The 18 Best Steam Games, Ranked (December 2023)

Highlights

• Steam is generally considered to be the best launcher for PC gaming with over 50,000 titles, including a variety of successful indie games.
• User ratings help to identify the best games on Steam, with Left 4 Dead 2, Half-Life: Alyx, and RimWorld among the top-rated titles.
• Portal 2 is the highest-rated game on Steam, offering innovative mechanics, challenging puzzles, and even a co-op multiplayer mode.

Although there are other launchers out there, Steam is generally considered to be the number one platform when it comes to PC gaming. There are more than fifty thousand titles for players to choose from, including an excellent selection of indie games that owe much of their success to the sheer size of Steam’s user base.

However, while having more choices is undoubtedly a good thing, it could make choosing what game to play next a little tricky. Thankfully, the platform allows users to rate and review titles, making it fairly easy to identify the best Steam games simply by looking for the ones that are the most highly rated by other players.

The following list is made up of the most highly-rated games on Steam based on user scores and uses data from SteamDB. Only games with more than 20,000 total Steam ratings will be considered.

18 The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

Steam Rating: 96.5% Positive (260k+ Reviews)

There have been plenty of great indie game success stories over the past decade or two, but few have made quite as much of an impression as The Binding of Isaac. Developed by Super Meat Boy creator Edmund McMillen and Australian developer Florian Himsl, the game has been released across multiple consoles and sold well over five million copies since its release in 2011.

Many consider the 2017 remake The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth to be the best way to experience this indie roguelike classic and its impressive user reviews definitely back up this assertion. It’s one of the best games on Steam when it comes to user ratings, with many players citing its replayability and highly addictive gameplay as reasons to give it a shot.

17 Ultrakill

Steam Rating: 96.5% Positive (80k+ Reviews)

The FPS genre has changed a lot since the early nineties, though Ultrakill would perhaps beg to differ. Granted, the game is a little more polished than some of its predecessors, but it hangs onto that ultraviolent ambiance that helped to make games like Doom and Wolfenstein so popular back in the day.

Building on the strong foundations laid by those titles and more recent fast-paced FPS games like Dusk and Ghostrunner, Ultrakill provides players with a wild ride from start to finish and backs this up with an excellent selection of weapons and a well-realized combat system. It’s perfect for speedrunners or anyone hoping to squeeze in a quick gaming session before leaving for work or school.

16 Slay the Spire

Steam Rating: 96.5% Positive (140k+ Reviews)

There are plenty of great deck-building games on Steam, though few are able to hold a candle to Mega Crit’s Slay the Spire. Released in early 2019, the game helped to drag the genre into the mainstream, with its roguelike elements and sleek presentation proving popular with many Hearthstone players in particular.

Several years after its release, Slay the Spire remains one of the best games on Steam and still boasts a healthy player base in spite of its advancing years. For fans of the genre, it’s something of a must-play title, but also an excellent place to start for those who are new to roguelike deck-building games.

15 Euro Truck Simulator 2

Steam Rating: 96.6% Positive (700k+ Reviews)

Being a truck driver may not be the most glamorous job in the world, but there’s something strangely therapeutic about driving around the streets and highways of Europe in Euro Truck Simulator 2. So much so, in fact, that the game has accumulated more than 650 thousand positive ratings on Steam, making it one of the platform’s most popular and well-received titles.

Despite being more than a decade old, the game still maintains a fairly sizable user base thanks in large to its regular updates and expansions. As of the time of writing, players are able to explore 34 different European countries, which works out to be more than half the continent. Fans of digital tourism will love what Euro Truck Simulator 2​​​​​​ has to offer, as too will those who enjoy relaxing and repetitive games.

14 The Henry Stickmin Collection

Steam Rating: 96.7% Positive (40k+ Reviews)

Innersloth is best known for its hugely popular imposter game Among Us, but that’s not the only popular game that the indie studio has under its belt. The Henry Stickmin Collection serves as a modern-day remaster of one of the company’s founders’ early flash games, with a new chapter in the titular character’s story also included with the release.

