Top PC Games 2023

The game of football in FIFA 23 is great, but everything else misses the mark

With an underwhelming launch that was riddled with bugs, Battlefield 2042 has become well known for its problematic servers. But even with these superficial issues, there is still a lot of fun to be had here, you just need to be willing to work through the snags.

If you’re sick of the aggressively competitive nature of first-person shooters like Call of Duty, Battlefield 2042 could be for you. The game injects heaps of fun into its epic battles, appealing to both series newcomers and veterans alike. Paying full price for a multiplayer title is a difficult pill to swallow, however, especially as it currently feels like a solid foundation rather than a full-fledged experience. With EA DICE taking a live service approach to Battlefield 2042, and the game set to evolve over time, it’s perhaps worth waiting -- unless you’re an avid Battlefield fan.

Rage 2 is a fantastic action game, if judged purely on your ability to blow away post-apocalyptic punks. However, its mediocre story and gameplay padding dulls the experience a bit.

Quantum Break is a great game, but the PC version is full of technical woes. It’s playable, but not the DirectX 12 showcase it should be.

Star Wars: Battlefront is a decent shooter that injects a handful of gimmicks to keep the gameplay interesting. However a lack of variety in the maps, game modes, guns, and character development prevents the game from reaching its potential.

Even with its much-publicized server problems resolved, the latest SimCity installment fails to excite or addict as much as previous games in the series.

For a minute, let’s sit back and see Battlefield 2 for what it is: the ultimate modern warfare action toybox – a kind of ‘World of Action Man’ for bigger boys to play with. It’s a game that gives you everything you need to create a hundred different combat experiences, or more slightly tedious frontline stories than anyone in the pub will ever want to hear. The thing is; this toybox is already so stuffed with toys – kits, vehicles, maps, weapons – that it’s hard to imagine what the accessories in an expansion pack could bring. EA’s solution with Special Forces is to give it a theme. This, we’re told, is the battle going on behind the scenes; a battle fought by elite troops in black uniform and balaclava, with the aid of sneaky gadgets and underhand techniques.

Star Trek Online, while somewhat repetitive and a bit violent, still offers players an interesting, faithful Trek story.

Immortals of Aveum is an impressively confident first-person shooter that successfully trades muzzles and magazines for mages and magic. Its fast-paced, spellcasting combat is both satisfying to master and spectacular to look at, and it features a lengthy and hearty campaign packed with secrets to keep us going well after the story has wrapped. As someone who desperately hopes that unapologetically single-player shooters will live forever, these Immortals have done a great job of making sure they’re definitely not dead yet.