Best Free PC Games

Great games are a dime-a-dozen, but ones that are also free-to-play are something special. Most

free PC games

don’t have much content and can be very underwhelming, while a few promising titles are held back by a dwindling player base or their in-game economy.

That said, there are some great free games out there, including a few like

Brawlhalla

that have attracted dedicated fanbases despite not having enough reviews to earn a rating on Metacritic. So, for players looking for something to jump into that won’t require opening their wallets, they should take a look at these

great free-to-play PC games

.

Updated November 5, 2023 by Mark Sammut:



The last few weeks have not produced any particularly notable

free PC games

, but players still have a few dozen titles to pick from.

Naraka: Bladepoint

Metascore: 71

Naraka: Bladepoint

has been around since 2021 when it launched as a priced product on PC before debuting on Xbox a year later. While reasonably successful compared to most of its contemporaries, the game struggled somewhat to establish itself as a front-runner in an oversaturated battle royale market known for its polished free releases. Consequently, it seemed to be only a matter of time before 24 Entertainment transitioned the project to a free-to-play model, which is what happened in July 2023. Unsurprisingly, this switch coincided with a huge influx of new players, although it remains to be seen whether they stick around for the long run.

Even if the fad has faded a bit in recent years, battle royales are still inescapable, largely thanks to heavy hitters like

Fortnite

and

Warzone

. A more niche title than either of those releases,

Naraka: Bladepoint

sets itself apart from the crowd by focusing on melee rather than ranged action. The game also takes ideas from the hero shooter genre by incorporating characters with unique abilities and weapons, allowing players to gravitate toward their preferred playstyles. This creative decision resulted in a project with a higher skill ceiling than most available battle royales, although the combat is still reasonably accessible.

Honkai: Star Rail

Metascore: 80

After creating one of the most popular action RPGs in the free-to-play scene, HoYoVerse has turned its sights to the turn-based sphere. Although not the first entry in its series,

Honkai: Star Rail

serves as something of a soft reset, in the sense that newcomers can jump in without needing to be familiar with previous projects like

Honkai Impact 3rd

(which is a decent freebie in its own right). Unlike

Genshin Impact

‘s fantasy setting,

Star Rail

is drenched in sci-fi goodness, with its campaign following a space crew as they visit different planets. Serving as the game’s biomes, planets tell relatively self-contained stories and allow HoYoVerse to introduce new cultures, world designs, and enemies.

Star Rail

launched with two planets, although this number should increase as the months and years roll by.

Honkai: Star Rail

‘s turn-based combat shares similarities with

Genshin Impact

‘s real-time battles since both systems revolve around 4-member teams and emphasize party synergy. Even though it is not real-time,

Star Rail

‘s combat is still dynamic and fast-paced when compared with other turn-based RPGs. Along with story-given characters, players unlock new party members through a gacha mechanic, and the game already has a robust roster of fighters.

The Sims 4

Metascore: 70

After roughly 8 years on the market,

The Sims 4

went free-to-play, granting everyone access to the vanilla version. Now, the social sim’s expansion packs have continued to require a monetary investment, and they do add quite a bit to the base experience. Nevertheless,

The Sims 4

‘s free iteration is ideal for newcomers who just want to dip their toes into this popular franchise; if they like what they see, they can always check out the expansions to decide if there is anything that suits their fancy.

The Sims 4

has attracted its share of criticism over the last decade, with many believing the entry failed to reach the heights seen by its predecessors. That said, messing around with the Sims is still entertaining.

The Murder Of Sonic The Hedgehog

Metascore: 82

Coming out of nowhere,

The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog

might be the Blue Blur’s best official game in a long while, at least in the sense that it accomplishes everything it sets out to do. As the title suggests, the story revolves around Sonic’s murder, and players are put in a position to investigate the case. This operation largely consists of visual novel passages and point-and-click sections, although there are short gameplay sections that are more in line with a traditional

Sonic the Hedgehog

experience.

Released just prior to April Fools’ Day,

The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog

obviously does not take itself too seriously; however, that does not extend to the actual quality of the game. It is clearly a passion project that celebrates the legendary mascot’s history while offering die-hard fans an opportunity to experience something very different from the typical entries in the franchise. People who are not into

Sonic

but love murder mysteries might still get a kick out of this title since it is a fairly decent representative of the latter concept. If this spin-off is anything to go by, Sega should consider genre-swapping

Sonic

more frequently.

