The best PC games of 2015

2015 has been an astonishingly good year for PC games. Whether you’ve been looking for a top-notch RPG to sink a hundred hours into, or a quick lunchtime blast of multiplayer brawling, PC games have offered something for every taste on a silver platter this year. And there’s still more to come. 

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of great games out there. This is our guide to the best new and upcoming games on PC. 

Heroes of the Storm

It wasn’t going to be long until Blizzard entered the MOBA fray, and Heroes of the Storm is their stab at taking on Dota and League of Legends. Yet this 5v5 arena game isn’t just another Dota clone. Instead Blizzard have made a game that is vastly more accessible than your regular MOBA, whilst still tightly holding on to the core characteristics of the genre such as complex heroes and memorising skill sets. 

The heroes in question are favourites chosen from Blizzard’s IPs - Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft - and bring their unique approaches to battle arenas that not only ask teams to defeat each other, but also complete side-quests. Heroes of the Storm has multiple maps, each with unique themes and quests built in to divide up your attention. One requires you to power up a golem that can rampage through your enemy’s base, whilst another allows you to transform into an unstoppable Dragon Knight if you capture a shrine. Not only does this provide variety, but it’s intensely fun.

TRY HEROES OF THE STORM FOR FREE 

Hearthstone

Blizzard’s incredibly popular card game took itself to another level in 2015 thanks to the impact of last year’s Goblins vs Gnomes expansion pack and the new Black Rock Spire adventure. With a meta-game that’s constantly evolving and a buzzing community of over 30 million players, Hearthstone is the liveliest game on PC.

Hearthstone isn’t interested in your capacity for trash talking opponents, or flipping tables, or building card pyramids. It’s only interested in your brain, and what it does when presented with part of a deck at the start of a new turn. As a result, you know when you sit down to play 15 minutes of Hearthstone that you’ll get a proper game in - because it only does proper games. And that when you win, it’ll be a real, cerebral victory. Your brain will have championed over somebody else’s, simple as - and you’ll get to feel quietly smug for at least an hour. Hearthstone is the best of you.

TRY HEARTHSTONE NOW

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Gaming’s prettiest RPG returns in The Witcher 3 and this time we’ve got a true open world, allowing monster hunter Geralt to thunder around on horseback seamlessly from town to forests. After the last game’s regicide plot, Wild Hunt spins a yarn much closer to Geralt’s heart as he attempts to crack the mystery of his past. 

Dark moral choices pounce at you from every corner, and the consequences of your actions in the previous games hound you. Wise decisions aren't limited to just conversations, with combat now having a solid set of new magic signs to bolster Geralt’s arsenal. There’s now even choice in navigation, as Geralt can climb cliff-faces and hike lesser-trod paths. It’s all in aid of creating the most liberating RPG on the planet. The Witcher 3 is undoubtedly 2015’s most engrossing RPG.

Grand Theft Auto V

   We’ve been forced to wait over a year for it to arrive, but now Grand Theft Auto V is here on PC we've got the best version possible: huge resolution textures, heavier traffic, more wildlife to hunt, a first-person view, and framerates that don't bog you down. GTA’s satirical Los Angeles is huge, and it looks phenomenal on PC. 

It’s also a great game too, perhaps the best GTA Rockstar have made. Three distinctly different protagonists that you can swap between at any point drive the action, and the missions on offer never fail to entertain. And then there’s GTA Online that will become your weekend multiplayer go-to; a sandbox to get together with friends in and run amok, rob every bank in the state, and buy a sweet penthouse. 

Order of Battle: Pacific

Grand strategy games have, typically, always failed to get naval forces right. Order of Battle: Pacific hits it crack on the head, making just the act of transporting from island to island in the pacific a tactical joy. And that's just the start. It's a Panzer General-like serious wargame, but with an unprecedented level of approach that combines detail, pace, and challenge to create a compelling battle against Japanese forces. 

Cities: Skylines

After the disappointment that was SimCity, we've all been waiting for the essential city builder to come our way. It finally came in the form of Cities: Skylines, Paradox's superbly wonderful mayor manager game. Covering everything from minor systems such as what buildings adorn the footpaths of your streets, to the major complexities of sewerage pumping and transportation networks, Cities: Skylines manages to make every mechanic work together in absolute harmony. 

