The 10 PC games everyone has to love

Hi! This week we're beginning a new thing where one of us here at PCG introduces ourselves and the newsletter you're already reading, which is probably good for engagement or something?

As the weekend editor I look after the site when most of the other staff are having social lives or going outside or whatever normal people do. Last weekend I wrote about an artist who was banned from an art subreddit because their work looked AI-generated and the TF2 voice cast performing an ABBA parody. And people say Saturday and Sunday are slow news days.

Since it's still technically early January, you'll find a lot of features looking at the year ahead on the site at the moment, where we anticipate the many games we're looking forward to playing in 2023. (Assuming they don't get delayed.) The releases have already begun, and you'll find Chris's review of Aquatico linked below.

Here's to a 2023 full of great games, and make sure to take at least one break from videogames this weekend to look at a cloud and shake hands with a tree or whatever it is people do outdoors.

Nearly three years after its doors closed, collectible card game Duelyst returned in December 2022 as Duelyst 2, an updated version of the game created by a team of fans who were given a license to make the game from original developer Counterplay Games. Now Counterplay is expanding that opportunity to everyone.

One shiny new component begets another, and once you're in for a couple upgrades it's hard to resist the allure of an entirely new gaming PC. And then oops: there goes $1,500. But in 2023, I'm advocating for the Frankenstein approach: it's a great year to make a tactical, targeted upgrade to your PC for a fresh burst of speed that doesn't cost an accidental fortune.

Out of the thousands upon thousands of PC games out there, there are a precious few that everyone loves, or at least respects. Some of them are absolutely pivotal to the hobby and others are just really good and have remained good for years.

Imagine looking out over the skyline of a bustling city and instead of seeing a flock of birds or a passenger jet, you see a pod of dolphins or a gliding submarine. This is Aquatico, where you're building a city on the ocean floor after an asteroid strike has rendered the surface world uninhabitable. Instead of roads, you'll build pipelines, instead of city buses you'll have submarines, and your farms will grow oysters and seaweed instead of wheat and pumpkins.