We're over halfway through 2019 already, and as ever, there are always too many games to play on PC. Below, we've collected every game that's scored 80% or above from our reviewers since January, so you can browse through them in one place. Don't forget to check out our ever-updated list of the best PC games, too, for broader recommendations of what to play next. We'll keep refreshing this page as we get closer to the end of 2019.
Amid Evil
Our review (86%) | Buy it: Steam, GOG
"Part of Amid Evil's appeal is that it ignores certain annoying, speed-hindering FPS conventions scaffolded onto shooters since the '90s. There's no fall damage. You can breathe underwater. Elevators won't crush you if they catch your shoulder on the way down. They'll just clip through you as they should. Accidental deaths have their place in games, especially when they're comedic, but here they'd only get in the way of the fun and the speed. They aren't missed."
Verdict: At its best when the screen is full of enemies, Amid Evil is a badass monster mash.
My Friend Pedro
Our review (81%) | Buy it: Steam, GOG
"Along with the score, at the end of every level Pedro gives you a gif of a highlight to save or share. Postcards from murderland, they slice My Friend Pedro into a handful of enjoyable seconds. Its take on bullet-time is fun for more than seconds, though. Unlike Superhot or Max Payne I never got tired of its bullet-time thanks to short levels, high variety, and a storyline that's purest nonsense."
Verdict: Breezy fun that also rewards combo-chasing mastery. Barrel through the story once for a laugh, then replay the best levels until you are John Wick on a skateboard.
F1 2019
Our review (91%) | Buy it: Steam
"Codemasters has had the handling down for years now. It's twitchy and frightening, and gives you just the right amount of rumble in your hands as you wrestle your car implausibly fast over an impeccably rendered apex. It feels in this game, as it has for many prior instalments, like a carefully struck balance between detailed physics modelling and 'sim-cade' accessibility."
Verdict: F1 2019 retains immaculate handling and visuals while adding cinematic spectacle and junior series racing.
Outer Wilds
Our review (89%) | Buy it: Epic Games Store
"Superficially, Outer Wilds is a first-person game about exploring a small solar system containing a handful of quirky planets full of weird and interesting phenomena. You fly to a planet, you look at some stuff, you die. You fly to a different planet, you look at some different stuff, you die. More significantly, though, Outer Wilds is a mystery sandbox. It reminds me a lot of Her Story or Return of the Obra Dinn, in that its solar system feels like a puzzle that I piece together by connecting small, often seemingly unrelated details."
Verdict: Beneath its charming and inventive worlds, Outer Wilds hides a cleverly unfolding mystery.
Observation
Our review (82%) | Buy it: Epic Games Store
"But what's interesting about Observation is that you don't play as Fisher. Instead, you play as SAM, her AI helper. The station is an extension of you, and its cameras are your eyes and ears. You can, when asked, open doors, cycle airlocks, assess damage, and all manner of functional duties. But something seems to have awoken in you. A flicker of self-awareness, perhaps. And an ominous command from an unknown party has infiltrated your programming: BRING HER."
Verdict: A stylish, understated, and subtly chilling psychological thriller with a compelling mystery at its core.
Mordhau
Our review (84%) | Buy it: Steam
"If you've got the patience and dexterity to take full advantage of its melee combat, Mordhau can be a real treat. Especially in the Frontline mode, slashing and stabbing across its beautiful and well-designed maps was really entertaining once I got my feet under me. The high skill cap and lack of good supporting roles can make it feel tiring at times, but it's mostly worth it for the satisfaction that comes with increasing mastery."
Verdict: High skill cap melee combat is equally rewarding and daunting, though the archery and support roles could use some work.
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Our review (88%) | Buy it: Steam
"Where Yakuza Kiwami felt like an expansion to Yakuza 0, Kiwami 2 is larger, fuller and more varied than Yakuza 6, its Dragon engine predecessor (which isn't available on PC—the series seemingly being ported in order of storyline). While I still slightly prefer Yakuza 0, this is well worth your time."
Verdict: A triumphant remake of Yakuza 2, full of fun diversions and featuring one of the series' best stories.
Mortal Kombat 11
Our review (85%) | Buy it: Steam
"But the good news is that the stuff that defines Mortal Kombat is also here in gore-soaked, self-aware spades. The fighting is the best it's ever been. The fatalities are sickeningly inventive. There are enough unlockables to keep you busy for months. But it's the story mode that stands out, stitching together 27 years of MK lore into something that resembles the best bits of a Marvel movie."