Its scope allows for an unrivalled flexibility

Pillars of Eternity

Leading a pack of nostalgic RPGs in 2015 is Pillars of Eternity, Obsidian’s spiritual successor to the Forgotten Realms games of yesteryear. Headed up by RPG superstar Chris Avellone, the Pillars of Eternity team have created a brand new universe with untold stories, unseen races, and unexplored dungeons. This is perhaps the most exciting element of Pillars of Eternity; it’s bespoke. Virgin. Fresh. 

With that new world comes the complex RPG systems and real-time combat that embraces all the possibilities of multi-character parties. The combinations and timing of attacks is absolutely vital to making it through Eternity’s encounters alive. It’s a challenge that no doubt has Icewind Dale veterans grinning with glee. 

Fraser found its combination of refreshed old-school combat and unparalleled writing phenomenal

Frozen Cortex

In the far future, we won't be relying on over-paid human sports stars to provide out Saturday afternoon entertainment. Oh no: robots sprinting after balls will be the most popular sport of tomorrow, and Frozen Cortex proves why. Re-focusing the turn-based actions of Frozen Synapse for a sports game, Frozen Cortex requires you to scrutinise your opponent's player positions, assess what their next move will be, and try to out-move them. Real-time, the games take just seconds, but split into turns a game could take you a whole afternoon if you want to plan every move to perfection. It's sport for the scientific mind, and gosh is it glorious. 

Total War: Attila

Attila quite literally sets the Total War franchise on fire, thanks to its new fire propagation mechanics that let you torch entire cities to the ground. With a focus on escaping the cold climate and dealing with horde-based armies, Attila feels like a fresh foot for the Total War franchise after the stumble with Rome II. Indeed, it feels like a significant improvement in all areas, leading to a much stronger, confident game. 

Sunless Sea 

Sunless Sea gives you a vast subterranean ocean to explore in your frail ship. Dotted about the sea are islands filled with Lovecraftian horrors - mummified ghouls, tentacled monsters, and mysterious strangers. You’re tasked with sailing between them, trading your way to a quick buck, and keeping your crew sane enough not to mutiny.

It’s from the minds that brought us Fallen London and, as such, is one of the best written games on the PC.

Sunless Sea turns into a sort of choose your own adventure novel every time you dock your ship. You’ll be presented with a string of possible story threads - maybe a veiled woman waits for you at the pier, or you overhear a ghastly scream you can choose to investigate, or perhaps a group of masked men invite you to play cards with them. Picking your way through stories might lead to coin, or a new crew member, or maybe something so horrific it causes your men to abandon you.

Grow Home

Ubisoft’s Grow Home came as a delightful surprise. You play a little robot with a propensity for gardening who’s trying to grow a beanstalk up into a sky filled with floating islands. The beanstalk doesn't have enough energy to reach the atmosphere in one go so, instead, you need to grow it towards the islands, using them as stepping stones. To grow it you have to sing to red flowers which dot the trunk and then hold onto the branch that shoots out, directing it towards the island.

The whole thing is packed with colour and neat ideas, like being able to use leaves as hang gliders and daisies as parachutes.

Chaos Reborn

Xcom creator Julian Gollop’s latest game is a deeply tactical turn-based multiplayer game that throws in a dash of RNG for good measure. Every player (up to four) takes control of a wizard who, while a little puny, is able to summon in magical creatures to fight his battles for him. The game ends when there's only one wizard remaining.

While a simple concept, there’s an element of chance that keeps every player on edge: attacks are handled on a percentage roll and summonings have the chance to fail, so you’ll have your fingers crossed with almost every action.

Chaos Reborn’s still in Early Access at the moment and there’s a whole metage to come.

Besiege

The aim of Besiege is simple: smush everyone and smash everything.

Set in a cutesy medieval world, you need to look into your siege engine-themed Lego box for the components to build a whirligig of death and destruction and kill all the enemy soldiers on the map.

Besiege gives you an incredibly robust crafting system with which to work. You can build a chassis out of wooden beams, slap on a few wheels and cannons and you have yourself a medieval tank. The Besiege community's gone a little crazy with the sandbox, creating complex clockwork robots out of simple components. Though they have a bizarre fascination with wanking automata.  

