Highest Rated Games on Steam | Updated 2022

Stray

The success of Stray shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody, after all: this game has a cat as the playable character. Not only does it have a cat: it’s a realistic-looking, realistically behaving cat. With a robot buddy! With such a combo, the game was bound for great ratings. And that’s before we even factor in the cool cyberpunk city you get to explore, populated only by robots, for some reason.

The plot is a mix of cyberpunk themes, including transhumanism and evolving AI, and provides an interesting thread…but it’s hardly the star of the show, is it? Much of the game revolves around using the cat’s agility to solve environmental obstacles, but no cat is so objective driven. As a result, you can also do cat things, like nuzzling to robots, or knocking things off tables for no reason at all.

Stray

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God of War

The Ragnarok is coming, don’t allow yourself to be surprised by it. God of War proved, that it is possible to create a dramatically different sequel/soft reboot and still make long-time fans happy. And also draw many new fans. 2018’s God of War was the first game in the series to visit PC, and it quickly gained the same adoration it did a few years earlier on PlayStation.

This game takes Kratos out of Greece way up north, to the land where Norse gods and monster dwell, and the iconic fiery blades are replaced by a frosty axe. The game also shifted into a TPP camera, which brings you closer to the crunchy, satisfying action and allows for immersive, stunning shots of the gorgeous world you get to explore…and slaughter, to some extent.

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Dorfromantik

There is something about pleasant, peaceful games that helps them rise through the ranks. Take Dorfromantik, for example, a simple strategy game about building a world out of tiles. Some tiles add water, other have trees, sometimes you might even get a special assignment…also completed by clever placement of tiles. It’s like a prettier, non-competitive game of Carcassone.

In the default mode, the stack of tiles is procedurally generated, to make things more exciting. If you’d rather have something completely free-from, there’s also a free mode, allowing you to just build without having to worry about objectives or unfavorable order in the pile of tiles. In a way if feels as if you’re building a map for a 4X game…without having to worry about any of the 4 Xs.

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PowerWash Simulator

Sometimes all you need to be a hit is a simple idea well executed. PowerWash Simulator is a game with an extremely simple idea encapsulated fully in its title. You have a power washer, and a large object, building, area to clean. It’s like these oddly satisfying videos you see on the internet, but in a video game form.

It has a career mode if you want extra structure, it has co-op if you want to play with friends, and it has many maps with their own opportunities and challenges. There are many ways to play, and most of them won’t judge your speed, or efficiency… unless you want to hop into a challenge mode! PowerWash Simulator is truly a wonder, a simple idea expressed through many playstyles.

PowerWash Simulator

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Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered

Insomniac Games managed to do something many have failed at before: they made an unequivocally good Spider-Man game which doesn’t require any caveats. Marvel’s Spider-Man does a great job balancing both sides of Peter Parker’s life, with excellent open-world gameplay and great, well-acted story to motivate you from scripted mission to scripted mission.

Originally a PlayStation exclusive, Marvel’s Spider-Man came to PC with the Remastered version, delivering excellent combat and traversal to everyone, and extra flashy visual upgrades for owners of mighty PC machines. Of course, PC-bound comic book fans should also rejoice, since they’ll not only meet many familiar characters, but also discover many Spidey costumes with unique traits.

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People Playground

If you’ve frequented Youtube circa the early 2010s, you’re probably aware of the popular browser game called Happy Wheels, in which the goal was to move the character through the obstacle course of lethal weapons.

The game was mostly interested in shock value, presenting gore-y executions of the player character. The number 10 game on our list, People Playground, is very similar to that title.

The key gameplay feature of PP is massacring ragdoll characters using various lethal tools. The game allows the player to shoot, stab, burn, drown, vaporize, and otherwise mutilate the motionless character. The game doesn’t aspire to be anything more than what you can see in the short trailer presenting various ways of killing the subject of your torture, but a 96,80% rating on Steam means people must dig that kind of stuff.

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Portal

Portal is a puzzle-platforming title in which the player controls a young woman named Chell, a subject in the lab run by Aperture Science.

Her task is to escape captivity using the portal gun – a device capable of opening passages on any flat surface. Using the portal gun and with the help of Wheatley, a friendly robot, Chell will have to pass all the nefarious traps set for her by GLaDOS, Aperture’s A.I. gone rogue.

Set in the same universe as the classic Half-Life series, Portal was a highly popular title in its day. The portal gun gameplay was nothing short of revolutionary. How it was used to solve various spatial puzzles brought to mind the classic physics-based puzzles of Valve’s opus magnum. Seeing how 15 years after release the game is still popular is a testament to how much fun it provides.

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Half-Life: Alyx

Speaking of Valve’s classic series – the long-awaited continuation to Half-Life 2 has finally arrived.

And while it isn’t the numbered sequel featuring the fan-favorite protagonist, dr. Gordon Freeman, the adventures of Alyx on the alien-infested Earth will definitely satisfy the fans of the series in particular and FPS enthusiasts in general. Oh, and did we mention that the game is fully VR?

