The PC Gaming Show 2022 took place on June 12, and it covered a lot of ground. Our sister site PC Gamer ran a 2.5-hour showcase that highlighted everything from big-budget expansions to upcoming indie darlings. The only thing that all the games had in common is that they’ll be available on the PC.
FYI: Killer PC games sale, with huge discounts on Elden Ring, Assassin’s Creed and more.
From developer interviews to DLC announcements to brand-new trailers, the PC Gaming Show covered a lot of ground. However, the Tom’s Guide staff picked out five of our favorite titles from the event, across a variety of different genres. PC fans will want to keep an eye on these – and if this selection isn’t to your taste, check out the full PC Gaming Show recording and see what strikes your fancy.
Agent 64: Spies Never Die
Agent 64: Spies Never Die has a pretty simple pitch: It’s essentially Goldeneye 007 for the N64. We haven’t had an official Goldeneye remaster due to a morass of complicated licensing issues, so developer Replicant D6 has decided to just bypass the middleman and create a game that looks and plays just like Goldeneye, down to the period-appropriate graphics and espionage-themed objectives. As of June 12, you can download and play a free Agent 64 demo on Steam, which should surely please the old-school FPS fans in the crowd. The game is supposed to launch later this year, but there’s no price listed yet.
System Shock
System Shock is a game that you’re probably familiar with, even if you’ve never heard of it before. That’s because this ambitious horror/FPS kickstarted a whole subgenre of “-shock” games, including System Shock 2, BioShock and BioShock Infinite. Like its successors, System Shock has a strong narrative, open-ended gameplay and an incredible sense of atmosphere. Currently, developer NIghtdive Studios is working on a top-to-bottom System Shock remake, which just got a brand-new trailer at the PC Gaming Show. You can download a demo on Steam right now, and the full game costs $45. There’s no solid release date yet, though.
Nivalis
Developer Ion Lands made a big splash in 2020 with Cloudpunk: a cyberpunk game where you play as a courier who winds up in the middle of a huge conspiracy between corporations, hackers and other mainstay institutions of the genre. Nivalis, named for the city where Cloudpunk takes place, is a much more chill experience in the same setting. Instead of running dangerous goods for unscrupulous clients, you’ll build up a business, arrange your apartment, explore the city and get to know the diverse inhabitants of Nivalis. There’s no price or release date just yet, but Cloudpunk fans will likely be happy to revisit this city under better circumstances.
Tactical Breach Wizards
Tactical Breach Wizards is one of those games that’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s a turn-based strategy game, in the vein of XCOM, where you take control of a small squadron of heroes and guide them through a series of tactical maps, building up their abilities and exploiting the lay of the land as you go. But unlike most tactical games, Tactical Breach Wizards has a fantasy element, since your team consists entirely of modern-day wizards. That means lightning bolts, telekinesis, mind control – you know the drill. The game is currently undergoing a playtest on Steam, although there’s no price or release date listed yet.
Half-Life Alyx: Levitation
Nothing says “PC gaming” like “modding,” so it seems fitting that the PC Gaming Show took some time to show off an ambitious mod. Amateur developers Corey Laddo and FMPOne are creating Half-Life Alyx: Levitation, an unofficial expansion for Valve’s Half-Life: Alyx that will add four or five hours of gameplay and a completely original story. As the title suggests, you’ll come across a building that seems to mysteriously float in the air, and attempt to unearth its mysteries from there. The game will be free for Half-Life: Alyx owners, and will come out in Q3 2022. Beyond that, all we have is a brief gameplay trailer.
