If you’re looking for some nostalgia noughties titles to kick back with, then check out our list of the best PC games from 2000’s!
I was 10 in the year 2000. My N64 ruled the roost, and I was already collecting all the best Gameboy games on the scene.
When we got a PC, however, a whole new set of possibilities opened up. New games, increased power, and hours of fun running around as a wizard.
No surprises for guessing one of the games on this list then, eh?
There are so many titles to choose from that putting together 10 of the best was no easy task. Still, I think I’ve done the noughties justice with these 10 titles.
So, stick on Linking Park’s first album and grabs fruit winder as we check out some epic PC games from the 2000’s!
Table of Contents
10. The Sims (2000)
The Sims kickstarts our list of the best PC games from 2000’s! It also kickstarted one of, if not the most successful life SIM series of all time.
Making houses, getting your people to do cool stuff, naming a character after your crush and realising that you can’t hit on them virtually either; the SIMS had it all.
Building the perfect house is only one part of the game. Ok, so you want to create a nice environment for your sims to Iive in, but the real excitement is the social aspect of seeing SIMS going through their daily lives,
Make sure your SIMS are motivated and kept entertained as they live, work, love, and enjoy life.
I remember one of my sims having a job as a burglar too. When I think back, it was kind of bizarre that I was trying to upgrade my character to get a promotion in ‘the stealing business’, but it was fun at the time.
If you want a game where you can lose 5 hours in the blink of an eye and not think about your own job, then this is it.
9. Hitman: Codename 47 (2000)
Hitman: Codename 47 is one of those games where you end up sitting in silence because you don’t want the characters to hear you. That’s how tense it gets while playing!
This game is pretty brutal at times with some gruesome scenes. Still, the shooting action is often mixed up with tough puzzles to crack, meaning that it’s not only your button mashing fingers that get a pummelling.
You gotta use that brain of yours too!
Embark on a career as an assassin, wielding everything from piano wire to massive machine guns. It’s super tempting to just run in all guns blazing on this game, though that is the best way to die in every situation.
The answer to completing Hitman is my (not so) favourite trait: stealth.
Steal NPC uniforms, use distractions and reflections to take down enemies from afar, and do whatever it takes to get paid at the end of the hit.
8. Black & White (2001)
Black & White takes the 8th spot in our best PC games from 2000’s list, a game that I was completely enamoured with back in the day.
And If you like games like Sim City, Age of Empires, and Populous, then this God-playing game is going to be right up your street.
The main difference between these games and Black and White is that the player has a helper in this title.
No, it’s not Karen from HR; I’m talking about a massive animal that your people worship like a deity.
The creature is tied directly to a morality engine; if you do good stuff, your being will become divine and the land will prosper.
Do bad stuff, which I’m guessing most of you will do for a laugh, and your creature will become super evil!
Your main mission is to build a prosperous world while getting everyone to believe in you and worship you.
There’s lots to do in this game, from raising your creature and either petting or punishing them, being strategic about building your world, and getting involved in the lives of your people as you watch them going about their business.
Will you oppress your followers or help them thrive?
7. Combat Flight Simulator 2 (2000)
How many of you have taken to the skies in Combat Flight Simulator 2?
This is about as close to WWII as I ever want to get, let alone flying a plane. Jump in the cockpit of iconic planes used by both the American forces and the Japanese Navy while battling up in the air.
As far as controlling the planes go, the process is pretty complex. While the game itself is now over 20 years old, it still provides a realistic experience that, with certain settings, requires you to go through the whole rigmarole of taking off in a plane.
All while stressing about being shot down in a dog fight.
If you’ve always fancied taking to the skies in a Wildcat or a Hellcat, then now’s your chance.
Practice landing on an Aircraft Carrier when the wind is howling, bump up the difficulty through the campaign mode, and soar over the ocean while hunting down the enemy.
And who that is depends on which side you’re playing as!
So the levels aren’t incredibly detailed, but that doesn’t matter. I don’t imagine WWII pilots saw much scenery while gunning down planes anyway, so it’s probably pretty spot on!
6. Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
Next up in our list of the best PC games from 2000’s is the epic Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn!
If you’re a fan of RPGs that you can dive into with mates, then this game needs to be in your collection.
Take part in real time battles in a party of up to 6 people, traversing a massive game world filled with mystery and danger,
Utilising an isometric view, players move around Gauntlet-style, chatting with characters and immersing themselves in an arcing plot with many paths, twists, and turns.
I’m not saying that being a dungeon master will help you in this game, but it might mean that you have the nouse to think about what’s happening 10 tips in advance.
If you played the first Baldur’s Gate game, then you can actually bring your character from the previous adventure into this one. How cool is that!
