In less than a month, we’ll air the next edition of the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted.

If you missed it last year, this end-of-year edition of the PC Gaming Show has a slightly different format: it presents a countdown of the 25 Most Wanted games as selected by a special panel of voters called The Council. This special group includes high-profile game developers like Brenda Romero, John Romero, David Gaider, Tanya X. Short, Soren Johnson, and Brian Fargo, as well as some of our favorite content creators—CohhCarnage, Esfand, Missmikkaa, AnnieFuchsia, DansGaming, and others—who lend their opinions to the process. Likewise, the entire PC Gamer team adds its votes to the pile.

If you’ve seen those “most anticipated” lists, Most Wanted is like if one of those turned into a big-budget, goofy TV show hosted by the delightful Frankie Ward, who’s been one of the faces of the PC Gaming Show since 2018. As we prepare to turn the calendar into 2025, we hope this broadcast helps you filter through the constant avalanche of games coming to PC and pick out what’s truly wishlist worthy.

To watch the countdown as it airs, tune into the broadcast on the PC Gamer Twitch channel, YouTube, Twitch Gaming, Steam, or Bilibili at 12 pm PST / 8 pm GMT on December 5.

How we selected the nominees

The long list of more than 100 unreleased games below are selected by the PC Gamer team based on our collective interest in these projects. We take into consideration everything from that game’s profile, premise, initial reception, the number of wishlists it’s garnered, and its creative direction, among other factors. It’s important to us that the Most Wanted list is not simply a popularity contest, however—we make a point of putting a wide range of projects that haven’t been widely noticed in front of our voting panel, to make sure a spectrum of games that represent the breadth, weirdness, and experimental nature of PC gaming are represented.

Games releasing before January 1, 2025 or that are already released in Early Access are not eligible for voting (though there is an exception or two, like Arma Reforger, which is a precursor to what will become Arma 4).

The long list is limited to around 100 games; as capable as The Council is, we can’t ask this group of people to vote on every game in existence (especially in a year when an average of 39 new games per day release on Steam). Although the list necessarily excludes many of the hundreds of unreleased games coming to PC, all voters also have the opportunity to nominate any game that they feel should be voted on by the wider group.

How the final Most Wanted list is selected

Voters vote on a 1-5 scale, using the following criteria:

5 • Maximum hype. Intense, obsessive interest in this game.

4 • This game looks excellent to me.

3 • I think this game looks really good.

2 • This game looks promising and captures your interest.

1 • Mildly optimistic. You’re curious about this game, but not more than that.

0 • (Abstain / no vote)

• We use a consideration called Release Certaintyto weight the score of each game relative to how certain we are of that game hitting its announced release date. If a game has a nebulous release date or none at all, its score is weighted lower—it’s difficult to fully anticipate a game when it’s unclear when it’ll actually be available.
• The number of votes a game received is an additional weighting factor

The PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2024 nominees

Path of Exile 2

Deltarune

Vampire: the Masquerade – Bloodlines 2

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

DOOM: The Dark Ages

Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater

Project 007 (working title)

ARK 2

The Thing: Remastered

Citizen Sleeper 2

Big Walk

PVKK

Control 2

Wolverine

Blade

Wonder Woman

Tenjutsu

Kingmakers

Crescent County

Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra

Menace

s&box

Nivalis

Monaco 2

Killing Floor 3

Little Nightmares 3

Arma 4

D.O.R.F. Real-Time Strategic Conflict

Judas

Avowed

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Titan Quest 2

Mariachi Legends

Atomfall

Witchbrook

Den of Wolves

Light No Fire

Streets of Fortuna

Beautiful Light

Borderlands 4

Dying Light: The Beast

Mafia: The Old Country

Haunted Chocolatier

Grand Theft Auto 6

Slay the Spire 2

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach

Monster Hunter Wilds

Skate

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Perfect Dark

Dune: Awakening

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII

Masters of Albion

Goat Simulator Remastered

darkwebSTREAMER

Marathon

Wrekless

State of Decay 3

Blight: Survival

2XKO

Among the Wild

Generation Exile

Gears of War: E-Day

ARC Raiders

Sand

Fable

Battle Aces

Exodus

Eclipsium

Gothic 1 Remake

Eternal Strands

Quartermaster

Fairgame$

Exoborne

Dread Dawn

Marvel Rivals

Project C

Cairn

Wanderstop

Project DOSA

Hyper Light Breaker

Usual June

Nightmare Operator

Twisted Tower

Kiborg

Miegakure

Canyons

The Sinking City 2

The Looter

Skin Deep

Mixtape

Cruel

Paperhead

Subnautica 2

Wreckfest 2

Splitgate 2

Aquametsis

Descenders Next

All Systems Dance

The Outer Worlds 2

South of Midnight

FUMES

Truckful

Super Fantasy Kingdom

Heart of the Machine

God Save Birmingham