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What resources are most useful in finding new games to play?

This question is a place to find websites, forums, and other places that help you find new games to play.

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I think it would be far more useful to have a single "Genre-specific resources" answer that focuses on sites catered completely towards a genre, than to have one answer per genre, as mentioned in that discussion. I don't think there are so many separate genre specific resources that one answer won't be enough. – Grace Note♦ Nov 18 '10 at 18:23
I only somewhat hesitate to call this a duplicate of gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/416/… – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Nov 18 '10 at 18:23
@Blue I don't think they're duplicates (and I'm not sure I agree with the closing, either, but I also don't like the one-per-answer approach there). Game review websites aren't the only places that cater to finding new games to play. For example, I'd never call GameFAQs or RPGamer game review websites and submit them to that question, even though they're my top two online sources of what new games to play. – Grace Note♦ Nov 18 '10 at 18:25
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Question created as per the discussion here. – Brant Nov 18 '10 at 18:44
Y'know, in thinking about it, since we haven't really decided on a formula/template for this listing yet (since there are equal parts proponents and opponents to "1 genre per answer"), I think it's safe to let this basically go "free for all" and after we get a few resources, we can then compile it as seems most appropriate. – Grace Note♦ Nov 18 '10 at 19:59
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8 Answers

up vote 20 down vote

One of the best places to find new PC games to play is on Steam's Official Website. More and more publishers are using Steam as their platform of choice. It gives the Metascore for the game and you can often find videos, a synopsis, and a free demo for the games there.

And, of course, you can buy the game right from that site as well.

The newest releases are most prominently featured, but it has a robust search where you can filter games based on genres, price, and other criteria.

Steam has recently gained a game recommendations engine.

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Some day Valve is going to release Steam for Linux and my "I don't buy games with DRM" and "I buy any game released for Linux" rules are going to come into conflict... :( – Sparr Nov 21 '10 at 3:16
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Steam is DRM done right. – StrixVaria Nov 21 '10 at 3:27
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The only downside to steam is the inability to sell on games, and it is a serious detraction in my book. I subsidise the purchase of new games by selling older, unwanted ones. It's a shame - otherwise Steam is a great distribution platform. – CJM Nov 26 '10 at 12:18
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@CJM I "subsidise" my game purchases by buying them for $5-10 in a steam sale. I imagine you get your games sooner, but I bet I my pockets are fuller :) – MGOwen Dec 9 '10 at 2:14
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-1, Steam can go fall in a lake. – GnomeSlice Sep 7 '11 at 14:43
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up vote 11 down vote

I follow the blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun. They strictly cover PC games, and occasionally post interesting features on new or upcoming games that are off-the-beaten-path, as well as breakout indie games. The staff include several long-time game journalism veterans who (in my opinion) have a decent sense of what constitutes "interesting" or "unique" in an industry that is becoming increasingly dominated by generic, "safe" blockbuster games.

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up vote 5 down vote

When looking for games to try on non-current systems, my favorite place to check is Racketboy. They have two relevant article series, both of which are split into sections by genre, and are more detailed than most recommendation sites, with multi-paragraph descriptions and screenshots of each game:

  1. The Defining Games series, which lists the best popular games on the system. These are generally the games that almost everyone with that particular console played. The ones that get suggested every single time someone asks for suggestions. If you're new to a console, this is a great place to start.
  2. The Hidden Gems series, which tries to list high-quality games that didn't get much mainstream attention. Note that even if you're looking for the popular games, this series might be worth looking at, because every platform/genre combination has an "Obvious Choices" section that lists those. Some consoles have a Hidden Gems article but no Defining Games one, so it's generally good to check both.
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up vote 4 down vote

Penny Arcade is actually working on an App that suggests games called Decide-o-tron. It takes your currently library (after you scan it) and recommends games based off of that.

I'm currently waiting for an Android version, so I can try it out, but in concept, it sounds like it may fit the bill.

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up vote 2 down vote

Xfire's Supported Games List is very useful in finding the games which have the highest playertime ().

Xfire also supports video recordings and makes it easy to access public recordings and screenshots of a game from the game's page. Because only Xfire recordings can be uploaded, the videos are always from the game, and nearly always just gameplay.

It may also help in the sense that it is possible to make friends using the service (after registering) and get recommendations from them, just as with Steam.

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Just remember that the stats for games with the highest playtime isn't a bottom line indicator of trends as a whole because its limited in scope to only players who run the program. In addition, it doesn't do offline game hour tracking. I'm actually hesitant to even list this site because since Xfire was acquired this summer by another company, there have been very few client updates, and the userbase is still questioning its direction. – FAE Nov 20 '10 at 16:19
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up vote 2 down vote

I enjoy following Gaming Daily. They have reviews and playthroughs of newer popular games, but with the occasional indie or experimental one mixed in.

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up vote 2 down vote

With so many media sources from which to absorb video game information, one can't help but find new games to play.

What, with magazines, websites, meta-websites, podcasts (both audio and video), TV programs, mobile apps and now gaming Q&A sites, my difficulty is not with finding new games but finding the time and money to play them all!

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up vote 1 down vote

If like me, you enjoy a good indie game, then you should absolutely check out Indiegames.com, which has given me numerous gems that I would have otherwise never found. Their twitter feed is extremely useful as well.

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