Without these awesome PC games, we would have never fallen in love with PC gaming!
PC gaming is home to countless classics – games so good our experiences with them will probably be included in our dying thoughts. But even among the greats, there are those that stand out as games so innovative and well-made that they’re responsible for getting us into PC gaming in the first place.
Here we present you the 15 Awesome PC Games That Made Us Love PC Gaming – without which we would have never become the PC gamers that we are now.
Let’s start with entry number…
15. Doom
Every imp deserves at least two bullet holes in their face
If one game was responsible for single-handedly converting millions of console gamers into devoted PC gamers, it would have to be 1993’s Doom. Doom was so new, so edgy, and so explosive that even people who didn’t know PC gaming existed started picking up mouse and keyboard just to join in on the slaughter.
Big, mean, and loaded!
The concept of the game is simple. Scientists inadvertently open a portal to hell. Hell’s minions pour into the mortal world and quickly turn humans into barbecue. Enter Doomguy – your unnamed, mute space marine, a man with a BFG and a whole lot of demons to kill. The result? A splatterfest unlike anything seen in the gaming industry prior.
Doom’s influence was so great that it transformed the first-person shooter into an industry capable of generating billions of dollars. Today, the genre is among the most popular, played by everyone from your grandfather to that snot-nosed kid next door. How’s that for a lasting legacy?
A smile you'll never forget
Hell's throwing everything but the kitchen sink at you
14. Diablo II
The first Diablo gave us fantasy so dark you couldn’t play it without feeling you’ve just swum in six feet of human viscera and demon filth. Diablo II continues the gloom and doom, pitting you against not just one Lord of Hell, but three (not counting Lesser Evils such as Andariel and Duriel). That’s a whole lot of evil.
Here's something to warm you up!
Everything about Diablo II is an improvement over the first. The five (and later seven) new classes are as diverse as the original three were mundane. Who’d ever thought a hero like the Necromancer, who summons an army of corpses to fight evil, could work?
The story is also more ambitious, involving several locations, and the war between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells themselves. As for the action, it’s more intense than ever, with players often finding themselves overwhelmed by hordes of monsters eager to see what humans look like with their spines on the outside. It’s a bloodbath, and got everybody mouse-clicking demons to death in no time.
This will have them dancing in no time
White fire
A chilly reception!
13. Counter-Strike
... is that Gordon Freeman??
In the early 2000s, it was common to walk into a net shop to find everybody playing the same game: Counter-Strike.
Counter-Strike started as a Half-Life mod that pitted two teams (counter-terrorists and terrorists) against each other in a chosen map. Map objectives ranged from bomb defusal and VIP protection to pumping the opposition full of lead. Simple? Yes. Addicting? Totally.
It doesn't matter how cold it is... these intense firefights will have you sweating in no time!
Counter-Strike soon became a professional eSport, with countless teams vying for cash prizes and the prestige of kicking everyone’s butt in the global arena. Of course, a game this popular also meant controversy. Counter-Strike was banned in at least one country for its alleged power to “subvert social order.” Awesome PC games rarely get this much attention from the government!
Right in the kisser
The quick and the dead
12. StarCraft
StarCraft will go down in history as one of the finest PC titles for its ability to combine epic storytelling, memorable characters, fantastic strategy gaming, and exemplary multiplayer support.
And who doesn’t love its unique yet perfectly balanced factions? The insect-like Zerg have the weakest constitutions, but are fast, numerous, and reproduce like man-eating rabbits. The psionic Protoss have the most powerful units, but building them takes forever, not to mention a lot of resources. The Terrans, who employ tanks and battleships in war, are somewhere in between.
15 minutes to build... 15 seconds to destroy
StarCraft’s success made it a serious endeavor in South Korea, where the best players soon found themselves neck-deep in its mythic lore, and its deeply competitive strategy combat. Needless to say, it had a huge role in the growth of eSports, so its power to shape the gaming industry cannot be overstated. Definitely one of the most important PC games, ever!
What's more monstrous... these insectoid freaks, or these four-legged... robot... things?
Maybe the Protoss spent some time in ancient Egypt...
11. Portal
It ain't no Rubik's Cube
Just when you thought developers couldn’t get more inventive with the first-person shooter genre, along comes Valve with another game that will probably never make it to a trilogy: Portal.
Shooting aliens between the eyes is fun, but who knew teleportation could be just as exhilarating? Portal tasks you with solving a series of challenging puzzles with nothing but a portal gun. This unique weapon creates two portals that allow you to move great distances in the blink of an eye. Quite handy, especially if you’re on your couch watching reruns of The Walking Dead, and you’re too lazy to walk the vast gulf separating your living room and kitchen for a can of cold beer straight from the fridge.
Go ahead... push the cube... you know you want to!
But Portal is not just about the puzzles. It has great physics, amusing characters, and a terrific villain in GLaDOS. The game’s innovative gimmick drew players to the game out of curiosity, but they stayed for its excellent execution and unforgettable universe.
