Steam, the modern warehouse of gaming.
The most prestigious of storefronts, it remains the most popular of all PC-specific digital platforms, in no small part due to the sheer quantity of games. Steam is, of course, a PC platform, but a lot of these games are also available for consoles, so if you find something interesting, it’s very possible that we might also have a console version for you.
Below you’ll find a list with Steam’s top-rated, most popular, and most famous games from many different genres, catering to many different tastes and playstyles.
Thirty of the best games on Steam
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
| Release date: | 2024-01-25 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Developer: | Ryū Ga Gotoku Studios |
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is the latest (at the time of writing) installment of the long-running Yakuza series.
It features a dual protagonist: Ichiban Kasuga searching for his mother overseas, while Kazuma Kiryu is struggling with his health and trying to make the most of his time. Asa result the game splits its action between Japan and Hawaii, the series’ first international key location.
The previous entry’s turn-based combat returns alongside Ichiban, in a much improved and expanded format. Of course, it’s a Yakuza game, so in addition to dramatic stories and dynamic brawls you also get a ton of side activities, and Infinite Wealth’s major new addition is the holiday resort you get to run as Ichiban, from decorations to management. It’s truly a piece of Animal Crossing in Yakuza.
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Hi-Fi Rush
| Release date: | 2023-01-25 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Developer: | Tango Gameworks |
Hi-Fi Rush was one of the unexpected gaming delights of 2023, and looking at it you wouldn’t guess it was made by people behind The Evil Within and Ghostwire: Tokyo.
Its sense of comedy, bright and colorful aesthetic, and absolutely gripping rhythm-based Devil May Cry-like combat are an mix of traits which make this game so incredibly fun to play, look at, and listen to.
Everything in the game happens to a steady rhythm: enemies attack, platforms move, your own action have more oomph if you press buttons on appropriate beat. The things your character, Chai, can pull of with his scrap-made electric guitar and occasional team-up specials is some of the coolest over-the-top action in recent years. If you like character action games, Hi-Fi Rush is a must play.
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Tekken 8
| Release date: | 2024-01-26 |
| Genre: | Fighting |
| Developer: | Bandai Namco Studios |
Tekken is one of the fighting game royalty, a series about an overly dramatic family and an intense martial tournaments.
Tekken 8, a fresh release from January 2024, is proving to be one of the best installments of the series, with an impressive number of improvements to the combat system, character designs worthy of modern graphics, and even accessibility for newcomers.
This time the story revolves around the feud between Kazuya Mishima and Jin Kazama, who prepares to square off against his now openly devilish father. The story is suitably over the top, but it’s the combat system, now expanded with the Heat system, is the true star of the game, and if you’re into this genre you can’t afford to miss out on it. It’s flashy, satisfying, and has a very high skill ceiling to reach for.
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Baldur’s Gate 3
| Release date: | 2020-10-06 |
| Genre: | RPG |
| Developer: | Larian Studios |
Baldur’s Gate 3 was arguably the biggest hit of 2023, grabbing numerous awards, enjoying massive player counts for a few weeks after launch, and showing what is possible in cRPGs with enough care, time, and resources.
With a spectacular turn-based, tactical combat, intricate and reactive story, and memorable characters joining your adventure, it’s a treat for any fan of fantasy cRPGs.
Larian Studios, creators of 2016’s massive cRPG hit Divinity: Original Sin 2 adapted the 6th edition of Dungeons & Dragon to video game format, putting in a ton of work to make BG3 feel authentic to its tabletop roots. The game can take you a hundred hours to complete and has tons of branching choices making the story feel fresh even after several playthroughs. It’s truly a gem in the genre.
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Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
| Release date: | 2023-08-25 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Developer: | FromSoftware |
It couldn’t have been easy to wait 11 years watching FromSoftware make all the Soulsborne’s and neglecting the fans of Armored Core.
