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The RPS 100 (2022): our top PC games of all time (100-51)Our annual countdown of our favourite Bestest Bests
Our annual countdown of our favourite Bestest Bests
Welcome to the 2022 edition ofThe RPS 100, our annual countdown of our favourite PC games of all time. This is the second time the RPS Treehouse has gathered together to hash out our collective Bestest Bests from across the ages, and lemme tell you, this year’s list has seen tons of movement compared to last year’s ranking. Not only are there buckets of new entries, but there’s been plenty of upward and downward shuffling of old favourites, too. So come on in and find out what’s made the cut.
The RPS 100
We Played Ten Different Game Genres On The Steam DeckWatch on YouTube
We Played Ten Different Game Genres On The Steam Deck
As is fast becoming tradition, we’ve once again split The RPS 100 across two articles this year. In Part One below, we count down the games that ranked 100-51 in this year’s edition, whilePart Twocovers 50-1. And then on Friday, we’ll be publishingyourfavourite PC games of all time in the first-everRPS 100: Reader Edition. It’s going to be an exciting week, so let’s get to it.
100. Planescape: Torment
Image credit:Beamdog
99. Celeste
Image credit:Maddy Makes Games
The phrase ‘peak platforming’ has never been more apt than with Celeste. You are a climber leaping and jumping up a mountain that’s full of treacherous dashing and wall-jumping, offering players a steep challenge that always feels firm yet incredibly fair. It’s one of those games that also feels intensely good under the thumbs, but isn’t afraid to open itself up to those who less nimble fingers. Back in 2018, it set the standard for accessibility, offering up invincibility and infinite stamina options, and even went as far as letting you skip entire levels. None of these are unique to Celeste, of course, but developers Extremely OK Games have applied all this wisdom to create aplatform gamethat’s both tough as toffee in cold weather, and as forgiving as the grandad who gave you said toffee.
98. Microsoft Flight Simulator
97. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
96. With Those We Love Alive
95. Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition
Image credit:Larian Studios
As Larian continue to toil away onBaldur’s Gate 3, their most recent work,Divinity: Original Sin 2, remains a high point for RPG design. It’s the kind of game where you can roleplay a stuck-up dragon prince and not get an intense amount of side-eye from real-life Dungeons & Dragoners, for starters, and its isometric, turn-based combat really encourages you to mess with the environment. Set oil slicks ablaze, electrocute soaking enemies, turn that corpse into a bloated bag of flesh and force it to fight for you. There is a central tale about the gods and the fickle games they play with this gang of potential chosen ones. But there are also enough off-beat sidequests and hidden storylines to inspire82 episodes of a “good cop, bad cop” style Let’s Play series. It’s a huge, chunky RPG that will keep you enraptured for weeks, possibly months, and that’s before you get into the open-ended co-op or the custom adventure creator that lets you design your own stories to take friends through as a benevolent (malevolent?) gamesmaster.
94. Devil Daggers
Never stop shooting. Never stop moving. The first-person principles of warfare are taken to their logical conclusion in a hellish time trial of reflex and spatial awareness. Horned beasts, floating skulls, boney leviathans, dark squid. The flow of polygonal terrors is as constant as the daggers spewing from your fingertips. You can fire them as a stream, or in a single shotgun-like blast. Either way, you’ll need your wits as well as a whip-like wrist to survive for 30 seconds. What more is there to do inDevil Daggers? Well, you try to survive for 31.
93. Final Fantasy XIV
92. Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Finji
Chicory is a truly special game. Despite its big, chunky picture book veneer, this top-down adventure strikes hard at what it actually means to be a creative, celebrating its joyous and fulfilling highs while also tackling its (sometimes literally) monstrous lows. When all the colour in the world suddenly disappears one day, your character comes into possession of the Wielder’s Brush, a magical tool you can drag and splodge across the screen to cover it in paint. As well as using it to bring some life back to this monochrome world, you’ll also be solving puzzles with it, and finding out exactly what’s causing mysterious black roots to appear around the map and why they’re giving off such bad vibes. An ode to self-expression, Chicory’s the kind of game that stays with you long after the end credits start to roll.
91. Wildermyth
Play Wildermyth, you cowards. No joke, this game is a genuine marvel. On the surface, it’s a tactical turn-based RPG about shepherding a bunch of wannabe adventurers around a fantastical world full of monsters. Its battles scratch all those lovely strategic itches you know and love - the flanking bonuses, the cover tiles, the adjacency-depending support skills - but it’s also one of the best story generators of the last decade. Thanks to the dozens upon dozens of scripted micro-stories that play out over the course of its story - all based on your characters' personality traits, skills, background, relationships and your own decisions, I might add - Wildermyth’s narrative ambitions put other RPGs to shame. You never play the same game twice in Wildermyth, and once you’ve experienced it, you’ll never want to go back to the humdrum tomes of other Tolkien-esque fantasies ever again.