Verdict: A deep, customisable fighter that just happens to include the best video game movie never made.
Imperator: Rome
Our review (92%) | Buy it: Steam
"I've spent whole days (and countless in-game years) invested in wars and plots, some ending less favourably than others, but Imperator is endlessly fascinating and I expect to be digging through it for ages."
Verdict: Huge, inventive and the reason I'm sleep deprived. It's brilliant.
Heaven's Vault
Our review (88%) | Buy it: Steam
"Heaven's Vault is exquisite. I've finished my first playthrough of the archaeological sci-fi adventure, so the main narrative mysteries like "What happened to roboticist Janniqi Renba?" and "What exactly is Heaven's Vault?" are known. The reason I immediately headed into New Game Plus is that the real puzzle at the heart of Heaven's Vault is translating the world's Ancient hieroglyphics. That's still unfolding and it's absolutely stunning."
Verdict: Heaven's Vault communicates the beauty of assigning meaning to symbols, and thus the people who wrote them.
Anno 1800
Our review (84%) | Buy it: uPlay
"Script carbuncles aside, Anno 1800 is a rich and sumptuous city-builder, easily the grandest and deepest Anno to date. Its early game is a wonderfully relaxing experience, while the later stages will have you scratching your mutton-chops and happily stretching your braces in equal measure."
Verdict: Despite an annoying story mode, Anno 1800 is the biggest and best entry in the series to date.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
Our review (83%) | Buy it: Steam
"Ace Attorney hooks you the same way any good crime serial does: you want to know whodunit, and how, and once you do, you want to point your finger at the criminal in a heroic fashion and laugh. I dare you not to be sold on Ace Attorney as soon as the verdict hits the screen in big, bold letters, and the room erupts into cheers and confetti."
Verdict: Just what a visual novel should be—fun characters and the rush of solving mysteries make you eager to keep going.
Outward
Our review (89%) | Buy it: Steam
"Outward's unusual design provides a different experience than I've found in most RPGs. It completely breaks the common habits of fast-traveling, gaining a fortune in loot, becoming an all-powerful god, and reloading saved games when things don't go as planned or you make a choice you regret. It makes minor setbacks feel like major obstacles to overcome and it makes small victories feel like utter triumphs. Outward is harsh and occasionally frustrating, but it does what so few games do. It requires you to put real thought into the choices you make, and it makes those choices feel like they really matter."
Verdict: A few rough edges don't stop Outward from being a gem of an RPG.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Our review (92%) | Buy it: Steam
"Sekiro's combat system serves up exciting new challenges to the end and the shinobi fantasy is powerfully realised in every savage deathblow and perfectly timed parry. If you're up for the challenge, Sekiro will reward your patience with some of the most spectacular, nerve-wracking duelling on PC."
Verdict: A brutal, uncompromising action game with sensational sword combat. From Software has done it again.
The Division 2
Our review (82%) | Buy it: uPlay
"This is a very complete-feeling follow-up to The Division, from a team that clearly learned a lot about its audience after a series of successful, high-value updates. Dedicated players know they want this already. For everyone else, this is an exciting, moreish shooter set in an impressive world that already offers tens of hours of enjoyable shooting and cool loot."
Verdict: A packed, rewarding, and frequently thrilling looter shooter that should have a bright future.
Baba is You
Our review (90%) | Buy it: Steam
"Baba is You deserves its critical acclaim. It's part logic puzzle, part existential quandary, part love letter to how much potential is contained in the tiny building blocks of language."
Verdict: Baba is You manages to take the familiar idea of nudging blocks and solving puzzles in a fresh direction. Brilliant.
Hypnospace Outlaw
Our review (81%) | Buy it: Steam, GOG
"Hypnospace Outlaw is, rather unexpectedly, one of the best detective games on PC. Its puzzles are layered and complex, but never unfair. It respects you enough to let you figure things out at your own pace, and with almost no hand-holding. But if you do hit a wall (trust me, you will) there's a well-designed hint system buried in there too. Its internet is a joyous explosion of art, music, creativity, and weirdness, and a pleasure to explore. And it's a nice reminder of when the internet felt like a cool underground club, rather than a pervasive Hell from which there is no escape."
Verdict: A satisfying detective adventure based around a weird and wonderfully imaginative retro internet.
Devil May Cry 5
Our review (90%) | Buy it: Steam
"The setting lacks the flair and imagination of the genre behemoth Bayonetta, and those boss fights make it a slightly more uneven experience, but there's a greater variety of combat styles and a higher degree of challenge that will will keep me playing until Capcom hopefully releases another one. If you enjoy third-person brawlers DMC5 is a must, and if you've never tried one before, this is a great place to start. What a treat."