Thankfully, August 2023 finally arrived, bringing with it Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, making all fans of big mecha-combat rejoice and dive into the available options to assemble murderous machines synergizing with their playstyles and ready to take on the bosses.
The plot involves a resurgence of an extremely volatile substance on planet Rubicon 3, and the resulting conflict between megacorporation hoping to gain control of it. You’ll be playing as a mercenary smuggled onto the planet to join this conflict under the callsign “Raven”. Over time you’ll become pivotal to the war, and your allegiance will decide the fate of Rubicon and the volatile Coral.
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Counter-Strike 2
| Release date: | 2012-08-21 |
| Genre: | Action & Shooter |
| Developer: | Valve |
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive had a good run. It had been with us for just over a decade, gathering a powerful fanbase and making a name for itself, but eventually, the time has come for a new version.
Cue Counter-Strike 2, a direct follow up to CSGO, upgrading the whole thing to modern tech standards, including switching from the Source engine to Source 2.
Underneath all the technical luster, CS2 is still the tight, tense competitive shooter it’s ever been, and post-launch updates bring in content injections gradually bringing it up to par with CSGO. Of course, all the hard-earned items from CSGO got transferred as well, so you can enjoy your fancy knife and gun skins in this new upgrades, and, more importantly: free-to-play experience.
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Dwarf Fortress
| Release date: | 2022-12-06 |
| Genre: | Strategy |
| Developer: | Bay 12 Games |
Dwarf Fortress is technically a game with well over a decade of history, famous for its incredible complexity, but somewhat prohibitive due to its text-based graphics which can be rather impenetrable at first.
The reason a 2006 game makes it to this list is its spiffy 2022 Steam release, complete with traditional, “proper”, graphics, new music, and a more intuitive interface.
You’re still going to be helping a small community of dwarves carve their new home in a new land. A land, might we add, that was procedurally generated with a detailed history of geological shifts, cultures rising and falling, artifacts being forged, and everything else needed to create an interesting landscape for your colony. Don’t use max generation settings unless you have a lot of time!
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God of War
| Release date: | 2022-01-14 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Developer: | SIE Santa Monica Studio |
Kratos not only made his way from Greece to Scandinavia, but also, four years later, from PlayStation 4 to PC.
The soft-rebooted God of War is a cinematic, thrilling experience, very different from the original series in terms of gameplay, and quite keen on showing a more matured, restrained Kratos. Make no mistake, however: despite a more somber tone, God of War is no pacifist game.
Kratos swapped his blazing chained blades for an icy axe, and the camera moved to his shoulder to match this closer range, but the old Spartan can still fight like, well, a god of war. GoW is quite story-driven, however, and focuses on the journey of Kratos and his teenage son to give the boy’s mother’s ashes a proper burial. Sadly, the Aesir have other ideas and send Baldur after the duo.
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Resident Evil 4 Remake
| Release date: | 2023-03-24 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Developer: | Capcom Development Division 1 |
Another game that’s technically quite old, but received a very good tune-up recently, complete with a Steam release.
While the original RE4 launched in 2005 (just a year ahead of Dwarf Fortress!), the remake launched in March 2023, with a ton of small and big improvements. The biggest one is, of course visual, as the graphics are now powered by the mighty RE Engine.
The story got a second pass and some gentle expansion, but stays very close to the original. It stars Leon S. Kennedy, a special operative sent to Spain to rescue a kidnapped daughter of the US president from a weird cult. Of course, it’s a RE game, so there’s a lot of gruesome mutations, over-the-top villains, and mysterious involvement from people connected to the nefarious Umbrella Corporation.
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Octopath Traveller II
| Release date: | 2023-02-24 |
| Genre: | RPG |
| Developer: | ACQUIRE Corp. |
The first Octopath Traveller was a wonderful, lovely, engaging RPG in the style of old Final Fantasy games.
Octopath Traveller II is all of that, except even better. There are eight separate characters, each with their own motivations. The characters are quite diverse, as the cast includes people such as an ambitious dancer, a warrior prince, and a cleric investigating a murder.
