While laptops still occupy the majority of our editors' time and effort with CNET's hands-on reviews, we've rounded up our favorite recent desktop products below.
This list starts with models we've tested, and then moves on to more generic configurations. We haven't explicitly tested those specific models in the latter batch, but the specs listed should deliver considerable value for the price, based on our experience with similarly configured laptops we've tested. Unless otherwise indicated, the products listed below don't include a monitor , keyboard , mouse or webcam. You'll need to bring your own or buy them separately.
We update this best desktop PC list periodically. These are the best desktop PC models that we've recently tested and can recommend based on our hands-on experience. Apple has fully redesigned the iMac with a body so ultrathin that it could easily be confused with a jumbo-screen iPad. It's now built on the same superfast M1 chip found in Apple's late MacBook Air and Mac Mini see below , with a gorgeous inch screen replacing the previous The p webcam is a big upgrade over the MacBook's p model, and the rainbow of available colors -- hearkening back to the iMac G3 -- is a welcome addition.
Just be prepared to spend up for the myriad storage and accessory upgrades. Note that the larger inch iMac has yet to be revamped, and is still running an Intel processor.
Read our Apple iMac review. While we like all-in-ones for their convenience, they're not easy to upgrade, if they can be at all. Want to spend a bit less? Check out the more affordable desktop computer options recommended further down the page. If you're looking for the most affordable Mac out there, the news is good nearly all around. Apple's smallest desktop computer was among the first to get upgraded to the lightning-fast M1 processor, which runs rings around comparable Intel-powered Macs in terms of speed and performance.
Read our hands-on experience with the M1 Mac lineup. This Windows take on the basic iMac design hit stores in early , and it shows in its somewhat dated specs: a ninth-gen Intel CPU and a spinning hard drive backing up the GB solid-state drive. That said, you get a gigantic inch 4K display powered by an integrated Nvidia GTX video card which can handle some decent games in a reasonably attractive package.
We'd like to see a refresh with newer internals, but in the meantime, you'd be hard-pressed to find an all-in-one with a bigger screen than these HP desktops. Read our review of the HP Envy The new character system allows you to play any way you want and define yourself through your actions.
Battle ancient dragons like you've never seen. As Dragonborn, learn their secrets and harness their power for yourself. The Mass Effect trilogy is a science fiction adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life forms and mysterious uncharted planets.
Welcome to the s. They were understandably nervous about his re-appearance in Liberty City, so a trip down south seemed like a good idea. But all does not go smoothly upon his arrival in the glamorous, hedonistic metropolis of Vice City. He's set up and is left with no money and no merchandise.
Sonny wants his money back, but the biker gangs, Cuban gangsters, and corrupt politicians stand in his way. Most of Vice City seems to want Tommy dead. His only answer is to fight back and take over the city himself.
Vice City offers vehicular pleasures to suit every taste. For the speed enthusiast, there's high-performance cars and motorbikes.
For the sportsman, a powerboat or a golf buggy lets you enjoy the great outdoors. For those that need that sense of freedom and escape, why not charter a helicopter and see the beauty of Vice City from the air? An empire-building turn-based strategy game. Your tribe begins with a Settlers unit and has no knowledge about the surrounding area. As you found new cities and explore the surroundings, you may find hostile barbarians, villages, and other competing cultures.
Rage through 32 single player levels and 6 deathmatch levels of sheer terror and fully immersive sound and lighting. Arm yourself against the cannibalistic Ogre, fiendish Vore and indestructible Schambler using letal nails, fierce Thunderbolts and abominable Rocket and Grenade Launchers. Initially conceived as a floating symbol of American ideals at a time when the United States was emerging as a world power, Columbia is sent to distant shores with great fanfare by a captivated public.
What begins as a fresh new endeavor of hope turns drastically wrong as the city soon disappears into the clouds to whereabouts unknown. The player takes on the role of former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, sent to the lost city to rescue Elizabeth, a young lady imprisoned there since her childhood. He develops a relationship with Elizabeth, enhancing his abilities with hers so the pair may escape from a city that is literally falling from the sky.
DeWitt has to learn to fight foes in high-speed Sky-Line battles, engage in combat both indoors and amongst the clouds, and harness the power of a myriad of new weapons and abilities. Oblivion is a single-player game that takes place in Tamriel's capital province, Cyrodiil. You are given the task of finding the hidden heir to a throne that sits empty, the previous emperor having been killed by an unknown assassin.
With no true Emperor, the gates to Oblivion the equivalent of hell in the world of Tamriel open, and demons begin to invade Cyrodiil and attack its people and towns. It's up to you to find the lost heir to the throne and unravel the sinister plot that threatens to destroy all of Tamriel. In keeping with the Elder Scrolls tradition, players have the option to experience the main quest at their own pace, and there are plenty of opportunities to explore the vast world and make your own way.