And now we have another part 3 to pine for. Come on Valve, throw the dog a bone, here!
Down the rabbit hole
Point A to point B
10. Dota
The guy on the left seems a bit outnumbered!
When Blizzard created real-time strategy classics StarCraft and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, they had no idea they were unwittingly giving birth to a new genre of gaming: the MOBA.
Defense of the Ancients, or DotA, is a mod of Warcraft III. It removes all the resource-gathering and base-building elements of Warcraft III and focuses instead on the game’s hero combat and RPG elements. The result? A game that kids all over the world skipped classes for, and that stole grownups away from their significant others.
Magic and fury
DotA won over millions because it is, without question, a sport. And like any sport, its rules are simple, but pave the way for complex strategy and teamwork. Now the MOBA, as both a genre and an eSport, has grown to absurd heights, and we have pioneers like DotA to thank for that.
Few awesome PC games have contributed to the gaming industry as much as DotA has!
A close match...
The pursuit
9. Call of Duty
The dreaded day has arrived
Imagine having to dismember an army of demons all by yourself. Isn’t it sad? Isn’t it lonely? Wouldn’t it be nice to share a killshot with a friend, even if that friend was the A.I.? Friendship, after all, is magic!
A glimpse of hell
Call of Duty wowed the gaming public not only by giving us a realistic shooter set in World War II, but also by allowing players to fight alongside allied soldiers and even tanks. It was executed so well that it gave players the feeling of camaraderie, of being part of something bigger than themselves. It also made the experience more immersive, as if you were really part of history’s most horrific war. Suffice it to say that, for months on end, players found themselves unable to put down their virtual guns for any other game.
The Call of Duty franchise now owns the first-person shooter genre, thanks to that very first game. And the series has only gotten bigger, more ambitious, and more exhilarating. It’s a great time to be a PC gamer!
Death can come from any place, at any time
A sleepless night
8. The Sims
"Welcome to our home!"
Life can be pretty darn boring, sometimes. But who knew overseeing other people’s boring lives could be so intoxicating?
That’s the entire premise of the life simulation series that began with 2000’s The Sims. You have a bunch of people and a house, and you manage their day-to-day business, from eating and showering to finding jobs, getting married, and making babies.
A good time to panic
The game was so addicting that players found themselves taking better care of their Sims than themselves. And it was such a huge draw that even non-gamers had to try it out. Today, it’s one of the biggest franchises in gaming, spawning numerous sequels and countless expansion packs.
A genie solves everything!
Caught red-handed
7. Minecraft
Who doesn’t love creating works of art with building block toys like Lego?
That is the genius behind the indie game and runaway hit, Minecraft. Players are deposited in a procedurally generated, virtually endless open world made entirely of bricks. Break stuff, and you collect those bricks with which you can then build new stuff. A day/night cycle brings darkness, which spawns monsters of all sorts. There are bosses to kill, too.
A zombie, a dog, and what looks like Nathan Drake
But if you simply want to create, there’s the Creative Mode which gives you unlimited access to the game’s creation tools. If you want proof of the game’s popularity and influence, just check the internet – it’s chockfull of Minecraft creations, which range from majestic castles and spaceships to things we can’t even mention here.
Few awesome PC games are able to tap into our inherent need to create, and for that, we totally love Minecraft.
Beautiful fantasy worlds await!
A kingdom of bricks
6. World of Warcraft
Released more than a decade ago, World of Warcraft made the geeky world of MMORPGs hip. It’s so popular that its subscription numbers once peaked at over 12 million, not to mention it has given Blizzard billions of dollars in revenue. With that kind of money, you can buy yourself twelve islands, or better yet, transform yourself into a bat-themed costumed vigilante!
Don't mind the fireballs - it's me you gotta worry about!
Seriously though, World of Warcraft owes its success to its variety, and the consistently high quality of its ever-evolving content. Not only have you got loads of quests to complete, Blizzard continues to offer amazing expansions that broaden the universe’s lore, as well as multitudes of events and activities ranging from zombie invasions to contagious plagues.
There’s rarely a boring day in World of Warcraft, making it one of the most awesome PC games of our time.
Eager to star alongside Johnny Depp, these citizens of Azeroth audition for the next Pirates of the Caribbean flick
Toasty!
5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The decision to set The Elder Scrolls V in the wintry region of Skyrim was genius. If you love HBO’s Game of Thrones and History channel’s Vikings, you’ll be right at home with Skyrim’s dragons, frigid wastelands, relentless undead, and Tamriel’s most badass people, the Nords.
Nords are so badass, they probably only shower once a moth. But whatever race you pick in the game, it goes out of its way to make you feel like the toughest S.O.B. ever to swim in a river full of ice. You’ve got dragon’s blood, you see, which means every time you shout, someone’s brain ends up decorating the furniture.