The world is quite different from the first game’s, instead of a medieval theme, OT2 is inspired more by the turn of 19th and 20th century. Game also now features separate daytime and nighttime segments, affecting each character’s story-affecting Path Actions. It’s an amazing game, with gorgeous aesthetic, great music, and engaging RPG mechanics.
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Wartales
| Release date: | 2021-12-01 |
| Genre: | RPG |
| Developer: | Shiro Games |
Have you ever wondered what running a mercenary company in a dark, low-fantasy medieval-like world would be like?
Living from assignment to assignment, managing your soldiers, navigating the map full of bandits and ravenous beasts, all that jazz? Well, Wartales has all of that in spades. Your group is no band of heroes, just a bunch of people living by the sword and prone to dying from it.
You have a large overworld map of the setting, filled with villages, cities, dungeons, and random encounters. Many of them end up having to be resolved through Wartales’ turn-based combat system. The game is open-ended and doesn’t have an overarching story, but regions have their own small arcs and there are narrative choices to be made, for those who crave story-based content.
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Elden Ring
| Release date: | 2022-02-25 |
| Genre: | Action RPG |
| Developer: | FromSoftware |
FromSoftware isn’t known for releasing duds, so it was a foregone conclusion that Elden Ring was going to be very good.
It’s also FromSoft’s first attempt at an open world, and the Lands Between are a stunning accomplishment in that field as well. It’s a world of grand scale not just because of a large map, but because it’s dense with detail and every place promises something exciting.
In Elden Ring you play the part of the Tarnished, a former exile, now coming back to the Lands Between after the titular Elden Ring was ruined. It’s not a joyous return, however: the land is ruled by demigods corrupted by a shard of the Ring. There’s no prize for figuring out whom you’ll have to defeat before reaching the final challenge and, possibly, saving the Lands Between.
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Total War: Warhammer III
| Release date: | 2022-02-17 |
| Genre: | RTS |
| Developer: | The Creative Assembly |
The final installment of the Warhammer trilogy from Creative Assembly turned out to be a fantastic offering and a great addition not only to the series, but also to the source material.
The combined might of CA and Games Workshop fleshed out Kislev, Ogre Kingdoms (now available through DLC), and Grand Cathay in a way never before seen in the original tabletop wargame.
There’s also a five-fold Chaos faction, including one segment led by an evolving, customizable Deamon Prince of your own! All that’s in the familiar form of a Total War game, with real-time tactical battles and a turn-based grand strategy layer where you handle diplomacy, manage your settlements and move armies around to complete your faction’s objectives.
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Monster Hunter Rise
| Release date: | 2022-01-12 |
| Genre: | Action |
| Developer: | Capcom Development Division 2 |
Although it originated on Nintendo Switch, the success of the PC version of MH World made Monster Hunter Rise’s arrival on PC a matter of time.
It received quite a glow-up for the occasion, with higher resolutions and other features which would be too much for Switch, but PC can easily handle. And more importantly: it’s an excellent, fun game even without visual bells and whistles.
There’s a lot to enjoy about MHR. There are fourteen weapon classes, each with a unique playstyle. There’s a large gallery of monsters, both mostly harmless small beasts, and huge monsters, each of which is a boss fight in its own right. And then there are wirebugs, a MHR original, which dramatically increase your mobility and expand your combat options.
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Cyberpunk 2077
| Release date: | 2020-12-10 |
| Genre: | Action RPG |
| Developer: | CD PROJEKT RED |
Coming from the developers of The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077 had some great expectations to live up to.
Thankfully it turned out that it’s a solid futuristic action RPG with a stunning urban open world and an interesting story digging into transhumanistic themes. In CP2077 you play as V, a gun-for-hire trying to make their name in Night City, the iconic setting in the Cyberpunk tabletop RPG.
Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t an open world in the same way The Witcher 3 is, but nevertheless roaming the streets of Night City or driving around beyond its limits can provide long hours of fun even when you’re not on a quest. Of course, as is expected of an action RPG, your actions have consequences, and you get to make many decisions which let you define who your character is and where they end up.
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The Witcher 3
| Release date: | 2015-05-18 |
| Genre: | RPG |
| Developer: | CD PROJEKT RED |
The Witcher 3 is one of the best selling games of all time, and there are many aspects which contributed to this status.
One reason is the great main story, an excellent conclusion to Geralt’s journey. Another is the beautiful open world split into several huge maps with very different themes: Irish/Norse Skellige isles, medieval mainland of Velen, and, in DLC, idyllic Beauclair.
There’s also a secluded, yet equally beautiful Kaer Morhen valley you’ll eventually visit. The game is steeped in medieval, mostly European, lore and has a strong Slavic vibe to it as well. The biggest monsters you hunt require preparation, because they are fully capable of trashing you. If somehow you still haven’t played it, you absolutely should give the Game of the Year Edition a go.
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Valheim
| Release date: | 2021-02-02 |
| Genre: | Sanbox, survival |
| Developer: | Iron Gate Studios |
Valheim rose to fame and glory at an incredible speed, selling almost six million copies in the first month.
Players quickly started making jaw-dropping constructions using the base-building feature, ranging from original works to things like a life-sized Eiffel Tower. If you haven’t added Valheim to your library yet, you’re missing out, big time. But what is it, exactly, beyond a base-builder?
To put things simply: Valheim is a solid survival game which is less bothersome about its meters and encourages exploration and construction instead. There are also powerful bosses to wreck, because your Odin-given task is to bring peace and order to the procedurally generated world of Valheim, the non-canonical tenth Nordic realm. Oh, and you can play with up to ten friends, if you want to.
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Hades
| Release date: | 2019-12-10 |
| Genre: | Indie |
| Developer: | Supergiant Games |
Hades is one of the best roguelikes released in recent years, and a part of the reason for that is the time it spent in Early Access, gathering feedback.
You’re playing as Zagreus, a disobedient son of Hades himself, trying to escape from his father’s domain and reach the surface. Nobody escapes from the underworld, though, so Zagreus has many rooms to clear and bosses to defeat along the way.
You begin with a hefty sword, but in time you’ll unlock more weapons, including a shield and a cannon. You start each escape attempt with a divine boon from Olympian gods (and collect many more during the run), which modifies your abilities in various ways. Each boon also has a neat visual effect, and a few have an Area of Effect so once you get a few of them your moves become quite spectacular.
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Terraria
| Release date: | 2011-05-16 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Re-Logic |
Terraria has stayed in the top ranks of Steam’s best-reviewed games for years and at this point it’s there to stay.
It’s one of the best sandbox games on the market, and don’t be fooled by its 2D style: this game has depth to spare, such as a base-building system which allows you to do some really impressive things. Of course, the world is procedurally generated, so the game is infinitely replayable.
What can you do, beyond building some outlandish base? You can explore the world to look for resources and trouble for example, because the game has weapons to craft, dungeons to delve, and bosses to defeat. There are also useful NPCs you could recruit for your base to benefit from whatever they have on offer. Better yet: you can also play with your friends if friendly NPCs aren’t enough.
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Half-Life: Alyx
| Release date: | 2020-03-01 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Valve |
Half-Life: Alyx is a treat. Not only is this a rare game made by Valve themselves, but also a new Half-Life story, AND a game designed to be played exclusively in VR.
The story takes place five years before Half-Life 2 and follows Alyx on her misadventures in City 17 controlled by the Combine invaders. The story is interesting and Alyx is a great main character, but it’s the VR implementation that’s the true star.
