Every year around the holiday sales, the same question comes up: what came out this year that is actually worth playing? With awards season landing in December, searches for the best games of 2026 so far climb fast. This list answers with numbers.
We took every game released on PC between January 1 and November 10, 2026, pulled its aggregated critic score (the average of reviews from many outlets), and kept the 21 games that scored 87 or higher.
Below you get a ranking table by score, then picks grouped by genre, each with its PC release date, a one line description, and its US Steam store price for the base edition. Scores and prices were checked on November 10, 2026.
The short version: the highest rated PC games of 2026 are Capcom's Resident Evil Requiem and Nihon Falcom's Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter at 92, and nine of the 21 are indies priced around $20 or less. This is a ranking, not an awards forecast. For the ceremony date and eligibility rules, see our Game Awards guide, and for our reasoning on who could win, read TGA 2026 Game of the Year predictions.
How we ranked: new 2026 PC releases, critic score 87+, no remasters or DLC
The ranking uses one number: the aggregated critic score for the PC version. Eligible games first launched on PC between January 1 and November 10, 2026.
That includes games that left early access with a full 1.0 release this year (Valheim, Enshrouded, Fields of Mistria) and console games that reached PC for the first time in 2026, like Death Stranding 2.
We left out remasters of existing games, such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered (92), and expansions or DLC, such as Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven (86), even when they score high. Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter is a full remake built from scratch, so it stays.
We stopped at 87 because that tier brings the list to 21 games, enough to cover every major genre. Keep two caveats in mind. Critic scores can move a point or two as more reviews arrive, and they do not always match what players think.
Forza Horizon 6 holds a 90 from critics while its recent Steam user reviews are mixed. Use the score to build a shortlist, then check recent reviews and supported languages on the store page before you buy.
Highest rated PC games of 2026 by critic score (as of November 10, 2026)
| Critic score | Game (PC release date) | Genre and notes |
|---|---|---|
| 92 | Resident Evil Requiem (Feb 27), Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter (Sep 17) | Survival horror / JRPG remake |
| 91 | Big Walk (Aug 4), Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Mar 19) | Online co-op adventure / action adventure (PC version) |
| 90 | Mina the Hollower (May 29), Forza Horizon 6 (May 19) | Pixel action adventure / open world racing |
| 89 | Schrödinger's Call (May 28), Valheim (Sep 9), Desktop Explorer (Jul 17), Well Dweller (Sep 22) | Visual novel / co-op survival 1.0 / PC mystery / metroidvania |
| 88 | Phantom Blade Zero (Oct 29), Fields of Mistria (Aug 5), Denshattack! (Jul 15), Mewgenics (Feb 10), Enshrouded (Oct 15), PRAGMATA (Apr 16) | Wuxia action RPG / farming life sim 1.0 / arcade action / roguelike tactics / survival action RPG 1.0 / sci fi action |
| 87 | Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve (Oct 2), Hermit and Pig (Feb 5), Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection (Mar 12), Mixtape (May 7), Welcome to Elderfield (Sep 10) | Flight combat / turn based RPG / monster raising RPG / story adventure / cozy horror RPG |
| Left out | The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered (92), Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven (86) | Remasters and expansions are excluded from the new release ranking |
| Next tier | Cairn (86), Nioh 3 (85), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (85), 007 First Light (84) | Big releases just below the 87 cutoff |
Before you buy
- Scores are aggregated PC critic scores as of November 10, 2026, and can shift a point or two as more reviews come in.
- Prices are US Steam base edition prices. Deluxe editions cost more, and sale prices change daily.
- You checked recent user reviews on the store page, not only the critic score.
- You compared your hardware with the recommended specs using how to check PC specs on Windows 11.
- If you are not in a hurry, you checked the Steam sale schedule before buying at full price.
