time.
To begin with, each player needs to choose one from a roster of 30 different characters known as “heroes.” As expected, every hero has unique powers and style of play. Overwatch features multiple gameplay modes that you can try for casual and competitive play. There is also a server browser mode for esports competitions.
During the promotion of the game, Blizzard distributed a backstory to Overwatch featuring a futuristic Earth, in which Human had already developed advanced robots with the help of artificial intelligence known as “Omnics.” But it soon went south when “Omnium” facilities started producing hostile robots that attacked the humankind. In response, the U.N formed the Overwatch, a special task force to eliminate the threat and restore peace.
14. Hexcells Infinite
Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Matthew Brown
If you’re a fan of puzzle games like Slitherlink or Sudoku then I am pretty sure you going to love Hexcells Infinite. At first look, it may appear as a mixture of Griddlers or Nanograms and minesweeper, but believe me, the game has way much more in its sleeves.
Unlike minesweeper, Hexcells is not based on guesswork and luck and every puzzle has a logical solution: all you need is identify the hidden pattern. Along with orange colored hexagon cells, there are few numbered cells scattered all over the puzzles that give you a hint about how many of its adjacent cells are part of the pattern and to be marked.
The levels gradually start becoming more complex as numbers began appearing outside the grid. Hexcells Infinite, like other games in this genre, allows certain mistakes, such as marking the wrong cell, which will not affect your game up until you reach a dead end.
Read: 16 Exciting Puzzle Games
13. Cities: Skylines
Cities: Skylines/Colossal Order
Genre: City building, management simulation
Developer: Colossal Order
Cities: Skylines is perhaps the best city building game one can play and has been one of my personal favorites since its release in 2015.
Players begin with a small plot of land along with a limited amount of in-game money. You will be in full control of every facility or system from small to large in your city including transportation, commercial/industrial zones, and public amenities. You also get to tax your citizens. To succeed, players need to carefully plan and manage social, economic and environmental aspects of the settlement.
New buildings and improvements will become available once the city attains a certain population level. At one point, you can distinguish sections of the city as districts which makes it easier to better plan your development model and enforce specific rules and regulations.
Overall, the game features a good mix of old and new city building elements. It is impressive and fun to play. You may find some minor flaws such as lack of natural disasters and other random events.
Read: 15 Cool City Building Games
12. Europa Universalis IV
Europa Universalis IV/Paradox
Genre: Grand Strategy
Developer: Paradox Development Studio
With a number of memorable games over the years, Paradox Interactive has established themselves as one of the pillars of the strategy genre. They excel in 4X (EXplore, EXpand, EXploit, EXterminate) and grand strategy sub-niche in which players take control of an entire nation (sometimes a clan) and set out to gain undisputed power using planning and other skills.
Now if you’re new to the grand strategy genre and looking for a more accessible game, without giving up on the depth then there is nothing better than Europa Universalis IV for you to try.
EU4 is a historical sandbox which is driven by random events that occur throughout the gameplay. Some of these events are actually inspired by the history of the particular nation you’re playing. It requires players to find a balance between economic solution, military, and diplomacy to solve problems at hands.
Europa Universalis IV is, without a doubt, the best game in the series. The game is fun and has a smooth learning curve but most importantly, it manages to maintain a good level of complexity.
11. Crusader Kings II
Crusader Kings II/Paradox
Genre: Grand Strategy
Developer: Paradox Development Studio
Spend enough time around strategy games, and you’re bound to know about Crusader Kings 2, Paradox’s one of the most valuable creations. Crusader Kings 2 is basically a sandbox game set in medieval Europe. Players start as the ruler and head of an entire dynasty. The objective is to raise their prestige, power, and lands through any means necessary; I mean anything.
Your relationships and decisions will set the course of the game. Crusader Kings 2 is known for its unrealistic depth, intensive learning curve and a unique gaming experience that will surely keep you hooked up.
10. Civilization IV
Civilization IV
Genre: Real-time strategy
Developer: Firaxis Games
There are only a handful of series that have made a long-lasting impact on PC gaming and Sid Meier’s Civilization is definitely one of them. The series, as a whole, has multiple highs (as well as lows) but if you ask me, I would go for Civilization IV any day.
