For those who, for one reason or another, consider consoles to be an inconvenience,PCsare one of the best things to happen to gaming since the turn of the century. And why wouldn’t they be? Every day, gaming rigs that obliterate traditional gaming consoles in performance are mass-produced and there is the existence of laptops that can be conveniently carried around for the gamer on the go. ButPC gamingis not all roses and sunshine; one of the drawbacks of the controversial platform is the massive size of game files, many of which must be downloaded, especially here in the age of digital distribution.
Some of thePC games with the largest file sizescan be a downright pain to run for players who try their hardest to make some space on their drives for these titles. As long as players are assured that they’ll have a great time playing the titles of their choice, there’s no denying that these games will be worth installing, even if the space they occupy can be downright mind-blowing at times.
Updated June 20, 2025, by Hamza Haq:A common trend that more and more developers are now taking part in is increasing the file size of PC games to 100 GB+. While this is often attributed to lazy developers or bad game design (and sometimes that’s true), it’s not always the case. Modern games use high resolution textures on PC as a given. Not only to account for the high-end PC owners who want to run the game at super high settings but also because these hyper-realistic games are developed with a certain look in mind that’s only achievable with those high-resolution textures. Though these textures can sometimes be compressed, it’s only to an extent, which is why it’s often not fair to lay blame at anyone’s feet.
Being able to look through the scope of a gun while shooting has its charm, but there is something special about actually getting to see the playable character during the action.Gears of War 4is one of the many third-person shooter games to capture the sentiment perfectly.
With amazing mechanics that render gameplay seamlessly enjoyable,the game’s plot also threatens to engage the emotions of playersby centering on a protagonist from the earlier games in the series, Marcus Fenix, passing on the mantle of badassery to his son, JD, and his two friends, Kait and Del.
The announcement oftheMass Effect: Legendary Editionwas something that took both old and new fans by storm. Commander Shepard’s story is one of the most memorable in gaming, and having the opportunity to explore it all once again with updated visuals was a treat indeed.
If there’s one thing that theLegendary Editiontaught gamers, it is that texture packs can take up a ton of space. This collection might have all three games, but 110 GB is still a massive install size for any title.
Easily one of the more popular titles in the series,Call of Duty: Black Ops 3was developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. Upon its release in 2015, the game was met with much positive acclaim, especially for the Zombies mode which proved to be especially difficult.
Its multiplayer mode also provides an unprecedented level of exhilaration with the array of ten soldiers it presents to players, all of whom possess one unique weapon or ability that makes them more lethal than the last.
It was only a matter of time beforeanotherCall of Dutygamewould make its way into this list. After all, each and every game in the series is notorious for having an unrealistically massive download size.
This is the case forCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Waras well. The entire game takes a whopping 125 GB on a person’s hard drive, which is simply ridiculous since developers should be responsible for optimizing their games on PC. The worst part is that this tweaked file size comes after optimization patches, with the size of the game upon release being 250 GB!
Released in 2019,Gears 5took The Coalition’s franchise in a new direction by incorporating a less linear playstyle. While not adopting a typical open world, the campaign eventually opens up and allows players to explore more so than usual. This change was generally received well, and the same could be said for the overall game.
Considering that the nextGears of Wargame will probably use Unreal Engine 5, the install size should easily eclipse its predecessor.
Itmight sound like a niche genre, but flight simulators tend to be some of the most detailed games on the market.Microsoft Flight Simulatoris one of the most impressive titles within the genre to date, with its keen attention to detail and focus on realism making it a huge game overall.
The game’s standard edition comes with more than 20 types of aircraft players can pilot, with the deluxe and premium deluxe editions adding in five and ten additional aircraft respectively.
Black Myth: Wukongtook the world by storm on release,breaking record after recordin terms of concurrent player count on Steam in a matter of days after its release, it clocked in at over 2 million players roughly 24 hours after it came out. As the most faithful recreation of the legendary Chinese story, Journey to the West to date, it’s no wonder it became as popular as it did.
Considering the breathtakingly gorgeous visuals, high-res textures, andparticle effects infused into every single frameof this Action RPG, it’s a wonder the developers, Game Science, managed to condense the package into as little as 130 GB on launch. It’s one of those games players need only look at once to understand why the file size is as large as it is.
With the release of many remarkable games into the waiting hands of gamers, 2019 was a year that lived up to its hype. For many,Call of Duty: Modern Warfareis one such game. Its campaign is placed in a modern setting, true to its name, and follows the unlikely alliance between a CIA officer, the British SAS, and Urzikstan rebels as they combat Russian invaders.
Realism remains the hallmark of this particular title as decisions that were once either absent or automatically made by the CPU are now left to players.Modern Warfarealso features multiplayer and Special Ops mode.
TheBorderlandsseries is one that holds a special place in many gamers’ hearts.Borderlands 3was one of the most anticipated titles of 2019, and though there were some noticeable technical hiccups, fans were happy with the overall product.
Though initially coming in at a 75 GB installation size, various DLCs and the Season Pass content are added to the current total. The “Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot”, “Guns, Love, and Tentacles”, “Bounty of Blood”, “Psycho Krieg” and the “Fantastic Fustercluck” DLCs give players hours worthy of additionalBorderlandscontent, making the increase in file size well worth it for hardcore fans.
WhileMonster Hunter Wildsremains an absolutely excellent entry in the Monster Hunter franchise and the best entry point for players new to the series, the game’s PC release was plagued withperformance issues, camera stutters, and texture pop-insthat soured the experience for a good majority of the PC player base.
On top of that, players hoping to use the best textures for the game—available in a separate free DLC called the Monster Hunter Wilds - High Resolution Texture Pack—will find that the DLC that takes up 60 GB worth of disk space on the disk by itself. Combined with the 75 GB base game size, this takes MH Wilds to 135 GB file size quite handily.
