RPS Feature Everything to look forward to on PC in the new year.

The PC Games Of 2016

The best PC games of 2016 are a long way from decided, but what are the contenders? We’ve raked the internet in pursuit of the games due to be released over the next 12 months and assembled them into this handy list, which includes links to our preview coverage, release dates and other helpful details. If you’re searching for something to look forward to in the new year, read on.

Games are eligible for the list regardless of the type of release due, which means we’ve included games which are coming to early access over the next 365 days as well as those planning to celebrate their final versions. The list is split into categories, and these links will take you to each of them:

Action games
Adventure games
Driving and Racing games
Exploration games
Fighting games
MMOs
Platformers
Puzzle games
Roguelikes
RPGs
Shooters
Simulation and space games
Strategy games
Survival games

The list currently contains 308 games and we’ve excluded hundreds we think look like guff. We’ve probably also failed to remember or find some great looking games too, however. What PC games are you looking forward to in 2016? Tell us in the comments below and we’ll update this list throughout the year so its information and excited descriptions are always up to date.

Article by Matthew Cox and Joe Donnelly.

103 Comments

  1. 01/01/2016 at 14:15 Cockie says:

    No “No Man’s Sky”? Or did I miss it? It’s coming in June this year after all iirc…
    Glad to see Limit Theory make the list though :D

    • 01/01/2016 at 14:16 Cockie says:

      Also, great work on the list!

    • 01/01/2016 at 14:23 Andrew says:

      It’s in Action section.

      • 01/01/2016 at 14:51 Cockie says:

        Ah, I looked in Exploration, Space, Survival and Adventure. It’s listed as “Survival Game, Space” after all.
        Oh well, thanks!

        • 01/01/2016 at 23:36 Hedgeclipper says:

          Some of the classifications looked a bit odd to me – Mirror’s edge under shooters for example. Still there’s enough games to make assembling a list like this quite a job.

    • 01/01/2016 at 14:51 TillEulenspiegel says:

      Can that game really tolerate any more extremely vague hype?

      I mean, it could be super amazing, but we really don’t have the slightest clue.

      • 01/01/2016 at 14:55 Cockie says:

        You mean NMS? I agree, but it definitely belongs on a list of possibly interesting games coming out this year, I’d say.

    • 02/01/2016 at 00:18 legopirate27 says:

      Limit theory is actually coming out? I assumed that had quietly died along the way. I backed LT on kickstarter, so cool news! :D

      • 02/01/2016 at 09:18 Cockie says:

        It is! Josh disappeared for some months due to a stress-related breakdown, got professional help, changed his working method to a healthier one and things are now looking great.
        Source: link to kickstarter.com

        • 04/01/2016 at 16:00 Jay Load says:

          Well…yes, that was a great post to see. However, he’s done little visible since then…October seems to be the last thing I can find of his. Doesn’t mean he’s not busy beavering away, of course, but I do worry there’s been some kind of relapse.

  2. 01/01/2016 at 14:21 Agnosticus says:

    Haven’t seen the Dying Light expansion The Following in any of the lists, maybe because it’s an expansion.

    I really liked Dying Light, but merging it with mad-maxy car combat sounds like a lot of fun. Also they’re revamping the vanilla game.

  3. 01/01/2016 at 14:22 unraveler says:

    No Darkest Dungeon?

  4. 01/01/2016 at 14:33 Yachmenev says:

    Three games and one expansion on my own list:

    XCOM2
    The Witcher III: Blood and Wine
    Headlander
    Day of the Tentacle: Special Edition

    The later two seem to be missing in ther articles list?

    • 01/01/2016 at 15:34 Haggard4Life says:

      I didn’t see Full Throttle: Remastered either. Did they forget about the Double Fine games?

      • 01/01/2016 at 17:13 Yachmenev says:

        Full Throttle Remastered is a 2017 title, but the others should be there, when it’s a list of 308 titles. Hope they add them.

        • 01/01/2016 at 23:39 Hedgeclipper says:

          There’s some odd shoehorning with games for 2016 going on though. I’d be shocked to see a full release of Dwarf Fortress before 2030 and quite surprised to see a lot of those early access games with TBA release dates this year.

  5. 01/01/2016 at 14:35 rustybroomhandle says:

    XCOM 2!!!! *loud shriek, followed by a thud… foul smell to follow in a few days*

  6. 01/01/2016 at 14:51 Kallenar says:

    The game that I’m looking forward to the most in 2016 has to be “Stardew Valley”! A pixel art farming RPG, similar to “Harvest Moon” and “Animal Crossing”, but for PC.

    The remastered version of “Full Throttle”.
    Played it as a child, before I even had a grasp of the English language. And the intro still gives me goosebumps after all these years.