In Civilization IV, as with the other games in the series, player’s objective is to establish an entire civilization from ground-up with only limited initial resources. By default there are five scenarios you can pursue to win a game; achieving “Cultural rating” of “Legendary” level for at least three cities, winning “World Leader” tag, sending a space ship to Alpha Centauri system, leading in game’s world population/land or conquering all other civilizations.
If none of the goals are achieved by any players in a set amount of time, civilization with simply the highest score would be declared the winner.
9. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
PUBG
Genre: Battle Royale
Developer: PUBG Corporation
Battle Royale is a relatively new gaming genre in which players challenge each other while scavenging for equipment and weapons over a confined area. A player must eliminate other players in order to stay in the game. The last one to stay alive wins.
With a rapidly growing fan base, Battle Royal is without a doubt one of the most popular gaming genres at the moment. A good portion of its credit goes to PUBG or PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
Every PUBG match starts after a maximum of hundred players airdropped into an island without any battle gear. Players must search for weapons while eliminating and surviving opponent raids at the same time.
A few hours into the game and you’ll start noticing small details that can affect your overall gameplay. For example, doors in all buildings are closed at the beginning of every match, but if spotted open it’s a clear indication that you’re not the first person to enter that building. Cities and military camps tend to harbor advanced weapons in much greater quantities than other sectors but also attract more players. Experienced players even memorize the general direction a car would be parked by default.
The game is not without flaws and inadequacies but given the fact that it is one of the first standalone battle royale games, PUBG does exceptionally well.
8. Fortnite
Fortnite/Epic Games
Genre: Battle Royale, Survival
Developer: Epic Games
Introducing Fortnite is just a waste of words right now. I mean it’s winning awards, breaking almost every record in the gaming industry and making new ones as we speak.
For those who don’t know, the game is based on last man standing principle, in which players try and survive till the end either by eliminating or evading their opponents. Fortnite currently has three game modes; Save the world, Battle Royale and Fortnite Creative.
One of the best things about Fortnite; Save the world is that it gives players the freedom to execute different strategies (building fortifications, bases, etc.) while fighting zombie-like creatures. Then there is Battle Royale in which players must scavenge for weapons and armor scattered all across the map. One important thing players should keep in mind is shrinking ‘safe zone.’ Anyone caught outside that zone for long enough could get eliminated.
Read: 15 Best FPS Games For All Platforms
For those who like things more open, there is Fortnite Creative, a sandbox game, where players are free to do almost anything.
7. Half-Life
Half-Life/Valve
Genre: First Person Shooting
Developer: Valve
The core gameplay of Half-Life consists of fighting enemies with a wide variety of weapons while solving puzzles. Players take control of Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist who must get out of a research facility after a horrible disaster causing aliens to emerge from an alternate dimension.
Apart from hostile aliens, players have to take care of security officers and special ops unit who are instructed to eliminate all aliens and remaining survivors altogether.
Unlike most of the FPS around that time, players have absolute control over the character and the story is conveyed by scripted sequences rather than cutscenes. The puzzles in the game are mostly used to navigate but sometimes they are essential to kill an enemy. Half-Life was Value’s first ever game to be released.
While there is nothing against Half-LIfe’s magnificent gameplay, its graphics and sound effects, on the other hand, is fairly obsolete. The best way to play this FPS masterpiece today is Black Mesa, a fan-made remaster of the game released in 2012.
6. Minecraft
Minecraft/Mojang
Genre: Sandbox, Survival
Developer: Mojang
No list of best PC games is complete without Minecraft, a game that has been largely responsible for the widespread popularity of survival gaming genre. Its influence can be seen in many contemporary survival games.
With an open world setup, the game allows players to mine resources, craft weapons, build houses and strongholds to fend off pixel monsters. Since there are no specific goals players can do almost anything they want. You can either be offensive and hunt monsters in dark hostile places or setup castles and keep them at bay during the night.
