Top 15 Most Realistic Games For PC

Updated:

07 Mar 2023

In this article, we will explore some of the most realistic games on PC.

Realism in video games is a double edge sword. It can enhance the gameplay but also make it too boring for an average player. But if you are able to push through the steep learning curve of most simulators and hardcore games, you will find a unique and immersive world where you can be a soldier, driver, pilot, spy, or almost any other job/profession on this planet.

Join me as we explore some of the most realistic games currently on the market.

15. Police Simulator: Patrol Officers – 2021 ( PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Series S)

Police officers just ate a few donuts here. This is why they look so happy and might even overlook your speeding infraction.

Police Simulator: Patrol Officers – Release Trailer

Police Simulator: Patrol Officers is a year-old game with a simple premise: living a life of an average police officer. This includes giving parking tickets, checking driver’s licenses, making arrests, tasing, and pretty much everything you can imagine related to police work.

Realistic police action

But if you are looking for crazy chaos and non-stop action in the vein of GTA or Saint Row, this game might not be for you, as here you will need to follow the rules and respect the citizens around you. Given enough infractions on your part will send you back to HQ and if you continue to will mean game over for you. But fear not, as following the rules sometimes could be more fun than expected.

This interaction menu allows you to bother any NPC in this city, innocent or not.

As a police officer, you will be given a great variety of tools and options, from handcuffs, and tasers, to guns and other interactions like issuing violations or tickets. How and when you use them is up to you, but always remember to follow the police code and rules.

Accidents and crime are randomly generated in this city, which makes it feel like you never know what to expect when the call comes in and you turn on the siren. Finding the correct solution for an infraction or a crime is a finely tuned game loop that makes you addicted to this simulator after just a few hours of gameplay.

Fun factor score: 70/100

Police Simulator: Patrol Officers – Gameplay

System Requirements:

Minimum:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 64-Bit
Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-2120 or higher
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 (2 GB VRAM) or higher
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 12 GB available space

14. The Quarry – 2022 (PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Series S)

The Quarry is a cinematic experience like no other, as no other game has so many A-list hollywood actors in their cast.

The Quarry – Official Release Trailer

From the creators of the acclaimed Until Dawn, The Quarry is a new story-driven experience where you make life-changing decisions for a group of friends in a summer camp called Hackett’s Quarry. Here you will find many tropes typical of 80s horror movies, but this time you can decide the outcome and who will survive the ordeal.

This game might lack complicated interactions and systems, but it certainly hits strong in the storytelling and cinematics department. With top-notch animations and voice acting, The Quarry brings the AAA levels of immersion and movie-like fun to your PC, Playstation 4 or 5, and Xbox series S and X.

There is always that one annoying character not worth even trying to save, who will it be here?

Cinematic experience

In The Quarry, you take control of nine teenage counselors, who must survive numerous threats, from violent locals to supernatural creatures that roam around the Quarry. Similar to Until Dawn, this game features branching narrative threats, that are changed depending on your actions. This is a great system for replayability, as each time you will see totally different set of characters at the end of the game.

Fun factor score: 80/100

The Quarry -Gameplay

System Requirements:

Minimum:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: AMD FX-8350 \ Intel i5-3570
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 780 / Radeon RX 470
Storage: 50 GB available space

13. Stranded Deep – 2022 ( PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch)

Stranded Deep is all about getting more hungrier than the shark, which opens a lot of posibilities to explore.

Stranded Deep - Official Launch Trailer

Have you ever wanted to experience a full-on Tom Hanks-like adventure similar to the movie Cast Out? Now you certainly can with this open-world survival game in a similar style to Subnautica, Starve Together, and the Forest.

Unexpected vacations

In this indie title, you take control of an unlucky passenger that bought a ticket to a plane that crashes in the middle of the pacific ocean. Being the only survivor, you will need to learn to craft and gather food on your own, while surviving the bad weather and vicious predators.

Stranded Deep has a very deep system of crafting and building, as you can build rafts, shelters, traps, campfires, and other useful structures that will help you survive on the island and at sea.

Fun Factor Score: 80/100

Apparently, having a panic attack while swimming away from a hungry shark is the best way to lose some weight.

System Requirements :

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7
Processor: X64 Quad Core CPU 2.0GHz+
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: 2GB VRAM
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 4 GB available space

12. Insurgency: Sandstorm – 2018 ( PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and 5)

Insurgency Sandstorm is a perfect game for tactical shooter buffs, as this game takes its firearm realism very seriously.

Insurgency Sandstorm - Launch Trailer

Insurgency Sandstorm is a realistic team-based shooter with one of the best-realized firearms and sound designs to date. This game brings us a very realistic depiction of modern warfare with all its gore and glory.

Build in the Unreal 4 engine, this war simulator has great attention to detail when it comes to firearms and ballistics. The guns and animations are very responsive and fluent, which is an important thing for most multiplayer shooters.

