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Lizard1977

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#323708 5-Jan-2026 09:57
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I've just finished building my first new PC in well over a decade, and I'm looking for some games that can really show off the hardware.  My Steam library is embarrassingly old so I've been adding a few newer games.  My preference is for more story-based single-player games, though I used to enjoy first person shooters before I accepted the fact that I suck at those games.  So lately I've played a little bit of Batman: Arkham Asylum (and I have Batman: Arkham City which I started playing, but then stopped when I realised I had the earlier game to play first).  I bought some Star Wars games on sale - Jedi: Fallen Order is fun and looks quite nice, and then I have Jedi: Survivor and Squadrons to play afterwards.

 

I bought and have started playing Cyberpunk 2077, but I haven't been that impressed with it - visually or from a story perspective.  I've only just started, so I need to give it a bit more of a chance, but graphically it isn't as impressive as perhaps I thought it would be.  I have all the graphics settings turned up to max and while it's nice, it's hardly blowing me away.  I would say Fallen Order is more visually impressive at this stage.

 

So I'm wondering what games people would recommend that really show off what modern GPUs are capable of.  My PC isn't top of the line, but it's not bargain basement either - a Ryzen 5 9600X, Radeon 9070XT 16GB, 32 GB DDR5 RAM, and I'm using a 27" 4K gaming monitor.  What games would you recommend for this kind of system that really makes it shine?  

 

 


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gehenna
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  #3449853 5-Jan-2026 10:11
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I've been playing Clair Obscur Expedition 33 over the past week.  I started on PS5 and then moved to my PC when I got annoyed with the graphics implementation on PS5 - there's a lot of visual noise on PS5 that isn't present at all on PC.  Great looking game that performs very well on PC if you have the right hardware, and looks fantastic.  

 

Some other visually impressive games recently:  Alan Wake 2 (and Control from a while before that), Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, Doom The Dark Ages, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, The Callisto Protocol, Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill f, Hellblade 2 Senua's Saga, Dead Space Remake, Still Wakes the Deep, Hogwarts Legacy, and many more

 

Some older games that are worth a look on modern hardware: Black Mesa, Half-Life 2 RTX, Quake 2 RTX, Tomb Raider + Rise and Shadow, Myst and Riven remakes, Alien Isolation.

 

Look into Cyberpunk a bit more too - it's a very deep game with a huge breadth of world, story, and character customisation.  Often, it can be a bit of a grind to get good enough stats to have a character build that takes advantage of all the features and skills, but it's worth it. Thats the case with a lot of open world RPG games. I find skimming through a few YouTube videos about other character builds helps me figure out what's even possible. 




Lizard1977

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  #3449862 5-Jan-2026 10:28
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Thanks for those suggestions.  Doom The Dark Ages might be worth a look then, and I have heard good things about IJ and the Great Circle now that you remind me about it.  I would love to play the RTX versions of HL2 and Quake 2, but I've read that it doesn't really work properly on Radeon GPUs.

 

I will keep playing Cyberpunk.  I just find the interface frustrating.  There are some parts which are more intuitive in first-person mode which I prefer to use a mouse and keyboard for, some which are better in third-person, which I would prefer to use a controller for, and it's annoying switching between both.  And then there's the "choice of response" interactions which I just find annoying - too much like a "choose your own path" adventure story which never really felt like an authentic choice.


xpd

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  #3449868 5-Jan-2026 10:46
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Star Citizen is an amazing looking game. Blew me away on my modest system. 5800X3D, 32GB RAM, 9060XT, 34" 3440x1440

 

Was lucky to try it during a free month period. Am keen on buying it in next month or so.

 

https://imgur.com/gallery/just-some-star-citizen-from-system-qhZ02LK

 

 





XPD / Gavin

 

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sidefx
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  #3450154 5-Jan-2026 20:53
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xpd:

 

Star Citizen is an amazing looking game. Blew me away on my modest system. 5800X3D, 32GB RAM, 9060XT, 34" 3440x1440

 

Was lucky to try it during a free month period. Am keen on buying it in next month or so.

 

https://imgur.com/gallery/just-some-star-citizen-from-system-qhZ02LK

 

 

 

 

Most expensive and longest development for a tech demo ever? :D  I bought it like 13 years ago and still waiting.  

Back on topic I'm still stuck on a GTX 1080 so can't comment on all the latest bells and whistles. I did think Clair Obscure 33 and Cyberpunk looked great though, and have actually been really impressed with the ARC Raiders look and feel of late.  





"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there."         | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
              - Richard Feynman


SpartanVXL
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  #3450250 6-Jan-2026 08:49
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Cyberpunk at max settings won’t be great on your 9070xt. Not sure if it will set psycho raytracing or path tracing but you will likely get a lot of noise or at least terrible framerate with associated temporal blur if you’re using FSR.

 

It is a title from 2020 so some things won’t be as good as todays titles. There are some mods on nexusmods that can improve things if you want.


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