back to article Ten... PC games you may have missed

So now my Panda is Level 90 I thought it might be time to get my head out of the Brewmasters keg and have a look a selection of other games that have been released while I have been in my MMO reverie. If you don't fancy playing COD: BO2 or Halo 4 and are bored of relentless franchise titles then take a look at the games below. …

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  1. wowfood

    A few additional suggestions

    If I may. And a few of these are oldies but REALLY worth a play.

    The Longest Journey. Fairly cheap now, and one of the best point and click adventures I remember playing.

    FTL: I have heard so many good things about this game, and reading up on it makes me equally erect with joy at the thought of playing it. Just need to wait for payday.

    Mount and Blade Again a fairly old game now, but amazing to play. It gets repetative after a while, but there's a solid several hours of addictiveness to it at first, and the number of mods out there keep it entertaining for a long long time.

    One thing I'd love to see (any game devs reading) is something akin to a single player space adventure game. Giving players the choice of land or space combat (think mass effect, but you get to control your ship in space) giving players not just the opportunity to outfit their character, but to hire staff to keep the ship running (mass effect + FTL) but to also build and design their ship. Give them starting money, let them design a basic starting ship, then let them upgrade over time. (Don't know any games with this functionality... somebody make it happen)

    1. Alien Doctor 1.1

      Re: A few additional suggestions

      Yep - a decent implementation of Traveller would be great.

    2. Juillen 1
      Holmes

      Re: A few additional suggestions

      Would this be what you're looking for?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlecruiser_3000AD

      1. wowfood

        Re: A few additional suggestions

        Very close to it yes, the only thing that seems to be missing is the ship customization.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: A few additional suggestions

        "Would this be what you're looking for?

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlecruiser_3000AD"

        I think he said "decent", where the entertainment comes from playing the game, rather than being struck by utter incredulity at what you've just installed, and going online to look for explanations, and discovering Derek Smart XD

        Ahem.

        (Hey, there's always OOlite, for people who want some free-roaming space action, at least)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: A few additional suggestions

          Yeah, we don't talk about 3000AD. I did try Universal Combat. Briefly.

          If you want something along these lines but good, try the I-War games.

          1. wowfood

            Re: A few additional suggestions

            took a quick look around online. A failed kickstarter called skyjacker seemed pretty interesting, apparently they're still making the game anyway. Then there's also another game called GSB gratuitous space battles.

            Neithe of these two may come even close to what I want, but I'll need to look it up after work.

    3. Paul_Murphy

      Re: A few additional suggestions

      Star Citizen should be what you are after (http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/).

      FTL (http://www.ftlgame.com/) is a load of frustrating fun - I got it as part of a humble bundle and it has huge replay-ability.

      Elite is supposedly getting a reboot, but that's more for old times sake than what you are after :-)

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Path Of Exile

    If you're missing a proper sequel to Diablo 2 then get yourself over to pathofexile.com, open beta starts in a couple of weeks.

    1. Iceman
      Thumb Up

      Re: Path Of Exile

      Could be the best release of this year on the PC, IMO.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    League of Legends

    Is it just me or is DOTA2 identical to LOL? is this the same title under differing names?

    1. Richard 81

      Re: League of Legends

      Yes, more or less.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sleeping Dogs

    Sleeping Dogs is a brilliant game, and definitely worth picking up. The martial arts combat is really well done.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    PC Games?

    Most of these seem to be console ports, am I missing something?

    1. adnim

      Re: PC Games?

      Just about all PC games are console ports these days, some have a bit of DX10 or DX11 tagged on, some have a high res texture pack to download. I cannot tell you for sure but I guess the number of game titles developed for PC released in the last five years must be barely into double figures.

      Hard Reset is the only one that comes to mind at the moment and should definitely be on this list. Gosh!! There is even a demo, remember those?

      http://hardresetgame.com/

      1. Justicesays

        Re: PC Games?

        A Demo?

        Given how short the game is, the demo must be only a couple of minutes!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: PC Games?