Numerous factions can be joined, such as the thieves or mages guilds, and each contains its own complete storyline and the chance to rise to the head of the faction and reap further rewards. Oblivion features a groundbreaking new AI system, called Radiant AI, which gives non-player characters NPCs the ability to make their own choices based on the world around them. They decide where to eat or who to talk to and what they say.
They sleep, go to church, and even steal items, all based on their individual characteristics. Full facial animations and lip-synching, combined with full speech for all dialog, allows NPCs to come to life like never before. Something's rotten in the Land of Dead and you're being played for a sucker. Meet Manny Calavera, travel agent at the Department of Death. He sells luxury packages to souls on their four-year journey to eternal rest.
But there's trouble in paradise. Help Manny untangle himself from a conspiracy that threatens his very salvation. The kingdom of Khandaras has fallen into chaos. An unknown force of evil has swept across the land. Plunging it nto civil war and terrorizing the populace. A mad king, his missing son, and a mysterious archbishop are all pieces to the puzzle that faces you. You have journeyed to the source of the evil.
The town of Tristram. Now inhabited by only a handful of survivors. The catherdal there is buildt over the ruins of an ancient monastary, and now eerie lights and sounds are heard echoing through its abandoned halls. Perhaps the answer lies withing the remains of a forgotten past Diablo invites you to enter a world of dark gothic fantasy.
Play as a brave warrior, cunning rogue or mysterious sorceror. As you venture deeper into the labyrinth, you'll discover weapons, armor, and magical treasures, and develop your character's skills and abilities.
Faster-Paced Fun - Gameplay has been streamlined for a tighter, faster, and more compelling experience. Greater Accessibility and Ease of Play - An easy-to-use interface will be immediately familiar to RTS and action game players, and newcomers to the series will be able to jump in and play.
Tech Tree - Flexible Tech tree allows players more strategic choices for developing their civilizations along unique paths. More Civs, Units, and Improvements to enhance and grow your empire.
Team Play - Whether playing multiplayer or single player, team play offers a new way of setting locked alliances that result in shared wonder effects, visibility, unit trading, and shared territory that delivers a plethora of new strategic and tactical options.
Civ IV comes to life! Cities and wonders will appear on the map. Wonder movies are back! With the Empire attacking the Kingdoms of the North and the Wild Hunt, a cavalcade of ghastly riders, breathing down your neck, the only way to survive is to fight back. As Geralt of Rivia, a master swordsman and monster hunter, leave none of your enemies standing. Explore a gigantic open world, slay beasts and decide the fates of whole communities with your actions, all in a genuine next generation format.
A real-time strategy game set in World War II, Company of Heroes brings to life, in full cinematic detail, the greatest war mankind has ever known. Company of Heroes is built on Relic's next-generation Essence Engine and also utilizes the Havok Physics engine, delivering cinematic visual detail in a world completely driven by realistic physics.
Gamers will experience the journey of the brave men of Able Company in a deep single-player campaign that begins with the invasion of Normandy through their fight across Europe, all set against the most dynamic battlefield ever seen in a game. Company of Heroes' completely destructable environment means no two battles ever play out in the same way. Advanced squad AI delivers startling new realism and responsiveness, bringing soldiers to life as they interact with the environment and execute advanced squad tactics to eliminate the opposition forces.
It's the story of an impossible fight against a vicious alien race known as the Combine, set between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2. Playing as Alyx Vance, you are humanity's only chance for survival. The Combine's control of the planet since the Black Mesa incident has only strengthened as they corral the remaining population in cities.
Among them are some of Earth's greatest scientists: you and your father, Dr. Eli Vance. As founders of a fledgling resistance, you've continued your clandestine scientific activityperforming critical research, and building invaluable tools for the few humans brave enough to defy the Combine. Every day, you learn more about your enemy, and every day you work toward finding a weakness.
VR was built to enable the gameplay that sits at the heart of Half-Life. Immerse yourself in deep environmental interactions, puzzle solving, world exploration, and visceral combat.
Lean to aim around a broken wall and under a Barnacle to make an impossible shot. Rummage through shelves to find a healing syringe and some shotgun shells. Manipulate tools to hack alien interfaces.
Toss a bottle through a window to distract an enemy. Rip a Headcrab off your face and throw it at a Combine soldier. Hammer, Valve's level authoring tool, has been updated with all of the game's virtual reality gameplay tools and components. Master deep, tactical combat. Join up to 3 other players - but know that only one of you will have the chance to become a God.
