The best Steam games offer up a variety of different experiences. With so much choice out there, we've brought together the very best of the best when it comes to what Valve's PC gaming platform has to offer. And if you're looking to go handheld, many of the games in this list are happily also Steam Deck compatible too.
From iconic CRPGs to engrossing RPGs, adventures, and much more besides, we've made sure this collection of the best Steam games shine a light on some of the best PC games out there. And if you're looking for more recommendations, it's also well worth checking out our pick when it comes to best free Steam games available right now.
Steam is fit to bursting with excellent games to choose from, so below you'll find a range of experiences across different genres so you can find something to suit you. From the best battle royale games to popular picks like GTA 5, and much more, many happen here are also counted among the best games to play on a laptop, so you can stuck in with some options regardless of your set up.
Read on below as we take you through our roundup of the best Steam games you can play right now.
Recent updates
This list of the best Steam games was updated on December 11 to make sure that all the games below represent the finest offerings on Valve's gaming client.
The very best Steam games ever, starting with...
25. Persona 4 Golden
Developer: Atlus
One of the most beloved JRPGs of all time, Persona 4 surprise-dropped on Steam in 2020, making it the only way to play this game outside of owning it on Sony's PlayStation Vita handheld (or even earlier, the original Persona 4 on PS2). It’s a great example for how much headway Japanese RPGs have made on PC, and it’s a testament to JRPGs being much more than Final Fantasy.
In Persona 4 Golden, supernatural elements, a philosophical look into our innermost desires meets normal high school life and a crime thriller. All of that not only works, but Persona 4 also has characters that will grow on you and one of the funkiest soundtracks in all of gaming. If you’re interested in Japanese RPGs, this one is near-unmissable.
For more, check out our Persona 4 Golden review.
24. Cities Skylines
Developer: Colossal Order Ltd.
The city-building genre is one of the original pillars of PC gaming, next to CRPGs and real-time strategy, but many of its past franchises have seen better days. But then Paradox Interactive made an attempt at a city-builder in the style of classics like Sim City, to great success – the formula of whiling away your time building a sprawling metropolis holds true.
By now there is likely no bigger game in this genre than Cities: Skylines, and we mean ‘big’ literally – several DLC allow you to build even more stuff and enjoy different seasons. If you like to simply build and maintain a city without having to worry about managing people (ew!), Cities: Skylines remains the best game in that category.
For more, check out our pick of the best city building games.
23. Total War: Warhammer 3
Developer: Creative Assembly
Rounding off the fantasy strategy epic trilogy, Total War: Warhammer 3 sees us returning to the Realm of Chaos once again to claim victory. Not only is it one of the best Steam games to pick up right now, but it might be the best Warhammer title yet. If horror-tinged horde shooter Darktide wasn't to your liking, and if you prefer a more considered approach when it comes to your battle tactics, Total War: Warhammer 3 is worth a try.
22. Monster Hunter World
Developer: Capcom
To most PC gamers, Monster Hunter: World was the introduction to the Monster Hunter franchise, and what an introduction it was. In this game, you roam through a beautiful world in search for giant dinosaur-like monsters to, well, hunt. It’s the loop from searching for monsters to taking them on to investing in new equipment that makes this game so irresistible.
There is a strange thrill in coming across a monster, seeing it interact with its environment, and getting ready yourself for the big fight, especially when you’re playing with friends. It’s not all simple hack and slash, either – you need to get a proper feel for your weapon, with each type handling differently, and learn the move set of your opponent before you take it on, making things feel like a proper hunt.
For more, check out our Monster Hunter World review.
21. Death Stranding
Developer: Kojima Productions
There is no game like Death Stranding, and that’s what makes it so enticing – essentially, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima went all out on a game about hiking. While there is the occasional combat sequence, Death Stranding is really more about a guy who delivers items, all by himself, on his back.
This way it teaches you not only that walking with a lot of equipment to carry can be as meditative as it can be treacherous, but it also tells the story of a different kind of post-apocalypse, one that isn’t about zombies or marauding gangs. It’s a unique game that really needs to be experienced to understand its draw.
