What are the best new PC games 2021? Perhaps you have just been paid, bank account fat with virtual dosh, or you simply want to get caught up with the latest PC games because they are, well, new and shiny.
It is all well and good starting another daring round of PUBG, taking on a new 100-hour Football Manager save, or yet another The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim adventure but, as much as we love setting mammoths ablaze, there are plenty of the latest PC games that will more than supply your gaming fix. You don’t want to be the person who isn’t In The Know now, do you?
These days, new PC games pour onto Steam at a frankly dizzying rate, making it impossible to keep up with them all. Thankfully, us kind folk at PCGamesN have separated the wheat from the chaff when it comes to recent PC releases. So, below you will find every new PC games for which you should be saving up your pennies. This list is updated regularly to include the latest releases.
The best new PC games of 2021 are:
GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE-
Guilty Gear Strive is currently leading the pack as the best fighting game of 2021. Developed by Arc System Works, Guilty Gear Strive has been designed to be accessible to newcomers while retaining the depth the series is known for. Featuring 15 new and returning characters, a heavy soundtrack by Daisuke Ishiwatari, and the all-important rollback netcode, Guilty Gear Strive has established itself as the go-to fighting game for fans and new players alike.
Chivalry 2
Torn Banner Studios’ follow up to their 2012 smash hit, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is here, and it is brutal. The gameplay has been sped up to make battles even more intense and chaotic than ever before. Take part in first person medieval fights as you clash swords with up to 63 people on the battlefield. There are only a handful of games like Chivalry 2, so you’ll want to read our Chivalry 2 beginner’s guide before venturing into battle. We’ve also broken down what the best classes are, giving you an edge over the competition.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Mass Effect Legendary Edition packs all three games into one bundle, including most of the DLC to create the ultimate package for RPG fans. All of the games have been remastered for 4K, with major upgrades to the games’ performance and visuals across the whole trilogy. “This is the same Mass Effect we fell in love with all those years ago, painstakingly polished and wrapped up in a neat ribbon,” says Jen in her impressions piece.
Check out our Mass Effect Legendary Edition face codes guide to pick out the best looking Shepard in the galaxy. We also have a romance options guide for anyone who wants to know what relationships are available across the trilogy.
Days Gone
A plague of zombies has devastated the Pacific Northwest, and protagonist Deacon St. John must survive in the apocalyptic wasteland, working as a mercenary and drifting from camp to camp on his motorcycle. As Ian explains in our Days Gone review, it’s a “workmanlike open-world adventure, but it’s elevated into something special by its spectacular horde fights, ambitious scope, and warmly written characters.”
RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE
Being chased by extremely tall ladies, dodging feral lycans, and battering down shambling Moroaica is, as it turns out, an absolutely wonderful time. Resident Evil Village is already one of the biggest releases on Steam this year, and as Dustin explains in his Resident Evil Village review, it’s “a blend of horror, action, exploration, and puzzle-solving that pays tribute to – and frequently surpasses – its predecessors”. If you’re planning on venturing into the Village yourself, make use of our bosses guide, weapon upgrades guide, and recipes guide.
Outriders
In People Can Fly’s looter shooter, you play as the Outrider, a soldier tasked with attempting to establish a new home for humanity after Earth’s destruction. Alone, or with up to two allies online, the Outrider blasts their way across the planet Enoch with all kinds of fantastical dystopian future weapons and skills. The combat is thoroughly enjoyable, with “superpowers that put the recent Marvel’s Avengers to shame”, alongside a “blockbuster narrative”, as Jordan explains in his Outriders review. For the collectors, we’ve got Outriders legendary weapons and Outriders legendary armour guides.
It Takes Two
As the name suggests, you’ll need to recruit a friend to play It Takes Two – like Hazelight’s previous game A Way Out, it’s a multiplayer only endeavour. The rom-com-esque story involves a feuding couple who must learn to work together, and the platforming gameplay ingeniously demands the same of you and your player two.
New mechanics and challenges keep the game fresh and fun throughout, the characters are charming, and while the trials you both face are quirky and amusing, there are some more meaningful, mature themes that emerge as you play.