90. Eliza
Eliza is one of those rare games that isn’t afraid to ask big tech questions. A challenging yet uplifting visual novel, it puts you in the shoes of Evelyn, a former tech-ite who now works as a human proxy for the eponymous AI counselling programme that helps the world at large deal with its woes and worries. It’s an AI that generates things for Evelyn to say to her ‘clients’, because it’s the algorithm that knows best in these cases, not the human sitting across the desk from them. At first you must pick from the list of Eliza-written responses, but later Evelyn has the option to go off-script, with all the potential effects that implies. Eliza is not only beautiful to look at, but it’s also compelling to play. Is something better than nothing? Is it worse? What, after all, do we owe to each other?
89. Invisible, Inc.
Image credit:Klei Entertainment
XCOM for stealthy hackers. As squad leader of a group of well-dressed anti-corporate saboteurs, your job is to infiltrate randomly generated buildings and steal everything that isn’t nailed down. It’s all on a tidy isometric grid that gradually reveals itself the further you go, peeping through doors and around corners to see the CCTV cameras, laser fences, and armoured security goons patrolling the place. Shh, they don’t know you’re there… yet. This is Invisible Inc’s best feature, a little “alarm level” wheel in the corner that ticks up with every turn. Stay in the building too long without stuffing all your team members into the exit elevator, and more cameras and drones and enemies will start to appear. That’s pure danger in a game where, once spotted, there is no fighting back. At some point, you’ve got to bug out. Even if that last room has precious loot calling out to you. It’s a strategy game about pushing your luck to breaking point, and coming away from a mission thinking “that was close, I won’t be so greedy next time.” But next time the “loot” might be one of your friends.
88. Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun
Let the bodies hit the floor (and then pick them up and hide them in a bush). This here’s your top-downstealth gameset in Edo Japan, featuring the usual cast of seasoned killers. You’ve got your silent ninja, your honourable samurai, your Geisha assassin, your urchin with a bear trap and a whistle, your old man with… a sniper rifle and a trained Tanuki? It imitates the Commandos games of old, presenting the level like a diorama of possible deaths, and asking the player to come up with a perfect sequence of backstabs, shurikens and environmental “accidents” so they can get through town, eavesdrop on soldiers, or assassinate their leaders. It might take some quicksaving and quickloading, but when the plan comes together it feels like a lethal puzzle well-solved.
87. Red Dead Redemption 2
Image credit:Rockstar Games
86. Half-Life: Alyx
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Valve
Still a masterclass in how to make aVR game, Half-Life: Alyx is clear, undeniable proof that Valve are still very much at the top of their game. Set in City 17 five years before the events of Half-Life 2, you play as a younger Alyx Vance on a mission to rescue her father from the shackles of the Combine. Shooting in VR remains as tense, taut and tactile as ever, and the screech of a head crab has never been more terrifying. After all, it’s not your monitor screen they’re leaping at any more, but your actual, literal face. But it’s the little details that really make Alyx sing, from scribbling on window panes with in-game marker pens in real-time, to playing the piano and simply watching bottles of liquid slosh around in your hand thanks to their impeccable physics. And what hands they are, too. Clad in a nifty pair of gravity gloves, they not only let you reach out and grab whatever object the Combine have left lying around, but they also double up as your health and ammo meters, elegantly removing the need for a traditional HUD. Is it worth buying an entire headset for? Maybe not, unless you have very deep pockets, but if you do have one, this is about as essential as it gets.
85. Monster Prom 3: Monster Roadtrip
Monster Prom 3 is so new the paint’s still wet, but I’m already calling it: this is the best Monster Prom game yet. A follow-up to the original 2018 multiplayer dating sim and its 2020 sequel, Monster Roadtrip delivers on the best of what we’ve come to expect, but refines the formula significantly. Monster Prom games were always charming, but the shift away from relatively-straightforward dating sim to survival strategy with-dating-elements makes playing this latest entry with pals feel more meaningful. You now have a choice of modes on a sliding scale from co-operative to competitive, and the visual novel sections are much punchier — but no less packed with laughs and lore. Basically every character from the first and second games makes a return, and there are some lovely moments as you see relationships you’ve been following for the past two games deepen. They’ve even added save states, so you no longer need to complete each run in a single session! Pure monster-romancin' bliss.