Check out our Death Stranding review to get our verdict.
20. Crusader Kings 3
Developer: Paradox
Winning territory and becoming a ruler are the themes of many strategy games, but Crusader Kings 3 comes with a unique social layer that’s really all about your character holding it together. Diplomacy turns into a soap opera, and you’ll love exchanging stories about how both your empire and your family developed in unexpected ways.
Crusader Kings 3 is a lot like life in medieval times must have been – war, intrigue and scheming were part and parcel to life of the nobility, and while you can be quite goofy with designing your own alternate history, this is a credit to how deep the game's simulation truly runs.
For more recommendations, check out our pick of the best strategy games.
19. Vampire Survivors
Developer: Poncle
If pixel games and roguelites are your bag, Vampire Survivors deserves a mention. It's an oddly relaxing shoot-'em-up where you move around your character to lay waste to your enemies - all of whom, oddly enough, are not actually vampires. You don't need to do much more than that, since your character will auto-attack all enemies in its path on your quest to clear each round under timed constraints. Vampire Survivors doesn't have the realistic graphics and rich open worlds of many other games on this list, but as far as the best Steam games go, its raging popularity has to count for something.
Check out our pick of the best roguelike games you can play right now.
18. GTA 5
Developer: Rockstar North
GTA 5 is a game that has shaped PC gaming with its open-world design and storytelling, which is often as vapid but simultaneously enjoyable as a movie blockbuster. While the story alone makes it worth a play - as exaggerated and trippy as it can get - GTA 5’s eternal charm lies in how you’ll inevitably get distracted by side missions, or beautiful cars to steal, or simply seeing what’s around the next bend.
Everything in GTA 5, from its online multiplayer to its heists, lives from its tight, open world, an exceptionally well-designed place you simply want to get to know – not a lot of games have offered such a good open-world since, especially not in a metropolitan setting.
For more, head on over to our GTA 5 review.
17. Doom Eternal
Developer: id Software
Doom Eternal is the embodiment of an adrenaline kick – tense, gripping and fast. Some fights require precise timing and feel almost like something inspired by a rhythm game, and the Doom’s trademark goriness makes every win feel impactful and earned.
How you choose to eviscerate your foes also determines what kind of equipment you can earn, adding a strategic layer to combat. Doom Eternal asks you to take risks and sometimes it’s just those split second decisions that let you be the last man standing in a room full of monsters. It’s frankly thrilling stuff.
Find out what our verdict was in our Doom Eternal review.
16. Stardew Valley
Developer: ConcernedApe
Created by a single developer, Stardew Valley brought the farming sim craze back in a big way. It’s easy to see why - updated and enhanced to this day, five years after its initial release, Stardew is a labor of love. Day after virtual day, you work on your small farm, growing fruits and vegetables, taking care of animals, and weeding your land, but you can also unearth the secrets of the town’s old mine or get to know the villager’s stories, each of them memorable enough that the whole community will grow on you.
Stardew Valley understands that seeing the (literal) fruits of your labor is an extremely satisfying process, and it’s always a joy to plan out a new farm and try something different.
Check out our pick of the best farming games.
15. Disco Elysium
Developer: ZA/UM
Disco Elysium is a detective mystery with an RPG twist. Branching storylines stem from the decisions you make as you pick your way through the city, allowing you to either welcome the darkness as a crooked cop or become a true paragon of law and order. It's the perfect choice for any fan of narrative-driven or visual novel-style gameplay, and it's more than deserving of its spot on our list of the best Steam games out there.
See why it was one of the best games of 2019.
14. Final Fantasy 14
Developer: Square Enix
Final Fantasy 14 is an MMO for people who don’t like MMOs. This incredible comeback kid, which began its life as a series of repetitive fetch quests, has grown into an online game with one of the best stories. Best of all – you can play a large chunk of it completely free before you start paying the monthly subscription.