Loop Hero
Retro-style roguelike Loop Hero is one of the most addictive indies we’ve played in a while. The Loop Hero is on a mission to rebuild reality, setting out on adventures day after day in order to gather resources and knowledge. As the hero makes their way around the ‘loop’, automatically battling the monsters in their path, the player is in charge of placing down cards which change the surrounding terrain, and the foes that spawn there.
Planning the route is crucial; certain tile combinations unlock new variations and various buffs – but if you misjudge and overface your hero, they will die and be sent back without many of the precious resources they gathered on their trip. As Ian puts it in his Loop Hero review, ‘the closer you come to failure, the better the rewards’.
Valheim
A Viking warrior slain in battle, you arrive in Valheim, a procedurally-generated Norse wilderness that you must survive and explore – alone, or with up to nine other Viking pals online. Valheim itself is a pleasure to explore; teeming with life and full of dungeons to discover, all rendered with charming old-school textures, paired with picturesque modern lighting effects. Whether you dream of raising the grandest meadhall in the land, sailing to distant horizons across dangerous seas, or bopping the heck out of trolls and dwarfs, you’re bound to make Odin proud.
The Medium
With the makers of Layers of Fear, Observer, and Blair Witch Project behind it as well as an abandoned hotel resort as its setting, The Medium has psychological horror written all over it. You play as a mortician haunted by a child’s murder, and as you investigate, you enter a surreal spirit world where your real life actions are reproduced simultaneously. Navigating these two planes of existence is key to discovering the fate of the Niwa hotel.
Hitman 3
Agent 47 returns to cap off the World of Assassination trilogy in Hitman 3, and this time his itinerary includes a cloud-piercing skyscraper in Dubai, a grand English manor house, and the neon lights of Chongqing in China. In our Hitman 3 review, Jordan praises Hitman 3’s storytelling, explaining that “rather than stitching each sandbox together with some cutscenes, IO is starting to tinker with the sandboxes themselves. The Berlin mission is the perfect example: the entire level is characterised by the absence of a handler, both narratively and in its impact on the now-familiar rhythms of the new series.”
If you’re aiming to complete the Silent Assassin, Suit Only challenge for every level, we’ve got your back – starting with the Hitman 3 Dubai Silent Assassin, Suit Only walkthrough.
Buy Hitman 3 at the Humble store
Cyberpunk 2077
We’ve waited patiently(ish) for so long – and now Cyberpunk 2077 is finally here. In CD Projekt Red’s open-world RPG game, you play as ‘V’; an up-and-coming mercenary looking to stamp their name on the crime-ridden, tech-soaked streets of Night City. The story, like many cyberpunk games before it, addresses the rampant acceleration of technology and the diminishing of humanity – and as Rich explains in our Cyberpunk 2077 review, “the main storyline is the best of them all, and appropriately enough, explores what it proposes as capitalism’s ultimate profanity: the appropriation of the soul itself.” Plus, Keanu Reeves’ performance as Johnny Silverhand is… no, we’re not going to say it.
You can buy Cyberpunk 2077 at the Humble store here – and before you get started, we recommend checking out our Cyberpunk 2077 build guide, and brushing up on the Cyberpunk 2077 life paths you can choose from in the Cyberpunk 2077 character customisation.
Buy Cyberpunk 2077 at the Humble store
IMMORTALS FENYX RISING
Ubisoft Quebec’s latest offering may exist in the same Grecian space as 2018’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, but Immortals Fenyx Rising leans further into the zanier elements of Greek mythology. The game sees the new winged demigod Fenyx set out on an adventure to rescue the gods from Typhon – the most powerful Titan of them all – after a doomed voyage sees their friends turned to stone, and their brother go missing.
This new title appears to draw a certain amount of inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild, with Iain noting in his Immortals Fenyx Rising review that it incorporates “physics-based puzzles, a sprawling, natural open world, horses to tame, and a stamina bar that depletes as you run or climb a mountain.” If you do snatch up Breath of Olympus, but require a small nudge in the right direction when getting started, then you may want to take a peek at how to increase your stamina in Immortals Fenyx Rising.
