PC Gamer's Scores

  • Games
For 3,862 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 50% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 45% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.7 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 72
Highest review score: 98 Crysis
Lowest review score: 7 NRA Varmint Hunter
Score distribution:
3877 game reviews
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A brilliant tale of terror, even if the ride is a little old and clunky.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    But Fallout 3 has fidelity to its predecessors in more important ways, such as offering an incredible depth of role-playing opportunities. [Holiday 2008, p.54]
    • PC Gamer
    • 89 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    If you can make it through the uninspired first third, you'll be treated to one of the prettiest, coolest, most compelling shooters released in the past year. [June 2002, p.65]
    • PC Gamer
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D is welcoming for newcomers, a fan's dream, and a truly timeless classic.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    While the learning curve might be steep at first, Xenonauts 2 offers incredibly rewarding tactical action for those willing to ascend it.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Wargames don't see a lot of innovation, but Unity of Command 2 builds new things out of familiar parts.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Sharp, multilayered satire that remembers to be a game even as it makes fun of us for playing.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    It's not all stealth. Ubi Soft's Montreal studio did a terrific job sprinkling the missions with spasms of frenetic action and tech-savvy stunts. [Mar 2003, p.84]
    • PC Gamer
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A brilliant mix of high skill and low comedy, and the best medieval combat game out there.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A sure bet for the adventure crowd and anyone who appreciates a great story. [Jan 1999, p.186]
    • PC Gamer
    • 88 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    It's rare in this day and age to be truly impressed by a game's graphics, but a lot of your early game time will be spent just marveling at the scenery. [Dec 2002, p.90]
    • PC Gamer
    • 89 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    What Remains of Edith Finch is a masterful piece of storytelling: gorgeous, skillfully told, uplifting in places, and devastating in others. Avoid seeing too many spoilers— seriously, I can't think of a game more in need of being unspoiled than this one—and play it.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    An exemplary game that's a must-buy for wargamers. [March 2005, p.70]
    • PC Gamer
    • 92 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Old school still rules. [Aug 2008, p.67]
    • PC Gamer
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    If you've been following Sam and Max's adventures, your life won't be complete until you play this episode. [June 2008, p.76]
    • PC Gamer
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A brilliant climbing adventure that siphons the rage out of navigation puzzlers like Death Stranding and Baby Steps, resulting in something prickly, but warmly approachable.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The fact that this is basically a one-person project only makes it more impressive, from the excellent use of simple graphics to convey emotion, to the fantastic lo-fi soundtrack. It may or may not be the best RPG you play this year, but it’s certainly going to be one of the most worthwhile—as memorable as anything in, say, The Witcher 3, and every bit as worthy.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Call of Duty 4 is an exciting shooter package that represents the best of last-generation gameplay. [Jan 2008, p.70]
    • PC Gamer
    • 89 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Rocksmith 2014 is not just a fun game for guitar players, but the best way to learn how to play guitar or improve your technique. [Jan 2014, p.68]
    • PC Gamer
    • 91 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Actually playing the [D-Day amphibious-assault] mission was one of the most gripping experiences I've had on the PC in a long time...it's damn fun. [Feb 2002, p.58]
    • 90 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Gorgeous, immersive and packed with game modes, NBA 2K13 is one poorly designed keyboard setup away from b-ball glory.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Brilliant design; a reward-happy, lighthearted multiplayer fray. One of the finest $15 shooters ever made.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The game with the best camera system ever. It's simplicity incarnate, and so intuitive that it makes playing the game extra fun by nature of its unobtrusiveness. [June 2002, p.46]
    • PC Gamer
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A brilliant singleplayer campaign married to inventive, skill-intensive multiplayer that calls back to FPS classics of old.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A satisfying disassembly sim wrapped in cutting workplace commentary, Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a gig well worth taking up.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Vengeance combines the fresh, familiar, and the fiendish into one incredible RPG.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    But Sega's expansion for Medieval II does add around 80 hours of gameplay to the franchise--all for the price of a regular($29.99)expansion pack. [Dec 2007, p.69]
    • PC Gamer
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Despite its gacha systems, Honkai: Star Rail is an impeccable turn-based RPG with a killer visual style.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Lost Ember is a wonderful, unique, and unforgettable experience with a love for nature.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    It's stinkin' great, everything about it kicks ass... If you play EverQuest at least once a week, this $28 download is a must-have. [Jan 2004, p.96]
    • PC Gamer
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Be prepared for a long journey either way because, as compelling as "Dread Lords" was, Dark Avatar will suck strategy game fans into its marvelously intricate and textured universe like light into a black hole. [May 2007, p.64]
    • PC Gamer