If you do decide to play with others, you will meet a large and friendly community. Out of current Final Fantasy releases, this is simply the best one you can play. So if you like your RPGs with a large world and a bit more fantasy than futuristic technology, similar to the direction Final Fantasy 12 took, this is the best option right now.
For more, check out our Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail review.
13. Apex Legends
Developer: Respawn Entertainment
First and foremost, Apex Legends is incredibly smooth to play. Everything from movement to shooting feels good, and the helpful ping system makes finding anything again quick and easy. With a hero system that’s similar to Overwatch, you get rewarded for putting a lot of time into your favorite character, and get to take on a new challenge simply by playing someone different.
Maps feel incredibly dense, too, and you need to get to know them in order to find the spots at which you can revive your allies, which is a vital cooperative tool that emphasizes you’re playing with, as much as against, other people. We can’t stress enough how good movement feels however, because this is a top concern for any frantic battle royale, and no game has mastered it like Apex.
For more, check out our Apex Legends review.
12. Hollow Knight
Developer: Team Cherry
Possibly the most alluring thing about this stellar Metroidvana - other than the gameplay challenge the boss encounters pose - is its sense of exploration. Hollow Knight has that feeling down pat. As a small bug knight, you explore an atmospheric underground kingdom, take on a large number of fellow bugs and develop your skills to reach even the last nooks and crannies.
Hollow Knight is an intriguing mix of difficult and relaxing, beautifully animated and mysterious enough to make you want to keep going even when the boss standing between you and the next section may make you want to tear your hair out – learning their move sets and eventually overcoming even the toughest foe is all part of the fun, after all.
For more, check out our pick of the best Metroidvania games.
11. Dishonored 2
Developer: Arkane
When people talk about the freedom to play a game their way, Dishonored 2 is still the most common example. As assassin Corvo or Emily Attano, you sneak your way through the city of Karnaca, in order to learn the identity of a mysterious killer. Dishonored isn’t only an achievement in stealth, it also manages to give you compelling reasons to approach situations non-violently, while still making sure you end up with your back to the wall often enough that sticking to one playstyle isn’t all too easy.
Renowned for its level design, Dishonored gives you many different approaches, and to pull off a particularly daring play is a joy all of its own.
Check out our verdict in our Dishonored 2 review.
10. Return of the Obra Dinn
Developer: Warp Digital Limited
Detective games don’t get much better than Return of the Obra Dinn. Gruesome murders and other mysteries took place on a merchant ship, and it’s up to you to figure out what exactly took place, simply by gathering clues and coming to your own conclusions. It’s fascinating how hands-off the game is, too, simply asking you to pay attention to small things many other detective games regularly forget. You need a good eye and patience, but working a mystery out is immensely satisfying.
Return of the Obra Dinn shows that detective mysteries can be so much more than reading text-based clues and doing random puzzles – this is the full sleuthing experience.
For more, see our pick of the best mystery games.
9. Destiny 2
Developer: Bungie
Destiny 2 is a game that keeps changing. Its latest incarnation, Beyond Light, deleted a good half of what’s there to simply replace it with better things, like the fun new Stasis power. This is a loot shooter that lives from, you guessed it, it’s excellent loot. Now that it’s free, there is also no other online shooter quite like it, both in setting, feel, and sheer breadth of content.
One thing is for certain – Bungie will keep trying to innovate, and Destiny 2 isn’t going anywhere just, so this is a great time to start the game everyone's playing.
For more, check out our Destiny 2: The Final Shape review.
8. Kentucky Route Zero
Developer: Cardboard Computer
A standout among narrative games, Kentucky Route Zero knows how to craft a wonderfully dense atmosphere with seemingly very little. Here, the way that text moves can be more expressive than fully animated characters in other games. Kentucky Route Zero inhabits a space in magical realism storytelling no other game does, and it successfully explores how you use text to describe many different forms of gameplay. This is a game that fully delivered on its intent to be a magical experience, and it has very evocative art to boot.
