The Biggest PC Games To Play In 2022 And Beyond

Despite the new generation of consoles, PC remains its own unique gaming platform that can provide experiences you might not be able to find on other systems while also offering a place to play multiplatform games at their best. PC's seemingly infinite backlog of games makes it a beast of a platform, and there's just as much to look forward to in 2022 and beyond.

It is exciting that PC gamers have options for even more powerful video cards with Nvidia's RTX 30-series and AMD's RX 6000-series (if you can find them), providing more graphical horsepower than ever before and new features like ray tracing and AI-driven supersampling. But while PC pushes innovation in graphics and performance, what matters most is the games. And if you need a cheat sheet for what's in your PC gaming future, and details on why you should be excited for each of these upcoming titles, we have you covered. Plus, if you’re looking for some of the best PC games to play right now, we've got a great list for that too.

Avowed

One of the games that developer Obsidian Entertainment has up its sleeve is Avowed, and it's intriguing considering the studio's track record (Fallout: New Vegas, The Outer Worlds). Avowed looks to be the first big RPG from Obsidian under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella, but all we know so far comes from the short teaser trailer shown off during the Xbox showcase from July 2020, which revealed it as a new first-person fantasy RPG set in the Pillars of Eternity universe.

Baldur's Gate 3

After proving its RPG mettle with the Divinity: Original Sin games, Larian Studios is making a true and proper sequel to the series that inspired it. Baldur's Gate 3 follows the events of Shadows of Amn and takes notes from both the classic Baldur's Gate games and the Divinity franchise. An early access version was released in 2020, and despite some rough spots, it showed a great deal of promise. It's currently slated for a full release in 2022.

Company of Heroes 3

The World War 2 real-time strategy series Company of Heroes is coming back after a long hiatus. This time the game will focus on the Italian and North African theaters of war, and includes new features like a Tactical Pause that allows you to queue up commands and increased destructibility. An alpha test conducted in late 2021 helped prepare tacticians for the battle to come, but we don't expect to see the full game released until late 2022.

Diablo 4

After years of post-launch support for Diablo 3, Blizzard is finally putting out a proper sequel with Diablo 4--but it's been a long time coming, and it may be longer still. The studio known for its "polish it until it's perfect" approach has hesitated to put a date on Diablo 4, and so far has only shown off small snippets of the development process as it keeps fans informed of its progress. Now the studio is dealing with ongoing legal action that has led to some creative departures, which could impact development still. Previously planned for 2022, it has been pushed back, meaning we won't see it until at least April 2023. That's still a long time to wait, but we could also at least start to see more of the game shaping up as we get closer to its release.

Dying Light 2

It seems like Dying Light 2 has been in conversations about anticipated games each year since its reveal at E3 2018, and after repeated delays, here we are again. While it's still intended to bring that first-person action and parkour experience from the previous game, Dying Light 2 is also said to have a bigger narrative focus that will dynamically impact the state of the game's world and cast of supporting characters therin.

Elden Ring

Folks keep asking, "Where is Elden Ring?" But nobody stops to ask, "How is Elden Ring?" Hi, From Software, may we please get a crumb of the ring of eld? If you don't know, Elden Ring is the upcoming action-RPG from the Soulsborne creators but it's set in an original fantasy world co-created by A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin. Now we've finally gotten our hands on Elden Ring, which has made the wait for February 25, 2022 even harder.

The Elder Scrolls VI

All we know about The Elder Scrolls VI is that it's real and it's being worked on. We got a short teaser trailer with a title, and that's it. Here we are patiently waiting. Maybe we'll get another Skyrim remaster for new-gen consoles and PC in the meantime.

Everwild

Everwild is a brand-new IP from Rare, and looks to be an adventurous game set in an expansive outdoors with a stunning art style. While we don't know exactly what to expect from Everwild, it seems like a marriage between the natural and supernatural world with interactions revolving around wildlife and your party of four, which is teased in its reveal trailer.

Fable

There is very little we know about the new Fable right now, but at least we know it's real. Its reveal concluded the Xbox Showcase back in July 2020 and confirmed that developer Playground Games is behind the project. Fable is an RPG series known for its take on choice and consequence, and how they affect the way your character looks, grows, and is perceived in the game world. It's exciting to think about what Fable could be in this new generation.

Forspoken

Forspoken (previously Project Athia) is a new fantasy action game from Square Enix with a fish-out-of-water story at its core. A regular girl from our world is pulled into a fantastic setting complete with dragons, and in doing so she gains her own supernatural abilities to ward off evil.