Reload, rev up and ride out. The new Tournament is faster, higher and meaner. Land and air based vehicles take combat to a new level; while an arsenal of new weaponry, daunting arenas and battlefields and the challenge of the Assault and Onslaught modes make the gladiator blood sport of the future a brand new experience. Buckle up; it? The God of War has changed A difficult and unfamiliar road awaits as you explore a stunning retelling of a classic story.
Join Kratos as he adventures through a deep and reflective journey of growth, violence and the desire to become a better man for the sake of his son. In a world of monsters, dragons and gods, the weight of responsibility rests heavy on your shoulders -- and when your life is filled with blood and chaos, how can you prevent the mistakes of the past in order to protect your future? User Score: tbd. These three distinct and powerful races clash once again in the fast-paced real-time strategy sequel to the legendary original, StarCraft.
Legions of veteran, upgraded, and brand-new unit types do battle across the galaxy, as each faction struggles for survival. Featuring a unique single-player campaign that picks up where StarCraft: Brood War left off, StarCraft II presents a cast of new heroes and familiar faces in an edgy sci-fi story filled with adventure and intrigue.
In addition, Blizzard again offers unparalleled online play through Battle. Features fast-paced, hard-hitting, tightly balanced competitive real-time strategy gameplay that recaptures and improves on the magic of the original game.
New units and gameplay mechanics further distinguish each race. Vibrant new 3D-graphics engine with support for dazzling visual effects and massive unit and army sizes. Full map-making and scripting tools to give players incredible freedom in customizing and personalizing their gameplay experience. The game involves players creating and destroying various types of blocks in a three dimensional environment.
The player takes an avatar that can destroy or create blocks, forming fantastic structures, creations and artwork across the various multiplayer servers in multiple game modes. America, The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs.
Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed. After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive.
As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him. User Score: 6. The PC version features enhanced 3D audio. Environmentally scaled and referenced from the player's perspective. Create your own customizable Liberty City radio station, using the built-in mp3 player.
State-of-the art visuals utilizing the latest PC hardware render the city more beautifully than ever in 32 bit color. The skinnable player character enables fans to create and upload their own skin textures and to use a scanned-in photo to play as themselves. Deported to a harsh desert world, exiles have struggled for three thousand years to regain the stars.
Now it's up to you to guide them home through a brutal empire bent on annihilation. Homeworld boasts amazing ship graphics and gorgeous deep-space vistas, a unique command and navigation interface and white-knuckle real-time strategy. Beat Saber is a VR rhythm game where your goal is to slash the beats which perfectly fit into precisely handcrafted music.
Procedurally generated maps keep you from falling into a repeatable pattern in tactical missions, frequent random events on the strategic map shake up your build and research orders, and of course mods galore. Next up for Firaxis is Marvel's Midnight Suns , which will be released in the second half of The free update follows Franklin and his new "celebrity solutions agency" years after the events of GTA V. Dre composed new music for the game and will be featured as a character.
It masterfully mixes pieces of classic cRPGs with more modern mechanics and designs, feeling old and new at the same time. The sequel has improved upon its predecessor's already incredible combat by deepening its systems while simultaneously simplifying and smoothing out its clunkier bits - not to mention it introduced some brutally smart new AI. There's also an overwhelming amount of game here to play. With six different origin characters, custom tags to make your own, and over 74, lines of fully voiced dialogue, this massive RPG has more than enough to keep you coming back to it.
In a roguelike, variety is king: Slay The Spire 's constantly changing decks of ability cards, powerful relics, and the three drastically different playable characters keeps these turn-based battles fresh and engaging for far longer than they have any right to. Watching your character's attacks, defenses, skills, and powers evolve across its three chapters is a journey, and throwing your hand in at the end of a run knowing you may never see its like again can be like saying goodbye to a friend you were only just getting to know.
Of course, the possibility of getting an even better combination the next time through makes it tough to resist hitting the New Game button, and the randomized Daily Climb runs give even veterans a new and interesting way to play every day.
Just as the first Half-Life proved you could tell a story in a first-person game without taking control of the camera away, and Half-Life 2 pioneered physics-based puzzles and combat, Half-Life: Alyx has set a new standard for polish in virtual reality shooters and is a truly unique experience for VR headset owners.
Its full-length campaign pulls out all the stops for an amazing and horrifying battle against alien soldiers, zombies, headcrabs, and three-dimensional puzzles, and it even turns the simple act of reloading your weapon into a desperate life-or-death struggle. It caps it all off with a fantastic ending that made the wait almost feel worth it.
A "visually and technically enhanced" version of The Witcher 3 is coming to PC in Q2 and will include new content inspired by Netflix's The Witcher series — the second season of which is now streaming. Portal 2 claims the top spot because, in the past decade, nothing else has struck so many chords so perfectly. No game accomplishes so much so well. Its impeccable level design, charming personality, and exceptional and varied puzzle systems make us feel smarter just for getting through it.