Many features that we take for granted in games such as moral decisions and side quests that vary from character to character made a huge impact on this game. It’s a fantasy fan’s dream title and the perfect game to play while the next DM is preparing their D&D campaign.
5. Thief II: The Metal Age (2000)
Thief recently featured in our best 90s PC games article, and now Thief II: The Metal Age is taking a respectable position in our compendium based on the noughties!
If you loved the stealthy aspects of the original Thief: The Dark Project game, then you’re in luck. The game basically feels like a continuation of the first title as far as movesets and action goes.
Still, Master Thief Garret has some new tricks up his sleeves that make his sneaky movements even… well, sneakier.
Throw orbs around corners to see what’s coming, a helpful tip when those weird robots are heading towards you.
As always, Thief 2 is all about laying in wait and taking the right opportunity to strike. Running in blindly will often lead to you dying, something I still don’t seem to be able to understand in 2022.
Don’t worry; you’ll get to do a bit of thieving as you move through the levels too. A man’s got to earn a living while slaying bad guys, after all!
4. Max Payne (2001)
How Max Payne got away with stealing the bullet time effect from the Matrix I will never know. Still, it made for some epic gameplay in this hard hitting PC game.
The movie might have been utter garbage, but the game is spectacular. Follow Max as he’s on the run, blamed for the murder of his friend and grieving after the death of his wife and daughter.
I told you it was hard hitting!
Now, both the police and tonnes of other seedy gang types are after him. But Max is a loose cannon with nothing to lose.. and bullet time skills.
This third-person shooter feels like Enter the Matrix crossed with Mission Impossible, one of the best N64 games of all time, twinned with the tense atmosphere of games like GoldenEye 007.
Come on, how much more praise can I give it.
Some of the scenes are incredibly weird, and the choice of weapons can be a bit hit and miss sometimes, but it’s an absolute stellar game and one that more than deserves to be in this list!
3. Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone (2001)
You’re a wizard Harry! Yes, Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone takes the bronze medal in today’s list of the best PC games from 2000’s.
Step into Hogwarts Castle and find yourself right in the thick of all the trials and tribulations of Harry’s first year.
The story follows the act of the book and film; learn how to use spells, fly broomsticks, and stop Quirrel from getting his hands on the Philosopher’s Stone.
Exploring the castle is incredibly fun, and the puzzle elements of this game are really engaging too. Obviously there’s a bit more to-ing and fro-ing than there is in the film, otherwise the game would only last about 90 minutes.
Ron and Hermione are along for the ride too as well as other important characters such as Albus Dumbledore. Eat chocolate frogs for health, pull off spells from the Standard book of Spells, and be the wizard you always wanted to be.
If you’re waiting patiently for Hogwarts Legacy to drop, then go back and play all of the best Harry Potter games in the mean time!
2. Half-Life 2 (2004)
Gordon Freeman seems to continually find himself in impossible situations, and Half-Life 2 doesn’t make anything easier for him.
Caught amidst an invasion of demons in the first game, he’s now joining a rebel resistance group armed with fighting inter-dimensional beings that have destroyed earth’s forces in a war that lasted a total of seven hours.
I mean, at least it was over and done with quickly, but there won’t exactly be much for the history books to cover, will there?
From the image above, you can instantly see that Half-Life 2 is much more polished than the original game. Move through City 17 as you complete puzzles, gun down foes, and defeat an evil scientist.
Don’t forget that Gordon is just a scientist himself. This all seems a bit much, to be honest. I bet her’s considering a career in retail after this.
The crowbar makes an appearance again (it wouldn’t be a Half-Life game without it), but the firepower is far more impressive in this sequel. You can even drive vehicles in some areas too!
The plot line reminds me a little of the film ‘Children of Men’ too, with no children being born and the world in a state of chaos. If you thought Valve knocked it out of the park with their first offering, then their second will well and truly blow you away!
1. Dues Ex (2000)
The results are in, and Dues Ex officially takes the top spot in our list of the best PC games from 2000’s!
Can you remember the first time that you took anti-terrorist legend JC Denton out to destroy bad guys?
For those of you playing Cyberpunk on the PS5, this was one of the first games I can remember where you could customise the main character by adding cybernetic parts to the character’s body.
We’re talking Neo, the Master Chief, and Samus all rolled into one!
RPG fans will love updating JC’s skill tree and improving certain techniques. Will you turn your hero into a hard hitter or a master hacker?
Let’s get back to those cybernetic enhancements. Players can grab and lift objects that would be way too normal for a human to hold. Jump higher, and even swim like a Zora.
You can complete missions in a variety of ways too. And, for once, there’s the option to be stealthy or just go wild with a machine gun.
See why I put this game top now?
Yes, Deus Ex is still a cracking game in 2022, and I think it’ll still be popular with the masses for many years to come too!