A FPS game for hardcore players

Although it might look like an ultra-realistic slow-paced shooter, Insurgency Sandstorm is nothing but, as it will surprise you with its high-octave action and bone-chilling immersion. A single precise shot can kill any player, which makes even the smallest action or movement so much more dangerous and exciting.

Fan Factor Score: 80/100

You can play as security or insurgency forces, the latter being a very colorful bunch.

System Requirements:

Minimum:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64 bits)
Processor: Intel Core i5-4440 (3.10GHz)/AMD FX-6300 (3.50GHz)
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760/AMD Radeon HD 7970
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 40 GB available space

11. SCUM – 2018 ( PC )

SCUM is similar to Hunger Games if you change the anxious teenagers for vicious battle-hardened criminals.

SCUM - “Welcome to SCUM Island” Trailer

SCUM is an interesting blend of intense action and realistic simulation with a huge open-world environment. Here you play as one of the participants in a dark reality show where several combatants fight against each other for the support of the public, sponsors, and producers.

This game offers a huge deal of customization of characters and numerous weapons at your disposal. This combined with a great variety of different biomes, from frozen wastelands to lush forests, makes this game one of the best open-world survival simulators on the market.

Ever-growing world

This game has a similar gameplay to games like DayZ and Rust, where you can join a guild or a clan and build and defend a base together, using numerous traps, static weapons, and other useful constructions. Or you can go solo and take a risky hike while exploring the dangerous wastelands.

SCUM is being actively worked on by the developers, adding new systems like crafting, cooking, hunting, and building, which is very nice to see for a 5-year-old game.

Fan Factor Score: 70/100

Here I am trying to convince those two cannibal gentlemen to not eat me today.

System Requirements:

Minimum:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i5-4430 / AMD FX-6300
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB / AMD Radeon RX 480 4GB
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 70 GB available space

10. Deadside – 2020 ( PC )

Deadside is an indie survival game in a similar style to games like DayZ.

Deadside - Official Trailer

Deadside is an open-world multiplayer game set in a post-apocalyptic world with a great emphasis on realism. Here you won't find any zombies or mutated rabbits, as this game simulates the real downfall of human society.

A huge world to explore

Deadside offers you a 225 sq. km world full of roads, rivers, and hostile and friendly NPCs to engage and explore. In a similar vein to Rust, this game features raiding, base building, and a realistic ballistic firearm system with a lot of customization.

Sometimes with such an expansive world, it could get really boring, as it takes forever to get where you need. Here is where Deadside offers numerous missions for you to try, which are procedurally spawned around you These missions are very well done and work fantastically solo or in a group of friends.

Fun Factor Score: 70/100

Leaving a smashed car with flat tires is a good way to dissuade any potential car robbers.

System Requirements:

Minimum:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 64-bit Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10
Processor: Core i3 / AMD FX
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: GT 1030 / RX 550
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 25 GB available space

9. War of Rights – 2018 ( PC )

War of Right will have you battle for hours on end with your friends as they shout profanities at each other. Just like in a real war.

War of Rights - Official Gameplay Trailer

War of Rights is a multiplayer team-based game based on the American civil war. This is not your average Call of Duty or Battlefield, as you won't be able to rush the enemy position alone, as it will mean a certain death for the player.

This is a hardcore team-based experience, where you need to follow your leader's orders very closely to have an impact on the battlefield.

A true historical immersion

War of Rights is very realistic when it comes to firearms of that time period. Here you will find very powerful but inaccurate muskets and early rifles, that are mostly used in a volley fire, meaning fired in a big group.

Although all that realism might feel like an inconvenience at first, this game offers a unique soldier experience, where being a simple rifleman is almost more fun than leading a battalion.

If you enjoyed games like Mount & Blade: Fire and Sword and Holdfast: Nation at war, this game will be a perfect match for you.

Fun Factor Score: 90/100

The man with a flag in the front is a real patriot because he loves his flag more than his gun.

System Requirements:

Minimum:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1
Processor: Intel i5 2500K
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 670
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 10 GB available space

8. Forza Horizon 5 – 2021 ( PC, Xbox Series X, and S, Xbox One)

Forza Horizon 5 is the latest installment in the Forza series, known for its driving realism and hyper-realistic graphics.

Forza Horizon 5 - Official Launch Trailer

Forza Horizon 5 is a new entry in the acclaimed Forza Series. This time it takes us to Mexico with the biggest world map in the series. Here we will find a huge variety of biomes such as jungles, small towns, deserts, and lush mountains, which are beautifully rendered and animated.

With very responsive driving and a huge deal of realism when it comes to traction and acceleration of each vehicle, Forza Horizon 5 is considered one of the best driving games on the market.