Satellite Reign 

Satellite Reign is a spiritual successor to Syndicate, and unlike the 2012 reboot not only looks and plays like the original game but also appears to be quite good. The Blade Runner-inspired cityscape looks absolutely stunning, and will be the perfect stage for your squad of cyberpunk soldiers to storm about - huge coats billowing - and splatter brains all over the pavement. The combat looks satisfyingly tactical with shades of both the original Syndicate games and modern real-time tactics games. It certainly looks to be yet another nostalgic Kickstarter success. 

Project CARS

Another crowdfunding success story, Project CARS offers a sandbox experience for racing enthusiasts. Pick your preferred racing style and attempt to make a career out of it. From small, nimble karts to high-performance F1 cars, there’s a multitude of different motorsport paths to pursue, with realistically recreated tracks to compete on. 

Built on the Need for Speed: Shift engine, developer Slightly Mad Studios has worked with motorsport veterans such as Top Gear’s ex-Stig Ben Collins and Touring Car Cup winner Nicolas Hamilton (brother of Lewis) to ensure their simulation is as painstakingly accurate as possible. Systems to ensure tires behave as they should and how weather affects car handling are all implemented to make sure Project CARS is a key event on the racing game calendar. 

Armello

A combination of board game-inspired hex tile, turn-based moves and battle cards, Armello asks you to march upon The King; a monarch suffering from The Rot. Each turn his symptoms become worse, and he must be eliminated - by force or by curing the Rot - in order to win the game. 

The board and characters are lovingly drawn in a hand-animated style, and the anthropomorphic animal soldiers in the game have a enchanted, fable-like quality to them. The systems are exceptionally intricately designed for a tight game, and procedural elements and a questing system make each new match of Armello a unique playthrough. There’s online multiplayer, but local play with friends around the same PC looks like the setting where Armello will really shine. 

The Best Upcoming Games of 2015 

Fallout 4

Bethesda have finally announced that Fallout 4 is real, and it looks beautiful. Set in Boston, we’ll be discovering a Massachusetts rebuilt after the nuclear war, revisiting familiar locations with a little added shonkiness and corrugated metal paneling.  

The trailer doesn’t give a lot away, but there’s a heavy emphasis on weapons strapped together and armour that’s not quite complete, suggesting Fallout 4 may have the most in-depth crafting system of any Bethesda game yet. 

Bethesda haven’t slapped a release date on Fallout 4 yet, but retailers and rumours suggest that we could be heading to the Boston wasteland in November.

Star Wars: Battlefront

We all got a little sad when Star Wars: Battlefront III was cancelled, but Battlefield developer DICE has taken on the series to bring us a reboot that should bring a smile back to our faces. So far the development process has been kept a tight secret, but the trailer shows a stunningly photo-realistic recreation of Star Wars’ most iconic locations. DICE are already masters at combined arms warfare, so the mix of giant walkers, hurtling speeders, and on-foot troopers should be in good hands. 

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate

2015 will see Assassin’s Creed game head to Britain for a jaunt around Victorian London. Syndicate will pit sibling protagonists Jacob and Evie Frye against the gangs of England’s capital, attempting to spread their influence and control through industrial boroughs. Of course, the Templars are hiding amongst the ranks of organised crime, so we’ll have to take care of them, too. 

The tech from Unity makes a reappearance, but hopefully a year on Ubisoft have cracked the problems they had with recreating Paris and can create a smoother, glitch-free experience for London. With a faster-paced combat system and a grapple-hook to aid the sprint across the smoggy rooftops, Syndicate looks like it could be the most enjoyable Assassin’s Creed since Edward’s ocean adventures. 

Batman: Arkham Knight

Rocksteady are back behind the wheel of the Arkham series this year, and they’re rolling out the big guns. No, not Batman’s impressive arms, but his Lamborghini-come-tank personal transporter, the Batmobile. With the streets of Gotham city finally opened up, the Arkham series’ staple of swift, fluid combat now comes packaged with destructive car chases. 

