What to play next — and what to skip.
We rank the real alternatives to the game you just finished, say skip — with a reason — when a famous pick is not worth it, and show what its key costs today.
October 12 to 18 on PC: what has a date, and what has proven itself
15 new releases with live key prices · 3 proven games currently cheap
Two games today: one new, one proven — a fresh draw from the good ones →
Want picks tuned to you
Tell the recommender a game you love — three work best — and get eight back.
You love a game and want more like it
Open its “games like” guide — ranked, explained, with the picks we would skip.
No particular game in mind
Browse a curated list by mood, budget or hardware.
Live from the guides
Dead Cells
The hands. Movement and combat feel even better than Hades — the flow of a good Dead Cells run is the genre's high-water mark. What you trade away is the heart: there is barely a story and nobody waits for you at home between runs.
Slay the Spire
The brain. Strip the action away and keep the part of Hades where you weigh three boons against your build — that decision, repeated for forty hours. The genre standard for a reason, and it runs on anything.
SKIPReturnal
Skip if what you loved in Hades was warmth and momentum — Returnal is cold, punishing, and a full-length run can take over an hour with no pause in sight. If you want story-through-death done right, pick Hades II; if you want a challenge, Curse of the Dead Gods punishes you faster and cheaper.
Split Fiction
Split Fiction is the answer to 'what now' in the most literal way — Hazelight's next game, at 97% positive across 125,000 Steam reviews, their highest yet. Two writers trapped in each other's stories, mechanics that refuse to repeat, and a final act that outdoes It Takes Two's best chapter. If you have a duo, this is simply next.
Portal 2
Portal 2's co-op campaign remains the thinking duo's benchmark: separate portals, shared brain, and puzzles that make communication itself the mechanic. 99% across 465,000 reviews — the best-reviewed game on this page. The ping tool does more for couples' communication than most counselling.
SKIPA Way Out
Skip A Way Out until you have finished Split Fiction and It Takes Two — it is the same studio learning the craft: one strong prison-break act, then quick-time filler the later games outgrew. Hazelight's catalogue is best played in reverse release order, and this one comes third of three. It is fine; its siblings are the point.
R.E.P.O.
The current torch-bearer at 96% positive from 418,000 reviews: haul physics-simulated valuables through monster-occupied buildings, where every vase you clip against a doorframe rings the dinner bell. The physics layer makes it funnier than Lethal Company; the monsters keep it nearly as scary. If the crew wants 'the next one', it is this.
Content Warning
The camcorder twist: your crew films the horror and gets paid for footage views, so someone must keep rolling while everyone else runs — a perfect little machine for manufacturing betrayal. Same diving-bell energy as Lethal Company, more slapstick, 94% positive. Best bought in a four-pack, played until the bit wears out, returned to monthly.
SKIPGTFO
Skip if your crew's charm is chaos — GTFO is a hardcore tactical expedition that expects loadout planning, stealth discipline and four people who all showed up to sweat; casual Lethal Company crews bounce off within two sessions. It is excellent at what it is (84% positive says so) — but what it is, is homework. For dread with structure, take The Outlast Trials instead.
Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead 2 is the blueprint every game on this list studied: four survivors, an AI director pacing the horde, and co-op chemistry that has held a 98% rating across 1 million reviews for fifteen years. It costs pocket change in every sale and the community has kept it alive with campaigns. Still mandatory.
Warhammer: Vermintide 2
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is the DRG night in melee: five careers shoulder-to-shoulder against rat hordes, with the genre's best first-person swordplay. 85% positive across 147,000 reviews. The class interlock is real — a good Ironbreaker is missed exactly the way a good Engineer is.