    “American Truck Simulator”. Spent more than 100 hours in ETS2, but I’ve always thought American trucks looks alot nicer.

    I really hope the Warhammer 40k games they’re working on turns out great. But leaning on past releases, I won’t hold my breath.

  7. 01/01/2016 at 14:59 Dodj33 says:

    Great list- i look forward to browsing through at leisurely pace very soon. I would like to echo Unraveller regarding Darkest Dungeon.

    Also Mirror’s Edge seems to have been placed accidentally in the Shooter Category.

  8. 01/01/2016 at 15:01 pringles says:

    Of the titles on these lists, I’m mildly hyped about Legion, System Shock 3, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, ATS and XCOM 2.

    I am, however, naming Live for Speed S3 as my contender for the game of the year of 2016. ;O.

  9. 01/01/2016 at 15:05 TheWhippetLord says:

    Although they haven’t set a release date, I’ll be surprised if the delightful-looking evil dead god simulator ‘That Which Sleeps’ doesn’t rise in some form this year.

  10. 01/01/2016 at 15:10 PopeRatzo says:

    I object to MOBAs and multiplayer gasbags being included in the “Shooter” category.

    • 01/01/2016 at 23:44 Hedgeclipper says:

      But then it’d be nearly empty… though I do agree; I got to the shooter page and thought there hasn’t been much activity with shooters lately, then I read on and realised I just wasn’t interested in most of what’s being called a shooter now.

  11. 01/01/2016 at 15:21 Dodj33 says:

    Some other games that look promising from my Steam Wishlist-apologies if they are included and I’ve missed them

    The Solus Project (Survival/ Exploration)
    Worlds Adrift (MMO)
    Goliath (Action)
    Formula Fusion (Racing)
    RIOT- Civil Unrest (Simulation)
    Bombshell (Action)
    Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders (Adventure)
    Block’hood (Simulation)
    Brigador (Action)
    Secrets of Grindea (RPG)
    Gemini: Heroes Reborn (Action)

    • 01/01/2016 at 16:28 Dodj33 says:

      Also Randomly

      GRIP (Racing)
      That Dragon, Cancer (Exploration)
      Allison Road (Horror/ Exploration)

  12. 01/01/2016 at 15:21 Turkey says:

    Beyond Good and Evil 2 is my most anticipated game on the PC games of 2017 list.

    • 01/01/2016 at 15:33 moisan4 says:

      I had no idea they were making a sequel, I am so happy.

      • 02/01/2016 at 13:40 Arkayjiya says:

        They were not as far as I remember. It was teased then scrapped then never heard again. Did something change in the meantime?

  13. 01/01/2016 at 15:33 Anthile says:

    I think my wallet just had a panic attack.

  14. 01/01/2016 at 15:38 suibhne says:

    Daunting list, but also odd omissions like The White March Part 2 and Blood and Wine.

  15. 01/01/2016 at 15:44 Herr_C says:

    It seems 2016 will be a bit of a let down after 2015. I haven’t been interested in this many games in one year since 2004.

    I just hope 2016 will fix the lack of good MP FPS games in 2015.

  16. 01/01/2016 at 16:02 Eight Rooks says:

    Small correction: Dragon’s Dogma is exactly the same, content-wise, as the original release. Bitterblack Isle is the new area that was added as an expansion when Dark Arisen first came out – it was just viewed as mildly odd/confusing at the time because Capcom basically sold it as a physical release (for 360 and PS3) which had the original game on and the expansion seamlessly integrated. If you bought it as a download that was what you got as well – there was no option to just pay for the new content (though IIRC it was priced significantly lower than usual). AFAIK there is nothing PC-exclusive about the port besides resomolutions and what have you.

  17. 01/01/2016 at 16:05 Kitsunin says:

    Ooh I forgot about Ladykiller in a Bind. Weird thing to be excited about, I suppose, but darn it there aren’t enough good visual novels! All the stuff getting localized from Japan lately has been pretty damn mediocre, too, but next year we’ve got this and Zero Escape 3! One would hope for a new Ace Attorney game too, but Capcom is so damn disrespectful with spin-offs.

  18. 01/01/2016 at 16:08 aircool says:

    I vote to change the term ‘survival game’ to ‘tree puncher’.

  19. 01/01/2016 at 16:16 Biaxident says:

    So many games I’m looking forward to. Will be better than 2015 if anything for me if the ones I’m really looking forward to do come out this year.

    In particular Torment, HoI4, Stellaris, XCOM 2, Mount and Blade 2, Kingdom Come: Deliverance… I could go on. New Far Cry looks really cool too, big fan of setting it in prehistoric times.

    • 02/01/2016 at 01:02 jonahcutter says:

      I really like the setting of Far Cry Primal too. Prehistoric, but without human + dinosaur fantasy. And the series’ hunting-for-crafting system finally won’t seem wildly out of place.

