Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5000 series is on the horizon, and whether you're going straight for the flagship RTX 5090, the more affordable RTX 5080, or one of the other models, one question remains. What is the first game you're going to play on your awesome graphics card? After all, most of you won't be picking up one of the most powerful GPUs on the planet to run Minesweeper with it. You could, but why would you? You'll be able to play the latest AAA titles with glorious ray tracing and make up any performance hits with frame generation, both of which are likely to get upgraded in the RTX 5000 series.

With that in mind, we've put together a shortlist of must-play titles for your new graphics card to cut its teeth on. All but one of these fantastic games have native RTX and/or DLSS implementations to showcase the Nvidia technologies, and the one outlier (Elden Ring) has DLSS, thanks to a third-party mod. Plug in your favorite gaming monitor and enjoy the graphical goodness.

11 Alan Wake 2

One of the most visually stunning games around

Remedy Entertainment could easily take over this list, but its crowning achievement is the beautifully surreal Alan Wake 2​​​​​​. Full of deep contrasts, dynamic lighting, next-gen path tracing, and rasterization, it brings current-gen GPUs to their knees, even with DLSS and frame generation to help. The mind-bending story has you controlling two protagonists on an intersecting path, and the rest of Remedy's back catalog bleeds into the game at various points, hinting at even more convergence in the future.

10 Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

Join the fight as one of the Na'vi and roam the lush countryside of Pandora

Many movie tie-in games are pale imitations of the silver screen version, but Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora bucks that trend, managing to be even more lush and vibrant than James Cameron's on-screen vision. Plus, you get to play as one of the Na'vi, the large, blue inhabitants of the planet Pandora, tasked with protecting the planet from yet another invading force of humans that want to strip-mine its natural resources.

It's a visual masterpiece, especially in HDR, with ray-traced illumination, reflections, and lighting to dazzle as the lush jungle world gets faithfully reproduced. It's a workout for current-gen GPUs, so it'll be perfect for showing off the generational increases of the GeForce RTX 5000 series.

9 Cyberpunk 2077

Still the benchmark for crushing systems and showing off RTX to its fullest

While most PC games try to have a settings tier that isn't quite achievable on current generation hardware, every so often, a game comes out that is so far ahead in technical requirements that it has more than one tier that forces current hardware to its knees. At one point, that game was Crysis, but now it's firmly Cyberpunk 2077 and its DLC, Phantom Liberty​​​​​.

This masterpiece of storytelling has one graphical mode that turns on fully path-traced lighting and, once enabled, even the mighty RTX 4090 struggles to get over 20 FPS without DLSS. The developer calls this mode a "technology preview," and it shows, but maybe the RTX 5090 will have enough grunt to get 60+ FPS for smooth gaming.

• Cyberpunk 2077

  
  Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure RPG set in the dark future of Night City — a dangerous megalopolis obsessed with power, glamor, and ceaseless body modification.

  $60 at Steam $60 at Epic Games Store

• Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

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8 Elden Ring

Roam the Lands Between at your own pace to take in the sights

Elden Ring is still one of the best-looking games you can play on PC, and now it has ray tracing for shadows so that the Lands Between feels even more immersive. The atmosphere is amazing, with subtle shifts before you cross into a new biome, making it feel like a living world. However, developer FromSoftware cautions not to use ray tracing unless you're playing at 1080p, because the performance can definitely tank, which makes the combat-heavy game even harder. But that was for hardware then, and the RTX 5000 series should be able to handle ray tracing at higher resolutions and stay above 60 FPS for smooth combat.

7 Ghost of Tsushima

Feudal Japan never looked so good

It took four years for Ghost of Tsushima to land on PC, but oh, it was worth waiting for. The Japanese island setting is filled with expansive vistas, flowing foliage, and plenty of action. While it doesn't need an expensive graphics card to shine, it definitely benefits from being able to turn all the graphics settings to the maximum. It's absolutely going to showcase the RTX 5000 series' improvements, but be warned—it might just make you want to upgrade your monitor as well.

6 Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Just like Jensen, Dr. Jones is never far from his leather jacket

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is my current favorite game, as I've long wanted to step into Dr. Jones' shoes and do some treasure hunting. On PC, it has full ray tracing, DLSS 3.5, and Ray Reconstruction, which makes exploring caves and crypts with only a flaming torch even more immersive. All those rays take a toll on your system, though, with it being one of the few games that require hardware-accelerated ray tracing to run. This game will love the 32GB of VRAM rumored to come on the RTX 5090, as the recommended specs for full ray-tracing at Ultra call for the RTX 4090.

5 Metro Exodus

One of the first games designed for ray tracing is still one of the prettiest

The post-apocalyptic setting of Metro Exodus was fully revamped for ray traced lighting in the Enhanced Edition and is one of the best showcases for both the technology and how well it can run when optimized. Reflections, shadows and all light sources are now ray traced, and if you haven't already played it, now's your chance. Plus, it's often at deep discounts as it's an older game.

4 Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered

Aloy has never looked so radiant as when she was in RTX

I spent over 120 hours playing Horizon Zero Dawn when it first came to PC, and I'm about to put that many hours into the remaster because the combination of setting, story, and sublime lighting is worth the investment in time. Aloy's story is one of the best single-player experiences I've had, and I won't ruin it for anyone who hasn't already played through to the end. The only thing I'll say is that it definitely benefits from being played on an OLED monitor because you'll want to turn HDR on for this one.

3 Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2

Crush the filthy xenos in glorious ray-traced muzzle flashes

What's better than stomping through abominations in the name of the Emperor of Humanity? Doing so in ray traced lighting, of course, and Space Marine 2 doesn't disappoint on that front. It's the first game I've played that accurately depicts how powerful a Space Marine is, and the gothic architecture of the Imperium lends itself well to being lit by flickering candlelight by the thousands. Stomp, shoot, and slice through thousands of aliens and other heretical creatures to keep mankind safe because, in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.

2 Dragon Age: Veilguard

The latest installment of the series is also its most beautiful

The latest installment in the Dragon Age series is bigger, bolder, and more beautiful than ever. With a shift towards a more action-orientated combat system, Dragon Age: The Veilguard has state-of-the-art visuals and an engaging cast of heroes and NPCs to interact with. Plus, it wouldn't be Dragon Age without dozens and dozens of hours' worth of quests and storylines, giving you a value-packed experience to play on your new GPU.