Ghostwire: Tokyo

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a bit different from what we've come to expect from developer Shinji Mikami and Tango Gameworks. After two entries in The Evil Within, it seems the studio is still going for a supernatural concept, but now in a first-person game with a more stylized action focus. Spirits haunt Tokyo and you'll have to fight them with what's described as "karate meets magic."

Gotham Knights

Who's going to protect Gotham City without Batman around? Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin, of course. And in an open-world action RPG called Gotham Knights, no less. The game can be played solo or in two-player co-op with what's said to be a seamless drop-in-and-out system. The story will be separate from the existing Batman: Arkham series, though. Gotham Knights' main story will be about the rise of the Bat family following Batman's apparent death, and their conflict with the Gotham City's rogues' gallery, which includes the infamous Court of Owls.

Hogwarts Legacy

Hogwarts Legacy is the much-anticipated action RPG set in the Harry Potter universe, but in this adventure in the Wizarding World, we don't need Harry. The story takes place in the late 1800s, but all the things you know and love about the franchise are still here: spells, potions, magical beasts, and the house rivalries of Hogwarts. J.K. Rowling isn't directly involved in the project--take that for what you will.

Homeworld 3

Blackbird Interactive and Gearbox Publishing are partnering for a third installment in this decades-old series. This revival of the Homeworld franchise is markedly more connected to fan feedback than most. As a crowdfunded campaign, the studio invited surveys from backers on what elements or aspects of the original Homeworld games were most important to them. The project includes key personnel from the original development studio, as well as leadership from the Gearbox-published Homeworld: Desert of Kharak. It's due out in late 2022.

Kerbal Space Program 2

Kerbal Space Program was memorable for its complex physics that helped show a whole new generation how going into space is actually really, extremely hard. Countless kerbals have been lost in the attempt to construct a perfect rocket, and the sequel looks to be even more ambitious with a focus on interstellar travel. You'll be able to cross galaxies, habitate planets, make colonies, and play with fellow kerbal enthusiasts in multiplayer.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

The Lego Star Wars games always seem to hit a nice spot of lighthearted fun while retelling the events of the Star Wars universe. However, The Skywalker Saga will capture the events from all nine mainline movies, which seems wildly ambitious, especially because this isn't a remaster of the previous Lego Star Wars games that covered Episodes I through VI. It's set to launch in Spring 2021 on all major platforms.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum

Listen, I'm not sure who wanted a Lord of the Rings game starring Gollum, but we'll give it a chance, of course. If you check the Steam page, the release date is marked as "Lurking until the time is right." We respect that.

Mass Effect

That's right; a new Mass Effect is coming. Announced at The Game Awards 2020, the upcoming entry in the fan-favorite series still seems to be early in development, with Bioware at the helm. With only a teaser to go by, very little is known about the game. Many speculate that it may more directly tie into the original trilogy than continue from where Mass Effect: Andromeda left off. No release date has been confirmed, but if it's anything like the Dragon Age game in development, then it's likely still a while out.

Monster Hunter Rise

Monster Hunter World helped the series explode in popularity in the West, but it was difficult to tell how Monster Hunter Rise would translate that to the Nintendo Switch when it was released in March.Rise turned out to be a great success, with a good blend of classic elements and new ones like the Wirebug. Now it's coming to the PC on January 12, giving PC hunters a treat right at the start of the year. That will also lay the groundwork for the Sunbreak expansion, planned for release on both platforms simultaneously sometime mid-year.

Overwatch 2

Similar to Diablo 4, Blizzard's anticipated sequel to Overwatch comes amid some tumult at the studio. Various studio leads and developers have been exiting the studio, including Overwatch head Jeff Kaplan, and the studio has been rocked by allegations of a toxic culture. Meanwhile updates to the original Overwatch have essentially stalled as the studio puts all its effort towards Overwatch 2, but it was pushed out of the fiscal 2022 year like Diablo. That means we may not get to play it until April 2023 at the earliest, but in this case, we at least know we'll see it before then. The Overwatch League, the official esports league based around the game, will start using Overwatch 2 in its competitions starting in Spring 2022.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time first came out in 2003 and turned the series into a 3D action platformer. In a way, it also established the framework for parkour gameplay elements we've seen throughout Ubisoft's games since then. The remake was shown in action through its reveal trailer and was just recently pushed slightly back to March 2021.

Rainbow Six Extraction

Rainbow Six Siege has become a successful live service and esport game for Ubisoft, but this PvE spin-off takes a different approach. Instead of competing with other players to control an environment, the co-op game has you team up with other Rainbow operators to take down parasitic alien monsters. First revealed in 2019, this one has been pushed back a few times--perhaps in part to avoid the unfortunately timed associations of its original name, Quarantine, with the global coronavirus pandemic. It appears to be back on track now and aiming for a release on January 22, 2022.