Plus, its co-op campaign requires a different sort of smarts that remains one of the best multiplayer experiences with pals around. Valve is a developer that, presumably because of the time it takes to make its incredible games, creates a feeling of timelessness in its design.
Portal 2 — which iterated on and added to the brilliant puzzle design and world-building of its predecessor — feels just as clever and unique as it did in In addition to topping our list of the best PC games, Portal 2 cracked the top three on our recently updated list of the best video games of all time. First up is Monster Hunter Rise on January IGN named Rise one of the best action games of For much more on what's to come, check out our feature highlighting all the big games of Those are our picks for the 25 best modern PC games!
Let us know in the comments what's on your list that didn't make ours, and be sure to check out our other best games lists — we update them whenever new, great games are made:. Half-Life: Alyx. IGN's picks for the 25 best modern PC games to play right now. Have you played Half-Life: Alyx? Bioware has tweaked the controls and gameplay to make all three titles play smoothly. And yes, that includes the infamous Mako tank from the first game. To complete the package, all the games include all the DLC too, be it just guns and armor or a full story expansion.
With so much high quality content to enjoy, this is unquestionably one of the best PC games around right now. A sequel that's just as good as the original, Little Nightmares II once again puts you in the shoes of a vulnerable kid trying to escape the clutches of monstrous adults. This time you're not alone though. You play as Mono, the boy wearing a paper bag, but you're joined by Six, the girl with the yellow jacket who starred in the original game. As you'd expect, there are enemies to avoid or fight, plus lots of environmental hazards and traps to work your way around.
The visual design and sound design are as atmospheric as ever, which helps create a baseline sense of unease as you traverse the Pale City. It's on the shorter sides of these best PC games, but it's still all too memorable. The sequel to 's Nioh keeps the already challenging core of the action RPG intact, but adds new fun elements on top of that. Set in an early-modern Japan inhabit by numerous good and evil spirits, you play a half-spirit, half-human.
Adventuring across the islands you will meet key historical figures from the Sengoku Era, as well as taking on the yokai that stand in your way. The most obvious comparison point for this game is the Dark Souls series. Combat is quick and deadly for both you and your opponents, but you can augment your abilities with new items you discover and craft, which will help you reach the next checkpoint.
It doesn't just involve traditional weapons and switching battle stances any more though, as your new Yokai Shift powers let you take the form of foes you've defeated.
The lethality of battle and the number of complex mechanics means this game will take some serious dedication to complete. After hiding on the Epic Games Store as an exclusive early access title since late , Hades has now finally launched as a full product on other platforms, and quickly became recognized as one of the best PC games around. This is a rare combination of a roguelike game with a comprehensive, branching story.
You, playing as Hades' son Zagreus, have to continually fight your way through Hades the place, not your father over and over until you make it to Mount Olympus. The other famous gods of the Greek pantheon are also there for you to interact with. They serve as both characters in the story and as your method of upgrading your character with powers and abilities that reflect their place in the pantheon.
Each run means trying out a new combination of these gifts, and every failure still moves you forward. Available from Steam and the Epic Games Store. None of the other best PC games on this list offer you the whole world to play with, but the latest flight sim from Microsoft gives you exactly that, with both a mind-boggling scale and a meticulously detailed hangar of aircraft to pilot.
You have the choice of both light aircraft or huge passenger jets, letting you play as a lone amateur aviator or the captain of a commercial flight. The game promises to model their flight characteristics accurately, which are affected by real-time weather and daylight effects, so it'll be difficult to get a better idea of flying one of these machines without actually stepping into the cockpit in real life.
While you can nerd out over every single setting and control of your plane, you can also let the game take care of the tricky stuff while you enjoy flying around, seeing landmarks from across the globe or touching down at one of the game's many detailed airports. Chances are you've not played this unless you own a PS4 also , and since this version comes with all the DLC packed in, there's no better way to experience this open-world adventure.
Somewhere in the US after an unknown apocalyptic event, tribes of humans try to live quietly in amongst the hordes of animalistic robots that roam the lands. As the outcast Aloy however, you are bound for greater things. While your human enemies are armed with the same array of spears, bows and slings as you are, taking on the machines, particularly the larger varieties, requires a lot more tactical thinking.
There is a story to play through, one which helps explain the world and how it came to be this way, and that's quite enjoyable on its own. But it's exploring the beautiful but desolate urban areas reclaimed by trees and plants, hunting down your metal prey via traps and frontal attacks, and finally bringing it down after a long tense battle that secures H:ZD a spot on the best PC games list. As a high school student, you spend a year living in the town of Inaba, and fighting in an alternate dimension, where you must fight against the Shadows alongside your friends, using 'Personas', manifestations of your inner selves that contain immense power, as your weapons.
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