I recently upgraded my PC and I'm excited to explore new games that can take advantage of my improved hardware. Previously, my old PC was limited, and I had to be selective about the games I played. I also have a Steam Deck, but I'm looking for offline single-player experiences on my PC.
I'm looking for games that offer an unforgettable experience and high replay value. I enjoy open-world games that give me the freedom to explore, similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I know it's not a PC game, but it gives you an idea of my playstyle.
Here are some games I've enjoyed in the past:
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - My favorite game, I love the freedom to explore without being bound to quests.
• Far Cry 3 - Great open-world experience that didn't get boring.
• NieR: Automata - Engaging story, but it got a bit repetitive.
• Scarlet Nexus - Great story, high replay value, and a beautiful world, although it can be repetitive.
• ULTRAKILL - Challenging and high replay value.
• Portal 2 - High replay value.
• Portal 1 - Enjoyed it, but didn't love it.
• Subnautica - Absolutely loved it.
• The Witcher 3 - Didn't enjoy it, but I'm giving it another try soon.
• Doom Eternal - Liked it.
• Horizon Zero Dawn - It's an average game, with a mid-story and a beautiful world.
For me, a good story is often the top priority, but I also enjoy games like Breath of the Wild where I can relax and play without thinking too hard.
If you're curious about my specs, here they are:
New PC:
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
• RAM: 64GB DDR5 Memory
Old PC:
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 480 4GB
• CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K @ 3.50GHz
• RAM: 4GB DDR3 Memory
I'd appreciate any game recommendations that fit my preferences.
Edit: Thanks already for the recommendations, I might also add, that I love the Halo games. Except the newer ones.
You might want to check out Red Dead Redemption 2 in story mode. The graphics and physics are pretty incredible. It’s a little old now, but I think it still holds up well, especially if you like the “old west cowboy” aesthetic.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Might be a hot take, but what I dislike about Red Dead Redemption 2 and also Horizon Zero Dawn is that it is like a movie. Just a cutscene after another and I feel like that you aren't really free in RDR2. But I didn't play it so it might be better than expected!
fwiw I felt that RDR2 gives you an incredible amount of freedom. You can do so much even outside the main story. You can spend hours just traveling through the world and discovering things, helping / robbing people, hunting, etc. It's the best game I've ever played and even after finishing the main story, there's still lots to do out in the open world. The main story is usually done with cutscenes, yes, but it usually let's you do the "active" parts yourself. Just the atmosphere of the game alone is absolutely worth it.
Spiderman does look interesting, but I don't know. I guess I'm searching for another Zelda:BotW. Which isn't Tears of the Kingdom. I really like that game, since it's the only one where I am free, not bound to some quests or something. I can go anywhere I would like in every order I want to and so on. I just think that the Spiderman Games aren't as freeing.
Path of Exile 2 looks fascinating, since I haven't really played a good Dungeon Crawler in a long time.
Baldur's Gate 3 is definitely on my list, but I think to understand it properly I need lots of time, so I will put that aside for now.
I guess I'm searching for another Zelda:BotW. Which isn't Tears of the Kingdom.
I’m confused by this. TotK is very much just BotW but with more. The construction mechanism is really fun, the three overlapping maps are cool, it’s a good time. You get to see how the world of BotW has changed in the intervening time, and being able to make hover cycles to fly around the world is awesome.
Have you played Minecraft? It's kind of traditional to build a powerful PC and then just use it to run Minecraft. It's the ultimate sandbox. Theoretically there's an endgame with defeating the Ender Dragon. But you don't have to do anything if you don't want to.
If you want something more mature ARK: Survival Evolved might be your jam.
Outer Wilds is an unforgettable experience, but has very low replayability. Everything is knowledge based, and playing the game means figuring everything out for the first time (so be sure not to look anything up).
But it's all exploration, it has an excellent story, and I would recommend it to anyone.
Baldur's Gate 3 is, as someone already stated, I think a huge investment. I think it isn't a Game where I can just go and play, but I think it is more like a game I need to actively think and have more than two hours to get back in. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Satisfactory is awesome, but since the 4th Update or so it has become too advanced for me.
You can save wherever you want but ya, it is a game you would want to play consistently. Like taking a month break would be tough. But that's how most 1 player story games are, to me at least.
As a huge baulders gate fan that has finished the game about 5 times, I would say that's a mostly correct characterization. If you play on the easiest settings, then yeah you can totally drop in and out while enjoying the story. But anything beyond that will need either some tactical planning or doing research on best builds.
Outer wilds if you enjoyed subnautica's sense of wonder and exploration. Not replayable but a unique once in a lifetime experience.
