15 Best Single-Player PC Games

When you want to immerse yourself in a story — or your friends simply aren’t online — playing some of the best single-player PC games is the way to go. Whether you’re in the mood for a supernatural thriller or an action-adventure, we have you covered.

There are tens of thousands of single-player titles for PC. The best of the best are the ones that leave an impact on you, leaving you eager for a second playthrough. Here are some of the greatest single-player titles of all time — some of which you’ve heard of, some you haven’t.

1. The Last of Us 

The Last of Us Part I is one of the best single-player PC games ever — it has won over 200 Game of the Year awards. As Joel, the weary yet battle-hardened protagonist, you must safeguard 14-year-old Ellie during your post-apocalyptic cross-country trek. This remake has better graphics, upgraded enemies and new gameplay modes.

2. Portal 2

Portal 2 is a puzzle platformer unlike any other. You play as Chell, an Aperture Laboratories employee. Using your highly experimental portal gun, you must fight through test chambers set up by a murderous, sentient artificial intelligence named GLaDOS. Since AI’s negative impact on society is a hot-button topic, revisiting this game is worthwhile.

3. Shadows of Doubt 

In this sci-fi noir detective game, you take on the role of a private investigator. You explore a fully simulated, procedurally generated city — each NPC and business has a schedule — to solve crimes. The game doesn’t hold your hand. You must stake out suspects, interview neighbors and collect evidence on your own. On the bright side, you can do things your way.

4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is packed with content. On average, players took 52 hours just to complete the main story. With all the side content and DLCs, you’re looking at up to 240 hours. Take on the role of Geralt of Rivia, a mythic monster slayer, as you use weapons, magics and potions to slay creatures and search for your adoptive daughter.

5. BioShock: The Collection

This first-person shooter is a fully remastered collection of all three BioShock games and every DLC, which technically makes it one of the best single-player PC games. As you navigate the underwater city of Rapture, you’ll grow into superhuman powers, fight mutated monsters and unwittingly unravel dark mysteries. 

6. Alan Wake 2 

Alan Wake 2 — available on the Epic Games Store — is a psychological survival horror game. It takes you back to Bright Falls, where you switch between Saga Anderson, an FBI agent, and the tortured writer Alan Wake. This game has mystery, action, cinematic cutscenes and impressively atmospheric gameplay. 

Hands down, this is one of the best single-player PC games of all time. It won the Visual Effects Society’s Outstanding Visual Effects award, Time Magazine’s Game of the Year, The Game Award’s Best Narrative, The Golden Joystick’s Critic’s Choice Award and the Motion Picture Sound Editors’ Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing.

7. Detroit Become Human

In Detroit: Become Human, you follow the stories of three androids as they slowly develop sentience. It’s among the best single-player PC games ever made because your choices matter. Will you start an android uprising or let mankind prevail? The gripping narrative, amazing graphics and impactful decisions make for an incredible game.

8. The Sims 4

The Sims 4 has been the reigning life simulation game for years. Even today, there are over 10,000 active players at any given time. While the release of Inzoi — the hyper-realistic life sim running on Unreal Engine 5 — may change things, Sims is still categorically one of the best single-player PC games of all time.

9. Oxenfree

Oxenfree is a third-person supernatural thriller. After a late-night bonfire goes horribly wrong, you must brave mind-bending, otherworldly phenomenon to save your friends and escape your fate. There are multiple endings, so make your decisions wisely. This game has a captivating narrative, a memorable synth-pop soundtrack and beautiful set pieces. 

10. Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas opens in the Mojave Wasteland, a brutal place where three factions fight for control. You, a courier, were hired to deliver a package to the post-war city of New Vegas — but you don’t make it. A man in a checkered suit says, “Truth is, the game was rigged from the start,” before shooting you in the head. 

You’d think that’d be the end of your story, but it isn’t. After you come to, you get to explore the Wasteland, meet interesting characters and ultimately decide the fate of New Vegas. This open-world RPG may be dated, but the gameplay and story hold up. To this day, the game has an 84 Metacritic score and an 8.7 user score. 

11. Horizon Zero Dawn

This action RPG follows Aloy, a young machine hunter, as she seeks out her destiny in a post-apocalyptic landscape where humankind is no longer the dominant species. This mashup of futuristic mechanical horrors and a lush, tribal-inspired open world makes for unique, memorable gameplay. 

12. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree 

This Elden Ring expansion turns an already great game into one of the best single-player PC games ever. You get dozens of new weapons, talismans, incantations and armor sets. Plus, there are new bosses, NPCs, quests, game mechanics and areas. While this game is technically multiplayer-enabled, you can play in offline mode by disabling this option in settings.

13. The Long Dark

The Long Dark is a quiet post-apocalypse survival set in the brutal Canadian North. You can play through the five-part story mode to uncover the mystery of why the world went dark or try your luck exploring 50 kilometers of wilderness in the permadeath-based survival mode. You will fish, hunt, trap, climb and scavenge while fending off wild animals, diseases and broken bones.

Tales from the Far Territory, a new expansion, adds new weapons, animals, clothes and items to survival mode. It also offers new game mechanics, areas and soundtracks. Do you want to test out the frontier cooking system? Can you survive in the all-new misery mode? These additions help make The Long Dark one of the best single-player PC games. 

14. God of War

As Kratos, the son of Zeus and the father of Atreus, you explore a landscape inspired by North Mythology. This third-person action adventure has an outstanding balance of impactful emotional moments and brutal combat. Catching up on the previous games may take some time, but playing this entry in the series is worthwhile. 

15. Pacific Drive

What happens when your delivery van gets violently sucked through an eerie red portal and spits you out into a radioactive portion of the Pacific Northwest? Pacific Drive happens. You and your potentially sentient car must upgrade, customize, repair and explore your way to escape, identifying — and fleeing from — unexplainable anomalies in the meantime. 

Try out These Single-Player PC Games

There are tens of thousands of single-player games on PC, so being selective is challenging. While entries like The Legend of Zelda, Cyberpunk 2077 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are undoubtedly the best of the best, you’ve probably already played through them. Hopefully, most of the titles we listed are new to you, giving you an opportunity to explore some fun worlds.