Yes, Valve experiments again, this time investing in the virtual reality-based title. Half-Life: Alyx is a competent first-person shooter with great graphics, elevated by the application of VR goggles. The player is transported to the conquered earth and gets the first-hand experience of fighting against the invading aliens. The game also features elements of survival-horror, giving the player little ammo and putting them against the overwhelming alien forces.

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Rimworld

RimWorld allows the player to feel the weight of running a space colony.

The game is set in a distant corner of the universe where the making has set one of its outposts – the titular RimWorld. As the outpost leader, your job will be to manage its operation, gather resources necessary to expand it, and make sure that the settlers are well taken care of.

RimWorld is a representative of a popular genre of games focusing on construction and management. Players who like titles like SimCity or Cities: Skylines, and especially Dwarf Fortress, will definitely enjoy the intricacies of running the space colony. The game features elements of combat, offering various scenarios in which the colony falls under attack, and the player must respond by building defenses or drafting the colonists to fight. This combination of management and strategy will definitely satisfy the players looking for a more thoughtful gameplay experience.

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Stardew Valley

After spending some time in space, fighting alien invaders, or sneaking through mad science labs, it’s good to heal your soul by unwinding with one of the most calming games in history.

Stardew Valley offers the player a chance to try their hand in farming, and nothing cleanses the palate after a high-octane action better than tending to a plot of land and seeing it flourish.

Stardew Valley’s gameplay draws a lot of inspiration from Harvest Moon (also known as the Story of Seasons), another game focusing on farming. In the beginning, the player of SV receives a plot of land which they must tend to. The produce of the land can be sold in the market, bonds with the neighbors can turn into marital propositions, and nearby caves are filled with creatures to slay and ore to mine. Each activity in Stardew Valley, be it farming, cooking, fishing, etc., aims at putting the player at ease – something that we sorely need these days.

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The Witcher III: Wild Hunt

CD Projekt RED’s so-far-final installment of the Witcher franchise is a culmination of the studio’s ambitions.

The story of Geralt of Rivia wraps up with an epic flair, and the players are there to see it. The game introduces a variety of new mechanics, including a semi-open world environment and expanded combat gameplay, making The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt not only the best game from the Polish studio but one of the best action-RPGs, period.

Wild Hunt follows the usual rule of sequels: make everything bigger. The world is larger and full of content to enjoy. The combat is more fluid, with a bunch of new moves and skills Geralt has in his Witcher arsenal. And the story, drawing inspiration from various plot points of Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels, grabs the player and keeps them glued to the screen for long hours. If you’re a fan of fantasy action RPGs, then The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a game just for you.

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt

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Terraria

No list of top 10 games is complete without at least one roguelike or roguelite title. It so happens that the fourth of the top 10 best-rated games on Steam is Terraria.

This action-adventure game takes the player to a procedurally generated environment, where they can explore and fight against random enemies. The game emphasizes chance encounters, with different types of opponents appearing depending on specific circumstances.

Defeating enemies and collecting items unlocks the areas of the game to be inhabited by NPCs. These characters provide the player with various services, like selling items, healing, etc. The game utilizes a 16-bit graphics design, similar to that of the classic Metroidvania games, making it an excellent game for fans of retro titles.

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Hades

Hades has become a true phenomenon among gamers and proved that indie studios are capable of creating experience easily on-par with AAA-level games.

The story of Zagreus, the son of Hades, and his quest through various regions of the Underworld captured the imaginations of players around the globe. But it wasn’t the only reason Hades was met with such a warm welcome.

Supergiant Games’ roguelike is quite possibly one of the best titles of its genre currently available on the market. It features all the mechanics of a good roguelike and cranks them up to eleven. Throughout each run, the player will face increasingly harder enemies, including powerful bosses waiting at the end. The game highly emphasizes story and lore, which the player can discover by conversations with NPCs – hand-drawn sprites of various Greek deities aiding Zgreus on his quest to pull his father from lethargy.

Hades

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Factorio

Similar to RimWorld, which tests the player’s skills in managing a space colony, Factorio tests the player in running a successful factory.

The game includes the elements of survival – the player has to start their industry from scratch, building the factory from materials they can find in the area and upgrading their skills to create better equipment.

The gameplay mechanics focus on managing the factory by researching systems to make production more efficient. Other features include combat, in which the player must build defenses against the monsters. Factorio can be played solo or in multiplayer, cooperating in running the factory or fighting against each other.

Factorio

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Portal 2

It’s rare that a series is so good that several instalments would warrant presence on this list. And yet! Portal 2 features similar mechanics as the first installment of the series. However, there are some significant differences.

Portal 2 adds multiplayer with emphasizes cooperation between two players. Both control robots undergoing a series of tests prepared by GLaDOS, the ever-snarky A.I. of Aperture Science. Working together is crucial because, unlike Chell’s portal gun, the devices in Portal 2 are capable of creating only the entry or exit portals. The in-game challenges are based around that mechanic, forcing the players to work out the perfect positioning of the portal to solve the puzzle. Good luck doing that with GLaDOS ridiculing you after every failed attempt.

Portal 2

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