Redfall

One of a spate of games centered around superpowered multiplayer heroes taking on hordes of monsters, Redfall catches our attention based heavily on the pedigree. Arkane Studios, the developer behind Dishonored, Prey, and Deathloop, certainly knows how to make games that relish in granting you superpowers, so having those skills put toward a cooperative game make it one to watch.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has been slowly teased, at first in 2018 with just a website that had "2021" below the title, and most recently with a cinematic trailer during the Xbox Showcase. Much like the rest of the series, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 takes place in the Nuclear Exclusion Zone (or "The Zone") in radiated Chernobyl, but supernatural elements lurk about to create a horror-like atmosphere. It's said to have one of the biggest open worlds ever in games, which sounds pretty daunting to explore and ambitious for the first-person action franchise.

Saints Row

After reaching the apex of silliness in the original Saints Row series, Volition is hitting the reset button for its next open-world crime game. This time your gang of young wannabe thugs occupy the city of Santo Ileso, looking to make a name for themselves in the criminal underworld. As always you'll be The Boss, the create-your-own crime lord that oversees a cast of wild characters. After originally targeting a February release, it was pushed back to August 23, 2022.

Scorn

Scorn is an Xbox Series X|S and PC exclusive and looks like a grotesque horror FPS. We got to see gameplay of Scorn, and its environments are like a mix of gothic structures inside of a monster's body with mutant flesh hanging on the walls and creatures used as tools for environmental puzzles. Big H.R. Giger vibes.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II continues the harrowing journey of the titular protagonist that started in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. Although we don't know much about the next of this sequel, it was revealed alongside the Xbox Series X in 2019 with a cinematic trailer, and it's one of the major upcoming games from Ninja Theory, which is now under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella.

Star Citizen

At this point, Star Citizen is most famous for raising an incredible amount of money. After ending its Kickstarter campaign 2012, developer Cloud Imperium continued raising money through crowdfunding and release of purchasable modules that are said to eventually be operable within the game itself. It currently sits at more than $400 million raised, with no official release date for the commercial product. Though some playable slices have been available, the uncertainty around a release has made it a hotbed of controversy. It's almost certainly not coming in 2022. But as an ongoing project that could make a big splash when or if it materializes, lots of people are looking forward to their virtual voyage among the stars.

Starfield

One of the big hitters in development at Bethesda is Starfield, which seems to be sci-fi space-themed take on the studio's RPGs. Not much, if anything, is known about Starfield gameplay-wise other than it's said to have a major game engine overhaul. Todd Howard has spoken about it in vague terms, too, and mentioned we'll see it before The Elder Scrolls VI.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

Rocksteady helped create one of the all-time great superhero franchises with Batman: Arkham Asylum and its sequels, and now it's returning to the world with a take on the antihero troupe Suicide Squad with Kill the Justice League. We haven't seen much from the game aside from a teaser, but we know that it centers around the four title characters--Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and King Shark--taking on brainwashed superheroes like Superman and The Flash. It's set in the same universe as the Arkham games but takes place in Metropolis instead, so we'll get a very different view of the world Rocksteady created.

System Shock

One of the most revered first-person shooters of all time is getting a remake this year. System Shock was a major inspiration for later hits like BioShock, and after a successful Kickstarter campaign, Night Dive Studios is bringing it back. What originally began as a remaster has morphed into a full-on reboot. An early alpha version was released in May 2020, and now the wait is on for more details. Night Dive has run into development troubles related to the pandemic and other factors, but the game is said to be coming in 2022.

Total War Warhammer 3

The Creative Assembly has built up a reputation for itself with top-tier expertise in real-time strategy. That makes its return to the Warhammer universe with Total War Warhammer 3 an exciting treat for fans who have been waiting for a proper sequel since 2017. As usual for the Total War franchise, you'll have to engage in careful diplomacy and all-out battle to navigate the campaign. Owning the first two games will unlock their races in multiplayer, and a new set of factions include the Kislev and Grand Cathay human civilizations, and four based on Warhammer's Chaos Gods. It's coming on February 17, 2022.

Two Point Campus

The management sim Two Point Hospital gets a college-bound sequel next year. Two Point Campus has you managing a university campus, which means overseeing everything from housing and dormitories to organizing classes and extracurricular activities and hiring staff. The sim appears to take the same wacky approach as its previous game, which means you can make the clown college of your dreams.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is such a fascinating concept considering the cult status of the original games from 2000 and 2004. It's a first-person RPG set in the same World of Darkness universe as its tabletop RPG source material, but in a modern-day Seattle, and it looks to build on what the Bloodlines did in 2004.