The degree of simulation present in Half-Life: Alyx is astonishing and well worth the price of admission to this ride. Glass breaks realistically, many objects in the world work like you would expect them to, and if you’re determined you could even juggle because the physics are flexible enough to let you do it. If you can afford the hardware, HL: Alyx is a top-tier VR game and you should check it out.
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Deep Rock Galactic
| Release date: | 2018-02-28 |
| Genre: | First-Person |
| Developer: | Ghost Ship Games |
What’s a better weekend plan than putting your helmets on, picking up power tools, and mining caverns with other three space dwarves by your side?
Deep Rock Galactic is exactly that. Each cavern system you descend into is procedurally generated, filled with valuable resources and deadly monsters which make a Gunner an invaluable partner on every expedition.
Deep Rock Galactic is a great co-operative, class-based FPS that’s really fun when you play solo, but an absolute blast when you play with friends. Mission types include extermination missions, egg-stealing, looking for specific resources, and more. Credits earned by completing missions you can spend on cosmetic customizations, which include three different categories of facial hair. Of course they do, you’re playing as dwarves.
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RimWorld
| Release date: | 2016-07-15 |
| Genre: | Indie |
| Developer: | Ludeon Studios |
RimWorld may not look like it, but it’s a deep and complex space colony simulator which is likely to appeal especially to fans of Dwarf Fortress.
But not only to them, clearly, because at the time of writing it enjoys a 98% approval rating on Steam, which is an undeniable accomplishment. And it manages all of that without having bombastic graphics: the clean, somewhat cartoonish style serves it perfectly well.
The game is ruled by an AI storyteller which decides what to do in order to never let you rest on your laurels for too long. Your colonists have their own lives managed by their unique sets of needs and preferences, and the world never shies away from throwing pirates and aliens at your settlement. By its own admission, RimWorld is a story generator, and you’ll have plenty of fun stories to tell about it.
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Slay the Spire
| Release date: | 2019-01-23 |
| Genre: | Indie |
| Developer: | Mega Crit Games |
What’s a better weekend plan than putting your helmets on, picking up power tools, and mining caverns with other three space dwarves by your side?
Deep Rock Galactic is exactly that. Each cavern system you descend into is procedurally generated, filled with valuable resources and deadly monsters which make a Gunner an invaluable partner on every expedition.
Deep Rock Galactic is a great co-operative, class-based FPS that’s really fun when you play solo, but an absolute blast when you play with friends. Mission types include extermination missions, egg-stealing, looking for specific resources, and more. Credits earned by completing missions you can spend on cosmetic customizations, which include three different categories of facial hair. Of course they do, you’re playing as dwarves.
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ARK: Survival Evolved
| Release date: | 2015-06-02 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Studio Wildcard |
ARK Survival Evolved is a pretty cool survival game that finally managed to replicate that Jurassic Park fantasy of encountering and even domesticating dinos, while giving it the full functionality of a survival game, complete with crafting and base building.
That includes establishing bases on certain humongous dinosaurs. There are also great expansions adding new regions, creatures, and expanding the lore.
ARK: Survival Evolved has a fantastic multiplayer and a sprawling community, especially on Steam, which can be relied on to get you into the game easier. Admittedly the game isn’t that hard to understand and it can be pretty lenient in the survival department depending on server settings, but, of course, it’s always more fun to approach it with friends.
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Dark Souls III
| Release date: | 2016-04-11 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | FromSoftware |
The final installment to the series of great dark fantasy action RPGs made by FromSoftware, Dark Souls games are famous for testing players’ reflexes and patience alike, since not only exquisitely designed bosses, but also regular enemies can really mess you up if you aren’t careful.
You also don’t have such an easy time running away as in DS3’s spiritual successor, Elden Ring.
But hardships aren’t the only feature. Like other Soulsborne games, DS3 has a great map design, and the snippets of lore sprinkled throughout the world make the setting feel deep and lived in, even if this life is hopeless and ruined by the pride and fear of the powerful. If you enjoy challenge and dark (really dark) fantasy settings, DS3 will be right up your alley, holding a dagger to stab your back with.