Warframe

Metascore: 69

Metacritic scores reflect a game’s launch state, which makes sense since studios should be analyzed on whether they provide a solid experience out of the gate. However, for a service title like

Warframe

, its critic score of “69” doesn’t reflect its current level of quality. Digital Extremes’ action RPG has come far since its debut, adding more open worlds to explore along with expanding its lore beautifully.

Warframe

‘s fast-paced gameplay has always been great, and it only got better as the game incorporated new suits, weapons, and ways for players to interact with the world and each other. At this point,

Warframe

contains so much content that new players could dedicate six months to the game and still not come close to witnessing everything it has to offer.

HoloCure – Save The Fans!

Steam User Rating: 99%

Although not the first of its ilk,

Vampire Survivors

‘ unprecedented success led to the arrival of a slew of similar auto-attack games. On the surface,

HoloCure

might seem like nothing more than

Vampire Survivors

with a Vtuber skin; however, while they definitely share a fair few similarities, the former does a pretty good job of setting itself apart from its contemporary. For one,

HoloCure

knocks its presentation out of the park, delivering impressive special effects for a fan-made project. Even if it is nothing groundbreaking, the game is always visually interesting thanks to its range of creative enemies, powers, and occasional bursts of personality.

For people who never played

Vampire Survivors

or a similar title,

HoloCure

‘s gameplay is not that complicated, at least at a glance. Players pick a Vtuber (+ their unique weapon) from the available roster and are dropped onto a map where they must slaughter everything in the area, and the character attacks automatically. Monsters constantly spawn, and as they are mowed down, players will level up and earn the capability to unlock new items, abilities, or upgrades. The latter options are randomly picked, which not only adds some variety to runs but also incentivizes users to carefully plan out their builds. After a session, players can use their earnings to purchase new characters and other goodies.

Marvel Snap

Metascore: 85

After spending under a year in early access,

Marvel Snap

made its full debut in August 2023, and it is a rock-solid card game. The gaming industry is not necessarily lacking in great projects of this style, but

Marvel Snap

might be one of the most accessible but still fun entries in the genre. Matches consist of six rounds, with each one increasing the base energy of the cards that can be played, and three lanes that each have a randomly generated modifying effect. Each turn, competitors must play cards that reward points or have special abilities, with the winner being the person who has the highest score in two of the three lanes.

As players win matches and level up their profiles, they will gradually unlock new cards that they can use to tweak and improve their decks. At this point,

Marvel Snap

has a fairly wide collection of cards and meta decks, offering quite a bit of variety. Now,

Marvel Snap

‘s monetization is quite aggressive, and free-to-play users might find themselves having to grind to make up the lost ground. That said, the game is still fun even without investing money.

Guild Wars 2

Metascore: 90

Debuting in 2012,

Guild Wars 2

has been free-to-play since August 2015.

Except for a handful of restrictions

, free players have access to the core experience, although they will have to pay if they wish to try the three expansions. While the latter are great in their own right,

Guild Wars 2

‘s vanilla campaign is the reason the game is considered one of the best MMORPGs of all time. Unlike some other entries in the genre, ArenaNet’s project is quite story-driven, and the primary campaign should keep someone engaged for close to 100 hours.

With nine professions, two character slots, and two Living World seasons, players have a ton of content to work through.

Guild Wars 2

also adapts the narrative to fit the user’s actions, ensuring that no two playthroughs are exactly alike. Even a decade after its release, this game still has very few peers in the MMORPG scene, making it comfortably one of the

best free PC games

.

Smite

Metascore: 83

Smite

allows players to choose from over 100 different gods across 16 separate pantheons. The playable characters in

Smite

are the gods of ancient polytheistic religions like Zeus and Odin. The title comes with several game modes, with Conquest being the most popular.

This mode pits two teams of five players against each other, a titan, and the hostile monsters hiding in the “jungle”.