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    I had such a good time blasting away at Stormtroopers and piloting speeder bikes through the forest of Endor that I almost forgot about my own fiery death. [Dec. 2006, p.124]
    • PC Gamer
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    But it's the puzzles that elevate Underworld to new heights. [Jan 2009, p.54]
    • PC Gamer
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Both single-player and multiplayer RTS buffs will find plenty of utterly fantastic content here. Thrones is a must-buy expansion for owners of "Rise of Nations." [July 2004, p.60]
    • PC Gamer
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Valorant transforms the best of CS:GO with agents and abilities, resulting in an exceptional FPS that everyone should try.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    This is the best tank simulation you can buy, and maybe the best one ever. [Dec 2000, p.170]
    • PC Gamer
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Ultimate Alliance does have its vulnerable spots--such as a camera that occasionally obscures the action--but its strengths are many and, dare I say it, marvelous. [Jan. 2007, p.72]
    • PC Gamer
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    I am utterly in love with Wildermyth. With this full release bringing it to five main campaigns and fleshing out endless generic ones, it will satisfy your RPG craving like nothing else.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Weather effects have been vastly upgraded, with much more varied and convicing cloud layers, snow, and lightning, and even improved rain effects. [Oct 2003, p.120]
    • PC Gamer
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    These single-player campaigns are really the only part of this whole pack that came close to disappointing me. [Holiday 2001, p.84]
    • PC Gamer
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    This expansion has depth, it's incredibly challenging, and it highlights superlative production values in all the areas you'd expect, and even in some you wouldn't. [Feb 2003, p.83]
    • PC Gamer
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Vermintide is a brilliant twist on the Left 4 Dead formula, and deserves much of the same praise heaped on Valve.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Riven is as impressive, immersive, and unmissable as it's ever been.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    For those with the machine to handle it, PlanetSide 2 is never anything less than staggering. On your own, it's a spectacle. Stand far enough back and you can almost take it all in, but there's just too much there to focus on. With teammates, the picture comes into glorious focus.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Smart without being overbearing, Zero Escape: The Nonary Games continues to set the bar for its genre.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Lighthearted humor and creative story elements are unveiled at every turn, pushing this simulation to the head of its genre. [Dec 2003, p.96]
    • PC Gamer
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    It seems crass to judge a game by quantity, but this is quantity of quality. So if the amount of money you spend on games is a practical concern, it's worth saying that this one is freakishly good value. Even if it's not a concern, it's worth saying that this one is freakishly good.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The best game on PS4 is now one of the best games on PC.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Quake isn't destined to revolutionize action games, but it's a very good first-person shooter from the guys who invented the genre. [October 1996, p.150]
    • PC Gamer
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Grounded is a delightfully creative and occasionally terrifying survival sandbox.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    It’s impressively well thought-out, and a highly engaging MMORPG that’s kept me captivated for the last few weeks solid. [Jan 2002, p.80]
    • PC Gamer
    • 94 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    An open world action RPG from FromSoftware that reaches new heights, but spends too much time in the familiar.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A powerful reminder of why nobody has ever truly taken Warcraft’s rusty crown.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Truly epic historical strategy. It's a good pick for RTS fans. [Aug 2005, p.60]
    • PC Gamer
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A beautifully constructed and powerfully atmospheric mystery that you really have to work to solve.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    One of the most enjoyable single-player and multiplayer action games ever. [Feb 2000, p.92]
    • 73 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    What it lacks in flash, it delivers in sheer strategic brilliance. [June 2005, p.56]
    • PC Gamer
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A frenzied, elegant action game that pulses with great music and demanding thrills, for only £2/$3.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A stellar action platformer with gorgeous presentation and excellent combat. Punishing but worth it.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Just an utterly fantastic multiplayer shooter, and while it doesn't replace "Battlefield 1942," it's a perfect complement. [June 2004, p.64]
    • PC Gamer
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Football Manager returns with a kitbag full of new and overhauled features. It's the best at what it does, and FM 19 is the best it's ever been.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Wolf Among Us deftly merges Walking Dead's moral quandaries with a noir murder mystery starring Fables' cast of fairy tale legends.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Myth is a melee of a good time. [Feb 1998, p.180]
    • PC Gamer
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    It forces you to think more like a real-world commander and less like a "wargamer." [Jan 2003, p.102]
    • PC Gamer
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A gorgeous, relentlessly entertaining open-world piracy simulator packed with interesting 18th century rogues.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Keeper is a gorgeous little package of tightly designed puzzles and cerebral platforming that showcases what makes Double Fine's games so uniquely special.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A beautiful, deep, and endlessly replayable murder sandbox, featuring some of the best levels in the series.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    It's so goofilfy hilarious, you may just find yourself a wisecrack away from peeing in your Jockeys. [June 2005, p.76]