Customizable automobile experience

Forza Horizon 5 comes with an easy-to-use tool that enables you to create your own sceneries and maps, which adds to the replayability factor. Once created, these new scenarios could be shared online with your friends or anyone who is interested in trying out your creation.

With improved visual effects such as lighting, dust, and tire smoke, this game has very impressive graphics compared to any other driving simulator.

Fun Factor Score: 90/100

Urgently racing down the Mexico border is the only meaningful way to solve legal issues.

System Requirements:

Minimum:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 version 15063.0 or higher
Processor: Intel i5-4460 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVidia GTX 970 OR AMD RX 470
DirectX: Version 12
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 110 GB available space

7. Hitman 3 – 2020 ( PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch)

Hitman III is a difficult topic to search for online, as you might end up on some government list.

Hitman 3 - Official Launch Trailer

Hitman 3 is an epic finale for a highly-acclaimed Hitman trilogy. This title is actually considered the best game in the series for a lot of fans, as it enhances the gameplay and graphics without sacrificing the core of Hitman games that made them so fun.

Similar to Hitman 2, this game focuses more on the gameplay and less on the story, bringing us endlessly replayable massive levels full of different approaches and ways to kill the target.

The art of killing

This title will challenge your creativity more than base gamer skills, as you will need to find unique solutions for every challenge presented to you.

You can take a pure stealth approach or just go in guns blazing, you decide.

This flexibility is a well-known trade mark of the Hitman series, and here it’s expanded and perfected in almost every way possible, giving you numerous options as to how and when to kill your target

Fun Factor Score: 90/100

Being killed around this beauty feels like a good way to go.

System Requirements:

Minimum:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: OS 64-bit Windows 10
Processor: Intel CPU Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz / AMD CPU Phenom II X4 940
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 / Radeon HD 7870
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 60 GB available space
VR Support: SteamVR or Oculus PC
Additional Notes: VR Minimal Requirements: CPU: Intel 6-core i7-8700 / AMD Ryzen 7 2700 GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super / AMD 5700XT

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: OS 64-bit Windows 10
Processor: Intel CPU Core i7 4790 4 GHz
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 1070 / AMD GPU Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 60 GB available space
Additional Notes: VR Minimal Requirements: CPU: Intel 6-core i7-8700 / AMD Ryzen 7 2700 GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super / AMD 5700XT

6. The Long Dark – 2014 ( PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, MacOS)

The Long Dark is a game about hungry animals trying to eat even more hungry humans.

The Long Dark - Launch Teaser Trailer

The Long Dark is a single-player survival game, where you must endure a certain amount of days in a freezing cold environment while dodging dangerous animals and foraging for food and supplies.

This game is not your typical survival game, as this title will challenge even the most expert players with its unforgiving cold mechanics and food rationing.

Winter is coming

In The Long Dark, you play as a pilot who crashes into a frozen wasteland. Here you will need to manage absolutely everything, from gathering firewood to hunting and cooking, while you are being hunted down by bears, wolfs, and other “friendly” fauna.

This game has a very steep learning curve, but if you are able to learn the basics it will be very rewarding to see yourself become a real hunter and survivalist.

Fun Factor Score: 80/100

There is always time to try to become friends with a hungry bear, or not.

System Requirements:

Minimum:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 8
Processor: Dual-Core Intel i5 CPU @ 2GHz+
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Intel 4xxx Series w/ 512MB VRAM or better
Storage: 7 GB available space
Sound Card: Any onboard chip will work.

5. Kingdom Come: Deliverance – 2022 ( PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch)

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a unique game that will transport you to the late medieval era in the modern Poland/ Czech republic called Bohemia at the time.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance - Trailer

The best way to describe Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a first-person medieval simulator. Kingdom Come is a perfect experience for any medieval history buff, as it adapts real medieval history mixed up with a few fictional characters.

This open-world game is based in Bohemia, Poland, where you play as a simple farmer trying to survive the dark ages. Brilliantly rendered, this world offers a lot of possibilities, from horse riding, and sword sparing, to fighting a town drunk and surviving massive sieges.

Authentic medieval simulator

Even without magic, dragons, or any other medieval/fantasy trope, this game provides a very different yet beautiful experience, where every small detail is true to life as it was in those times.

From colorful costumes to real medieval traditions and dances, this game will give you an experience like no other on the market

Fun Factor Score: 90/100

Medieval men solve their differences the best way they know.

System Requirements:

Minimum:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: OS 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1) or Windows 10
Processor: Intel CPU Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz, AMD CPU Phenom II X4 940
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 660, AMD GPU Radeon HD 7870
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 70 GB available space
Sound Card: Integrated
Additional Notes: SSD recommended

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: OS 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1) or Windows 10
Processor: Intel CPU Core i7 3770 3,4 GHz, AMD CPU AMD FX-8350 4 GHz
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 1060, AMD GPU Radeon RX 580
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 90 GB available space
Sound Card: Creative SOUND BLASTER Zx
Additional Notes: SSD recommended

4. This War of Mine – 2018 ( PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch)

This War of Mine is a gritty and realistic survival game that will teach you how to survive the next economic/pandemic crisis on your own.