Buy Immortals Fenyx Rising at Ubisoft
Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War
The most recent game in the annual Call of Duty series takes us back to the early 80s during the height of the Cold War – plot-wise, it’s a direct sequel to the first Call of Duty Black Ops game. The Call of Duty Cold War missions follow Russel Adler, a CIA officer in pursuit of a soviet spy called Perseus – and the campaign will take you to Turkey, Cuba, and even inside the KGB Headquarters.
Cold War also sees the return of the Zombies gamemode, plus a ton of new Call of Duty Cold War weapons to be refined in the Gunsmith so you can reign supreme in multiplayer.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Thanks to Ubisoft’s new Assassin’s Creed game, you’re now able to live out your wildest dreams of viking glory, as you sail on your cool longship from Norway to England and rampage through various Anglo-Saxon landscapes, developing your settlement, hunting Assassin’s Creed Valhalla legendary animals, and even indulging in a spot of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla romance if you find someone who sets your furs aflutter.
You play as viking warrior Eivor – who you can customise, and who can be either male or female – on a journey across England with their clan, seeking to forge alliances in each region, based on the Anglo-Saxon counties that existed back in 873 AD. There’s also a hugely addictive dice game called Orlog. For our full verdict on the game, see Rich’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla review.
Buy Assassin’s Creed Valhalla at Ubisoft
Watch Dogs Legion
Watch Dogs Legion is a wildly ambitious open-world sandbox that allows you to recruit and play as anyone on the streets of its dystopian London. Each new character comes with their own backstory and abilities, which means that you’ll want to keep them alive. If they do happen to kick the bucket when you’ve got permadeath enabled, that’s them gone for good. So, basically, don’t get too attached.
When out in the field, you’ll want to explore alternate ways of overcoming the game’s platforming challenges and combat encounters – mostly by utilising your crew’s elite hacking skills. This adds a creative spin to Legion’s missions and open-world design. Though, as fun as it can be, our Watch Dogs Legion review goes into more detail on why its writing falls a bit flat.
Ghostrunner
Ghostrunner serves up some of the slickest parkour action of this or any year. You play as the ultimate cyberpunk ninja as he goes about wall-running, sliding, and slow-mo dodging his way through a dystopian city packed with gun-toting henchmen.
More like this: The best sword games on PC
With your sword in hand, you’ll go about relieving goon heads from goon bodies with the utmost style and grace. The pace of the story-driven campaign never lets up, and the combat is tough-as-nails thanks to a one-hit kill mechanic that applies to both you and your enemies. Plus, speedrunners will have an absolute blast with its open encounter designs and high skill ceiling.
Genshin Impact
The dream of a Breath of the Wild game on PC has finally been realised, and while we could do without the gacha mechanics, Genshin Impact is a free-to-play RPG with some surprisingly unobtrusive monetisation methods. The open world of Teyvat is massive and loaded with activities ranging from puzzles and resource-collecting, to clearing out campsites of enemies and fishing.
Quick tip: Here’s how to get Genshin Impact on Steam
There’s a substantial single-player campaign, but the world offers up so many distractions that you’ll be hard-pressed to put any serious time into the main story. Exploring in Genshin Impact is a constant joy, and there’s more than enough game to be enjoyed here before you even think of dipping into your wallet to unlock new characters.
Baldur’s Gate 3
It’s only an Early Access launch, but Baldur’s Gate 3 has already arrived with a bang – not to mention plenty of players. There’s only about 25 hours of content here, which is tiny compared to Larian’s vision for the final game, but that should keep you going for quite some time.
Related: Here are all the Baldur’s Gate 3 races
It will be a bit of a wait, but if the final is similar to what we experienced in our Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access review then it will rank among the best D&D PC games ever made.
There you have it, the new PC games you should be playing right now. Now, we’ll admit, we were being a little facetious earlier: new PC games aren’t necessarily the cream of the personal computer crop. For that, you should swing by our list of the best old games for the classics and the best PC games of all time, or even check out or collection of free online games, no download required. While it’s important that you keep up with the new PC games we have listed, you are missing out on some of the most memorable gaming experiences around from previous years – and they’ll likely be a lot cheaper by now, too. We feel for your growing pile of shame.
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