        That's my point, and why I was looking forward to the article about "10 PC games you may have missed" telling me about well ... 10 PC games I may have missed, instead of console ports!

    2. Richard 81

      Re: PC Games?

      Well, only three or four of them are the typical mutli-platform, built for consoles but ported to PC, type of games. Some of the list aren't on anything but PC, and X-COM may be on all the big platforms but it's a PC game at heart.

  6. Juillen 1

    Bastion..

    That one deserves a good place in there.. Great little game.. Quite engaging, and definitely fun..

    1. Iain Turnbull
      Thumb Up

      Re: Bastion..

      And one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard to boot.

  7. Khaptain Silver badge
    Windows

    Why all the death and destruction

    I could never understand and still don't understand the Zombie Shoot Em Up/ Kung Fu thing/kill everything in sight kind of games........... and yet they still prove to be very popular...

    I'm getting old but I much prefer/prefered the adventure games, Simon the Sorceror, Monkey Island, Myst, Gabriel Knight.... Some if not all of them required a little thought, ( ok some pixel hunting was also required).

    The shoot em ups never seem to hold any surprises and have very little story, you know in advance that the number of enemies will increase as you "progress" and that you will eventually arrive at the the Boss.. The action can get intense which means the scenery takes a very secondary role.....interest in general is extremely limited..

    Just my point of view, although that Ninja thing looks like it might be worth a look.

    .

    1. Ian 62

      Re: Why all the death and destruction

      I was thinking the same thing...

      'Meh..shooter.. Meh...shooter...Meh..shooter with spells...Meh shooter with swords...Meh shooter with xyz'

      Or as mentioned by someone else.. The fact that these are console ports means that all youre going to get, as the huge majority of console games are shooters?

      Or...Is the point of the article that these are ones we missed, because they're 'meh'?

    2. terlan
      Thumb Up

      Re: Why all the death and destruction

      If you want a good old fashiopned point n click, grab a copy of Ben There, Dan That! and Time Gentlemen, Please

      You can get the pair of them for about £3 on steam at the moment. £3 for two great wee games.

      Great point and click adventures very sam and max / DOTT monkey island like. Language can be a little more mature than say monkey island and simon, but very british sense of humour to them.

      and hey... its 3 quid for 2 games. plus... theres a demo. so try before you invest the really serious sum of £3.

      did I mention it was only £3 for these two games?

  8. This post has been deleted by its author

  9. Bumpy Cat
    Thumb Up

    FTL

    Mentioned above by another poster, but I have to echo this. It's multi-platform (Win/Mac/Linux) and only £10, but it has provided me with many hours of engaging and fun play. It's best described as a rogue-like space game.

    1. Jedit Silver badge
      Thumb Down

      "It's best described as a rogue-like space game."

      FTL is best described as "a totally random mess". I remember a roguelike where you had something like a 1 in 100000 chance to die instantly every time you went down a level. Up that chance to 1 in 50 and you have FTL. Don't waste a penny on it.

      The Binding of Isaac, on the other hand, is well worth its tiny price. It can also be infuriating sometimes when you hit a bad run for items or get some nasty room layouts, but the RNG factor is at least held to a reasonable level.

      1. Bumpy Cat
        Happy

        Re: "It's best described as a rogue-like space game."

        Maybe we've played different games ... I have died pretty horribly on the final boss several times, and maybe one run in a hundred things will go horribly wrong (sustained bad luck or picking the wrong fight) and you'll die. You're out twenty minutes of game time, which was fun anyway. If you are guaranteed a win every time, it's not much of a challenge.

  10. Martin Huizing
    Pint

    I was dating this girl...

