Best Bethesda Games of All Time - PC Highlights

We're talking about Bethesda today, and you know what that means. Yes - Skyrim has been re-released yet once more. All joking aside, today we're going to talk about the incredible cultural pillar of gaming that is Bethesda Softworks, and about the very best Bethesda games the team's ever put out.

Now, it's hardly secret that the team here at 2Game are all huge fans of Bethesda's output. From improbably massive and immersive RPGs all the way to some of the finest FPS games this side of the mid-aughts, Bethesda has left an incredible mark on the world of gaming by now. If you're interested in learning a bit about them and, perhaps, getting a new appreciation for what they do - you're at the right place.

Many of you will already know that Bethesda, though often considered a monolithic entity, actually consists of two major components. There's their publishing house, Bethesda Softworks, and the actual development house, Bethesda Game Studios. We'll explain the distinction between the two, as well as their specific strengths and niches, and why the difference matters a great deal.

Check out the full list of Bethesda Softworks games, all available via 2Game.

A Short History of Bethesda

Bethesda is one of the oldest gaming businesses in existence today. Unsurprising, we suppose, given how hugely influential they are, but still. The company started its life back in 1986, no joke. Founded by Christopher Weaver, a former comms engineer in the TV industry, Bethesda was purportedly kickstarted to "see if the PC market was a viable place to develop games".

Their first release - Gridiron! - was developed with no graphics engine whatsoever over the course of nine months. Though technologically reasonably advanced, the game looked pretty darned awful, which didn't get them all that much attention from the general gaming populace. Keep in mind, said populace was rather low back in the late eighties, but it did garner enough hype to surprise Bethesda Softworks with its performance.

Early on, Electronic Arts even hired the fledgling Bethesda to help them wrap up the development of John Madden Football, thanks to their technological prowess. This, however, would eventually lead to a lawsuit between EA and Bethesda, as EA acquired the publishing rights for future Gridiron! releases, only to do nothing with the IP. Instead, they retrofitted its simulation features into their own Madden releases. The case was resolved outside of court, so we don't rightly know what exactly went on.

The end result, however, was a pivot further away from sports for Bethesda. 1991 marked the release of The Terminator for MS-DOS. Wonderfully advanced, the game launched alongside James Cameron's Terminator 2 and basically topped the charts in its quarter.

On Bethesda Softworks, the Publisher

It wasn't until 1994 that Bethesda finally pushed out the very first iteration of their legendary IP - The Elder Scrolls: Arena. Considered to be a marvel at the time, the critical acclaim of Arena kickstarted Bethesda's rise to fame. It wasn't the only project they had been working on at the time, however.

The 10th Planet, for example, was a space exploration/combat game that fell through the cracks. Could it be one of the influences behind the upcoming Starfield? Possibly: Bethesda's releases do have a wonderfully long tail when it comes to influencing future projects.

In 1997, the follow-up to Arena launched - Daggerfall - and once again pushed the envelope on what was possible in games at the time. Its two standalone offshoots (Battlespire, Redguard), however, didn't fare all that well. In fact, the going got so rough for Bethesda back then that the company had even considered bankruptcy for a while.

On Bethesda Game Studios, the Developer

It's a curious thought that for the first decade and a half of its existence, Bethesda was effectively an indie gamedev studio. They developed and self-published most of their output, simple as that. In 1999, however, Christopher Weaver and Robert Altman founded Zenimax Media, effectively using it as an umbrella holding company for Bethesda itself. "ZeniMax and Bethesda for all intents and purposes are one thing," they said. "Bethesda has no accounting department, we have no finance, we have no legal..."

ZeniMax would eventually oversee operations to such an extent that Bethesda could bifurcate its operations into two dedicated niches. First would be their Softworks branch - the publishing brand - and the second would be their Game Studios branch - the development house.

Though much of their publishing efforts would only come to fruition towards the late aughts and the early tens, Softworks did begin its publishing history rather early on. In the meantime, Game Studios proceeded to push out a staggering number of classics over the years:

• TES III: Morrowind, 2003
• TES IV: Oblivion, 2006
• Fallout 3, 2008
• TES V: Skyrim, 2011
• Fallout 4, 2015

Naturally, the company also published an extremely wide variety of games. Many of which are near and dear to most of us. Just a few fine examples:

• Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, 2006
• Fallout: New Vegas, 2010
• Rage, 2011
• Dishonored, 2012
• The Elder Scrolls Online, 2014
• Wolfenstein: The New Order, 2014
• The Evil Within, 2014
• DOOM, 2016
• Dishonored 2, 2016
• PREY, 2017
• The Evil Within 2, 2017
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, 2017
• Rage 2, 2019
• DOOM Eternal, 2020

That's a hell of a list, is it not? But here's the good part: there's plenty more where that came from.

What makes Bethesda Important Today?

As the list featured above is bound to show, Bethesda has assembled an incredible array of game studios over the years. And - yes - it has been a good long while since their Game Studios division last pushed out a flagship title, but here's the thing - it's coming. More on that in its own dedicated section, however.

The important thing to mention here, though, is that Bethesda has kept a number of important sub-genres alive over the years. In fact, they've pushed them to thrive, thanks to the talent they've been funding over the last decade or so. Immersive Sim titles - courtesy of Arkane Studios - are alive and well. id Software, on the other hand, goes side-by-side with MachineGames in pushing the legendary shooter IPs into the new era. Doom and Wolfenstein are both in a great place right now, and this would've been impossible without Bethesda.