Helldivers 2 if you enjoy halo firefight and it's expansive sandbox. Very replayable.
Teardown is very replayable and will run great on your rig.
Curious why you went for 64gb of ram instead of 32, because the extra dosh could have gone to a better gpu. Always use the extra on the gpu or monitor.
Thanks for the suggestions. I already own Helldivers 2, and it is great, but I would like something more single-player since my friends aren't online all the time and playing with strangers is just half the fun.
Teardown does look really promising. Especially that it's literary, a game where you can just blow up anything!
I went for 64GB because I wanted my RIG to be future-proof. I chose an AMD GPU, because I use Linux (of course on Lemmy ;)), it's also a Statement to choose AMD over Nvidia because of the outrageous pricing. Honestly, any newer GPU is an upgrade in perspective to my old pc.
I always have to recommend Vampire: The Masquerade, Bloodlines. Cheesy AF game from the early 'aughts, but it holds a special place in my heart and is a fantastic RPG. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAIR9faz9pM
Cruelty squad, balatro, broforce, yakuza games, ghostwire tokyo, gta 4, deep rock galactic, risk of rain 2, binding of issac are some of my personal reccomendations
Honestly psychonauts 1 and 2 are both absolutely amazing, and the art style means that they don't end up looking ancient despite still looking old. The story is also very enjoyable and influential on the level design
Sorry didn't even finish reading yet. You thought nier was repetitive?! Like maybe if you playing through it again to get the other endings but damn that first playthrough is a fresh experience. As you progress it feels like a different genre. Shit was great.
I found the combat to be quite annoying personally, so I can see where this is coming from. And having to replay for other endings was also annoying. I ended up just looking up the endings
Cyberpunk 2077 (very good since 2.x and with Phantom Liberty expansion). Since I have similar hardware to you, you can play it with Raytracing enabled and have at least above 30 fps which should be enough for most playstyles except maybe fast melee-based combat. The game's lighting effects look absolutely gorgeous with Raytracing.
Witcher 3 (keep at it. It's amazing. It can feel clunky at the beginning due to its weird combat mechanics but you get used to it. Also you can switch it up by integrating signs (magic) into your swordfighting. Which is what I recommend doing. I think it's more varied). Also, the game gets better as you go. The base game is great, but the DLCs are even better, especially Blood & Wine has kind of a legendary status among all DLCs, you rarely get such value inside a DLC, except Phantom Liberty which has a similar scope and quality to it.
Baldur's Gate 3 is probably the best game of the last decade or so so highly recommended. It's not open world, but it's still huge and is at the same time very densely packed with stuff, so you need a lot of time when you want to explore and loot everything. The game feels huge that way. Especially compared to open world games, it's like the opposite - open world games have a vast area but almost nothing in-between major points, which means the world can feel empty in a lot of open-world games. Baldur's Gate 3 has something around every corner and never feels empty (unless you've cleared a whole area already).
Red Dead Redemption 2 - a lot of people like it, so far it didn't feel right to me (so slow) but I can still see how it's a good game and if you like chilling with a game it might be just your thing
Elden Ring is amazing but has very tough combat/action of course. Still, it really feels great as an open-world game. It completely throws the "Ubisoft formula" out of the window, which most open-world games follow, and that's precisely why it's so good. I've rarely had more feeling of true exploration and accomplishment within an open world game. Still, combat is very challenging, so if you prefer games to be on the easy side, then it's not right for you. But if you don't mind a challenge (a challenge you can also often delay for later when you're stronger) then it's a must-play. If you don't know, as most or all games from From Software, these games don't offer different difficulty settings so there is only one difficulty which is the same for every player (and it's tough). These games are also very fair and reward accurate playing - it's possible to not get hit at all by anything, for example, if you're really good. So they never feel unfair and when you die (which you do a lot) you'll always know why you died and have an idea how you could do it better. Besides the difficulty, what can also feel oppressive in those games is the fact that all enemies (except bosses) respawn whenever you rest. But Elden Ring kind of mitigates that because you can skip a lot of areas and come back when you're better prepared (i.e. gained more levels/attributes or better gear). Then, past challenges can start feeling easy. And skipping weak enemies is kind of the normal thing.
STALKER 2 (may still need a couple more patches but it's playable and has a great overall atmosphere and visual design. They fixed the worst post-launch problems I think). Very strong in atmosphere and immersion.
I also recommend Baldurs Gate 3 and Elden Ring. Baldurs Gate has one more big patch in the next month or two so I would wait until then to play it. I'm kind of waiting for that patch to drop to start another run through. Protip: pick the Dark Urge backstory.