The Joker is also absent from proceedings due to the events of Arkham City, which means that Rocksteady have to get inventive when it comes to a new antagonist. Whilst there will be plenty of the Dark Knight’s expansive rogues gallery involved, the central villain is the Arkham Knight, a techno mirror-image of Batman with an equally tight-lipped approach to identity. With a bit of luck, the Arkham Knight mystery will be one to rival the Bat’s greatest cases.

Mad Max

Finally an official Road Warrior game is on its way thanks to Just Cause developers Avalanche. Vehicle combat looks to be the backbone of this open world game (would we expect anything else, especially after Fury Road?), but the world is also full of utterly insane gangs to go head-to-head with in close combat. Customisation will be a huge element, with Max’s car able to go under numerous upgrades and refits until you find your ideal mechanical match. 

With the Just Cause guys pulling the strings, you already know that the Mad Max films’ sense of violent insanity will be transferred wholesale into the game. 

Rainbow Six: Siege

Rainbow Six: Siege wows thanks to its absurdly destructible environments. Machineguns perfectly puncture plasterboards and C4 charges reduce floorboards to splinters. But not only is Siege a violent eulogy to military hardware, it also harks back to Rainbow Six of old. Siege’s multiplayer has a separate planning phase that requires both sides to make initial tactical decisions. For Team Rainbow it’s sending drone into the hot zone to locate a hostage. For Team Terrorist it’s barricading windows with shutters and reinforcing walls with bulletproof braces. 

With preparations made, the chaos ensues. A Counter-Strike style single-life system adds tension, with players falling in battle not resurrecting until the next round. Deaths are announced loudly with a big HUD prompt, and acts as a constant reminder that you may soon be the last hope your team has of victory. It’s a kind of pressure we can’t wait to experience.  

No Man’s Sky

Space is in right now, and Hello Games’ interplanetary exploration game No Man’s Sky is showing off something really stellar: procedural generation. You see, all of No Man’s Sky’s universe is created on the fly by computer code. There’s not one planet, one alien creature, or one asteroid that’s been crafted purely by an artist or designer. Which means in almost everything you do, you’re the first to do it. 

It’s also an intensely beautiful game. As you descend into a planet’s atmosphere the inky blackness of space gives way to bold, fluorescent colours. Thick forests filled with interesting beasts are just begging to be explored. And considering there’s no real aim of No Man’s Sky other than exploring the galaxy, it’s a good job finding these uncharted worlds seems so compelling.  

Prison Architect

Everyone and their dog has been playing Prison Architect for months now thanks to its long use of the Steam Early Access model, but it will only be in 2015 that the game finally exits beta testing and becomes a full game ready to take its stabilisers off. At the moment Prison Architect feels like a group of well-functioning but obviously still in development systems. Hopefully by the time it’s released these systems will have knitted together to make a complex and reactive simulator that allows you to bring down the heavy hammer of the law on all those damn tiny convicts. It’s all they deserve, after all. 

SOMA

A science-fiction horror set in an underwater research facility, the masterminds behind Amnesia: The Dark Descent at Frictional Games may have left creepy old mansions behind, but they’re holding tight onto pure terror with SOMA. Scant details have revealed terrifying machines that slowly begin to take on human characteristics, and screenshots released so far show a blend of Bioshock and Alien. We’re positive that SOMA will be as freaky and intriguing as both. 

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

For once in its life, Metal Gear Solid is treating the PC like a first class citizen and coming to the platform in a timely fashion. Built on the fancy new FOX engine, MGS5 is a huge leap for the series, featuring expansive, open-ended levels that allow players to pick their approach to objectives and freely play about with the game’s systems. From using a horse as moving concealment to attaching a sky-lift parachute to enemies you need to quickly move out the way, Snake has a plethora of toys available to him that both fulfil tactical needs and the level of idiosyncrasies expected from MGS creator Hideo Kojima.  

Torment: Tides of Numenera

Alongside Pillars of Eternity, another RPG looking to get you all warm and fuzzy with nostalgia is Torment: Tides of Numenera. A spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment, this classic isometric roleplayer will carry on the heavy themes of its inspiration, but transfer the action to the setting of Numenera (an already established pen-n-paper RPG world). Expect a heavily story-led, dialogue-rich campaign exploring the darkest corners of existence and mortality, a solid helping of wit, and tactical combat rife with opportunity. With Wasteland 2 director Brian Fargo driving the project forward, and a team including veterans from the original Torment game, Tide of Numenera could become the successor we’ve been waiting 15 years for. 