Smite’s

reviews, from critics and users, praise the game’s ease of play, numerous options, and hassle-free camera. The few repeated complaints seem to reference the balance of matches; players state they either win very easily or “get smashed”.

War Thunder

Metascore: 81

War Thunder

was a quaint title when it debuted in the early 2010s. It had an OK selection of planes and focused more on its simulation component; jump forward nearly a decade and things have exploded spectacularly. Nowadays,

War Thunder

is one of the

biggest free-to-play games

on the market, offering more than a thousand vehicles split across multiple types and nations. Players can specialize in aerial, sea, or ground vehicles, and the game can be enjoyed with

friends

or even solo.

War Thunder

has proven its staying power after all these years. While unlocking new vehicles is certainly made easier through premium payments,

War Thunder

can be enjoyed without spending a cent.

The Lord Of The Rings Online

Steam User Rating: 81%

The Lord of the Rings Online

has been around since 2007, and while it adopted a free-to-play model in 2010, the MMORPG really ramped up its free material in April 2022. At this point, Standing Stone made all the content up to the sixth expansion, 2013’s

Helm’s Deep

, available to everyone. Free players can take on quests up to level 95, which is potentially 100+ hours worth of gameplay.

LOTRO

‘s free version does limit things like character slots and inventory size, along with removing some mechanics that speed up progression. However, the experience is not too punishing, particularly if someone is not too worried about reaching the endgame.

LOTRO

is a loving tribute to Tolkien’s world, and fans of the novels will find a lot to appreciate in this project.

Omega Strikers

Metascore: 79

Developed by former

Riot Games

members,

Omega Strikers

is a refreshingly accessible multiplayer game. That’s not to say it is overly simplistic, only that its core concept is immediately understandable. Players compete in 3v3 soccer matches where the objective is to knock a puck into the opposing team’s goal. The latter also increases in size as matches progress, adding an element of urgency to gameplay.

Omega Strikers

might look like a sports game, but it plays closer to a brawler. Players pick a Striker from a roster of anime-style characters that have unique abilities and play styles; some figures specialize in defensive positions, while others are pure attackers.

Omega Strikers

is a charming

free-to-play PC game

that is perfect for quick sessions.

Counter-Strike 2

Metascore: 82

A free update to

CS:GO

, Valve’s eternal free-to-play shooter,

Counter-Strike 2

earns its sequel title by providing the base experience with its biggest overhaul to date. At its core, this is largely still the same game that Steam users have been playing for roughly a decade, which automatically places

CS2

among the best FPS games on the market. That said, the September 2023 release brought a few notable additions or changes, such as the introduction of a CS Rating and a revamped loadout.

More importantly,

Counter-Strike 2

uses the Source 2 engine, which naturally delivers a significant jump in visual quality over its predecessor’s Source engine. While it is frustrating that

Global Offensive

is no longer available to play,

CS2

represents the license’s present and future.

Old School RuneScape

Steam User Rating: 90%

Except for

World of Warcraft

,

RuneScape

is arguably the most famous MMORPG of all time, and the game lives on in two forms. The standard

RuneScape

comes with (relatively) modern visuals and improvements, although it retains most of the core ideas that defined the 2001 version. However, people who want to play the classic version should download

Old School RuneScape

, a version that removes most of the changes introduced post-

RuneScape 3

.

Considering its reason for existing, this project is purposefully dated, and newcomers who are only familiar with fairly modern MMOs might struggle to embrace the game’s retro aesthetic, gameplay, and pacing. That said,

Old School RuneScape

is still incredibly charming and popular, with the game boasting an active and helpful community.

Genshin Impact

Metascore: 84

In 2020, MiHoYo’s action RPG took the world by storm. Initially viewed as a clone of

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

,

Genshin Impact

quickly established its own voice through its anime aesthetic, progression system, and team-based combat. Set in the gorgeous Teyvat, players step into the role of the Traveler, a being who jumps across worlds.

As they explore the game’s massive open-world, players unlock more of

Genshin Impact

‘s effective lore while building a party of playable characters.

Genshin Impact

is frequently updated with new heroes, locations, story beats, and unlockable items.

