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Best PC games of 2016: The best 2016 PC videogames so far | We take a look at some of the best PC games you can buy in 2016

2016 has been a huge year from games, from AAA titles like Battlefield 1 and Dark Souls 3 to indie gems including Firewatch and Inside. Plenty of the year's best have hit the PC, and so there's never been a better time to be gaming from a computer.

Also see: Best Games Deals

With that in mind, we've decided to round up what we think are the best PC games of 2016. They cover every genre and every budget, from blockbuster shooters to indie puzzlers, but they've all got one thing in common: they're absolutely brilliant.

And in case you're a console gamer too, be sure to check out our guides to 2016's best PS4 games and best Xbox One games.

Overwatch

Overwatch
  • Rating: ratingsratingsratingsratingsratings
  • RRP: £40

Overwatch has quickly become one of the biggest online multiplayer shooters around, its mix of colourful characters and frenetic gameplay making it popular with casual players and eSports pros alike.

Following in the footsteps of PC classic Team Fortress 2, it's a team-based shooter with a variety of characters and varied objectives, requiring teamwork (and a balanced group of heroes) to achieve victory.

Overwatch has the same bright, fun sense of humour as Team Fortress 2, backing it up with even more varied character designs than that game. You can quickly jump between controlling a cowboy, a ninja, or a sentient gorilla, then switch to a robot or a time-travelling cockney in case you get bored - and that's just a handful of the 20+ characters, with more on the way.

Blizzard has an almost unparalleled reputation as a developer, and their first foray into the FPS is no exception. It's the perfect game to keep you entertained until Valve stop making digital hats and announce Team Fortress 3 already.

Read more in our full Overwatch review.

Firewatch

Firewatch
  • Rating: ratingsratingsratingsratingsratings
  • RRP: £15.99
  • Buy from Microsoft

Firewatch was one of the surprise indie hits of the summer, coming almost out of nowhere to deliver a tight, compelling narrative set in one of the most beautiful virtual worlds ever built.

You play a fire lookout named Henry, watching over a US national forest in the late ‘80s. You’re in radio contact with the next lookout over, Delilah, but are otherwise entirely isolated in the Wyoming wilderness. The gameplay consists mostly of talking to Delilah over the radio, selecting from various conversation prompts, and exploring the lush landscapes as you try to solve a slowly unfolding mystery.

The mystery driving the narrative is compelling stuff, but the relationship between Henry and Delilah is where the game's writing really shines. It's sweet and genuine, and by the end of the four-hour story you're likely to really care about the pair of them.

Still, strong as the writing is, the best part of Firewatch lies in its unbelievable visuals. The Shoshone National Forest is recreated in lavish detail, and just exploring the space is so absorbing that developer Campo Santo added a free-roam mode after launch for players to wander round to their hearts' content.

Battlefield 1

Battlefield 1
  • Rating: ratingsratingsratingsratingsratings
  • RRP: £55

Battlefield 1 takes the iconic FPS series back to basics, with a return to the war to end all wars, offering a take on World War I that's surprisingly thoughtful and sophisticated.

The campaign is split up into six separate 'War Stories’, each of which follows a new character and explores a different element of WWI combat, from trench warfare to tanks and early planes. The historical setting is handled tastefully, with an emphasis on the tragedy and horror of war, rather than its glorification, even featuring real-life statistics to back up the message.

The multiplayer is as vast as ever, with huge, detailed maps and expansive, lengthy battles. The older weapons encourage close-range shooting and melee combat, once again emphasising the visceral elements of war, while shifting tactics enough to keep even Battlefield vets on their toes.

The result is a game that knows when to take itself seriously and when to offer simple thrills, all presented in some of the best graphics 2016 has to offer.

Read more in our full Battlefield 1 review.

Watch Dogs 2

Watch Dogs 2
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  • RRP: £49.99

Watch Dogs 2 was a bit of a welcome surprise for some this year, offering substantial improvements on its predecessor while revamping its tone for something more unique, modern, and most importantly fun.

Gone is the first game’s moody, revenge-driven protagonist, replaced by a comparatively cheery young hacker named Marcus. He joins a hacking group to take down the high-tech surveillance system in San Francisco, though there are plenty of other missions along the way, including breaking into a Google-esque campus, becoming an Uber driver, and even leaking a new game trailer from publisher Ubisoft itself.

In terms of gameplay, Watch Dogs 2 takes the original’s hacking-based stealth further, with most encounters offering multiple paths forward. Plenty of objects in the environment are hackable, often in varied ways depending on your preferred tactics, allowing you to create distractions or take out guards. Sometimes making it all the way through with stealth alone isn’t quite enough though, and the game’s gunplay is a bit of a letdown.

