For those who, for one reason or another, consider consoles to be an inconvenience, PCs are 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. However, PC gaming is not all roses and sunshine; one of the drawbacks is the massive size of games, many of which must be downloaded, especially in the age of digital distribution.
Some of the PC games with the largest file sizes can 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.
As sizes can vary depending on the store, we will use the Xbox PC app if the game is available, as that lists the installation size. If not, we will add Steam’s storage information. Also, base content only, no additional stuff like DLC, so something like Train World Sim 6 will not be included since the standard edition is just about 40 GB.
Updated April 19, 2026, by Mark Sammut: Three games have been added: WWE 2K26, NBA 2K25, and Crimson Desert
Why Are Modern PC Games So Large?
Before we dive into the full rankings, it is worth briefly discussing why games have become so ludicrously large. At one point, a 512GB SSD was enough to store most AAA projects released in a year, while leaving room for every other software you need to install. Nowadays, a single PC game could take up half of that drive’s space. Every year, the installation size threshold is increased, and you have to imagine that a breaking point will be reached sooner rather than later.
So, what are the things that contribute the most to this forever-expanding size, especially on PC? Well, the following factors are important:
- While developers might compress games for consoles, this practice does not seem to extend to the PC versions.
- In recent years, we have arguably seen a rise in suboptimized releases, and that goes beyond just the hardware required to run the games.
- Multiplayer and live-service modes are part of most major AAA games, and they take up a lot of space.
- Open-worlds. Simply, open-worlds.
- Cutscenes have gotten very high quality. Also, nearly all big projects launch internationally, so they will need audio files for multiple languages.
- If you want 4K textures, you need the space to have 4K textures.
- Ray-tracing also contributes, although not directly.
Ray-tracing barely affects file size on its own; however, the ultra-high-resolution textures and assets that ship alongside it make modern PC games so large.
Can You Reduce the Install Size on PC?
Yes, although the possibilities vary from game to game. If space is limited, keep an eye out for these options, if they are available:
- Disable language packs
- Do not install HD textures
- Install only the single-player mode if you have no intention of playing multiplayer (very few games offer this, but some of the biggest titles do)
- Use NTFS compression (on Windows, just right-click on the game’s folder, select properties, General’s Advanced, and select “compress contents to save disk space.”) This usually results in lower performance, so it depends on your priorities.
25
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
120 GB (But Varies, As You Can Pick Which Game To Install)
The announcement of the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition was 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.
Longest Open-World Games
Even the most sophisticated gamer will be bewildered by the sheer scale of these games. These are the open-world games that take the longest to beat.
If there’s one thing that the Legendary Edition taught gamers, it is that texture packs can take up a ton of space. This collection might have all three games, but 120 GB is still a massive install size for any title.
24
Forspoken
121.73 GB
Square Enix has infamously handled its Western IPs horribly, and Forspoken is probably the last game funded by this publisher following the developer’s sale to Embracer Group. This attempt at making an isekai open-world title was marred with many issues stemming from its gameplay and writing, leading to a hot mess of a title that ended up underperforming across the board.
The traversal system of this game may be a blast, but it simply doesn’t do enough to justify players having to go through tedious story sequences and boring combat over and over again. Perhaps the biggest and most egregious mistake made by this game is the fact that it takes up a whopping 150 GB of space, which is simply ridiculous and goes to show how poorly optimized this game is, with the requirements for this game not justifying the drab and uninteresting visuals.
23
Crimson Desert
124.72 GB
On Steam, Crimson Desert requires 124.72 GB to install, but the Xbox Store page has it at 150 GB. As I have the former downloaded and installed, I decided to go with that figure since I can 100% confirm it. Either way, it is one of the biggest video games of all time, something you can deduce while playing it.
Pearl Abyss created the Frankenstein’s Monster of open-world games. Cobbled together from ideas and mechanics found in some of the genre’s most popular releases of the last decade, Crimson Desert tries to appeal to just about everyone. Want a combat-driven action-adventure game? You got it, and plenty of unlockable skills too! Want a story-driven experience? There are plenty of cutscenes. Want to just explore for hours on end, seeing what you can find? No problem at all! Crimson Desert is like Breath of the Wild mixed with Red Dead Redemption 2 and hints of The Witcher 3, along with some elements from Pearl Abyss’s Black Desert Online. It shouldn’t work, but somehow, it mostly does.
While a day will never come when a 120+ GB install will not illicit a groan, Crimson Desert justifies that absurdity with equally out-of-this-world scope and ambition. The game just keeps on introducing new ideas, and it never seems to stop.
