1. Stray

 This isn’t only one of the most hotly anticipated games of the year, it’s also one of the best. Stray knows how to let you enjoy the small things as it sends you around a post-apocalyptic world in a cat’s body. While the PC version has some niggles to iron out still, this short but heartwarming adventure proves why being an animal in video games can be such fun.

2. Madison

 This horror puzzler feels like a type of horror game that has been popular in the 2010s. You make your way through a house in first person view and flee for your life whenever a supernatural foe is on your heel.

 The best thing about Madison is how you not only explore a house of horrors, you use your trusty Polaroid camera to uncover hidden messages and solve puzzles. Thanks to plenty of jump scares and messages smeared on walls in blood, Madison is a throwback to the height of first-person indie horror.

3. GWENT: Rogue Mage

 This is a standalone expansion to Gwent, the popular card game from The Witcher 3. Not every mini-game makes a good stand alone, but the original Gwent has been going strong for several years now and is still a multiplayer favorite of many players.

Rogue Mage now tells its own story and offers its own version of Gwent, one that adopts a roguelike format like games such as Slay The Spire, and a gameplay style that’s been further simplified. Those of you expecting more of the game you know may be disappointed, but the stellar presentation and connection to the wider Witcher lore make this a fun and simple deck builder, particularly for people who still bounce off the original.

4. Monster Hunter: World

 Monster Hunter: World is an elaborate, extravagant game about slaying huge beasts and turning their tails into axes. Its gorgeous maps – from the bright, enchanted Coral Highlands to the toxic clouds of shrouded unbelly of the Rotted Vale – are fitting backdrops for some properly brilliant fights. The monsters are huge yet elegant, and both learning and countering their move set makes it feel more like a fighting game than a button-mashing hack-and-slash.

5. Forza Horizon 5

 We’re as happy to say that Forza is getting better with every game as you are to hear it. There is no other racing game out there that feels or looks like Playground Games’ racing spectacle, a game that trades the accuracy of other racers for beautiful vistas and a whole host of activities.

6. Doom Eternal 

 With new weapons, a more agile Doom guy, and a fresh emphasis on resource management, Doom Eternal somehow 1UPs Doom 2016, which was already deserving of a spot on this list. It’s an over-the-top celebration of guts and gore in which you chainsaw enemies in half, rip eyeballs from sockets and stomp on demon’s faces with a giant boot. But, at times, it’s also about restraint. Enemies have weak points to target and weapons that you can disable, so sometimes it’s worth finding a spare half-second in the heat of battle to pause, aim, and hit your shot, because it will save you a lot of pain later.

7. Alien Isolation

 Alien: Isolation’s motion tracker is a blessing and a curse: a terrifying sign that the beast is near, and even the thought of the sound puts our hair on edge. But we daren’t put it away in case we turn a corner and, bam, the alien is on top of us, and it’s game over, and we have to leave our PC to go outside for a long, slow walk. So we clutch the tracker close, hiding under a chrome desk in the hope the alien leaves us alone. One of the greatest video game monsters ever spawned. Intelligent, crafty and horrifying, it’s always stalking you, always searching. Grab your tracker and hide for your life.

8. Rocket League

 Football, but with cars: it’s that simple, and that complicated. Rocket League is, to the beginner, a fast arcade sport where vehicles slam into each other at 100 mph and occasionally bundle the ball into the net. But as you get to grips with the controls, it turns into an aerial acrobatic show with front flip assists, midair twirls and last-second winners. The great thing about Rocket League is that it’s fun at both of these levels.

9. Final Fantasy 14

 Square Enix’s second go at an online MMO is one of the biggest comeback kids of gaming: the base game was repetitive and not much to write home about, but the team didn’t stop there, improving FF14 with every expansion. Now it boasts one of the best stories in online role playing, and is truly a game for everyone. Final Fantasy 14 hasn’t only proven that the best Final Fantasy game may in fact be an MMO, it’s also in a position to teach other MMOs a thing or two about crafting satisfying, year-long plot arcs. A preliminary roadmap for at least five more years of content exists, so it’s truly never too late to start the game.

10. Mass Effect 2

 Mass Effect Andromeda was a dud, but the original three games are still our go-to RPG trilogy. No other series has got us as invested in its characters, and some storylines span all three games, running for hundreds of hours on end. The sci-fi setting, with its varied cities, planets and ships, is endlessly cool, and missions never feel repetitive, but it’s the crew you assemble, and the way Commander Shepherd interacts with them, that makes it stand out. You’re given weighty decisions to make that can literally decide the fate of whole space species, so it really feels like you’re leaving your stamp on the galaxy.

11. Call of Duty: War zone

 Call of Duty: War zone is the best battle royale on PC right now. Apex Legends is a close second, and a better bet if you want to control ultra-mobile heroes with cool abilities, but War zone plays like the greatest hits of the genre so far, with a few inventive twists. When you die, you get one chance to respawn by winning a 1v1 gunfight, which creates chances for memorable comebacks. Contracts give structure to each round by asking you to find a series of chests, defend a given area to reveal the next play circle, or hunt down an enemy, their location revealed on the map.