Star Citizen

Without a doubt the most wildly ambitious game of 2015, Star Citizen aims to be the ultimate space exploration game. Taking to the skies in one of numerous ridiculously detailed craft, you will be able to engage in military service, become a reputable trader of goods, live the life of a smuggler, or become a universe-famous race pilot. But Star Citizen doesn’t stop there. Unlike most space games you can disembark from your ship and walk around planets and space stations in first person to trade face-to-face with NPCs. And then, should things get hairy, you can pull guns out on your enemies as the game becomes a first person shooter. 

At its core Star Citizen is a player-driven experience, with numerous pilots interacting with each other to drive the universe forward. Completing specific government approved actions will help you become a ‘citizen’, which will grant you bonuses such as tax-breaks. And whilst this sandbox-based systems-heavy world is the lifeblood of Star Citizen, there’s still a more cinematic, narrative-led experience to be had in Squadron 42: the game’s singleplayer/co-op campaign. Star Citizen really does have the scope to be a game for everyone then, and it’s immediately clear that all of its $60 million crowdfunded budget is going somewhere special.

Back at the alpha's launch Julian had a less than stellar experience but there have been significant improvements since then.

StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void

The final piece of the StarCraft II puzzle, Legacy of the Void swings the point of view around to the Protoss camp. A race of hyper-advanced, ethereal beings, playing Protoss equips you with an intense variety of laser-shooting, teleporting machines and craft that offer up an exceptionally different tactical approach than the Terran and Zerg armies of the previous two games. 

The main pillar of Legacy of the Void will be the campaign, which sees Protoss High Templar Artanis cope with the splintering of the his race and the breakdown of diplomacy between each of the Protoss factions. New units will be provided to Artanis depending on what faction you decide to ally with, making narrative choices an important long-term gameplay decision. Alongside diplomatic struggles, the Protoss will also have to face a new evil in the form of Amon, a threat that also targets both the Zerg and Terran forces. Blizzard are clearly aiming for an epic face-off for the conclusion of the StarCraft II saga. 

The campaign’s new units will make an appearance in the multiplayer too, which will also undergo refinements and changes to ensure StarCraft II remains a constantly exciting fixture on the eSports circuit. 

Armikrog

3D graphics are overrated. Real developers work in clay. Armikrog, the Kickstarter project from Doug TenNapel, is a point and click adventure entirely sculpted from clay. A spiritual successor to TenNapel’s beloved The Neverhood and created by largely the same team, it’s an irreverent off-the-wall story about spaceman Tommynaut and his blind dog Beak-Beak who solve a bunch of undoubtedly insanely difficult puzzles in attempt to escape the Armikrog fortress. The distinct style and humour of the game is the clear pull here, but we’re also exceptionally excited to hear the soundtrack from bonkers composer Terry Scott Taylor.

Just Cause 3

There’s nothing quite like Just Cause’s unique brand of sandbox mayhem, and while Just Cause 2’s multiplayer has been happily keeping everyone busy, developer Avalanche have a few ideas on how to kick the action up a few notches. Just Cause 3 will relocate grapple-hook enthusiast Rico to the Mediterranean to crash a helicopter (or similar) into the face of evil dictator Di Ravello. The new map will be around the same size as Just Cause 2’s, but with significantly more verticality, meaning taller buildings to scale, and subterranean caves to go spelunking in.  

Unfortunately Just Cause 3 won’t be shipping with multiplayer, but we’re pretty sure that there’ll be more than enough rocket-propelled insanity parachuting down with the single player to make this a justified pick-up.

Superhot

When it first appeared as a browser game in 2013, Superhot wowed with its imaginative rethink of what made an FPS. Out the window went pray-and-spray tactics and sprinting between cover. Instead Superhot turns shooting into a carefully considered strategic dance. Time only flows when you’re moving, which means standing still brings the game to a complete stop. That gives you time to assess your surroundings, discover where enemies are, and predict where bullets will travel. Pull the trigger yourself to put bullets ready to fly when you start walking again, and then sprint to put your plan into action. The whole system brings an odd turn-based strategy feel to the proceedings, and the level of thought required makes this a game to stand alongside Portal rather than Call of Duty. 