84. Resident Evil Village
83. Subnautica
Image credit:Unknown Worlds Entertainment
82. XCOM 2
Image credit:2K Games
81. Into The Breach
Into The Breach is about as close to the perfection of chess as a strategy game about giant robots is likely to get. While not exactly “minimalist”, this dollop of turn-based tactics from the makers of FTL still gets a lot done in a tight space. You command a trio of mechs fighting off swarms of giganto-insects on a 8 x 8 board of tiles. The megabugs are out to topple any buildings on the board, and if too many buildings crumble (or all your pilots are killed) it’s game over. What results is a cavalcade of punching, hopping, vapourising, smoke-bombing, and mech-sacrificing that turns a straightforward game of abstract repositioning into a brainy battle for supremacy betwixt humanity and beast.
80. Before Your Eyes
Image credit:Skybound Games
Before Your Eyes is a first-person story-driven game that takes advantage of your webcam, so when you blink in real life you skip time forwards in-game. Not only is it a beautifully realised world composed of brief vignettes, it’s one that’s masterfully arranged, steering you through memories of a life’s mundane joys and deepest sorrows with an impeccable flow. Above all, the game links you so strongly to the main protagonist through your blinks, it’s like you’re both physically attached to them and having an out-of-body experience. With a pair of headphones on and a spare 90-minutes, you’ll be in your room blinking back tears for a life that’s entirely yours until the credits roll. There’s nothing quite like it.
79. North
78. Tomb Raider II
77. The Beginner’s Guide
76. Garry’s Mod
PC gaming “culture”, for lack of a better word, can be insular and overly serious. It can also be a wide-open, endlessly creative laugh riot, and few games embody that like Garry’s Mod. Whether it’s acting as the scaffolding for an homemade games-within-a-game or serving as a stop motion animation tool, you can be sure that even today, and probably right now, someone is sat down using Garry’s Mod to make something interesting. Of course, you don’t have to be a modder or aspiring game dev to get your seven quid’s worth. The server browser in Garry’s Mod is unique in its, uh, breadth: besides big-name GMod creations like Prop Hunt and Trouble in Terrorist Town, there are base building games, zombie survival games, obstacle course games, racing games, and uncountable roleplay servers. Or you could just load up a sandbox map and pose an Eli Vance ragdoll giving the Team Fortress 2 Heavy a piggyback. Up to you.
75. Dyson Sphere Program
Dyson Sphere Program was such an ambitious idea for a game, I immediately scoffed upon hearing it. A factorybuilding gamelike Factorio, set on an actual spherical planet? Oh excuse me - not just one planet, but dozens of planets across multiple star systems, all entirely traversable? And the aim is to create a Dyson Sphere out of hundreds or thousands of parts, capable of harnessing the power of a star to run an entire civilization living inside a virtual reality simulation? Bah! Preposterous! Turns out, they completely and utterly nailed it. From the first moments trundling about the surface of a planet mining ores with your fuel-powered mech, I was sold. The game ran smoothly, the scope and soundtrack were inspiring, and the lure of steadily automating mega-factories spanning whole solar systems, and creating massive interplanetary transport and logistics networks, was utterly captivating. It’s a truly special game.
74. Destiny 2
Destiny 2 is theFPSfor the following people: parents whose children just got put to bed; retail workers too tired after a shift to go out on Friday; teens with buds; teens with no buds; teens who will make buds and join a clan in Destiny 2. It’s good, clean, alien-shootin' fun is what I’m saying. You can smash the ground with your fist every once in a while, and wipe out a whole squad of robots, or take out a big, blunt sword and batter an insectoid miniboss to death. Everything is laid out for you on a platter - objective, reward, bonuses. As multiplayer games go, this is one of the cleanest and most approachable. Until it’s time to do a raid, that is. A raid is this sci-fi world’s tough dungeon dive and it requires solid teamwork amongst a bunch of geared-up pals. It’s a commitment, but one that Destopals often call a rewarding struggle. People often talk about Bungie’s 30 seconds of fun philosophy, but Destiny 2 is more like a full 15 minutes. Or an hour. Maybe two hours…
73. Tunic
Image credit:Finji
72. Grand Theft Auto 5
71. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
70. Half-Life: Opposing Force
69. Gears 5
Image credit:Xbox Game Studios
Gears 5 is peak third-person bombast, with beefy lads and lasses that fire beefy guns and get a bit emotional over a dozen or so hours. It might not share in the same survival-horror themes of the early Gears games, but it makes up for it with explosions and violence to wrest back control of a future-Earth swarming with muscular aliens. The game marries heft and movement beautifully, with your squad of beefcakes bashing into cover with delightful slaps and smooth transitions. There’s fabulous weight behind gibs, as you blast enemies into literal chunks or pop their heads with a squelch. Unabashed, epic violence with the gang – you just don’t get that anymore.