    • PC Gamer
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    But what separates Warlords Battlecry II from the horde are its scope and depth. You don't just have two or three races – you have 12. [June 2002, p.72]
    • PC Gamer
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Tales from the Borderlands is a big, funny adventure with great characters—worth playing even if you don't like Borderlands.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The flock of dizzying strategic possibilities and the brilliant plumage it's dressed in make this digital board game a must-play.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A compelling WWII grand-scale sim. When I say "grand," I'm talking about a King Kong Burrito Supreme with extra sauce and tripple toppings. [Feb 2003, p.74]
    • PC Gamer
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    As any fan of this outstanding multiplayer game will explain, six new maps for Battlefield 1942 is almost like adding six new sequels to the game. [Apr 2003, p.100]
    • PC Gamer
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The best fully 3D real-time strategy yet. [Feb 2001, p.58]
    • PC Gamer
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Comfortably the best, funniest and most heartwarming game about a desperate battle over real estate, now available on PC as a good port at a generous price.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Old Gods does just about everything you could ask for in a sandbox strategy game expansion, and with far fewer initial bugs and technical issues that any previous release of the series. [Aug 2013, p.75]
    • PC Gamer
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Halls of Torment's specific aesthetic couldn't be more attuned to my sensibilities as a child of the ARPGs of the late '90s and early 2000s. Give me two honking great orbs representing my health and mana and a protagonist who has no articulating joints in his legs and I'm a happy man, and HoT makes me very happy indeed with its lo-fi heroics and diffuse, stygian levels. If I could play this thing on a beige CRT while Rob Zombie screamed in my ears I wouldn't know it wasn't 1999. Actually, wait, I can do that. If anyone needs me, tell them I'm busy for the next… foreseeable future.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    An atmospheric, captivating crime thriller with an interactive story that unravels differently for every player.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A deep and rewarding competitive game that becomes something special when taken on in the company of others.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The deckbuilder and the soulslike accommodate each other well, even if Death Howl is initially too busy killing you to show its best hand.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Not since lemmings has a game so seamlessly mixed humor, cutscenes, and cruelty. [Holiday 2011, p.77]
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    It's a changed game, but it's never been such spectacular fun to play, or so creative to tinker with.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A gleefully anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits, TGYH is the funniest game I've played.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    This wonderfully clever strategy roguelike demands your best, and it deserves to get it.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Vessel of Hatred gives Diablo 4 a beating heart: Compelling characters to root for, creative loot to chase, and fiercely expressive action.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Still, Gears of War is a fantastic action game worthy of your time if you've never played the Xbox 360 version. [Jan 2008, p.72]
    • PC Gamer
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Jamestown harkens back to an era when we played games just to get a high score--when beating a game this challenging actually earned you bragging rights. [Oct 2011, p.77]
    • PC Gamer
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Merciless, frustrating, and harder than dry cereal, but exquisitely balanced. Few games are so rewarding. [July 2013, p.62]
    • PC Gamer
    • 92 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A completely original, utterly captivating riff on the first-person action game. [Apr 1999, p.114]
    • PC Gamer
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    If you’re looking for a great thrill ride, an interesting story, and bleeding-edge technology, Max Payne delivers all of them.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Defense Grid's excellent personality and gameplay make it both a great game for experienced tower defense fans and an excellent starting point for new players. [Apr 2009, p.86]
    • PC Gamer
    • 90 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Silksong can be ruthless, but it's hard to pry yourself away from its haunted little world that never seems to end.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Polishing off the brilliance that is NOLF 2 are the game's stunning graphics, powered by the LithTech Jupiter engine. [Holiday 2002, p.78]
    • PC Gamer
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Though not quite as genre-pushing as "Chariots" is, Beelzebub masterfully ties up every single loose end left dangling in the first and second seasons. [July 2008, p.69]
    • PC Gamer
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    An endlessly delightful destruction sandbox.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Funny, touching and full of action and smart in-jokes, Citadel is Mass Effect’s heartwarming last hurrah to its fans.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Spectacular player collisions and tackles, and a far more realistic pace make FIFA 12 the best football sim yet.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    This game has evolved from admirable statistical sim to full-on addiction. [July 2005, p.57]
    • PC Gamer
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A first-rate RTS game that just may revitalize the genre. [Sept 2000, p.110]
    • PC Gamer
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Knockout City punches above its weight as a complex and uniquely fun competitive brawler.