The gunplay is also occasionally at odds with the lighter tone, though that remains one of the game's highlights, with plenty of hipster jokes and pop culture references - even the guns are 3D-printed.

Find out more about Watch Dogs 2 here.

Anarcute

Anarcute
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  • RRP: £11.99

It's all-out anarchy in the cutest little riot sim you ever did see: Anarcute.

You take control of a group of rioters rampaging through the city, causing all-out destruction in your wake. You can smash down lampposts, throw cars, and eventually even topple buildings, all in the name of overthrowing the cruel totalitarian police state oppressing the populace.

The twist is, every single one of your marauding rioters is a tiny adorable animal. You start out with bunny rabbits and kittens and eventually unlock the likes of the axolotl and even velociraptor as you travel round the world freeing cities including Tokyo, Paris, and Miami from their dictators. 

It's all irrepressibly adorable, but it's also amazingly good fun. The controls and mechanics are simple, but hide a lot of depth and a few genuinely challenging boss fights along the way. The main campaign runs for 5 or so hours, but there's a high score system and unlockables to add replayability, and at just £11.99 it's definitely worth it.

Forza Horizon 3

Forza Horizon 3
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  • RRP: £49.99

Forza Horizon 3 is one of the first games that is available through Xbox play Anywhere, meaning when you buy it for your Windows 10 PC, it will work on your Xbox One at no additional cost.

The racing game is loved by many for its realism, large choice of cars and fantastic graphics. If you're looking for a racing game that has all types of racing cars, then Forza Horizon 3 will let you go from an off-road Land Rover to a Lamborghini on a race track.

Dark Souls 3

Dark Souls 3
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  • RRP: £49.99

The game follows on from its predecessor Dark Souls II. The game is popular among gamers who are looking for a game that tells a story and provides a genuine challenge to all types of gamers - no matter the experience and ability to play the game.

The game is played in a third-person perspective, where the game is designed to be an action role-playing game that involves you fighting against various types of enemies that each present a different challenge. 

If you're looking for a challenge, but want an action-packed, story-telling game, Dark Souls III won't disappoint.

Also see: Latest games how-to guides.

Rocket League

Rocket League
  • Rating: ratingsratingsratingsratingsratings
  • RRP: £15.99

We probably wouldn’t have guessed that one of our favourite games of 2016 would be a remote control car version of football, but Rocket League took a lot of people by surprise.

The premise is simple: you control a rocket-powered car in an enormous football pitch surrounded by walls and a ceiling, and have to use any means necessary to get the giant ball into the opposing team’s goal.

Matches range from 1v1 up to 4v4, and last just five minutes each, with the potential for overtime to avoid a tie. That keeps each one short but sweet, and gives the game that irresistible ‘one more match’ feeling every time you finish one up.

The highly customisable cars can jump and double jump up into the air, and there’s a pretty steep learning curve before you get the hang of actually hitting the ball, let alone sending it in the right direction. But once you do, it’s immensely satisfying, and before long you’ll be learning how to save, pass, and score, and getting deep into Rocket League tactics.

As with any online game, the other players can be the weak point, and there’s a frustrating tendency for players on losing teams to quit midway through.

At under £15 Rocket League is pretty hard to turn down, and it’s an undeniable bargain. Throw in the customisation, points, and levelling system, and there’s plenty to keep you occupied for hours.

Read more in our full Rocket League review.

DOOM

DOOM
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  • RRP: £30

Want to shoot demons from Hell at a fast pace, while being on Mars? Then DOOM (2016) is your game. The original game that dates back to 1993 has always been a fan favourite for those who like fast-paced first-person shooter games.

In 2016, Bethesda Softworks released DOOM (2016) and it was well received by fans. It did receive a lot of criticism in its beta period, but once it was fully launched many loved the single-player campaign.

The game is easy to play, but takes skill in certain areas. Make sure you're awake when playing DOOM, as it's very fast paced.

Titanfall 2

Titanfall 2
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  • RRP: £49.99

The first Titanfall may have been multiplayer-only, but the second time around it’s taken that same intense, mobile action (and giant robots) and squeezed it into one of the year’s best single-player campaigns.

Across six or so hours you battle across an alien planet backed by your friendly Titan - a huge, sentient battle tank that can operate independently, or you can take direct control, giving you access to its array of cannons, rockets, railguns, and other destructive toys.

You’ve got a few tricks outside the Titan too, as you can double jump and wall-run, resulting in a game that’s a bit of a blend of Call of Duty and Mirror’s Edge.

The campaign throws plenty at you, from electrified walls and moving platforms to one level that is literally built around you as you play. Much like the best Mario games, each level introduces a new concept, plays around with it for a while, and then moves on at the end, ready to find something new to throw at you.

