Best PC exclusive games of the last ten years or so?

[Gamerforlife]

I got a new computer that seems able to run modern games. I'm not saying it's super powerful or anything, but seems like it can get the job done. So I'm looking for games to play. Thing is, I'd rather not just get a bunch of games that I could easily play on my PS3 or Xbox 360. What are some great PC exclusives? I'm open to just about anything, though my interests lie more towards action oriented stuff. JT has threads on great indie stuff. So what's some good non-indie, exclusive stuff?

[Gamerforlife]

Also, I'm sort of torn between GOG and Steam. Where do you guy buy most of your games? And just out of curiousity, do some of you avoid both and just buy retail?

[fastbilly1]

I use both GoG and Steam excessively. Both have great sales and are good for different reasons. GOG is the be all end all for lan party games - for the fact you can install multiple people off one exe.

As for best exclusives I would say ARMA II, Witcher 1, and Civ5, are the first few to come to mind.

[Gamerforlife]

I use both GoG and Steam excessively. Both have great sales and are good for different reasons. GOG is the be all end all for lan party games - for the fact you can install multiple people off one exe.

As for best exclusives I would say ARMA II, Witcher 1, and Civ5, are the first few to come to mind.

Funny you mention Civ5. I recently told a friend I got a new computer and he said his brother had a free copy he was going to send me.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I buy from GamersGate personally. They're having their winter sale right now so you might want to have a look.

Anyways, I'm not sure I can provide you with a top 10 since there has been so much awesome stuff over the last 10 years. Anyways...

If you like multiplayer FPS Counter Strike: GO, Team Fortress 2, PlanetSide 2 and Natural Selection 2 (really cool asymmetrical shooter. Aliens vs. Marines) are all great.

Company of Heroes and StarCraft 2 are probably the best modern RTS games. CoH2 is coming out soon as well. If you want to try turn based strategy, Civilization IV can be had super cheap and V goes on sale regularly.

Altitude is a neat 2D combat-flight game with some neat modes, great controls, and good art.

Obviously, the PC version of Minecraft is the best, and there are loads of mods and other user content. It's a good value for what you can get out of it (if you like that sort of thing).

FTL: Faster Than Light is a really cool rogue-like ship-commanding... thing. Very challenging and there is a relatively active modding community for it.

As far as older games from GOG...

Carmageddon 2
Star Control 2
Deus Ex
Fallout and Fallout 2
and
Sim City 2000

Are all awesome. That's not even scratching the surface though.

[Valkyrie-Favor]

Don't forget Ys Origin.

[Erik_Twice]

Wow, that's quite the topic! From the very top of my head:

PEW PEW
Quake Live (If you think your team is in the way of killing people this is your game. Fastest shooting game around and a blast to play. You can play it in your browser, it's an update releae of Quake III Arena)
Team Fortress 2 (It has crappy ports on other platforms but the real game is PC only. Truly a game for everyone to enjoy, it has everything fun of FPS in the same game and mixed really well. Amazing.)

STRATEGY
Starcraft 2 (Made the original obsolete. One of the best Real Time Strategy games around but it may be too rock-paper-scissors focused to be your taste.)
Civilization V+Gods & Kings Expansion (Best Civilization title. But you need the expansion, the original game was pretty flawed which is why it got mixed reviews on release, not unlike previous games of the series).
Simcity 4 (Best Simcity title, the new one in the series looks terrible so far so I would try this one and the expansion)
Commandos 3: Destination Berlin (The best Commandos game which is quite high praise! You may want to play 2 before it because the mechanical differences can bother you if you are used to 3 but otherwise all the games are independent of each other. You won't find anything else like this series).


Random games from the top of my head:

Magical Drop V (Latest version of the game, PC-Only, includes the unreleased Ghostlop)
No One Lives Forever 1/2 (I have played the second one for like...five minutes. Looks promising! It has stealth as a core design paradigm so my pew pew tactics failed very quickly)
Sid Meier's Pirates! (Don't remember much of it, it's a remake of an older game)

[isiolia]

Also, I'm sort of torn between GOG and Steam. Where do you guy buy most of your games? And just out of curiousity, do some of you avoid both and just buy retail?

I use both. Without avoiding certain titles, you can't exactly avoid Steam these days (or other services at times, like Origin). Some games elect to use it effectively as DRM, and in those cases the disc is just effectively a download cache. You still have to bind the included serial to a Steam account and log into it to play. It's not uncommon to get Steam codes for a game from sources other than Steam too.

GoG is different in that the games are stand-alone. You can get an app to download them and stuff, but the games aren't tied to anything like (most) Steam games are. Not that everything about Steam is bad. You have your cloud saves, easy installs and updates (even remote installs, which can be nice), community features, and so on.

Personally, if I'm paying full price, I tend to go with physical copies even if they're tied to Steam or something. Sale prices, I'm not as picky.


As for some games....

I wouldn't just ignore games if there was a 360 version or something. Some genres work nicely with mouse and keyboard, or have mods that make them something more than the console versions if you like. Could take a look at this image that gets pointed to a fair bit.

Pick up the Orange Box if you haven't played much of those games. Look for deals on Steam sales and/or the GoG ones.

You might consider trying some of the genres that aren't well represented on consoles, like RTS or MMOs. Maybe consider the Guild Wars titles (the first isn't really an MMO per se), which are simply buy-to-play. GW2 is different, but still huge and fun. The Old Republic is F2P now - you'll probably want to buy $4.99 worth of stuff to get Preferred status (at least), but you could try it. The Secret World also went Buy to Play like, yesterday. Or there are plenty more (keep in mind that those games are all 20-30GB installs, which may mean downloading that much).

[Betamax001]

GOG has a sale at this very moment. Best place to get older games IMO. I generally use Steam and for newer indie games I like Steam more because they are also there and I like having all my games in one place as much as I can. But with Steam or GOG unless there is something you just HAVE to have, wait because when they have sales they have things on sale! Right now on GOG it's half off pretty much everything. Steam can have things for sometimes 75% off or higher, so it's good to be patient. Steam usually always has something on sale at any moment, usually a certain game to spotlight.

[Hatta]

I've liked:

Sins of a Solar Empire - RTS in space
King's Bounty - Turn based strategy RPG in fantasy setting
Silent Storm - Turn based squad combat strategy
Company of Heroes - Real time squad combat strategy

Oh I'm sensing a theme here.