A PC is arguably the ultimate gaming platform, deeper and wider than any of the custom-made boxes you place under your TV. It has become a universal destination for cross-platform games, an inevitable second home for first-party console exclusives, and a bastion for smaller games that may not have the ability to develop ports. It’s also a separate space for unique mouse-and-keyboard genres that aren’t as comfortable to play while sitting on the couch, while still being a place for portable gaming thanks to the likes of Steam Deck. Unsurprisingly, this meant we had plenty of games to choose from when it came to crowning our favorite PC games in 2024.
While there are plenty of amazing games coming to both PC and other platforms this year, our picks for the best PC games of 2024 are a mix of impressive experiences across multiple genres – some of which you simply can’t play with a controller on your phone. hand. There are convoluted, automated Satisfactory empires; excellent Animal Well puzzle design; compulsion for one more round of Balatro; thrilling detective novel “The Rise of a Golden Idol” and more.
But only one can be named the best PC game of 2024. Which game did the IGN team consider the most noteworthy? Let’s take a look at the results…
Honorary distinctions
With so many great games to choose from this year, the distribution of votes for the best PC game was understandably wide. The diverse tastes of the IGN team meant that several games received a huge number of votes, but unfortunately not enough to secure a place on the podium. Of these games, the two that just missed out were 1000xResist and The Rise of the Golden Idol.
Many games tell a compelling story, but it’s the way 1000xResist tells its story that really stands out. It’s a confident and moving story that’s not afraid to delve deeper, combining surreal concepts with emotionally charged deconstructions of the human condition in a way reminiscent of games like Nier: Automata. By making the narrative-focused project something of a cousin to visual novels, 1000xResist’s story can further deliver ideas and plot in inventive ways that raise the bar for the genre.
The sequel to 2022’s groundbreaking detective game, The Rise of the Golden Idol continues to impress, allowing you to solve crimes through hands-on detective work. Set in the 1970s, each chapter features multiple diorama-style crime scenes, requiring you to gather clues through careful observation and then piece together exactly what happened. Rarely are actual events as elementary as they seem, and the truth can only be deduced from noticing tiny things like an empty gun chamber or a hidden subtext in an incensed note. It’s a puzzle game that’s not just about finding the right button to press, but also has a unique artistic presentation.
Runner-up: Animal Well
Platformers with 2D pixel graphics may seem like they’re plentiful these days, but Animal Well is different. This may sound like a cliché, something you’ve heard before in many other games, but it’s really true here. Animal Well wears the skin of a puzzle-based metroidvania while twisting all the typical trends that come with that structure.
You’re not blasting through waves of enemies or increasing your missile capabilities here, thanks in part to Animal Well’s near-total rejection of violence. Instead, you’ll find bubble wands that can create floating platforms, frisbees that can tame wild dogs, and firecrackers that featherlight up the darkness to reveal hidden platforming challenges that await you.
The real joy of Animal Well, however, is the realization that there is so much more to each item than its obvious apply. And then you start to realize that there’s so much more to each location than just the obvious targets. Once you start peeling back the layers, you’ll soon discover that what initially seemed like a five-hour metroidvania is instead a giant puzzle with enough secrets to discover that they could fill a real well. It’s an inventive and endlessly tempting approach to well-worn territory.
Second place: satisfactory
After almost five years in early access, the Satisfactory 1.0 update arrived this year and solidified its position as one of the absolute best arcade games on the market. It’s a game about building assembly lines and laying down endless kilometers of conveyor belts, which is a lot more fun than you might initially think. The subsequent technological developments that make your factories faster, more proficient and inevitably more convoluted always make you look forward to the next gigantic breakthrough.
The sight of spaghetti-like factories spread over thousands of acres may seem intimidating at first, but don’t let that discourage you: Satisfactory’s well-constructed network of targets helps build confidence in your engineering capabilities. In just a few hours, you’ll go from a beginner conveyor belt enthusiast to an automation veteran, able to solve catastrophic failures as if they were minor inconveniences.
But while factories are your primary concern, Satisfaction is much more than the end result. It’s also a Minecraft-style open world where you must delve into caves, survive deadly gas clouds, and clear rock formations to gather the materials needed to finance and fuel your colossal creations. Add a few friends working together in co-op to pave every inch of green in this detailed alien world, and you have the recipe for an addictive blink-and-it’s-an-hour game that rarely ends.
Second place: UFO 50
UFO 50 is an almost incomprehensible achievement. The concept of an venerable gaming system that was miraculously discovered and made available today is already adorable, and I wouldn’t blame you if you assumed that the catalog of 50 games that came with it are largely just quantified mini-games that make for fun but a fleeting distraction. But that’s not the case.
Each entry in this library is basically the size of an entire retro game of its own, and many of them would certainly have been hits of their era if they had actually existed at the time. This isn’t a collection of games made in the ’80s, though, and the deeper you go down the rabbit hole, the more obvious that becomes. UFO 50 games are here wise. Like, contemporary, independent darling wise. Each of them weaves great modern ideas into the canvas of retro classics, resulting in games that feel like toys from the past but play like Steam bestsellers from 2024. Echoes of No Man’s Sky, Hotline Miami, Into The Breach and more can be found between the scan lines, but each game is more than just an embodiment of inspiration. UFO 50 is essentially a playable examination of video games past and present.
There’s plenty to discover here, and the quality is almost disturbingly consistent. The UFO 50 could be half the size it is and still be impressive – instead, it’s borderline stunning.
Winner: Balatro
If you’ve played Balatro before, you probably understand why it’s here. In fact, there’s a good chance you’re still playing it. And if you haven’t done it yet, I advise you to do so, but the nicer thing would be to tell you to run. Because once you jump into this clever mix of roguelite deckbuilding and digital poker, you may find your free time slipping away and the sun rising at what should still be night. But on the other hand, it’s definitely worth it.
There’s something about Balatro that effortlessly draws you in, the “one more turn” syndrome distilled into its purest form. Everything about this rather elementary presentation is finely tuned to provide endless satisfaction, bringing joy or destruction with every card played. While at first glance this is a poker game accessible to anyone who can tell their suits from full houses, don’t be fooled into thinking that you need to know the rules of the classic casino game to play. In fact, this is not the case Actually poker.
Balatro is a completely original idea, and while the poker hands may be in the middle of the screen, the real center of the gameplay is building game-breaking decks for wild games that can send your point multiplier skyrocketing. Each round allows you to modify and improve your card collection, change colors to make better hands easier, or apply celestial powers to create literally wild cards. The options are incredibly extensive for those looking to break the intuitive tropes with shrewd modifiers – you may have created an ambulance in your time, but play five for the first time and you’ll never want to go back.
It’s a truly impressive trick by Balatro that makes you think you know what he’s doing at every turn, and then draws you in deeper as you discover more game-changing Jokers, unlock more decks, and have results that you find impressive stretching from thousands to exponents so huge that you need a college degree to decipher them. Pack it in a lo-fi presentation as deceptively well-designed as the card game it’s in, and you’ve got a game we’ll undoubtedly be playing for years to come.