68. Dog Of Dracula 2
67. Gabriel Knight: Sins Of The Fathers
Image credit:Activision
A quintessential example from the golden age of point and click adventure gaming, Gabriel Knight: Sins Of The Fathers is deservedly remembered for being one of those rare games that is truly outstanding across the board. The writing, voice acting, music, and puzzles are all top-notch; and even if the graphics betray the game’s origins in the early ’90s, who could deny the retro beauty of that pixel art? Never mind the fact that it spawned two sequels and a remake that received a more divisive reception; you’ll rarely find anyone with a bad word to say about the original. For many children of the era, this was one of our first really grown-up video games, featuring characters who felt like real people facing situations that were unflinchingly menacing and deeply gruesome. And, thankfully, GK1 is one of those rare titles that remains just as accessible now as it was 30 years ago.
66. Unavowed
It’s true that the phrase “2D point and clickadventure game” will be enough to bring some people out in a rash alone, but even they would have to add the qualifier “Unavowed is really good though, in fairness”. Wadjet Eye became known for their supernatural mysteries in gorgeous pixel art, and Unavowed really pours gasoline on that flame (this is a good metaphor because one of the characters is a fire mage). As the newest member of a squad of supernatural investigators, you go around fixing problems around the city relating to general otherworldly tomfoolery. You can take any two of the NPCs with you at a time, meaning levels can play out very differently if you take, for example, the ex-cop with a gun rather than the medium who can see ghosts. This effective layering of puzzles is wrapped up in an equally effective story, tying in the past and present of many of your new compatriots, as well as yourself. You start to genuinely care about these silly, lovable goons, and the conclusion is both satisfying and poignant. It’s an example of everything in adventure games done right.
65. What Remains of Edith Finch
Image credit:Annapurna Interactive
What Remains of Edith Finch is a powerhouse of storytelling, and I can guarantee snippets of its story will stay with you long after you’ve closed the game. This first-person adventure tells an anthology of strange tales about the deceased Finch family, and as the household’s last living member, Edith has returned to the Finch household to uncover the family’s hidden histories and how each of her relatives met their end. That sounds pretty morbid, but that’s because it is! But What Remains of Edith Finch is also full of moments of wonder, surprise and profound happiness masterfully told through careful art direction. As Edith discovers the past of each family member, you’re transported directly into that person’s headspace at a particular moment in their lives, putting you at the centre of each of their tales. If you’re a fan of games that experiment with new ways of storytelling and can take the occasional emotional gut-punch, you’ve gotta play this game.
64. Zero Escape: The Nonary Games
Image credit:Spike Chunsoft
Technically two games in one, Zero Escape: The Nonary Games sees the excellent visual novels 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Virtue’s Last Reward come together in a grisly, murderous double-pack. With their fiendish puzzles and mind-bending plots, the Zero Escape games are hands down one of the best visual series you can play on PC right now. To say too much about the story would only spoil its many surprises, but each game’s respective melting pot of fraught personalities, bitter betrayal and tentative alliances is thrilling, gripping stuff. What’s truly brilliant about Zero Escape, however, is the way it turns that classic visual novel trope of multiple playthroughs on its head, as the idea of jumping back in time and making different decisions based on what you’ve just experienced is built straight into the game’s story. And it doesn’t always play out like you might expect, either. If you like games that give you plenty to chew over long after the credits have rolled, Zero Escape is the thing for you.
63. Little Nightmares
62. Hardspace: Shipbreaker
Image credit:Focus Entertainment
The life of a shipbreaker isn’t easy. It’s their job to tear apart hulking space cruisers, harvesting their materials to pay off an astronomical debt to their own employers. Not only do they have limited amounts of oxygen to contend with, but wrecks themselves are packed with hazards. One misplaced laser slice could result in a catastrophic explosion that atomises both them and their precious haul. Still, despite the constant threat of death, shipbreaking doesn’t seem so bad. Methodically separating metal panels and disconnecting fuel lines is a fairly relaxing way to spend an afternoon. Hardspace is mundane in that compelling way only the best games about work can be. Pop on a podcast and get scrapping. Hardspace: Shipbreaker is an absolute delight.