With an all-time peak player count of just 2,812, The Henry Stickmin Collection is nowhere near as popular as some of the other top Steam games. However, the overwhelming majority of those who did play it liked it enough to leave a positive rating, suggesting that those able to look past the game’s basic visuals will more than likely find some enjoyment with this charming choose-your-own-adventure game.

13 Pizza Tower

Steam Rating: 96.8% Positive (45k+ Reviews)

Released in early 2023, Pizza Tower is one of the newest titles to find itself among the highest-rated games on Steam. It’s a 2D platformer inspired by the Wario Land series and looks more like a forgotten nineties cartoon than a modern indie game. When it comes to gameplay though, it’s entirely unique.

The fast-paced over-the-top action really helps to set the game apart from its peers, as too do its striking visuals and bombastic soundtrack. It may be a little too wacky for some people’s tastes, but that’s arguably all part of the game’s charm. As far as recent platformers go this is easily one of the best and a must-play title for fans of the genre.

12 Left 4 Dead 2

Steam Rating: 96.8% Positive (800k+ Reviews)

When it comes to co-op multiplayer games, they really don’t come much better than Left 4 Dead 2. The 2009 title builds brilliantly upon the strong foundations laid down by its predecessor, offering up one of the most exhilarating and fun-filled FPS adventures of the 21st century.

Set in a world that has been overrun by flesh-hungry zombies, players are placed into the shoes of a survivor and must work with three others in order to stay alive. It helped to inspire countless other zombie-themed co-op games and is well worth its place among the best games on Steam.

11 Half-Life: Alyx

Steam Rating: 96.8% Positive (80k+ Reviews)

There are plenty of incredible virtual reality games, but not too many that have been developed by large, well-established studios like Valve. Half-Life: Alyx is one of those rare exceptions and an excellent example of what the technology is capable of when enough time and money is thrown at a project.

Set some five years on from the events of Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Half-Life: Alyx sees players take control of 19-year-old Alyx Vance as she ventures through the quarantine zone to learn the truth about a Combine superweapon known as The Vault. It’s a stunning title from start to finish and a must-play for any and all VR enthusiasts.

10 RimWorld

Steam Rating: 96.8% Positive (170k+ Reviews)

RimWorld came about following a Kickstarter project, with developer Tynan Sylvester successfully raising a little over $200,000 in order to bring their vision to life. Around two and a half years later, the game was released on Steam, with a console port arriving some four years after that.

This construction and management simulation title proved to be incredibly popular with players, with its AI-powered story generator helping to ensure that no two playthroughs are alike. It’s been reviewed by more than 160 thousand people on Steam, with the overwhelming majority of players recommending it.

9 Terraria

Steam Rating: 97.0% Positive (1.2m+ Reviews)

Terraria deserves a special mention due to the sheer number of times that it has been rated or reviewed. It has more than 1.1 million positive ratings, which is more than five of the six most highly-rated Steam games combined. Granted, the proportion of positive to negative ratings is a little lower, but it’s an incredible achievement nonetheless.

Developed by Re-Logic and published by 505 Games, Terraria is a procedurally-generated 2D sandbox title with crafting mechanics and a heavy emphasis on exploration. Its Minecraft meets Metroid formula has proven to be incredibly successful over the years, with more than 44 million copies sold since its release back in May of 2011.

8 HoloCure – Save the Fans!

Steam Rating: 97.0% Positive (25k+ Reviews)

Some may dispute HoloCure – Save the Fans!‘s place among the best Steam games, particularly with fewer than 15,000 players having rated it at the time of writing. However, it’s difficult to ignore the game’s positive review ratio, with the overwhelming majority of players having recommended the free Vampire Survivors-inspired fan game.

Those who enjoy games like Vampire Survivors and Halls of Torment should love what HoloCure has to offer, providing, that is, that they like anime waifus. It’s one of the genre’s more relaxing offerings, with its bright and colorful visuals and upbeat soundtrack offering up a refreshing change of pace. There’s still plenty of depth though, which in turn allows for tons of replayability.