You interrupted their dinner. Oh well, you can be dessert!
The game also gives you the freedom to be whatever you want to be. A sneaky thief breaking into homes to steal priceless cutlery and dirty underwear? Why not? How about a wizard who is as good at chopping up zombies as he is at setting farm animals on fire? Also doable! And there are so many quests it’ll make your head spin.
All good points that drove everyone to the nearest PC to play this open-world masterpiece. One of the most awesome PC games in existence!
Elsa is impressed!
Dracula, on a good day
4. Mass Effect 2
BioWare’s RPG magnum opus has everything we want from good science fiction.
First of all, believable science. None of that hokey midichlorian claptrap or aliens who are basically human beings, only with cheesy makeup and low budget forehead prosthetics.
The gang is here
Secondly… wow, what an amazing cast of characters. There’s the tattooed badass, Jack, who can turn you inside out with a wave of her hand; alien vigilante Garrus, who could be Clint Eastwood’s spirit animal (and vice versa); and Miranda Lawson, whose curves will make your eyes pop out.
Of course, the action is amazing, as is the morality system that makes your Shepard either a saint with a laser gun or a soulless psychopath bent on making everyone in the galaxy feel like a doormat. Want awesome PC games? There’s the Mass Effect franchise, and Mass Effect 2.
Close quarters combat
Two badasses are better than one
3. Civilization IV
Attack of the 200-foot Construction Workers
Suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome or a particularly wretched case of insomnia? Who cares? For what is a little pain when the most significant thing in your life is that very next turn?
Sid Meier must be some kind of wizard, because few PC games have Civilization IV’s power to glue us to our seats for hours (or days), to stare at tiny army men until our retinas detach from our eyeballs. Who’d have known building and conquering cities, expanding your empire, and sharing a cup of tea with the likes of Queen Elizabeth and Gandhi could be so addicting?
Scout, or rading party?
Civilization IV makes you part of mankind’s history by challenging you to guide a single settlement of primitives through the Ancient world, the Classical era, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, the present, and beyond. It’s such a genius formula that Civilization titles have become the most important and awesome PC games of our time.
A civlization to stand the test of time
The ship has sailed!
2. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Picking up where the first game left off, Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn is about the God of Murder’s mortal offspring. Yes, that means you. Your unique nature has made you the target of a certain evil wizard named Jon Irenicus. And as you can expect from a setup like that, much fun and excitement ensues!
Prepare for dragons, dungeons littered with human entrails, and a grand story that’ll take you through some of gaming’s most memorable locations. Its eclectic cast of characters gives the Fellowship a run for their money. Who can forget Minsc and his miniature giant space hamster, Boo?
These adventurers stayed up all night playing Civilization IV... now they can't stay awake!
Your actions affect how your party treats you. Be the kind of monster who kicks kittens and pushes old ladies down stairs, and the good guys will hate you. Be the swell kind of person who cooks for their significant other and walks their dog every day, and you will win the evildoers’ disgust.
In addition to its fantastic story and characters, the game combines deep character customization, glorious tactical combat, and that isometric perspective we’ve all come to love. Truly a masterpiece, and one of the most awesome PC games, ever!
Minsc and Boo were BORN ready
Good spot for some combat training
1. Half-Life
A little help from a friend
Where would the first-person shooter genre (and the entirety of gaming, for that matter) be without Half-Life?
Half-Life gave us enemies who ducked for cover and cooperated with each other to put a bullet in your brain. It gave us a seamless world populated by survivors with stories of their own (most of which ended with them in monsters’ stomachs). For the first time in the genre, the virtual seemed real, no longer a slapdash conglomeration of pixels and brainless bad guys who ran straight into your crosshair as if they enjoyed the taste of gun barrel. Half-Life made us realize that games don’t have to be just action-packed – they can also be effective mediums for storytelling, and experiences as believable as they are unforgettable.
The bitch slap from hell
Let’s not forget Half-Life gave rise to the Counter-Strike mod, which was instrumental in the development of eSports.
Doom may have popularized the first-person shooter, but Half-Life made it meaningful. And for that, we believe Half-Life is one of the most awesome PC games ever made.
Aww, those vortigaunts are adorable!
Eat this, sucka!
What about you, readers? What games made you fall in love with PC gaming? Tell us in the comments section below!
If you want to read another article about influential PC games, check out 11 Best PC Games That Are Over 10 Years Old But Still Awesome.
For the stories that made us love PC games, head on to 10 PC Games with the Best Storylines.
And then there are those RPG games with rich worlds we can’t help but fall in love with, which we discuss in 10 Best RPG Games We Would Love to Be In.
Of course, we can’t talk about falling in love without mentioning gaming’s sexiest badass heroines, whom we talk at length about in 10 Sexy Video Game Babes with Guns and its sequel, 10 MORE Video Game Babes with Guns.