Goose Goose Duck

Steam User Rating: 87%

One might be tempted to dismiss

Goose Goose Duck

as an

Among Us

clone, and while the former certainly takes inspiration from the latter, the game has more than enough positives to stand on its own webbed feet. As the title suggests, this is a social deduction game that challenges players to decipher who is the fake among their gaggle of geese.

While it might be a

free PC game

,

Goose Goose Duck

does not hold back on content. The game offers an impressive selection of maps that are quite different from each other. Alongside a classic mode, the package also has four other options, plus an area where users can mingle. Players can also customize their geese using cosmetics, adding a personal touch to their birds.

Brawlhalla

Steam User Rating: 82%

Once upon a time,

Super Smash Bros.

seemed to be the only real platform fighter on the market. Nowadays, that is no longer the case, and some of the niche genre’s standout releases are free. While it has had its share of ups and downs,

Brawlhalla

has been around for more than half a decade and is still going strong.

Along with relatively standard PvP options, the title has a refreshing range of game modes, including stuff like Horde and Capture the Flag. In terms of characters,

Brawlhalla

has over 50 legends, which consist of originals and crossover fighters such as Aang from

Avatar: The Last Airbender

and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Path Of Exile

Metascore: 86

When

Path of Exile

was released it was immediately compared to

Diablo 3

. While the

graphics

aren’t quite as polished as that premium title,

Path of Exile

might be a better option in some ways. This game truly delivers a near-AAA game experience at no cost to the player.

One of the best aspects of

Path of Exile

is the game is completely free of pay-to-win influences – all content in the game is accessible.

Path of Exile

has more content and replay value than most other free games.

League Of Legends

Metascore: 78

League of Legends

is a weird one. Riot’s MOBA is undoubtedly among the most successful and biggest

free PC games

on the market, a spot it has owned since 2009. In recent years, the franchise has been spreading its wings with spin-off games and even a great Netflix animated series, and pretty much all of this content is accessible to new players. They largely exist in their own bubble, and while they might not all be masterpieces, they are generally entertaining. Out of all the

LoL

projects out there, the core game is by far the hardest to recommend to complete beginners.

LoL

is extremely difficult and throws a lot of nuances at players. Anyone new to the ecosystem is looking at potentially months of training just to grow familiar with the primary mechanics, and even then, they will likely always trail behind players who have been playing for a decade.

LoL

can be life-consuming and very stressful, although this can be circumvented by staying away from the more competitive game modes.

Fall Guys

Metascore: 80

Originally debuting at a premium price,

Fall Guys

went free-to-play in 2022 as it expanded to a wider range of consoles. The physics-based multiplayer game pits people against each other in a variety of modes, most of which are decided by whoever can outlast their opponents. While some skill is involved,

Fall Guys

‘ matches always have a certain chaotic energy to them that ensures each bout feels different from the last and could be won by just about anybody.

Along with jumping online to compete against dozens of strangers from across the world,

Fall Guys

is a blast to throw on in local co-op settings. Get a few friends together, order a pizza, and spend a couple of hours trying to fling each other off skyscrapers and moving vehicles. That is friendship.

Hearthstone

Metascore: 88

Hearthstone

is an online collectible card game from Blizzard. While the game is free-to-play, to be able to build a deck of any worth generally requires in-game purchases. On the positive end of the spectrum,

Hearthstone

is easy to learn but challenging to master.

Low system requirements and well-balanced card types are also strengths in the game’s favor. The game has drawn comparisons to

Magic: The Gathering

, with

Hearthstone

serving as a solid alternative.

Eve Online

Metascore: 69

Eve Online

is not for the faint of heart. The epic space opera has been around for nearly two decades, and while the game’s brilliance and ambition are well documented by this point, the same could be said for its excruciating difficulty and unwelcoming nature.

There is a lot to do in

Eve Online

, and it takes a long time to get to the parts that are genuinely enjoyable. However, if someone manages to push past the MMORPG’s slow opening hours, they could eventually find themselves engaging in epic player-driven battles unlike anything else in the free gaming market.

Apex Legends

Metascore: 88

Apex Legends

has, for the most part, enjoyed a wildly successful run as one of the most prominent

free games for PC

in the oversaturated battle royale market. Boasting polished first-person shooter gunplay, a robust roster of legends, and teamwork-driven gameplay, Respawn’s title ticks most of the right boxes.