I'm not seeing Elden Ring anywhere in the top voted posts, but if you're looking for something like BotW, you should consider it. Always somewhere new to explore and very non-linear. The lore of the world is insanely rich, but there basically is no story.
Tunic is awesome. Lots of exploration and lots of secrets to find. Don't look anything up, it's a very unique experience.
Hollow Knight is the first metroidvania I liked. Great exploration, but it's not exactly going to test the limits of your rig. Similar to the Souls games, lots of lore, little story.
Rimworld is so non-linear it's literally a story simulator. It creates unforgettable experiences and has infinite replayability. You can save and quit at any moment, so it's good if you only have an hour or two (but you could easily put hundreds of hours into it).
And I want to echo others who said Outer Wilds, RDR2, BG3, and CP2077.
Isn't the remastered edition the version who all hate because of the launch with the huge bugs and other errors? Also, since it is from EA, does it like have unnecessarily Micro transactions built in? Apart from that it looks really promising, thanks for the suggestion.
Black Messa (fanmade Half-Life remaster) followed by Half-Life 2 (and its episodes), maybe also Half-Life Alyx if you have a VR headset (a cheap Quest 2 should be fine for PCVR)
Probably some stigma associated with it but Genshin Impact is kind of in the vein of Breath of the Wild with the open world exploration and puzzle solving. Tons of story arcs, and they are pretty dang good. While it's not offline, it's not multiplayer unless you want it to be.
Can say with almost certainty that you'd love Planet Crafter. Think subnautica except you're terraforming a planet. Overwhelmingly positive reviews and I could not put it down
A few years ago I got into this weird russian game about gravity and detonating sideways nukes above ground.
The storyline is a bit complex, but essentially its about a resource-based society trying to build colorful apartment complexes to house it's population, but the government keeps bombing the developments anytime an even stretch is built.
To get around this, the player has to grab these incomplete apartments as they're dropped by helicopter from the sky and position them into interesting structures that can't legally be called apartments, thus saving them from detonation.
There's a romance angle too, where the apartment bomber convinces the player to build multi-storey apartments at the last minute, thus allowing the govt worker to deploy his vast arsenal at a profit and split the proceeds with the player 50:50.
Its a pretty intense game, and I can still hear the chilling screams of those occupants to the tune of that haunting russian folk song.
You've got a nice new pc and if you want to play something like BOTW, you might enjoy Red Dead Redemption 2. BOTW was also my favorite game of all time until i played rdr2. RDR has similiar mechanics to breath of the wild, like hunting, but the whole world is just so lively, immersive, and beautiful. I can't think of a single issue with the game, it's a true 10/10, can't praise it enough.
I also recommend any other rockstar game, specifically gta v and max payne 3, they are both great as well.
If you want an FPS experience, play the original call of duty modern warfare games first, MW2019 next, then black ops 1-3+cold war+6. I wouldn't recommend new mw2 or 3.
I'll also say the Metro games are great, they are like post-apocalyptic COD with a great story and nice gameplay. Super underrated series.
Edit: I have a specific taste for shooter games, so I'd suggest you read other comments if you are into other genres.
As I said in other comments, I think RDR2 won't be a game I will play in a long time, since it seems to me that it is like a movie, not really a Game.
GTA V isn't really a game I like. It's somewhat boring for me, since you can do almost anything.
The Call of Duty Games look cool, but I'm unsure about the whole franchise. I think it could be excellent, but the whole franchise is somehow unsympathetic for me.
I'm currently looking at the tags of Metro Exodus, which has been on my list for a long time, and I've noticed that it has the "horror" tag. Are the horror elements a key part of the game like Jump scares or anything like that? I don't like being scared, but if it's not a key part, I might consider it.
Risk of rain 2 is amazing if you like rogue like games.
Beyond 2 souls is good but the PC version is wack. They ruined the game by locking the movement when playing as the spirit Aiden. They turned it into a point and click which is so dumb because you miss so much from it. It's literally not the same experience. Grab the PS3 version and emulate it. My personal favorite story focused game
Open World, meaningful (and hard choices), excellent writing. It's the best game I've played in recent years.
It can also run on a potatoe, but that shouldn't be a problem for you. :)
No Man's Sky - One of the most beautiful games out there imo, and has vastly improved since its disasterous launch. Warning this one does require an internet connection (actually for a good reason) but you dont have to interact with anyone, and it's difficult to even encounter another player in the wild outside of the Anomaly hub and campaigns due to its sheer size.