Thanks to a Kickstarter campaign, what was a tiny experiment made in seven days is going to become a full game in 2015. It could also be the freshest, most exciting shooter of the year. 

Volume

Indie darling Mike Bithell returns in 2015 with Volume, and whilst it couldn’t be more different from his breakthrough act Thomas Was Alone, it will require the same intelligent approach. Volume is a stealth game heavily inspired by the first Metal Gear Solid game. Demanding exactly zero contact with the enemy and absolute silence from your actions, Volume requires swift planning and execution and the use of decoys to complete a variety of heists. 

As with Thomas Was Alone, there’s a strong narrative that runs alongside its complex gameplay. A sci-fi retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Volume’s lead Robert Locksley will perform heists in an AI simulation (voiced by Danny Wallace) and face off against Andy Serkis’ Guy Gisborne. The heist simulator can also be used to construct player-made levels, meaning there will likely be a strong collection of new maps on Steam Workshop within weeks of Volume releasing.    

Heat Signature

Heat Signature is a game all about breaking into spaceships. Zooming around the galaxy in a tiny defenceless craft, it’s your job to complete randomly-assigned mission objectives such as ‘Steal this massive dreadnaught’ or ‘assassinate this captain’. To achieve these objectives you’ll need to sneak up on some procedurally generated ships, dock with them, and then creep around their interiors trying to find their secrets. 

Developed by Tom Francis, the chap behind Gunpoint, Heat Signature looks to have the same fascination with turning systems on their head and using the environment to your advantage. Like Gunpoint’s hero detective, your character in Heat Signature is unarmed and completely defenseless. Keeping your heat signature low and off the enemy’s radar will be imperative. 

Maia

A colony building and management game with heavy 1970s sci-fi influences, Maia asks you to attempt to secure a foothold on the planet 3452C[maia]. There is a problem though: it’s a desolate, toxic, solar-flare ridden rock that will do pretty much anything to ensure life fails on its surface. 

Taking cues from the likes of Dungeon Keeper and The Sims, Maia requires you to not only anchor in and set up base, but keep your colony going and expanding. The hostile geography of Maia will ensue this is a tough ask, but to make matters worse your colonists need to be kept happy and well for fear that they’ll all go insane. 

Maia is currently in Early Access on Steam, and is due to upgrade to full version in 2015. 

Doom

The original FPS makes its return in 2015, and Doom doesn’t intend to learn from the modern shooter crowd. Instead it’s going back to what made the original game great: dodging bullets, chainsawing up hellspawn, and generally being a bit of a badass. There’s no cover or bouncing health bar here, just massive boomsticks, absurd amounts of gore, and a pace that doesn’t give up. Essentially a remake of the original game built on the very flash id Tech 6 engine, so far it appears Doom will look and play brilliantly. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops III

It’s Treyarch’s turn to take up the Call of Duty reigns again, and this time will have the added freedom of the new three-year development cycle Activision have adopted. We’re headed back to the futuristic war zones of the Black Ops series, where soldiers are more machine than man thanks to some very Deus Ex-like augmentations and robotic prosthetics. 

The campaign will be completely playable in four-player co-op, finally allowing us to experience the bombastic thrills of CoD with friends, whilst the online side of things aims to build upon Advanced Warfare’s more fluid, parkour-like movement system.

Overwatch

Blizzard haven't developed an new IP since it launched the StarCraft universe back in 1998, so Overwatch is a massive new step for the company. It’s also in a genre that they’ve never attempted before: multiplayer FPS. Overwatch is Team Fortress meets DOTA. Its cartoony visual style and frantic pace make it exciting, whilst the use of hero characters demands players learn how to effectively use multiple sets of unique abilities. 

Like a MOBA, mastering the skills of all heroes will be vital to knowing both your capabilities and your enemy’s, but the experience is wrapped up in the much more familiar shooter package. Not only does Overwatch look mechanically refined, but like all other Blizzard games there will be an unfolding narrative to get on-board with too. And any story featuring a bespectacled gorilla in power armour is sure to be something worth paying attention to. When it finally releases in 2015, it’s going to become an instant hit. 

Source