SKIPPAYDAY 3
Skip PAYDAY 3 — the sequel launched requiring always-online, shed its features and its players, and sits at 45% on Steam while its decade-old predecessor sits at 89% with fifty times the content. This is the rare case where the genre's crowd already held the vote. PAYDAY 2 is the heist night; 3 is the cautionary tale.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
The closest thing to Witcher 3 quest design since Witcher 3 — 94% positive across 193,000 reviews, and the notice-board-to-novella pipeline is fully intact. It swaps monsters for 15th-century Bohemian politics and makes you earn everything: reading, fighting, even saving. The most demanding pick here, and the most rewarding.
Cyberpunk 2077
The same studio, and after six years of patches plus the Phantom Liberty expansion it finally is what the 2020 launch promised — Night City is the densest city CD Projekt has built, and the side gigs carry the Witcher DNA of small human stories. It is louder and faster than Witcher 3; the melancholy is still there underneath.
SKIPAssassin's Creed Odyssey
Skip if Witcher 3's writing is what you came for — Odyssey has the map and the levels but its quests are errands with dialogue attached, and the XP curve nudges you toward the store. If you want ancient-world wandering, Ghost of Tsushima does the poetry better; if you want choices, Kingdom Come II actually honours them.
Games like…
Games like It Takes Two
9 games for two players after It Takes Two — co-op that needs both of you, ranked by what your duo is in the mood for, plus one skip from the same studio.
Games like Lethal Company
9 co-op horror games ranked for Lethal Company crews — by scream-to-laugh ratio, quota pressure, and which famous pick needs a different kind of friend group.
Games like Deep Rock Galactic
8 games for the mission-night crew — co-op horde shooters ranked by what they demand of four friends, plus one skip the genre already voted on.
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Games like The Witcher 3
9 games that deliver what The Witcher 3 delivers — side quests that matter, a lived-in open world, choices with teeth — ranked and explained.
Games like Balatro
9 games for the Balatro-shaped hole — score-engine roguelikes and deckbuilders ranked by how close they get to that 'numbers go nova' feeling.
Games like Baldur's Gate 3
9 games for the Baldur's Gate 3 hole — party CRPGs, reactive stories and turn-based tactics — ranked by which part of BG3 they actually replace.
Games like Cities: Skylines
9 games for city-builder hands — from beaver dams to Soviet supply chains, ranked by what they manage, plus the honest word on Cities: Skylines II.
Games like Civilization 6
8 games for the one-more-turn itch — 4X and grand strategy ranked by what they do that Civ 6 cannot, plus the honest word on Civilization VII.
Games like Cyberpunk 2077
9 games for after Night City — ranked by what they match: the immersive-sim guts, the neon melancholy, or the open-world density. One famous skip.
Games like DOOM Eternal
9 games for after the Slayer — fast, aggressive shooters ranked by how they keep the dance going, plus one big name that answers the wrong question.
What to play
The best PC games under 10 €
10 genuinely great games under 10 € — each with its live low price and the date we checked it against key shops and official stores — plus one famous, explained skip.
Chill games for after work
9 low-pressure games for weekday evenings — no fail states, no timers, no homework. Each entry says what kind of tired it fixes.
Strategy games that don't require homework
9 strategy games you can actually learn in an evening — real depth, no 40-hour tutorial debt. One grand-strategy giant honestly flagged as coursework.
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The best co-op games for two players
10 games built for exactly two people — couch or online — ranked from story campaigns to hundred-hour projects. One famous pick honestly demoted.
Co-op horror games to play with friends
9 horror games built for a group call — ranked from scream-then-laugh to genuinely dreadful. One well-known pick flagged for its pricing model.
Great games that run on a low-end PC
11 genuinely great games that run on integrated graphics and old laptops — modern classics, not scraps. One popular pick flagged as a trap.
Roguelikes for beginners
9 roguelikes that teach the genre instead of hazing you — picked for fair difficulty, real progress between runs, and clean onboarding. One famous name honestly flagged.
Survival games ranked from chill to brutal
10 survival games ordered by how hard the world tries to kill you — from floating carpentry to 'this is how you died'. One PvP giant flagged honestly.