      Unfortunately, the melee combat looks really poor so far. Mouse click, stab animation, blood decal. It seems really flat and weightless.

      Even if there are bows, there will probably still be a lot of melee fighting. I hope they can come up with something far more engaging than they’ve shown so far.

  20. 01/01/2016 at 16:20 ChromeBallz says:

    Why no mention of Black Desert in the MMO section?

    • 01/01/2016 at 16:52 photoheathen says:

      Black Desert and Blade & Soul are two MMOs releasing (in the west) in 2016.

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    01/01/2016 at 16:23 SuddenSight says:

    I don’t see Hat in Time on this list, so I have now mentioned it. Technically TBA, but it seems about as likely to be released in 2016 as half the games on this list.

  22. 01/01/2016 at 16:24 TheComputerGamer says:

    Didn’t see Trackmania Turbo for the racer section; which will have a campaign mode and some odd coop; two people control the same car mode.

  23. Premium User Badge

    01/01/2016 at 16:26 Grizzly says:

    Automobilista, a racing sim that is itself build upon the Game Stock Car Extreme thingy everybody keeps overlooking, releases later this month. Among it’s upgraded features is a dynamic track system, which means it can butt heads with Rfactor 2 now.

  24. 01/01/2016 at 16:29 Themadcow says:

    XCOM 2 just needs to be a bit more x-com to become #1 on my watch list. Just replaying Enemy Within now and it really could have been great if they’d retained the Base and map creation from the original game.

    Bards Tale 4 won’t be released in 2016, it’s slated for a 2017 release and will be produced by a new inXile office that hasn’t begun yet.

    • 01/01/2016 at 17:46 bills6693 says:

      Obligatory Xenonauts mention :P

      Hopefully 2016 will see Goldhawk (the devs) announce what it is they’ve been working on!

      I think XCOM 2 will be interesting but not back to old X-COM in terms of map/strategy layer. But hopefully a bit more choice than XCOM 2012 (i.e. hopefully not the 3 abductions choose 1 from 2012), but more of a ‘these will expire’ but you can do more than one if you stretch your resources

      • 01/01/2016 at 18:37 Themadcow says:

        Ah,yeah. Need to try Xenonauts again – haven’t really played it since early beta.

        As for those pick one from three missions – those would definitely be the first thing I’d get rid of. It’s was stupidly annoying and frankly quite improbable that the world’s foremost defence against the alien invasion was so limited.

        • 01/01/2016 at 19:32 bills6693 says:

          Ah yes, definitely try Xenonauts again then, it very much is worth it! Play with the ‘community edition’ too, I’d say.

          Yeah, I kind of wish I could have a bit more of the Xenonauts campaign map/design with the XCOM visuals (though Xenonauts does look good still). The multiple bases (or for me, one main base and a few air bases), the ability to shoot down as many UFOs as you can manage with your aircraft available, to send out as many ground missions as you can manage and bomb the other crash sites – all great stuff!

          • 01/01/2016 at 23:52 Hedgeclipper says:

            Funny, I finally got round to XCOM recently and I’m finding the cartooniness off putting – between the art style and the pick from two missions thing I’m struggling to enjoy it. I loved Xenonauts though – I’d love to see them tackle TFTD.

      • 01/01/2016 at 21:20 Arona Daal says:

        I hope they replace their bizzare Shitpile of Combat Mechanics.Especially the LOS and Cover System.

        As someone who has played pretty much every X-com , and X-com Clone, only “Ufo Extraterrestrials Gold” hat a worse Rule System.

        Without the gorgeous Graphics & Animations,Xcom EU would be just another failed Attempt at creating a UFO Game.
        And i expect Xcom 2 do be just more of the same.

  25. 01/01/2016 at 16:39 Stupoider says:

    The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine, America Truck Simulator, and Mount & Blade Bannerlord are the games I’m most looking forward to in 2016.

  26. 01/01/2016 at 16:39 Sebioff says:

    The screenshot on the Planet Coaster entry actually is a fairly recent Parkitect screenshot, while the screenshot on the Parkitect entry is very outdated :)

  27. 01/01/2016 at 16:51 ninjapirate says:

    Classifying “Spy Party” as a “shooter” seems a bit odd…

  28. 01/01/2016 at 17:08 Anthile says:

    Well, there’s also Kentucky Route Zero. The fourth episode will come out very likely this year and with a bit of luck it might even seen completion. I certainly consider that more likely than Overgrowth being released in 2016.

  29. 01/01/2016 at 17:28 dbemont says:

    That Which Sleeps tops my list. Surprised it didn’t make this list.