7. XCOM 2
Developer: Firaxis Games
The XCOM reboot revived the landscape of round-based tactics, but while its gameplay has been often copied, there is nothing quite like the original. It’s one of those “just one more round” games, where getting your squad through an encounter takes good planning (and a few lucky surprises). Even though your home base grows and your soldiers become stronger over time, XCOM 2 is enjoyably tense because none of that ever means you’re safe – you’re simply gaining more gameplay options.
The excellent XCOM 2: War of the Chosen DLC adds a lot of flair to the game thanks to its warring factions. What before was little more than just an assortment of missions about humanity surviving hostile takeover by aliens that way even eventually got an exciting conflict.
For more, check out our XCOM 2 review.
6. Helldivers 2
Developer: Arrowhead Game Studios
Helldivers 2 is one of those games people will be talking about for ages, and for good reason. The squad-based online shooter balances the realms of comedy and action with bombastic 80s infomercial cheese to create a third person shooter experience that's fast become one of the best Steam games ever (not to mention the most popular). The fact that friendly fire is always on means that it's all too easy to accidentally dust your teammates, of course, but that just makes the action all the more chaotic – which is kind of why we're here.
For more see our Helldivers 2 review.
5. Divinity: Original Sin 2
Developer: Larian Studios
The term “CRPG”, or “computer roleplaying game” may have lost its meaning, but it still describes a certain type of adventure, isometric and heavily inspired by famous pen and paper roleplaying games such as Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 is the best game of its kind you can play. You have the freedom to make a ton of really granular choices in regards to how to solve a quest, talk to your party members, and progress with the main story. Combat, too, can be endlessly versatile, if difficult, and you will have hours upon hours of fun teasing of each of the game’s secrets.
4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Developer: CD Projekt RED
More than anything else, it's the world of The Witcher 3 that fascinates because it's so large, beautiful, and stuffed with history. The Witcher 3 a lot less clunky than Skyrim, which it often gets compared to, and it shares its adult tone with some of the best high fantasy RPG franchises out there.
Gruff Witcher Geralt will grow on with each crotchety response, and the story paints a delicious, slowly unraveling mystery you will want to see through to the end. There's a reason this game tops so many best gaming lists.
For more, check out our Witcher 3 review.
3. Elden Ring
Developer: FromSoftware
The developer is known for its punishing bosses and immense fantasy worlds, but Elden Ring shows what FromSoft is capable of in its absolute prime. Exploring and fighting your way across the Lands Between is a treacherous expedition, even for a Soulslike, but the rewards you reap when snatching victory from the crushing jaws of defeat makes it entirely worth the challenge. Elden Ring's hype is showing no sign of down, and its slick PC performances means it's already cemented its place as one of the best Steam games out there.
See our Elden Ring review for more.
2. Red Dead Redemption 2
Developer: Rockstar Games
For most genres, you have multiple games to choose from, but when it comes to spending time in the Wild West, the buck stops at Red Dead Redemption 2. This game encompasses every facet of what you thought being a cowboy would be like – senseless mass carnage, muck around at a saloon, enjoy the quiet of nature – and connect to those who have it hard out in the West. On the technical front, it’s beautiful and detailed, the performances are top-notch, and, like with almost every one of the best open-world games, you will frequently turn away on the road to your next objective, simply because you happened across an interesting encounter first.
Red Dead Redemption 2 feels like an adventure in best sense – it can be dramatic and quiet, moving and brutal. It’s a big, big, fulfilling one of the biggest gaming fantasies from our youth, next to being a knight and a ninja.
Check out our Red Dead Redemption 2 review.
1. Baldur's Gate 3
Developer: Larian Studios
The result of decades of experience with its acclaimed Divinity series, Baldur's Gate 3 feels a little bit impossible. The breadth, depth, and density of its world is unmatched, as is the reactivity of its story. So endlessly replayable that you could play an entire 100-hour campaign and still barely scratch the surface of all it has to offer, this is a marvel up there with the best that its D&D background has ever produced. A new gold standard for Dungeons & Dragons, the RPG genre, and potentially the industry as a whole.
Read our Baldur's Gate 3 review, which describes this as a once-in-a-generation experience.
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