Perhaps more importantly, however, this isn't changing anytime soon. Everyone and their mum knows by now that Xbox/Microsoft recently acquired Bethesda in its entirety as a first-party game studio. They're not only dedicated to helping Bethesda fund more of these projects and innovate on multiple fronts simultaneously. Since this is Xbox we're talking about, too, all Bethesda games will 100% be coming to PC in the future, too.

Like them or hate them, Beth's recent projects are incredibly interesting and engaging. We found ourselves enjoying both Fallout 76 and Deathloop, for one, and we can't wait to see what comes next. Unless it's Horse Armor, of course...

Best Bethesda Games on PC - Top Picks

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition

So... Skyrim's being re-released again for its 10th anniversary. At face value, this might seem kind of awkward, but we're pretty thrilled about this development, ourselves. Sure, the mods will be borked for a little bit, but in return, we're getting performance and stability optimizations, a bunch of new content (fishing!), and yet another excuse to replay this modern classic. As if we needed one, ha!

• Play Skyrim - Anniversary Edition

Doom Eternal

The ultimate rendition of a modern boomer shooter, Doom Eternal is easily the most brutally badass FPS on the market in 2021. Fast, violent, and incredibly satisfying, this is the game to play if you're just looking to smash some demons into a bloody pulp. It's got a Horde Mode now, too, as a free expansion for all owners of the base game!

• Play Doom Eternal

Deathloop

Arkane Studios' latest release might be a tad light on the Immersive Sim elements, but it sure is heavy on the action. This is Arkane's proof that they're more than capable of pulling off actual guns with enemies that shoot back, and without disrupting the classic gameplay loop they had established over a decade ago. Not to mention its snazzy visual style.

• Play Deathloop

PREY

In more ways than one, PREY is the polar opposite of Deathloop. Slow, methodical, and more inventive than we could've possibly imagined back in the day, PREY is one of the best Immersive Sim titles ever made. Step into the shoes of a researcher trapped aboard the TALOS-1 station and find out the true nature of the looming extraterrestrial threat. There's a twist here or there, that's all you're getting from us!

• Play PREY

The Evil Within 2

Shinji Mikami's response to the ravenous success of Resident Evil, The Evil Within 2 proves that AAA horror was alive and well in the mid-2010s, and that it still has much to offer. The narrative is basically a top-tier combo of gut-punching storytelling and horrific moment-to-moment gameplay, and though melee combat kinda sucks, the rest more than makes up for it. Do not miss out on this one.

• Play The Evil Within 2

Fallout: New Vegas

Arguably the greatest Fallout game ever made, this beauty was developed by none other than Obsidian Entertainment, who would later on go to develop Pillars of Eternity and The Outer Worlds. Many players will claim that New Vegas tops anything else that's available in the IP, and though we wouldn't necessarily agree with that, it's easily one of the best modern-ish FPS/RPGs you could (and should) play.

• Play New Vegas

Fallout 4

The latest mainline Fallout release, Fallout 4 offers the smoothest gameplay and the best gunplay we had ever seen in this franchise. Seriously, it's hard to overstate just how fun this game is. Whether you're exploring its many locales, gunning down its many mutants, or building up its many settlements, Fallout 4 is a pure bundle of post-apocalyptic joy. We won't ever stop recommending it, honestly.

• Play Fallout 4

New Bethesda Games to Look Out For

Starfield

Starfield has been a long time coming. Think of it as Fallout or TES in space, because that's essentially what we're expecting it to be, thanks to some valuable input from Todd Howard himself. Apparently, we're getting Creation Engine 2 - which is an all-new game engine from Bethesda, and this alone is worthy of hype - to fuel multiple explorable planets, expanded base-building and RPG features, and a slew of other exciting items. Billed as "the humanity's final journey," Starfield promises a lot. Perhaps even more so than any previous first-party Bethesda title.

The Elder Scrolls VI

The Elder Scrolls VI is, for all intents and purposes, a total enigma at this point. Now, the only thing we really know about this game is that it's going to be Bethesda's next project following the release of Starfield. Literally nothing has been revealed about it so far, other than Bethesda's dedication to bringing it to life eventually. It's a tough cookie to swallow, because we may well end up getting the next TES game no less than a whopping 15 years after Skyrim. A hell of a timeline that Bethesda's working on, don't you think?

Final Thoughts

Finally, we've said everything we had to say! For now, at least. Hopefully, it's clear by now why Bethesda is by and large one of the most important game studios in existence in the early 2020s.

To be sure, they are taking their sweet time with The Elder Scrolls VI, or the legendary Starfield itself, but we're 100% sure that it's going to be worth it in the end. After all, who else is creating these dense, sprawling immersive sim-alikes where mere traversal is fun, engaging, and interesting? Where the open world isn't just that thing you run through on your path from one side-quest to another? Yeah, we're pretty hard-pressed to come up with fresh examples, truth be told.

Even if we only consider Bethesda's publishing output, it's plain as day that they're a crucial pillar of modern gaming. PC gaming, in particular, given that they're not only open to modding, but deeply encourage it to boot.

But that'll do it for Bethesda! Would you like to read more about some other publishing houses we've previously featured? Here are a few:

• SEGA Publisher Highlight
• Focus Home Interactive Publisher Highlight
• Capcom Publisher Highlight
• Paradox Interactive Publisher Highlight
• THQ Nordic Publisher Highlight

We've got quite the collection already! Do expect plenty more in the future, though. Stay tuned to our Community Hub to get the latest scoop as soon as we... scoop it up.