30.

Monster Hunter: World

Monster Hunter: World is an elaborate, extravagant game about slaying huge beasts
and turning their tails into axes. Its gorgeous maps – from the bright, enchanted
Coral Highlands to the toxic clouds of shrouded unbelly of the Rotted Vale – are
fitting backdrops for some properly brilliant fights. The monsters are huge yet
elegant, and both learning and countering their moveset makes it feel more like a
fighting game than a button-mashing hack-and-slash.
With 14 weapon types and hundreds of items to craft, climbing the gear tree can
feel overwhelming, but it’s still the most accessible Monster Hunter to date. A
generous loot system means that, even when you’re grinding for a particular armor
set, you’re constantly picking up useful items you didn’t know you wanted. Plus,
finding clues about monsters will automatically lead you to their location, meaning
you can travel between its excellent fights faster than ever. Happy hunting.

Since the release of the Monster Hunter World Iceborne expansion in January 2020,
Capcom has invested in even more content, such as limited-time events, new
monsters to beat after the completion of the main story, and new décor. In July
2020, Monster Hunter reached version 14 since release, with no end in sight, so
there’s always something new to do.

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29. Microsoft Flight Simulator 

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft Flight Simulator isn’t only a game for hardcore aviation nerds, although it
certainly can be. Maybe it will make you one, because it does a great job of
reminding us of the marvel of flight, with its huge skies and world-spanning map.
This virtual sandbox isn’t just any old place, it’s our own world, and it’s a marvellous
sight – also thanks to MS Flight Sims outstanding visuals. It does struggle with its
own size more than once, and players have made fun discoveries which come down
to incorrect map data, but once you’re hooked, you’ll take these curiosities (and,
let’s be honest, bugs) as the consequence of a vast, ambitious undertaking. In
exchange, you’ll be able to fly a very responsive plane, making it feel as realistic as
possible in a game setting, and you’ll learn some handy real-world terminology, too.
There’s simply nothing like Microsoft Flight Simulator, and whether you want to
relax and explore the world or engage with a deep simulation, both aren't only
possible, but a lot of fun.

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28. Cities: Skylines
Maxis and EA’s 2013’s SimCity was one of the biggest disappointments of last
decade – but in a way, we’re glad it flopped. Without its failure, Paradox wouldn’t
have greenlit Cities: Skylines, and we wouldn’t have the best city builder of the
modern age. The genre has always been a staple of PC gaming, and even if you
don’t think Skylines is the best ever, it’s certainly the one that’s most fun to play
today. Its building tools are intuitive and streamlined, and yet complex enough for
you to construct the wildest intersections you can imagine. Each time you start a
campaign you’ll be struck with a different vision for how you want your city to look,
feel, smell, and it means that no two playthroughs follow the same path.

The controls are responsive, the UI easier to navigate than you might assume, and a
handy zoning tool let you paint your settlement green (residential), blue
(commercial) and yellow (industrial) in an instant, taking you from a patch of grass
to a burgeoning metropolis in record time. There’s no campaign, but tooltips, and a
long list of heatmaps, help you ensure your citizens always have enough water,
electricity, and access to healthcare. You’ll gradually ramp up the complexity and
density of your creation until, eventually, you’re seeing skyscrapers rise, planes fly
between airports, and tourists flock to marvel at your latest monument.

I was brilliant at launch, and it’s even better now. A thriving mod community
constantly adds building tools, graphical tweaks and building reskins, and
developer Colossal Order pumps out meaty official expansions, such as Green
Cities, which lets you build eco-friendly towns, and Mass Transit, which adds
realistic transport systems. Simply put: even after you’ve built your 50th city, you’ll
still find a reason to put your shovel in the dirt once more.
Buy it now:
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27. Total War: Three Kingdoms

(Image credit: Creative Assembly)

Any number of Total War games could’ve made this list – Warhammer 2 was a close
second – but 2019’s Three Kingdoms feels like a huge step forward in many ways. It
still has the epic, dense campaigns fans of the series are looking for, but the way it
makes diplomacy completely transparent, telling you exactly what it will take to
strike a deal, makes dealing with other factions more streamlined. New temporary,
multi-faction alliances called coalitions add another strategic notch to your bow.

You could argue that other Total War games capture certain elements of the series
better. Warhammer 2’s factions are more exotic, and Shogun 2’s Japanese themes
more coherent. But Three Kingdoms is strong in every area, and its multiple,
complex campaigns feel very different depending on which leader you pick to try
and unify China. If you want the most complete Total War experience, Three
Kingdoms is your best bet.

Play it now:
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26.  Doom Eternal 
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(Image credit: Bethesda)

With new weapons, a more agile Doomguy, and a fresh emphasis on resource
management (yes, you read that correct), Doom Eternal somehow 1UPs Doom 2016,
which was already deserving of a spot on this list. It’s an over-the-top celebration of
guts and gore in which you chainsaw enemies in half, rip eyeballs from sockets and
stomp on demon’s faces with a giant boot. But, at times, it’s also about restraint.
Enemies have weak points to target and weapons that you can disable, so
sometimes it’s worth finding a spare half-second in the heat of battle to pause, aim,
and hit your shot, because it will save you a lot of pain later. Some enemies are
even invulnerable to damage unless you perform a specific counter at a specific
time, which is something you don’t expect in a Doom game. 
Fights are still, for the most part, unbearably tense and hectic. You’ll scramble and
double jump to avoid packs of enemies, using the super shotgun’s meat hook to
grapple to far-off enemies before turning them into red mist. You have to plan two
steps ahead to avoid being overrun, and a new resource system makes firefights
feel more strategic, less random. Ripping an enemy in half with a chainsaw nets you
armor, while lighting them on fire before sending them to an early grave gets you
armor. It turns minions into health packs, and you’ll want to keep a few of them
alive for when you really need them. We knew Doom Eternal would be this ballsy –
but we didn’t expect it to be clever, too.

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25. Portal 2

(Image credit: Valve)

Portal 2 is nearly a decade old, but it remains our favorite co-op puzzler on PC, and
the single-player is amazing too. This is Valve’s writing at its brightest: every line of
dialogue hums with humor and charm, particularly when Steven Merchant’s
Wheatley is on-screen, and it gives you lots of ways to interact with your co-op
partner, whether you’re high-fiving them or laughing behind their back.

Most importantly, the puzzles are outlandishly clever. Just like the first Portal, the
game is about placing an orange portal on a surface, a blue portal on another
surface and leaping through – but if the original set the table, Portal 2 brings the
banquet. New mechanics such as gels that can increase your speed or bounce you
high in the air make the puzzles even more fiendish, and more satisfying to solve.
We love returning to it with a friend every few years to savour it all over again.

Play it now:
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