Which Steam games are guaranteed to be worth playing? We let the gamers decide and here we show you the 15 titles with the best user score.
Which games are the best on Steam? User reviews are an important indicator. Before we present you the top 15, please note: The list is about the highest average rating of players, sorted by the rating algorithm of SteamDB.
This relativises the rating depending on the number of ratings and prevents games with very few ratings from appearing too high up. That’s why the SteamDB rating differs from the Steam rating
Table of Contents
Place 15: The Henry Stickmin Collection
At 15, some of us may frown at first – what, pray tell, is the Henry Stickmin Collection? Others may now have pleasant memories of the good old days of browser games. Because that’s where the stick figure character Henry comes from, who goes on numerous adventures in his games and fails again and again in spectacular ways. At least when you make the wrong decision.
In the style of “choose your own adventure” you rob banks, infiltrate airships and escape from prison by using teleporters, summoning friends, faking diseases or spraying nerve agents. Henry Stickmin is a real retro classic and will probably make fans of the old games smile.
In the collection, the games were not only brought to Steam, but also completely revised, refreshed and partly re-animated. As a result, they still managed to get more than 24,000 positive reviews, only 300 people were disappointed – so this extraordinary game collection ends up at number 14 of the most popular Steam games.
Place 14: Ultrakill
Ultrakill was only released on Steam last year and is currently even still in Early Access, but it was able to quickly shoot its way into the hearts of fans. It features sleek retro graphics and the best of all the fast-as-hell, action-packed first-person shooters of the 90s.
If you like a deafening soundtrack, lots of shooting and creative retro levels, you should definitely give Ultrakill a try, according to the user ratings. Like Ultrakill itself, users don’t say much, but express their love via “10/10, best game”, “fun shoot explode game, fun” and “Bang Bang Bang”.
12,000 users are thrilled and only a staggering 76 players disappointed, relegating the niche title to 14th place in the most popular Steam games.
Place 13: Helltaker
Helltaker’s success can probably be attributed to a number of reasons. First, the game is free on Steam. Second, you play a series of puzzles in it with a good flow. Thirdly, the game has a brilliant soundtrack. And fourth … yes, fourth, it features sexy demon girls with a comic book look.
You can invite them into your hellish harem. Sounds like one of those clumsy erotic games on Steam, but in fact Helltaker tells a charming and funny story with two possible endings in its approximately two hours.
As a result, the game has collected over 86,000 positive reviews with only 1,900 negative votes and, in keeping with the theme of Hell, is the 13th most popular Steam game.
Place 12: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
In the rogue-like The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, we control Isaac and other characters based on the Bible through rooms filled with monsters and faeces. In the process, we fight with tears, which we upgrade in the course of a playthrough with various items. A coat hanger, for example, increases the frequency with which the tears can be shot, but from then on it also gets stuck in Isaac’s head.
Yes, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is twisted, brutal and disturbing. No wonder, since the setting reflects the perception and psyche of a helpless boy who is abused by his fanatical mother.
In terms of gameplay, the game impresses with a multitude of items that form synergies among each other and thus guarantee varied playthroughs. The numerous enemy types and bosses as well as the unique and grotesque atmosphere round off the experience.
With Afterbirth and Afterbirth+, there are also two add-ons to the main game, which, in addition to a new game mode in two difficulty levels, add further characters, room types, items and bosses.
Place 11: Euro Truck Simulator 2
Even though simulation-averse gamers may never have heard of Euro Truck Simulator 2, there are incredibly fascinating stories – and numbers – in this game. Since 2012, it has been constantly expanded with new updates, DLCs and landscapes. A whopping 400,000 people have given it their rating on Steam, 97 percent of them positive. So you can say: gamers love Euro Truck Simulator 2.
The principle is quickly explained: As a trucker, you take care of orders, get your truck valuable freight and drive the container once through Europe. The main game and the DLCs strive to faithfully reproduce as many European locations, cities and roads as possible – and so you chug from Rostock to Riga, look at the scenery and enjoy the truck life.
Place 10: Half-Life: Alyx
Taking VR out of its niche – That was Valve’s noble goal when they released Half-Life: Alyx, the VR spin-off of the Half-Life series. Valve’s VR kit Index, which in contrast to conventional VR glasses brings additional features such as realistic grasping into the game, was sold out for weeks and the international reviews were overwhelming. Shortly after its release, Half-Life: Alyx occupied the top 10 of the best-rated Steam games. A big step for the VR genre.
You take on the role of Alyx, who accompanied protagonist Gordon Freeman in the prequels, and experience her story between the first and second part. The storyline ties together several new strands and tells of the fight against the alien power Combine.
Place 9: RimWorld
RimWorld is the top-rated Steam game of 2018 and a huge success for Ludeon Studios. In the sci-fi construction game, you build a colony, trade, plant food and survive. Most importantly, the developers call Rimworld a story generator.
Each person has their own past and events constantly bring forth new adventures and stories. You choose whether you want a classic storyline, only positive events or completely random events using the story AI.
RimWorld has been in Early Access for five years and has gained a lot of new content, mechanics and positive reviews in that time. 109,000 players give it a thumbs up, with only 1,900 averse.
Place 8: Portal
The game mechanics of Portal are quickly explained: With the help of a futuristic gun, you shoot a blue and an orange portal into walls and surfaces. Everything that moves through one portal comes out the other. But what Valve creates in terms of puzzles with this simple premise made our jaws drop ten years ago and continues to thrill countless gamers to this day.