7 Portal

Steam Rating: 97.2% Positive (140k+ Reviews)

From its fantastic writing to its well-thought-out puzzles, there’s an awful lot to like about Portal. As the title might suggest, the core premise of the game involves using two-way portals in order to solve a series of puzzles, with physics and momentum also playing an important role in proceedings.

Unlike a lot of other turn-of-the-century video games, the plot of Portal is incredibly straightforward. Players control a test subject named Chell and must complete a series of tests in order to appease a sharp-tongued rogue AI system named GLaDOS. It’s a lot of fun though, and an easy recommendation for any puzzle game fan.

6 Hades

Steam Rating: 97.3% Positive (230k+ Reviews)

The popularity of the roguelike genre has exploded in recent years, as evidenced by the runaway success of Supergiant Games’ Hades. Released in late 2020, the game has a 93 rating on Metacritic and is also one of the most highly-rated games on Steam when it comes to user scores.

Hades is inspired by mythology and sees players take control of Zagreus; son of the titular Greek god. Their aim is to escape the underworld and reach Mount Olympus, though, to do so, they’ll need to overcome various challenges and earn the favor of numerous other Olympians.

5 Lethal Company

Steam Rating: 97.3% Positive (110k+ Reviews)

Just like Newgrounds before it, Roblox serves as an excellent training ground for budding young video game developers looking to hone their creative skills. There are countless talented creators on the platform, one of whom is Zeekerss, who would eventually go on to develop one of the best games on Steam.

Lethal Company proved to be a massive hit following its early access release in late 2023, with more than one hundred thousand people downloading it in the month following its release. The gameplay itself is nothing to write home about, but when coupled with the creepy atmosphere, the multiplayer experience on offer in Lethal Company makes it a must-play title for horror game fans.

4 Stardew Valley

Steam Rating: 97.4% Positive (620k+ Reviews)

Eric Barone was reportedly inspired by games like Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, and Minecraft while developing Stardew Valley, and the influence of these titles really shines through in the final release. What’s also clear is how much care and attention went into creating this passion project; something which is evident in just about every area of the game.

Stardew Valley helped to breathe new life into the simulation genre, which, at the time of the game’s release, was beginning to feel a little stale. As a result, Barone’s fresh new take on the genre led to countless imitators, though none have come close to matching Stardew Valley‘s success.

3 Vampire Survivors

Steam Rating: 97.4% Positive (210k+ Reviews)

Yet another example of the roguelike genre’s rapid rise in popularity, Vampire Survivors is an award-winning twin-stick shooter from Italian indie game developer Luca Galante. An early access version of the title first appeared on Steam in late 2021, with a full release arriving in October of the following year.

Both visually and mechanically, Vampire Survivors is a fairly simple game at first glance. However, the more one plays it, the more one begins to notice the meticulous levels of detail that went into crafting every little detail. Together with the plethora of secrets and unlockables, it’s this that helped the title to earn its place among the very best games on Steam.

2 People Playground

Steam Rating: 97.5% Positive (220k+ Reviews)

Released on Steam in 2019, People Playground is a sandbox game in which players are encouraged to kill ragdolls in a variety of creative ways. Unlike a lot of the other highly rated Steam games, People Playground is an indie title, making its high recommendation rate on the platform all the more impressive.

Though clearly an incredibly popular title, People Playground is fairly obscure when compared to some of the other great games with which it currently finds itself competing. At the time of writing, it doesn’t have a single critic rating on Metacritic, nor does it have its own Wikipedia page.

1 Portal 2

Steam Rating: 97.7% Positive (350k+ Reviews)

In many ways, Portal 2 is the perfect sequel. It takes everything that made the original game so great and improves upon it, introducing a variety of new mechanics and puzzles as well as a co-op multiplayer mode. These changes, together with the returning elements, help to make it the most highly-rated game on Steam.

Like its predecessor, Portal 2 sees players controlling Aperture Science test subject Chell as she’s forced to partake in a series of challenging physics-based puzzles. GLaDOS returns too and is this time joined by a new secondary antagonist named Wheatley, who is expertly voiced by British writer and comedian Stephen Merchant.

MORE: The Best Open World Games on Steam, Ranked