This War of Mine - Teaser Trailer

This War of Mine is a game where you manage a group of civilians trying to survive the war around them. This includes gathering food, medicine, and sometimes even guns, as you will need to protect your safehouse from any unwanted guests.

This is a very unique game, as you won't find anything even similar to this gem.

A gray depiction of human survival

This is a very challenging and realistic title, as you will need to survive for several weeks without food or water. And as it happens with real cold weather, people will get sick more often than not. That's why you will be desperately searching for supplies every time you can, risking the life of your characters every time you do so.

This game is focused on proper management of your safehouse rather than action-based tactics, although there is some action when you go on exploring other buildings around you.

Overall this is a very interesting indie title with unique mechanics and a small dose of simple but effective storytelling.

Fun Factor Score: 70/100

The war never changes, and when it does it is always for worse.

System Requirements:

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7/8/10
Processor: 2.4 GHz Dual Core
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: GeForce GTX 260, Radeon HD 5770, 1024 MB, Shader Model 3.0
Sound Card: DirectX compatible

3. Arma 3 – 2013 ( PC, MacOS)

Arma III is so realistic it hurts. I mean for real, you can get real PTSD from this gem. Highly recommended by my therapist.

Arma 3 - Launch Trailer

Arma 3 is hardly defined as a game, and more so as a fully-fledged simulator and tool for training real soldiers. Created by Bohemia interactive, this simulator offers you huge maps with a ton of vehicles and weapons to use.

This game is all about combined arms doctrine, which means that to achieve victory you will need to coordinate air, land, and sea troops. This is no small task, as you will need to learn how to efficiently communicate with your teammates and do it in an orderly fashion.

The realism that gives you PTSD

If you ever wanted to feel like a real soldier, there is no better experience than this one. Here you will have to take long hikes, scout terrain, have long communication sessions with your commander to order an airstrike, search for mines or explosives, and almost anything you can imagine when it comes to modern warfare.

One of my favorite features of the Arma series is a highly customizable editor, where you can create any mission or scenery you ever wanted, which can be played solo or with friends.

Fun Factor Score: 80/100

Me and the boys are on another obligatory tropical vacation.

System Requirements:

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7 SP1 (64bit)
Processor: Intel Dual-Core 2.4 GHz or AMD Dual-Core Athlon 2.5 GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT / AMD Radeon HD 5670 / Intel HD Graphics 4000 with 512 MB VRAM
DirectX®: 10
Hard Drive: 45 GB free space
Audio: DirectX®-compatible on-board

2. Ready or not – 2021 ( PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch)

Ready or not is mostly "not" than "ready" when the enemy rushes from a random door you just checked a few minutes before.

Ready or Not - Official Reveal Trailer

Ready or Not is a spiritual successor to SWAT and Rainbow Six series, where you replay numerous breaches and clear situations. This is an intense first-person shooter with a huge emphasis on realism, where you can die from a single shot if you are not careful enough.

This is a team-based experience, as you won’t be able to do much alone, as the unique AI is always doing something unexpected. This randomness is what gives this title a big replay value.

Storming the room

With fluid and realistic gunplay, this game is currently attracting many players with a SWAT-like itch to scratch. But what Ready or Not does very well is the intensity of the combat, which might be lacking in other titles. When the shit hits the fan, it will get ugly and chaotic for you and your teammates.

Fun Factor Score: 90/100

Sometimes it feels bad to have shootouts in such pretty places like this one. I hope they have good insurance.

System Requirements:

Minimum:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 64-bit Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i5-4430 / AMD FX-6300
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2GB / AMD Radeon R7 370 2GB
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 90 GB available space

1. Red Dead Redemption 2 – 2018 ( PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)

Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the most realistic wild west games out there, only possible by the huge capital of Rockstar Games.

Red Dead Redemption 2 - Official Trailer

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a sequel to the highly acclaimed Red Dead Redemption made by famous Rockstar Games. This is an open-world game based on wild west where you can do almost anything you can imagine at that time period. From train heists to horse chases and gun duels, this game will grasp the imagination of any history buffs.

This title has one of the most incredible details when it comes to open-world games. From real fauna system simulations to real-time beard-growing, this level of detail is only possible with the talent and experience of the powerhouse such as Rockstar Games.

Indians and Cowboys simulator

This game is certainly a masterpiece, as it combines a well-written story with open-ended gameplay and an AAA level of quality when it comes to animations and rendering.

Red Dead Redemption 2 offers you a dynamic world full of quests, jobs, and random encounters that makes this world as real as the one we live in.

Fun Factor Score: 100/100