  30. 01/01/2016 at 17:43 Doomsayer says:

    HALF-LIFE 3

  31. 01/01/2016 at 17:51 Pulstar says:

    Wasn’t more than half of your 2015 list delayed?
    *applies copious amounts of salt*

  32. 01/01/2016 at 18:08 Doomsayer says:

    Hey RPS: You accidentally forgot to give VR its own page. Halfway down page 15 is a header for a VR section and a bunch of games that are decidedly not survival games. And it’s not listed on the index page.

    Hey adventure game fans: Obduction is a game you should look forward to this year.

  33. 01/01/2016 at 18:23 Daryl says:

    Inner Chains looks fantastic.

  34. 01/01/2016 at 18:56 Ahuizolt says:

    Like last year, no presence of Space Engineers in your list. You put Medieval Engineers, which is less advanced in dev, and miss SE… With darkest dungeon, it’s quite big omission… Otherwise, nice list !

  35. 01/01/2016 at 19:20 neshi says:

    No Automation (The Car Company Tycoon Game) in the sim list? It’s the one I am most looking forward to!

  36. 01/01/2016 at 19:37 notcurry says:

    So Hitman aims to recapture the wonder of earlier instalments and aims to recapture the creative magic of earlier instalments. Interesting.

    Also, glad to know that Adam was impressed by its Prequel and Adam was impressed with the segment he saw mid-last year.

    You could have waited for the hangover to wear off, guys. We are an understanding community.

  37. 01/01/2016 at 19:58 Urthman says:

    Firewatch and The Witness have been my top two most anticipated games for a long time. Hard to believe they’re both coming out within a week of each other.

  38. 01/01/2016 at 20:18 DevilishEggs says:

    Asylum, the next adventure game from Scratches designer Agustin Cortes, could come out in 2016.

    Twitter indicates maybe.

    The subject matter is a bit dated but only because he’s been working on the game for so long.

  39. Premium User Badge

    01/01/2016 at 22:44 teije says:

    Thanks for putting this together. Some great games in there, including some I hadn’t heard of before – time to update my wishlist…

    I’ll add to the other commentators a plug for That Which Sleeps as looking very promising and definitely being released this year.

  40. 01/01/2016 at 23:56 DanMan says:

    I feel rather nun-plussed about most of what’s on offer here. I guess I’m getting too old for this s***.

  41. 02/01/2016 at 00:42 PhilBowles says:

    Great to see Cossacks 3 picked up in the list – and with a release date, no less. Looks to be a very good year for strategy.

    As for other genres, the second Diablo 3 expansion is rumoured for 2016 as well.

    • 02/01/2016 at 17:36 PhilBowles says:

      Also, there’s a Homeworld game on this list, but not Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, which is planned for release this month. Is this the same game under a different name?

  42. 02/01/2016 at 02:58 Hedgeclipper says:

    and Factorio out on 25th Feb

  43. 02/01/2016 at 03:03 brucethemoose says:

    Did I miss Megaton Rainfall anywhere on this list?

    It’s still coming to PC in spite of the PS4 VR announcement, and it looks like a very promising superhero game that could possibly be coming in 2016.

  44. 02/01/2016 at 03:56 GWOP says:

    I had totally forgotten about Radio the Universe. How do you guys even remember all these games?

    Great list! Thanks for all the hard work!

  45. 02/01/2016 at 05:31 pasports31 says:

    No Yooka-Laylee?

  46. 02/01/2016 at 06:26 AngoraFish says:

    I find it curious that so few, if any, of the games on the “Roguelike” list actually have anything whatsoever in common with actual Roguelikes.

    Seriously, we’re calling a fully 3D space dogfighting sim a “Roguelike” now? The mind boggles… the term truely has become debased to meaninglessness.

    • 03/01/2016 at 07:59 Kyzrati says:

      I’d say that Cogmind is absolutely a traditional roguelike despite its many innovations :). It’s even completely designed in ASCII, with an optional tileset layered on top for those who just can’t do ASCII.

      I agree on the dogfighting one, though–I remember that one getting posted to /r/roguelikes and then being rather quickly removed by the mods, for good reason.

  47. 02/01/2016 at 10:55 Darth Gangrel says:

    Well, I’m definitely looking forward to playing through “the Kennedy assassiantion” in Alekhine’s Gun (page 2).

  48. 02/01/2016 at 10:57 dethtoll says:

    XCOM2, Doom, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Dishonored are my targets for the year.

  49. 02/01/2016 at 12:05 Eleriel says:

    Not a single mention of ABZÛ?
    good list either way.

  50. 02/01/2016 at 13:23 davec1 says:

    X-COM 2 is definitely high on the list, but I’m, perhaps naturally, most excited about my own game, the beat-synced ambidextrous arcadey mindf…hug that is MODSORK!

    link to youtu.be

    [/shameless self-plug]