As for the multiplayer, it’s still Titanfall, but there have been a few tweaks. Titans are now a little less durable, but a new battery system encourages human players to steal health packs from enemy Titans and deliver them to teammates.

There are plenty of different combat modes, including a few boasting A.I. grunts alongside the human players. You can also level up specific weapons and gear, letting you customise both functionality and appearance. And yes, you can decorate your Titan too.

Superhot

Superhot
  • Rating: ratingsratingsratingsratingsratings
  • RRP: £19.99
  • Buy from Microsoft

The first thing you notice about Superhot is its striking visual style, in which the world is reduced to shades of white, broken only by black guns and bright red baddies - and bullets. The visuals are brilliant, unforgettable, and somehow the least interesting part of the game.

Superhot is a first-person shooter, but not like any you’ve played before. Time in the game only moves when you do, slowing to a crawl whenever you stand still, making each level a series of tiny strategic encounters.

You pause, evaluate the room, and plan a move to avoid incoming attackers and hopefully take a couple out. Then you pause again, re-evaluate, and form a new plan, clearing the encounter by increments, surviving so long as you master the split-second timing.

There’s a surprisingly sinister campaign, which delves into some very meta storytelling, backed up by a number of challenge modes to further test your skills.

There’s a diverse array of guns, explosive, and melee weapons, including a fair few improvised weapons you can grab to throw at enemies. One of the game’s most fun maneuvers sees you stun enemies to disarm them, stealing their weapon in the process.

Superhot is one of those rare games that feels genuinely new, and unlike anything that’s come before it.

XCOM 2

XCOM 2
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  • RRP: £49.99

XCOM 2 follows on from its predecessor XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012) and XCOM: Enemy Within (2013 expansion pack), as a turn-based game, where you control your soldiers in various scenarios in order to out-play your opponent.

You become the commander of a military organisation and fight your way through aliens who have invaded and occupied the planet. It's a very tactical game, but yet has beautiful cinematics and a good story behind it.

If you're looking to be a tactician and master of weapons, then XCOM 2 is a fantastic game to play.

Inside

Inside
  • Rating: ratingsratingsratingsratingsratings
  • RRP: £15.99
  • Buy from Microsoft

With its first game, Limbo, developer Playdead proved it was at the top of the puzzle-platformer genre. Somehow, against the odds, it’s done one better with the impeccable Inside.

Things kick off with you controlling a young boy trying to sneak into some sort of dystopian factory/facility/lab. As you sneak from left to right in an oppressive dark world you have to evade guards, dogs, and a particularly aggressive pig until you make your way inside and it all gets a lot weirder.

Saying too much would spoil a lot of the game’s best surprises, but the plot is gradually (and wordlessly) revealed as you best the game’s intricate physics puzzles and escape various threats, all building towards a final act that’s just, well, insane. Utterly insane.

The puzzles are smart and challenging, but rarely frustrating, holding you up for just long enough to satisfy when you figure them out, without ever becoming an irritation.

The game is also visually stunning, adding more detail than Limbo’s stark silhouettes. It still keeps things simple though, bolstered by impressive lighting effects and characterful animations.

Inside is intelligent and original, and at just £15 remains one of the most memorable gameplay experiences of the year.

Gears of War 4

Gears of War 4
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  • RRP: £49.99

The first full Gears of War game since original developers Epic sold the rights to Microsoft, for the most part Gears of War 4 did not disappoint. Set 25 years after the third game, it follows original protagonist Marcus Fenix's son, JD, pitting him up against new enemies The Swarm, joined along the way by his friends Kait and Del, along with Marcus himself.

The story is smaller scale than Gears usually opts for, focusing on family dynamics and occasionally even skewing closer to horror than the original trilogy’s blockbuster action feel. That’s not to say the action itself is stripped back though, and the core Gears gameplay is back in force. The new enemy types twist a few longstanding tactics around, along with new weapon types optimised for Gears 4’s cover-heavy combat, like a sniper rifle that deactivates if you aim down the sights for too long.

Multiplayer has had a few upgrades too. The ever-popular co-op Horde mode has had major tweaks, from varied player classes to a mobile ‘fabricator’ which bolsters your team, encouraging players to move round the map between waves rather than simply hunker down to survive.

There are some smart competitive modes too. Dodgeball gives each player just one life, but ‘tags’ them back in when a member of the opposing team dies, giving matches a great ebb and flow. Meanwhile Arms Race starts each team off with the game’s most powerful weapons and slowly downgrades them as the match goes on. Gears of War 4 is a strong statement of intent from new developers The Coalition, and a reminder that the franchise is in safe hands on the Xbox One.

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