    ...and she had a phobia towards crawling creatures such as caterpillars and earthworms. I didn't know that at the time and I was in the midst of a game of worms when I asked her to come over and have a look. To my surprise and horror she then began to scream her lungs out right into my ear.. It was ringing for days afterwards. Haven't played worms since... :'(

    1. Prof Denzil Dexter
      FAIL

      Re: I was dating this girl...

      show a girl a worm and she screams? story of my life

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What a strange hodgepodge

    So.. games you "might have missed"? Torchlight 2 and XCOM are two recent runaway successes- if you missed them, you probably aren't that interested in games anyway. Still, no real harm in reminding people- though they're about as obscure as (the excellent) Borderlands 2 :)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      Re: What a strange hodgepodge

      I also think if you've got this far in life without installing Worms it's probably deliberate.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: What a strange hodgepodge

        Installing? The first version was on floppies, for Amiga, and not installable :)

        (Anyway, Andy Davidson was a tedious tosser, who wouldn't shut up about concrete donkeys, put me off that series for life, so I agree with you absolutely)

  12. JonGee

    Star Citizen

    is one to look out for. From the guy who made wing commander. It's got over $5,000,000 on kickstarter and it will be PC ONLY!

    1. JonGee

      Re: Star Citizen

      Oh, my bad. Make that $6,238,563 and counting...This game is going to be huge...literally.

    2. Jedit Silver badge
      Megaphone

      Re: Star Citizen

      From the guy who made Wing Commander and nothing good since, and the game has pay to win for Kickstarter backers only. Also, the last time Chris Roberts started up a studio was Digital Anvil. They announced four projects, two of which were never released and a third was released two years late with a lot of the promised features missing.

      So yeah, look out for Star Citizen ... in 2016, and only if you've already bought it.

  13. firefoxx

    PlanetSide

    I'm really not a gamer but had a look at this MMO 1st person shooter when it ws recommended to me. The *entire point* of the game is to collaborate - and it's great. You get virtually no points and progression without others to help you in a team / platoon / whatever. The first time I ever played, I was invited into a Galaxy-like transporter plane and went to attack an enemy base with a bunch of other players, who I realised could be from anywhere in the world. There are planes to fly which are all basically helicopters so it's really easy to get stuck in. Several of the large vehicles need two people to drive / gun so the collaboration is always encouraged.

    A wonderful game, and it looked amazing too with beautiful sky backdrops and landscapes.

  14. jestersbro

    I Am Alive

    Tension, emotion and a lack of resources for the character to use really made this one hell of a way to spend a weekend. It was very short but I had to go back twice just to relive it and gain the achievments I'd previously missed.

    The shattered environment of the city is awful and compelling and you do wonder why the hell anyone would be there, safety in numbers and shelter aside. The lack of any meaningful resources makes every decision you take critcal and the strategic decisions you are forced into making really bite hard when you get it wrong. You absolutely know you need to go back and try something different. Every step you take, every climb attempted and every bad situation avoided has such a deliterious effect on your character that you do start wondering how in hells' teeth you are going to complete this. Thankfully you do get smart very quickly. It's still a challenge though and you have no choice but to go back and do it all over again.

    I do so hope the story is continued. PLEASE UBISOFT!

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I know it's a little old now but Machinarium is still one of my favourites. I admit I knocked it off but within 5 minutes of playing it I was so overawed I bought it immediately, the developers even gave you access to the soundtrack in MP3 format. Best £8 I ever spent on an indie game.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Anyone know of some good space battle games similar to Star Trek Armada?

  17. toxicdragon
    FAIL

    Errr.

    Black Mesa - Free, buy from amazon button. How does that make sense?

  18. BinkyTheMagicPaperclip Silver badge

    check out the gog.com sale, especially the Blackwell adventures

    Check out the gog.com sale on till tomorrow - 5 games for $10. I'd suggest the Blackwell Bundle (excellent indie adventure games), machinarium, botanicula, trine and possibly Gemini rue.

  19. kraz
    Happy

    Rock of Ages

    Any one else played Rock of Ages?

    It's a year old now so probably wouldn't be on this list anyway but you knock down the enemy gates with a large boulder and build defences to protect your own gates. It's a lot more fun than I'm making it sound and it has a great sense of humour about it, a bit Monty Python in its animation style.

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