Verdict: Three great characters and a beautiful, fluid combat system make this a must-buy for hack-and-slash fans.
Dirt Rally 2.0
Our review (87%) | Buy it: Steam
"Although this isn't a complete overhaul of the last Dirt Rally, it does feel like progress. Certainly progress in the visuals, which look more than just four years down the line in this game. Progress in the level of immersion, thanks to tiny touches like driving beyond the finish line to the steward after each stage. And certainly progress in a sense of overarching structure to singleplayer racing, thanks to the team management conceit."
Verdict: Simply the best rally sim around, building on its predecessor's already fine foundations.
Apex Legends
Our review (93%) | Play it for free: Origin
"After a couple years of seeing battle royale games release in unfinished states, Respawn's confident spin on gaming's most popular trend has completely reinvigorated my enthusiasm for the genre. It'll need consistent support and long term updates to stay exciting, but Apex Legends is one hell of an opening salvo. Free, friendly, and consistently fun, it's the best battle royale game available today."
Verdict: Apex Legends is a quiet revolution in how we communicate in games, and an excellent team-based battle royale I can recommend to anyone, caveat-free.
Civilization 6: Gathering Storm
Our review (81%) | Buy it: Steam
"Civilization 6: Gathering Storm bites off a lot, but it proves more than capable of juggling big concepts like climate change and global diplomacy. It turns them into coherent but still complex systems that you'll constantly be interacting with, even before you start noticing that the beaches are vanishing. The climax doesn't live up to the build-up, but Civilization 6 is still a richer game for all the expansion brings."
Verdict: Gathering Storm is an ambitious expansion full of welcome additions, even if it does falter at the end.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2
Our review (84%) | Buy it: Steam
"In spite of the niggles, it's an absorbing space strategy game, and we don't get enough of them. The many featured factions as varied and characterful as you would expect from the 40K universe. Tyranids infect enemy vessels with swarms of hungry monsters, and latch onto enemies with long space tentacles. The Eldar are fast and near-invisible at the start of a fight. The Orks, well, they crash into stuff. If you're a fan of the universe there is even more to enjoy here. The voice acting sometimes goes full ham, but this is one of the most authentic attempts to capture the grandiosity of Warhammer 40,000. Emperor knows, many have tried."
Verdict: Involved, spectacular, space battles packaged into satisfying campaigns, and great fan service too.
Sunless Skies
Our review (90%) | Buy it: Steam
"Evocative, witty and razor sharp, Sunless Skies turns text into a reward: you'll find yourself seeking the right combination of items just to open up new lines of conversation. They’re the most important currency in a game that gives you a clutch of weird and wonderful tales to tell, even when you fail miserably. In these moments you'll realise that while you may not have achieved your goal, Failbetter certainly has."
Verdict: The sharpest writing around, wrapped inside a surprising adventure that’s tough but rarely unfair. Failbetter's finest hour.
Slay the Spire
Our review (92%) | Buy it: Steam
"The essence of what makes a great card game is readily available here: the joy of building a machine and optimizing it as much as you can. As is the bottomless surprise, the highs and lows of roguelikes. If that isn't enough, recently added moddability is already adding new decks, enemies, and cards to tinker with."
Verdict: A strategically deep deckbuilder that, with any luck, has spawned a brilliant new subgenre.
Resident Evil 2 Remake
Our review (89%) | Buy it: Steam
"This is pretty much the ultimate refinement of the classic Resident Evil formula—but with the added intensity of RE4's slick, dynamic over-the-shoulder combat. The result is a game that is comfortably among the best in the series, and a thrilling survival horror experience in its own right. It's not as surprising as RE7, but as an evolution, and a celebration, of vintage Resident Evil, you couldn't ask for much more."
Verdict: A tense, challenging, and beautiful remake of a classic survival horror game, and with enough fresh ideas to make it feel excitingly new.
Kenshi
Our review (84%) | Buy it: Steam
"I've still got to expand from a dustbowl community to a fortress; to send an expedition of battle-hardened warriors out into distant wilds while back at the township artisans and workers rake in profits thanks to the clockwork-like regimen I created. Kenshi is huge, amoral, and opaque enough that I'll be deciphering it it for a very long time."
Verdict: Work through the presentational ugliness and technical awkwardness, and you’ll find an experience of frightening depth.