The best games of PC Gaming Show 2021

TPC Gamer’s annual PC Gaming Show at E3 2021, our sister site hosted an exciting array of brilliant-looking PC games, and we’ve picked out our favorites.

For a while, it felt like E3 was more of a console-focussed event but, for the past few years, PC Gamer has been hosting its own event that specifically highlights games coming to PC.

Because it’s easier to publish a game on PC than on a console, it’s led to an incredibly vibrant and diverse library of games, and the PC Gaming Show is a fantastic showcase for some of the most exciting new games, from both indie developers and established big names, that we can’t wait to download soon. So, read on for our pick of the best games we saw at the PC Gaming Show 2021.

(Image credit: RocketWerkz)

Icarus

Icarus got a new trailer at the PC Gaming Show 2021, and it’s shaping up to be one of our most anticipated games. It’s certainly one of the most graphically impressive titles we saw at the PC Gaming Show.

Icarus is a session-based PvE survival game for up to eight co-op players, and it can also be played solo. You play as a “part adventurer, part prospector,” who is exploring an Icarus, which was once terraformed to be a second Earth, but things went seriously wrong.

Rather than being a new home for humans, Icarus is now a dangerous world filled with dangerous wildlife, extreme weather, and more. You’ll need to traverse the planet collecting essential material while, of course, surviving for as long as possible.

(Image credit: Frontier Developments)

Lemnis Gate

Lemnis Gate leaped out at us during the PC Gaming Show by taking the rather staid first-person shooter genre and giving it a new time-bending spin. Developed by Ratloop Games Canada and published by Frontier Foundry, this quick-fire shooter takes place in a time loop in a dystopian future where humanity is facing extinction.

Games take place across five 25-second rounds. During the round, players quickly take an action, be it shoot an enemy, capture a target or gain an objective. Each player takes a turn to make their moves, and when everyone has had a turn, the next round begins – and that 25 seconds restarts. You can then change the past and develop new strategies to out-maneuver your enemies.

Games that play around with time have offered some incredibly innovative experiences in the past, and what we’ve seen of Lemnis Gate suggests history will repeat here as well.

(Image credit: Spiral Circus Games)

Silt

While Icarus may have been the most visually impressive game at the PC Gaming Show 2021, Silt, by Spiral Circus Games, may be the most visually striking. Mixing elements of Limbo and Eco the Dolphin, plus a healthy dose of Tim Burton-inspired hand-drawn artwork, what we saw of Silt has got us gagging for more.

A lot about the game is still a mystery, but we know that you’ll be exploring the deep sea and possessing sea creatures to make use of their unique abilities and solve puzzles as you sink deeper and deeper.

We can’t wait to find out more. Spiral Circus, based in Bristol, UK, was founded by Tom Mead and Dom Clarke in 2018, and Silt is their first game. It looks like it could be an incredibly assured debut game.

(Image credit: Techland)

Dying Light 2: Stay Human

Dying Light 2: Stay Human is the long-awaited sequel to the survival horror action game. The original game came out back in 2015, and we loved how it brought parkour to the first-person horror genre, offering a unique way to get around the large open-world while avoiding zombies.

The sequel looks set to continue that. Set 20 years after the original game, you play as Aiden Caldwell, who like the protagonist of the first game, Kyle Crane, uses parkour to fluidly move around the world. There will be over 3,000 parkour animations to make traversal even more smooth and natural, and you can also use tools like a grappling hook and a paraglider to get around.

The location of the game has moved from the Middle Eastern setting to The City, based in Europe, and comes with a map that’s four times bigger than the original game’s.

From the interview during the PC Gaming Show, Dying Light 2 looks like it will take what we loved about the original and improve on almost every aspect of it. Exciting stuff.

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