Minecraft also has a creative mode in which hunger and health damage variables are absent so that players can freely build structures without worrying about anything else. It provides more room for creativity.
Read: 35 Best GBA Games OF All Time | Bring Your Childhood Back
The game sold more than 122 million copies worldwide by February 2017, within six years since its initial release. One year later, this number stood at 154 million, becoming the second best-selling game of all time (after Tetris).
5. Starcraft: Remastered
Starcraft: Remastered/Blizzard Entertainment
Genre: Real-time strategy
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
If you’re into real-time strategy but haven’t played Starcraft: Remastered yet, then all I can say is that you’re missing out on a lot. As the name implies, it is an enhanced version of the original Starcraft game and its extension Brood War which was released back in 1998.
A number of changes are carried out in the remastered version including graphics support of up to 4K ultra-high resolution and improved sound effects, which make it much more user-friendly for modern PCs. The gameplay, though, remains untouched. Players can now zoom in or out (that’s right) during gameplay, but it appears to be working only during campaign and observer only in online multiplayer.
Talking about the multiplayer mode, Starcraft: Remastered also feature Blizzard’s improved online suite, which allows players to find online opponents much quicker and save campaign progress or replays on cloud servers.
4. Portal 1 and 2
Portal 2/Valve
Genre: Puzzle-platformer
Developer: Valve Corporation
The first Portal game was more of an experiment, intended as a bonus to go along with other established Valve games at that time. It has few dialogs and relatively short gameplay. It, however, not only became a fan favorite but received widespread acclaim for its intensity and originality.
Based on the success of the first game, Value launched Portal 2 with superior mechanics, better graphics and more elaborate gameplay. Portal 2 has a smooth learning curve and is known for excellent writing.
In both games, players must solve a series of puzzles by teleporting the in-game character. Though it would be tough, if I have to choose between the two games, I would go for the original Portal because of its originality and simplicity.
3. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt/CD Projekt Red
Genre: RPG
Developer: CD Projekt Red
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an action role-playing game in which players control Geralt of Rivia, the protagonist and a monster hunter who is determined to find his lost daughter. Geralt also faces unworldly forces known as the Wild Hunt.
Over the course of the game, players interact with NPCs, engage in dangerous battles both with weapons and magic. The game put great emphasis on player’s dialogue choices which affects the lives of other in-game characters and can even change the possible ending.
Your character can enter in a romantic relationship with some in-game female characters and apart from main-story, players can perform side quest to gain experience and in-game gold.
While its sheer size and attention to detail are very impressive along with a spellbinding narrative and responsive combat, disruptive bugs, lengthy and dull quests every now and then often spoil the fun.
2. World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft: Battle For Azeroth/Blizzard
Genre: MMORPG
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Make no mistake World of Warcraft is perhaps the most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game and one of the highest grossing game franchises of all time. WOW is the fourth major title released in the Warcraft Universe. Since its initial release in 2004, a total of seven expansion packs have been released for it, including the most recent expansion Battle for Azeroth.
In Battle of Azeroth, things get much nastier than it already was in the previous World of Warcraft expansions where battles between the alliance and Orcish horde become more intense.
1. Doom (2016)
Doom (2016)/id Software
Genre: First Person Shooting
Developer: id Software
Released in 1993, the original Doom was without a doubt one of the best things that ever happened in the gaming world as it played an instrumental role in popularizing the entire first-person shooter genre. Its impact was so great that subsequent FPS titles released at that time were often labeled as “Doom clones.”
Now, more than a decade later, it turns out that one of the best FPS games anyone can get is a reboot of the franchise, called simply Doom, keeping up with its reputation.
The game has everything that a player wants in a first-person shooter; visuals, explosive weapons with enough ammunition to clean-out an entire planet, and most importantly, plenty of room for creativity. Doom is fast-paced. You will constantly find yourself surrounded with a horde of demons ready to take you down.
Read: 18 Best Android Games
In the game, players can perform “glory kills,” in which you gain armor and health pickups by killing demons. Character upgrades and traversal mechanics are also there.