The puzzles are not only creative, but also innovative and unique. Simple tasks such as transporting a cube to a switch are turned into real head-scratchers by laser barriers, moving platforms and cute, armed robots that demand all our cleverness and ingenuity. In addition, one of the most popular antagonists in video game history, the artificial intelligence GlaDOS, makes her debut. Those who make it to the end credits can even enjoy a song by her. Portal is definitely a modern gaming classic.
On Valve’s distribution platform, Portal has collected around 92,000 positive reviews and is thus behind many games in this list. In return, however, only a little more than 1,500 people have given negative feedback. And so the puzzle adventure makes itself comfortable in the top 10 of our list of the most popular Steam games.
Place 7: Stardew Valley
At its release a few years ago, Stardew Valley was a phenomenon. Although life as a simple farmer or farm girl doesn’t sound like the most exciting game concept in the world on paper, this one-person project attracted an immense player base. No wonder, because just like the old Harvest Moon, farming in Stardew Valley is tremendous fun.
You cultivate your field, improve your equipment, expand your hut and feast on the idyllic nature. For a while now, this has also been possible in multiplayer! In co-op, you can spend your evenings on the farm with friends. If you don’t feel like exhausting shoot-outs in Call of Duty, you’ll find a wonderful alternative. And since Stardew Valley is still regularly provided with huge free content updates after 5 years, it continues to earn numerous positive reviews.
Place 6: People Playground
If you liked building deadly roller coasters in RollerCoaster Tycoon, you’ll be delighted with People Playground – which bases its entire gameplay on an extremely macabre idea. Here you throw stick figures into extremely dangerous situations and try to kill them in the most creative, funny or spectacular way possible.
You can have them hit by collapsing buildings in the sandbox, chase them down a bridge on the roof of a car or even recreate famous film scenes from Star Wars and the like. The possibilities of weapons, buildings and machines to build are almost endless and something about the brutal and tongue-in-cheek simulator obviously appeals to players – so much so that People Playground has collected over 57,000 positive reviews and only 684 negative ones. This puts it in an unusual 6th place on our list.
Place 5: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
2015 saw the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, an epic role-playing game that already enjoys cult status. The third part of the role-playing game series by CD Projekt RED revolves around the sorcerer Geralt and his foster daughter Ciri as well as the eponymous Wild Hunt.
Soundtrack, staging, characters, plot, game world, scope, dialogue – the skilful combination of all these things make the role-playing game a masterpiece. The loving, numerous and varied stories also console over the weak character system.
This is also reflected in the Steam ratings. Although the title has only been on the market for six years, it has already received around 527,000 positive votes. Even with about 11,000 negative reviews, that’s enough for 5th place on our list. With Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine there are also two extensive addons for The Witcher 3.
Place 4: Terraria
Nasty tongues like to deride it as a cheap Minecraft clone in 2D. But this description does not do Terraria justice. Sure, in the pixel game by Re-Logic we also mine blocks and turn them into tools and pieces of furniture via the crafting menu. But the role-playing aspect is much more in the foreground. In Terraria, we can become a potent mage, beat up skeletons and slime blobs as a fierce warrior and turn supernatural bosses into supernatural mush as a ranger
But if you don’t feel like violence, you can also devote yourself to building houses and lose yourself in details. Because in Terraria there are dozens of furniture, materials and colours available for decoration. Via the multiplayer mode, you can also build and fight together with your friends – or battle it out in PvP.
Although the release took place back in 2011, Re-Logic is still expanding the game with additional content and features.
Place 3: Factorio
Factorio is the third highest rated game on Steam by users – even before it was finished. Visually, the game is not exactly appealing either. And yet the Early Access version of the indie strategy title still had a higher rating in 2019 than the role-playing epic The Witcher 3.
Looking at the Steam reviews, the phenomenon can be explained in one word: addictiveness.
The goal of Factorio is to create huge production chains that work as efficiently as possible and, preferably, automatically. To accomplish this, resources and production sites must be cleverly combined. And so hour after hour passes, freely following the motto: “Just one more improvement …”.
Around 124,000 optimisation fans have given Factorio a positive rating. In return, however, only about 1,500 players gave the strategy game a negative rating. A proud achievement for the game, which could celebrate its final release in August 2020.
Place 2: Hades
Nobody had foreseen that Hades would be such a hit when it was released – least of all the developers themselves. The designers of Supergiant Games had a large and loyal fan base thanks to their very successful games Bastion and Transistor, but the indie studio was far from a global success. And then came Hades.
Explaining the fascination of the action role-playing game in the Greek-mythological hell is not so easy. we have nevertheless tried our hand at it. With its ingenious combat system, its successful and extremely motivating roguelite mechanics, we simply wanted to try over and over again to break out of Hell.
In the test, Hades not only secured a Platinum Award, but also two awards for game design and scope. The action role-playing game shines with an almost absurd amount of end-game content that still shows you something new after 100 hours of play. In addition to numerous “Game of the Year” awards, Hades also secured second place in the top-rated Steam games with 154,000 positive votes.
Place 1: Portal 2
Surprise! Portal gets another go, at least the successor Portal 2. Not much has changed in the basic game principle, but Valve has screwed on the scope and details. In the second part, there is a larger campaign that lets us distribute portals for around twelve hours. And the artificial intelligence GlaDOS is back as well.
A big expansion is the co-op mode. In this mode, we work together with a friend or random lab partner through specially created levels. Two portals become four and our brains become even more knotted.
About 258,000 players have forgiven GlaDOS for lying about the cake and left a positive review. And despite 3,100 negative reviews, that’s enough for first place in the list of games with the highest Steam rating. Will any other game ever be able to knock Portal 2 off its throne? Hm, maybe Portal 3 will come sometime.