This publication does not provide a score for their reviews.
This publication has not posted a final review score yet.
These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation.

In Progress & Unscored

?
    • 87 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Clever innovations and a generous economy make Legends of Runeterra easy to love. [Open Beta review score = 85]
    • 75 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    The result is a competent remaster and the best way to play this classic Total War, but it still can't compete with its modern heirs.
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Mycopunk shows a ton of promise, but that doesn't mean it's infallible. The progression can become a bit of a slog, and it can take a while to level up or collect enough resources to upgrade your kit. There's also definitely a cap as to how many missions you can do in a row before it all just blends into a violent blur. The variety in mission types only keeps things fresh for so long. There are also some glitches, many of which the devs are aware of, but that doesn't make them any less annoying. I've been lasered by an Abomination through a wall more than once now—you're never safe, even when you think you are. But none of this ruins the fun, it's just something to bear in mind: The fungal growths of Early Access. [Early Access Provisional Score = 79]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Honestly, I would have preferred Krafton give this game even more time to cook. It almost feels like I'm playing pretend at playing pretend right now—engaging with a variety of set pieces I can do a cute peace sign in front of before moving onto the next thing. In an attempt to offer something different to The Sims, Inzoi has failed to establish any sort of identity of its own. I'm not even sure Krafton knows what direction it wants to take right now, but it needs to figure that out quickly, otherwise I fear it'll be another casualty of the genre. [Impressions]
    • 40 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    It's a spectacular disaster, which feels like a rarity these days: there are lots of bad games, but for a game that was announced at E3 and made by a major publisher and studio to be this catastrophic is something.
    • 86 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Playing Mass Effect Legendary Edition is a constant see-saw of noticing an improvement, then wishing it went further. You can sprint outside combat, but only for like three seconds. There's a dedicated melee button, yet no way to separate the sprint and take cover actions to separate keys. You can skip the elevator rides, which are the only way to hear banter that could be filling the stretches where you jog from place to place. The graphics are better, but there's no FOV slider. [Mass Effect 1 score = 77]
    • 39 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    The action would be passable if it were buoyed by a compelling story, but I ain't gripped so far. [2-Hour Impressions]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Repo is a fantastic co-op horror game that can hold its own against big shots like Lethal Company. It's also only in early access right now, and with plans to introduce more player customisation, story elements, equipment, levels, and enemies, all I can say is that I'm really looking forward to seeing where the devs take this co-op horror game. [Early Access Impressions]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Subnautica 2 is a decidedly well-balanced survival game. In a handful of hours of pre-release play, I've never found the scavenging and crafting grueling, but neither have I found it so easy that the expansion of my underwater base feels unearned. [Early Access Impressions]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    It's so mundane that I expected Schedule 1 to get boring by the fifteenth time I'd lugged a bulk order of plastic baggies to my crappy apartment, but like my latest strand of weed called "Wedding Ass," the drug-dealing sim dominating Steam right now is undeniably habit-forming...Chalk up that success to a lot of smart design choices from developer TVGS—its constant sense of progression, clockwork open world, expressive characters, gratifying supply/demand loop, day one co-op support—but I reckon Schedule 1's secret sauce is a crafting system that doesn't suck. [Early Access Impressions]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    I haven't been too blown away by what I've seen of it so far, but if Masters of Albion could help revive the god game genre, at least a little? That'd be fine by me. [Early Access Impressions]
    • 55 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    I'm enjoying Battlefield 1. It's not a huge departure for the series, despite the period, but it is meaningfully distinct from Battlefield 4. That may disappoint those who simply want progression that mirrors the jump from Battlefield 3 to 4 – more guns, more features and new maps.
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    But as I should've guessed from developer Traveller's Tales' modern Lego run, Legacy of the Dark Knight is just too darn delightful to sustain a stormy mood. It took all of five minutes for the brick-based brawler to put a smile on my face, and it didn't go away for two hours of play. [2-Hour Hands-On Impressions]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    On the surface, Bond might seem a natural fit for IO: all glitz and gadgets that make it feel like barely a skip away from the world of Hitman. But what I saw had me feeling that the studio has not leaned into its strengths, trading the absurd clockwork worlds of Agent 47 for a more tightly choreographed, linear, and "cinematic" game that IO has never been all that good at. The last time it tried was Hitman: Absolution. We know how that worked out. [3-Hour Hands-On Impressions]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    There's two chapters left to turn things around but Tell Me Why is going to have to pull out all the stops to make up for a bungled first act.

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