Project Zomboid - Even if you have zero interest in zombie stuff it's still worth a shot. Has a massive detailed world based off Midwestern towns in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. It's still in development so there's some noticeably unfinished aspects, and they've only just begun to add non-zombie NPCs.
I actually played No Man's Sky at launch, and honestly I didn't think that it was such a disaster. But I haven't played recently but I will pick it up again.
I've enjoyed watching YouTube Videos about Project Zomboid, so I think I will like it.
Thanks.
Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, and Mass Effect Legendary are my favorites that I come back to repeatedly. Of course, they were all probably perfectly playable on your old PC.
Hitman World of Assassination was good and not playable on your old PC. I have not replayed it yet, but it is definitely repayable with the option to approach every level in different ways.
I've gotten bored with the Assassins Creed games, but the newer ones are very pretty and they're open world with lots of story and tons of things to do.
You mentioned Far Cry 3, there's also 4, 5, 6 New Dawn, and Primal. I haven't played 5, 6, or New Dawn, but 4 plays the same as 3 (just a different story) and I actually like Primal quite a bit.
The Just Cause series is really over the top mayhem, but I enjoyed them. Lots of open world destruction for a...just cause (or maybe just because).
The Saints Row games are ridiculous, childish fun. Very similar to GTA, but makes GTA look classy by comparison. I think Saints Row 4 and Gat Out of Hell are the best ones. The first 2 are quite dated at this point. There is a recent remaster of 3, I liked the original, but haven't played the remaster yet. There's a newer one that's just called "Saints Row", I've only played a little of it so far and its pretty bland.
The Trailer does look promising, but after seeing Gameplay footage it looks kinda boring. I'm not that into turn based games, in fact, the one and only turn-based Game I've liked is UNDERTALE. Thanks.
I've been playing V Rising in the last few days and it's a very good mix of survival, open world, exciting combat and a bit of designing your own castle.
Even more fun if you can play it with friends (though it's a bit more classic with servers: You'll have to find a public one to play on or host / rent your own).
But you can also just play it single player locally.
I've been getting a lot of play time from Ostranauts.
From the Steam blurb:
Ostranauts is a hardcore noir space-sim. Manage life aboard your ship, and beware the cost of every decision you make. Scavenge and explore the boneyard. Create, build, and customise your ship.
There's kinda of a story, more like things are happening in the world. You're mostly just left to your own devices.
Another game that's taken up a lot of my 2024 was Baldur's Gate 3, pretty sure it doesn't need a short write up though.
If you want the most extensive, expansive, awesome emergent story base building game out there, there's of course Dwarf Fortress. You can download it right off the devs, where it's free but takes a PhD to begin to make sense of the UI. Or you can buy it on Steam, where it will cost you a little bit, but thanks to massive UI improvements, it's actually playable by regular people.
Judging from your tastes, I think you would enjoy dragons dogma 2. Be aware that the engine is rather... unoptimized, so there are performance slowdowns in towns and densely populated areas, but I've never dipped below 40fps on my rig which has slightly worse specs than yours. It can be a bit finicky to get working on Linux, depending on your distro. I'm on nixos and was experience graphics driver crashes pretty regularly until I swapped to amdvlk and swapping to the latest proton GE. Once you get the game working though, it's a lot of fun and definitely worth the hassle! I'd describe it as baldur's gate 3, but an action RPG instead of turn based, and therefore it feels much more free and open to me. You should also be aware that the game is pretty punishing. No save slots and rolling back is hard if you mess something up, and minor enemies can really ruin your day if you're not paying attention. It's probably one of the most "realistic" fantasy games I've ever played in that regard.
I've tried sable, but It's a little too calm for me. I maybe haven't played enough, but I think this just isn't my game. Correct me if I'm wrong, but thanks for the suggestion.
These are some suggestions for those little moments when you want a little break between games 😄
Tiny Glade - little diorama building game. I like playing this one when I don't have enough time for a full mission or quest in whatever game I'm playing, or I'm waiting for my buddies to get online.
Potion Craft: Alchemy Simulator - another cute little game. The NPCs make this one fun. You get visitors from other games coming to your shop to stock up on potions. Devs just did a big 2.0 update, and added more challenges and content. I played on super easy explorer mode and 100%ed the achievements in 52 in game days. I highly recommend this game! Another great one to play during in-between and waiting times, but also very easy to get sucked into 🧪
The Long Dark? Offline single player survival in the postapocalyptic Canadian wildernis. There is a survival mode in which you can freely explore, but also a story mode and several challenges.
In my opinion an extremely beautiful game and on the higher difficulties also extremly challenging.