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Euro Truck Simulator 2
| Release date: | 2013-01-16 |
| Genre: | Economy |
| Developer: | SCS Software |
Simulator games are surprisingly popular on Steam, and there’s a lot of simple yet undeniable charm to these games.
Especially games like Euro Truck Simulator 2 can be relatively calming experiences, letting you just drive from point A to point B, worried more about making the delivery on time than about demons or messed up builds. Just you, your truck, your cargo, and a road ahead. What’s not to love?
There’s also a surprisingly lively community you can discover, with dedicated steam groups and Reddit pages, so you can get advice and share stories with people who are into the same kind of fantasy. There’s also a local split-screen coop, so the point is, Euro Truck Simulator 2 can be a very social experience on top of being just a really cool, realistic, enjoyable truck ride across Europe.
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Half-Life 2
| Release date: | 2004-11-16 |
| Genre: | Action & Shooter |
| Developer: | Valve |
The ever-popular Half-Life is, in many ways, the game that cemented Valve’s popularity.
It was created on Valve’s original engine, Source, which even today remains very robust, if difficult to work with. And it’s one of the best games the first-person shooter genre has to offer, even today. Despite lack of sequels, it created great side-stories and spawned a devoted fanbase.
Half-Life 2 combines a deeply engaging story with imaginative sci-fi elements with very satisfying, fast-paced combat and excellent level design. It also provides puzzle elements due to the existence of the Gravity Gun, which can pick up objects and even turn them into deadly projectiles. The Source community creating Half-Life mods is very active, an entire world of games to explore if you’re willing to take a dive.
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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
| Release date: | 2016-10-27 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Bethesda Game Studios |
Bethesda’s magnum opus, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the ultimate open-world Bethesda RPG and its fantasy setting has captured love and adoration of millions with its incredible breadth.
A deeply weird TES lore, plus a Norse-themed open world, plus DRAGONS and their unique magic, plus a great degree of player freedom and expression make Skyrim one of the evergreen games always worth reinstalling.
And on PC, Skyrim is more than just Skyrim. It’s also the Skyrim-oriented part of Nexus, the biggest and most popular mod site on the internet, with a very busy community of modders. There are many, many ways Skyrim can be enjoyed and all thanks to the fantastic community around this RPG. There’s a good chance that the thing you’d like to see somebody has already made a mod for.
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Civilization V
| Release date: | 2010-09-23 |
| Genre: | Economy |
| Developer: | Firaxis Games |
The 5th entry in the legendary series of 4X games about being able to jump into the shoes of famous historical people and lead their nations through history.
It features many familiar aspects like the tech tree, various victory conditions, and turn-based dynamic, but also adds new and interesting stuff like ideologies and a hex-based map, instead of a square grid.
Civilization V perfectly encapsulates the “just one more turn” syndrome. It also comes with a multiplayer segment, and a pretty fun community, with its own host of memes. On Steam specifically, you can find groups devoted to modding and creating custom scenarios which allow you to recreate certain significant moments in history, like the American Civil War.
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Grand Theft Auto V
| Release date: | 2015-04-14 |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Rockstar North |
Between a fantastic single player campaign about three very different criminals getting into more trouble than they signed up for, and a great multiplayer, there’s certainly a lot of great content in Grand Theft Auto V.
And players appreciate it, making GTA5 one of the greatest commercial successes in the history of video games.
There’s an incredibly active community of modders for GTA 5, which produces custom maps, often specifically designed for races, which are really, really fun thanks to unique mechanics lacking in dedicated racing games. These modders often try to one-up each other, creating fantastic new grounds to cover, even years after the release.
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Steamed to perfection
There you have it. Thirty of Steam’s best, highest rated games to buy whenever you’re hungry for something really outstanding. Card games, arcade-like titles, dungeon crawlers which send you to the lowest pits, and roguelikes which have you work your way to the top.