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Mix it up with these 5 really weird PC games you can play right now

Stuck at home and need something new and different? Escape an earthquake, fight through your dreams and more.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
Dan Ackerman
2 min read

Doom: Eternal, Fortnite, Final Fantasy VII, Valorant. All popular games right now, but all a little familiar. Too familiar. 

Most of us have been stuck inside for more than a month now, and maybe the familiar isn't exactly what you're craving right now. Instead, try something completely different and download these PC games , which range from slightly unusual to genuinely weird. 

Watch this: 5 PC games that'll make you a better racer

One of my cult favorite PlayStation 2 games was a 2003 Japanese import called Disaster Report. In it, an intrepid survivor tries to escape a city destroyed by a violent earthquake -- part exploration, part survival, part awkward conversation simulator. The sequels have generally been unavailable in the US, but Disaster Report 4 popped up almost out of nowhere a few weeks ago on Steam and PS4 (it was released in Japan back in 2018). It's weird. It's stilted. It looks, frankly, like it's still a PS2 game. I don't care, I love it, and it certainly fits our current revenge-of-nature zeitgeist. 

A retro-style horror adventure, told as if it was a classic 1-bit old-school computer game (using a monochromatic color palette). It's Lovecraftian with a strong J-horror vibe, mixing point-and-click exploration with simple monster battles. The art style is genuinely creepy, and the world subtly shifts into scaryville as you play. Tip: If you have Xbox Game Pass for PC, this game is also available as part of that service. 

Disco Elysium was the arthouse game of 2019, and if you haven't traveled to the alternate universe European-style city of Martinaise yet, you're really missing out. It's part Agatha Christie, part Hunter S. Thompson, as a perpetually wasted detective tries to solve a murder, unravel political conspiracies and hopefully, find his missing badge. 

A real hidden gem, this talky, spooky RPG uses a hand-drawn style that reminds me of Edward Gorey. In the game, the entire town of Arkham has been mysteriously whisked away by an evil force (or maybe it's the rest of the world that vanished), and everyone from hooded cultists to stranded Boston mobsters are fighting for control of the town.  

This is an excellent free preview version of an upcoming game. It's an action game that takes place in a mist-filled world of lucid dreaming. During daylight hours, your protagonist visits the coffee shop or book store and talks to townspeople, while at night she battles dream monsters, getting a little stronger each time. 

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