Gamers will always debate which games are the best and platform defining. With so many great titles available on PC, deciding the best is even more difficult. Fortunately, players can use websites like Metacritic and the Internet Games Database to get a good baseline, including finding out what critics consider to be the best games of all time.

Many of the titles considered are classics that continue to withstand the test of time, so there likely aren't that many surprises in something like a top games of all-time list. Still, if you're looking for something to play and don't know what you're in the mood for, you can't go wrong with a game the defined two decades of video games.

Related: Why Mass Effect SHOULD Have a Space Sim Game

5. BioShock

Considered a spiritual successor to the System Shock series, BioShock has been hailed as a masterpiece with both great and engaging gameplay, as well as a captivating story about both the player-character and the world they’ve found themselves in. Taking the role of the only survivor of a plane crash over the ocean, players find their way to Rapture, an entire city at the bottom of the ocean that was once a utopia but has turned into a watery grave.

The game’s setting takes inspiration from various philosophers of the 20th Century and their conflicting ideas of utopia and dystopia. An FPS survival-horror game, players were given different tools for dealing with enemies such as stealth, hacking security systems to fight at your side, or charging head-on into the fray with your arsenal of weapons and plasmid powers.

Related: Among Us Chicken Nugget Currently Selling for Nearly $100,000

4. Half-Life

Half-Life-Splash

The first game created by Valve, Half-Life was the title that revolutionized PC gaming and the first-person shooter genre. Players control scientist Gordon Freeman, who must navigate the Black Mesa research facility and survive an extradimensional invasion by hostile aliens, all while the Army trying to cover up the incident by any means possible.

Released in 1998, Half-Life was innovative for giving players nearly uninterrupted control of Freeman, watching the story and action unfold through scripted sequences rather than just cutscene intermissions. This would also begin a trend with many of Valve’s other titles trying to find the next groundbreaking innovation for the types of games fans play.

Related: GTA V Studio Rockstar Games Launches Record Label

3. Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V banner

What could be better proof of Rockstar Games’ mastery of the open-world design than Grand Theft Auto V? Released back in 2013, its use of switching between three playable protagonists was a highly popular formula. The game also broke sales records and became one of the most commercially successful entertainment products in history.

Grand Theft Auto V's success has continued today thanks to rereleases on next-gen platforms and Grand Theft Auto Online, the game's wildly popular multiplayer mode. Rumors have circulated of a new GTA title being developed, but it’ll be tough for Rockstar to outdo their own masterpiece.

Related: Horizon Forbidden West Still on Track for 2021 Release... Hopefully

2. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut

disco elysium the final cut

Sometimes true greatness can come from the unexpected, which is definitely the case with Disco Elysium. Developed by ZA/UM, a small independent company from Estonia, the game is an RPG from an isometric view. Players have to try to solve a murder while also suffering from amnesia.

What makes this title unique among many other RPGs is that there’s virtually no combat. Instead, heavy emphasis is placed on skill checks, dialogue trees, chosen ideologies and personality traits to resolve encounters and events. Despite the acclaim from critics, there were some noted flaws with the game. So, what did the developers do? They released a reworked and expanded version called Disco Elysium: The Final Cut and made it even better.

RELATED: Final Fantasy Origin Could Be Even BIGGER Than FFVII Remake

1. The Orange Box

With so many Valve titles becoming hits on PC, it makes sense that one of the best games to buy is, in fact, a compilation of their best. Known as The Orange Box, this 2007 release contains Half-Life 2, its two episodic sequels, the first Portal and Team Fortress 2.

While each is a successful game in its own right, Half-Life 2 takes center stage and with good reason. Building upon the combat and puzzle mechanics of the first game, it also added physics-based gameplay, a mechanic fully realized thanks to the iconic Gravity Gun. Half-Life 2 was almost as influential as its predecessor and continues to be a fan-favorite game even today. Half-Life 2's engine even spawned a massive mod community, leading to influential titles like Garry’s Mod.

Keep Reading: Did Half-Life Kill Retro FPS Games?