61. Stardew Valley
Image credit:ConcernedApe
60. Hollow Knight
Anaction gamethat’s anything but hollow, this is a subterranean world full of angry wasps and skull-faced beetles waiting to bite and sting. Hollow Knight sprawls out in every direction, a modern mash-up of Metroid and Dark Souls. The insects of Hallownest are grim-faced, mysterious and adorable all at the same time. But within its cartoon gothic lies a tough game of death and rebirth, unlockable skills, boss battles with set patterns of attack, and the satisfying feeling of learning your way around a cavernous, dim world with its own bug-sized culture. Just look atthis map, and tell me you aren’t intrigued.
59. Heaven’s Vault
Image credit:Inkle
58. Fallout: New Vegas
57. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
56. Terraria
Image credit:Re-Logic
Terraria is Minecraft without the fussy third dimension. You can craft your way to a stunning cabin in the wilds of its lushest forests, or you can dig a nice troglodyte’s hole in the ground and make it just as cosy. This is all about homemaking, and I don’t mean in the traditional “cook dinner and do some sewing sense”. No, it’s about literally creating yourself a home, a place to call your own among the zombies and creepy things that lurk in the ground beneath. Oh, you’ll be going down there, make no mistake. You didn’t think you’d be crafting without the mining, did you? Don’t worry. The randomly generated 2D world can be as forgiving or nasty as you want to set it.
55. Arcanum: Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura
Image credit:Activision
Arcanum to its friends (of which there are many) is an isometric, story-heavy cRPG with a lot of interweaving quests and weirdness. Think original Fallout (this came from a lot of the same core team) and you’re in the right area. Except Arcanum is set in a fantasy word of orcs and elves, caught in the midst of an industrial revolution. Magic and technology are also incompatible, often misfiring or bricking around one another. You could be anything from a long-striding gunslinger to a battle mage, but expect to have wildly different experiences based on how you build your character. Arcanum is a complex world, and the powers of science and sorcery aren’t the only things you’ll have to deal with. As is the way of things, you become responsible for saving this weird, lush world, and in the process you’ll have the chance to solve a demonic murder mystery, engage in some art theft, make shady business deals, travel to an island prison colony, and annoy some elves. Arcanum gives you few hints and a lot of freedom, and it’s still a rich delight to play today.
54. If Found…
If Found… remains one of the best visual novels on PC. Dreamfeel’s coming-of-age story follows Kasio, a young trans woman who is returning to her small Irish hometown 1993. Taking place within a series of diary entries, the only way to read this story is to erase what’s on screen. Using your mouse an eraser, you can wipe away the diary’s words, sketches, and scribbles to reveal more entries, acting as a transition to get from one scene to the next. Erasing someone’s written thoughts and feelings at first feels destructive but it quickly starts to feel like a force for healing. You’re essentially destroying the past to make room for a new beginning and that’s something that really touched me the first time I played. If Found… is ultimately a story about being young, queer, and trying to get your shit together that’s both beautifully raw and gut-wrenching authentic.
53. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
Keeping with the visual novel theme for a minute, Capcom’s courtroom lawyer ‘em up series of Phoenix Wright games are another high point for this most clickable of genres - and the Ace Attorney Trilogy gives us definitive proof of that on PC. Bundling HD versions of the first three games of the series into one, finger-waving treat, the Ace Attorney Trilogy sees newbie lawyer Phoenix Wright fight for the lives of his clients, gathering clues to prove their innocence and finding flaws in witness testimony with a big bellowing cry of “OBJECTION!” All three games have devilishly good mysteries at the heart of them, and courtroom scenes are a real thrill from start to finish - especially when the climactic third game ties them all together. You could quite easily start with its more recent, flashier prequel, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, if you prefer - they both hold up as equally brilliant standalone experiences that don’t require any previous knowledge in order to enjoy - but for us, the Ace Attorney Trilogy shows Wright in his best and purest form. And that, my friends, is the honest to goddamn truth.
52. Dusk
Image credit:New Blood Interactive
51. Valheim
Valheim has come the closest to capturing the sense of wonder and discovery of early days Minecraft - an incredible feat considering Minecraft was something entirely new at the time. Valheim doesn’t innovate on the formula much, but it still has a host of lovely and engrossing simulation systems, such as wooden buildings that get wet in the rain, smoke that collects in rooms without a chimney, and - most dangerous of all - giant tree trunks that obey gravity and roll down slopes like unstoppable cylinders of death once chopped.
The best thing about this stylish Norse-inspired survival game is exploring its procedurally generated worlds. The worlds aren’t infinite, but they are gigantic, and the one real quest - to summon and slay the various bosses found across this mystical world - sends you very far afield at times. The joy of packing up your things, crafting a longship, and setting sail across rough seas on a long voyage across Sea Serpent-infested waters is unforgettable, and the thing that will keep us coming back to Valheim again and again.