The 21 best PC games of 2026 by genre, with US Steam prices
- 1Story driven action: Resident Evil Requiem, PRAGMATA, Phantom Blade Zero, Death Stranding 2Resident Evil Requiem (Feb 27, 92) is Capcom's new survival horror entry and ties for the highest rated PC game of the year. $69.99. PRAGMATA (Apr 16, 88) is Capcom's sci fi action adventure about Hugh and the young android Diana escaping a lunar base taken over by a rogue AI. $59.99. Phantom Blade Zero (Oct 29, 88) is a wuxia action RPG starring Soul, a warrior with 66 days left to live. $59.99. It runs on Unreal Engine 5, so check the Phantom Blade Zero system requirements first. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (Mar 19, 91) is the PC release of the 2025 PS5 game. $69.99.
- 2JRPGs: Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, Monster Hunter Stories 3Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter (Sep 17, 92) is Nihon Falcom's full remake of Trails in the Sky SC, following Estelle across Liberl as she searches for the missing Joshua. $59.99. Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection (Mar 12, 87) is the third game in the spin off series where you play a Rider who raises monsters and fights alongside them, with twin Rathalos at the center of the story. $69.99. Both are long, story heavy RPGs, ideal if you want one big game to finish over the holidays.
- 3Things that go fast: Forza Horizon 6, Ace Combat 8, Denshattack!Forza Horizon 6 (May 19, 90) moves the series to Japan with more than 550 real cars in its biggest open world yet. $69.99. Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve (Oct 2, 87) is a campaign focused flight combat game built around your squadron and the choices you make. $69.99. Denshattack! (Jul 15, 88) has you flip, trick, and grind a train through a colorful Japanese dystopia. $19.99. All three produce highlight moments in almost every session.
- 4Play with friends: Big Walk, Valheim, EnshroudedBig Walk (Aug 4, 91) comes from House House, the studio behind Untitled Goose Game. It is an online co-op walker talker where you wander and get lost in a big world with close friends. $19.99. Valheim (Sep 9 full release, 89) is the Viking survival and building game for 1 to 10 players, now out of early access. $29.99. Enshrouded (Oct 15 full release, 88) is a solo or co-op survival action RPG with fully terraformable land. $39.99.
- 5Indie action and exploration: Mina the Hollower, Well Dweller, Hermit and PigMina the Hollower (May 29, 90) is the new game from Yacht Club Games, the Shovel Knight studio: whip enemies and burrow underground across a cursed island. $19.99. Well Dweller (Sep 22, 89) is a dark fairy tale metroidvania starring Glimmer, a tiny bird armed with a matchstick. $19.99. Hermit and Pig (Feb 5, 87) is a story rich turn based RPG where an old man and his pig fight a sinister corporation. $14.99.
- 6Story, puzzles, and cozy games: Schrödinger's Call, Desktop Explorer, Mewgenics, Fields of Mistria, Welcome to Elderfield, MixtapeSchrödinger's Call (May 28, 89) is a picture book style visual novel about who you would call before the world ends. $17.99. Desktop Explorer (Jul 17, 89) has you dig through the abandoned profiles of an old PC to solve a mystery. $17.99. Mewgenics (Feb 10, 88) is a cat breeding roguelike tactics game from the creators of The Binding of Isaac. $29.99. Fields of Mistria (Aug 5 full release, 88) is a farming life sim with magic and romance. $13.99. Welcome to Elderfield (Sep 10, 87) is a hand drawn cozy horror farming RPG. $17.99. Mixtape (May 7, 87) follows three friends on their last night together. $19.99.
Record your first run of this year's best games
Your first boss fight, your first race, the first time your co-op group pulls something off: those moments only happen once. DOR is a free Windows app. Launch a supported game such as Forza Horizon 6, Ace Combat 8, or Valheim, and DOR detects it and records the whole session until you close the game.
Recordings collect in My Clips, where you find the moment you want, trim it, and save it in 16:9, 9:16, or 1:1. To stitch several moments together or add effect templates like shake zoom, text, and music, use DOR Studio, then export an mp4 or share a dor.gg link.
See the Forza Horizon 6 game page for game specific details, how to share Forza Horizon 6 gameplay videos for sending race clips as a link, and how to record Steam games for the basics. Game audio and your mic are captured on one track. Older videos are cleared only once the full gameplay storage share (5GB by default) is exceeded, and your latest recordings and liked videos stay. On supported NVIDIA graphics cards such as the RTX series, DOR records with NVENC hardware encoding.