22
NBA 2K25
141.13 GB
At one point or another, every single one of us will come across a game with a ridiculous install size that makes us go, “why?” Even though they obviously need to incorporate a lot of data and content, sports games being well over 100+ GB just seems wrong. To be fair, this is mostly an issue with the NBA 2K series, with the MLB projects coming in at a close second. While NBA 2K26 requires well over 110 GB to install, its predecessor is even bigger, requiring just above 140 GB for its base installation on the Xbox Series X/S.
Visually, the game looks pretty good, and its database is packed with an absurd number of players, past and present. 2K25 also comes with quite a few modes that are designed to keep players busy for a very long time, both in single-player and online. Still, NBA 2K25 requires twice as much space as Elden Ring.
21
Genshin Impact
142.63 GB
An open-world free-to-play gacha game that has been growing for about 5 years, Genshin Impact is obviously massive, and I am talking just about its install size. If you have been playing the game since its 2020 debut and, consequently, have been downloading updates regularly, you might not realize just how big the installation file has become, as you need more than 140 GB right now. Genshin Impact is also not done expanding, so its size will only get larger from here.
To be fair to HoYoverse, you can see where the 140 GB went. Teyvat has a couple of fully fleshed-out nations that would be big enough on their own for most standard open-world releases. Although anime visuals tend not to be as demanding as photorealistic ones, Genshin Impact‘s graphics are fairly impressive and look brilliant, for the most part. Also, you need space for all those playable characters.
20
Delta Force (Including Campaign)
144.23 GB
Delta Force has led a weird life so far. On the one hand, this free-to-play shooter has a few strong things in its favor. Visually, it is one of the best-looking games on PC. Multiplayer comes in two flavors that cater to slightly different audiences. You have Warfare that prioritizes vehicles and features staple PvP modes like King of the Hill and Team Deathmatch, along with Operations that leans into extraction shooters. Finally, Black Hawk Down is a single-player or co-op campaign that has you work through a string of missions, most of which are pretty hard.
Delta Force: All Operators (& How to Use Them)
Here’s the full list of playable operators in Delta Force, including breakdowns for their abilities and tips on how to use them.
Overall, Delta Force has more than enough positives to warrant a try, but the game also has its issues. The campaign can be frustrating, especially when tackled solo. Online matches are vulnerable to cheaters, especially if you are playing on PC. Due to it being free, you should give Delta Force a try, but be prepared for a massive download.
If you are not interested in the campaign, you can just download the multiplayer, which brings the total size to about 116 GB.
19
Microsoft Flight Simulator
157 GB
It might sound like a niche genre, but flight simulators tend to be some of the most detailed games on the market. Microsoft Flight Simulator is 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 five and ten additional aircraft, respectively. Funnily enough, the 2024 entry in the series requires less space than its predecessor, as it only needs 50 GB of available space on Steam.
18
Black Myth: Wukong
130 GB
Black Myth: Wukong took the world by storm on release, breaking record after record in 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, and particle effects infused into every single frame of 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.
17
Gears of War Series (4 And 5, Mainly)
125–135 GB
Gears 5
10/10
- Released
-
September 10, 2019
While not every Gears of War game is available on PC, the franchise has mostly made the jump, and the upcoming E-Day will release on the platform. Unsurprisingly, a series known for its graphical prowess tends to have pretty huge file sizes, with Gears of War 4 and Gears 5 both requiring more than 100 GB to install. Reloaded and Tactics are a bit more forgiving, but they are still huge games, considering one is a remaster and the other is part of the strategy genre.
Gears 5: The 10 Most Powerful Enemies, Ranked
Gears 5 solidified the new enemy types of the franchise, including the Swarm and DeeBees, and here are the most powerful enemies in the game.
Do the games warrant such big sizes? Well, they look great, even after all these years, and the campaigns are relatively lengthy. They also have multiplayer modes, so the packages include a good amount of content.
16
WWE 2K26
144.79 GB
Similar to NBA 2K26, WWE 2K26 is another game that feels like it shouldn’t be as big as it is, but the series has been gradually ballooning in size. At this point, 2K’s wrestling game is bigger than most modern open-world games, an absurd fact that begins to make a bit more sense when you take into consideration all the incorporated content. Yes, the actual gameplay might not seem that impressive compared to some other releases, but WWE 2K26 has to pack in hundreds of wrestlers, arenas, cutscenes, and clips, all the while covering quite a few different modes.
Admittedly, this size might be easier to stomach if WWE 2K26 wasn’t the worst entry in the series since the 2020 edition, ruining the momentum its predecessors managed to build. It isn’t an awful game by any stretch of the imagination, but the annual release schedule is starting to really take its toll.