In February 2023,

Apex Legends

entered Season 16, known as “Revelry.” This update significantly changed core parts of the experience in an effort to make the title more accessible to new players. Since then, the game has gone on to power through a few more seasons, with each one lasting roughly three months.

Lost Ark

Metascore: 81

More than two years after making its South Korean debut,

Lost Ark

has finally made its way to Western nations. While its fantasy setting and narrative will probably not hold too many surprises for people versed in MMORPGs,

Lost Ark

‘s gameplay loop is incredibly captivating, crafting an experience that can be enjoyed solo or with others. Boasting a diverse roster of classes and subclasses,

Lost Ark

gives players enough freedom to pursue their preferred style of play, which will then come alive in the form of smooth and stylish combat.

Following a streamlined introductory few hours that seek to immerse players in

Lost Ark

‘s world and story, the game loosens its shackles and opens up so that adventurers can explore to their heart’s content, although some limitations persist.

PUBG: Battlegrounds

Metascore: 86

Originally launching in 2017,

PUBG: Battlegrounds

helped popularize the battle royale genre, leading to the rise of juggernauts such as

Fortnite

and

Warzone

. On January 12, 2022,

PUBG

opted to go free-to-play, a decision that revitalized the game after a few decent but unspectacular years.

PUBG

pits a hundred players against each other on a rather large map, as combatants

search

for weapons and vehicles to give themselves an edge in combat.

There are so many

free battle royale games

out there that there is precious little incentive to try a new title. That said,

PUBG

is better than most of its contemporaries, and players will need to take a more tactical approach to the gameplay if they want to survive. Although not the first battle royale release,

PUBG

put the subgenre on the map, and the free-to-play version illustrates why the game has remained relatively relevant after more than four years.

Unturned

Steam User Rating: 91%

Unturned

has enjoyed a ridiculously long shelf life, and while the

free game

probably peaked in popularity a few years ago, it is still very active on Steam. Do not be thrown off by the visuals,

Unturned

is less

Minecraft

and more

DayZ

. A survival zombie game,

Unturned

has all the mechanics one would expect from such a release, albeit largely simplified in terms of both presentation and execution. Just to be clear, that is not a criticism.

Once someone spawns into one of the game’s maps, they must set out to find shelter, pick up some weapons, and just simply survive. The latter does not just refer to the walking dead but also to other players.

Rocket League

Metascore: 86

In September 2020,

Rocket League

went free-to-play, opening the already popular game to an even wider audience than it had already attracted. On the surface, “soccer meets cars” sounds like too bizarre of a concept to be anything but a novelty; yet, Psyonix’s project exploded out of the gate and has only gotten better since then, both commercially and critically.

Rocket League

seems to have become the quintessential game that someone throws on when they have 30 minutes to kill and nothing else to play. Accessible but still skill-based, this is not only one of the

best free games

but simply one of the greatest releases of the last decade.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Metascore: 85

Debuting in 2011,

Star Wars: The Old Republic

is one of the old guards of the MMORPG genre, and it is safe to assume that most people interested in this game have already checked it out. BioWare Austin has done an admirable job of maintaining the project’s relevance, releasing a new expansion roughly every two years that significantly adds to the base game. The most recent addition,

Legacy of the Sith

, came out on February 15, 2022.

The free-to-play version is more than enough to experience

SWTOR

‘s main quest, which is one of the better parts of the package. However, people who would like to fully immerse themselves in the endgame or dive into the expansions will need to consider a subscription.

Dota 2

Metascore: 90

Dota 2

is the sequel to Valve’s

Defense Of The Ancients

and has become one of the most influential games of the modern era.

Dota 2

is a team-based online battle arena that has become one of the more popular games used for e-sports. It plays similarly to a top-down view real-time strategy or adventure game, like

Warcraft

or

Diablo

.

Matches are against two five-player teams, with the goal being to destroy the opponents’ “Ancient” – which is an icon (usually a structure) of the ancients located within a team’s base.

Dota 2

has been around for so long that it can feel absolutely inaccessible to newcomers, and the game has a reputation for being life-consuming. That said, the MOBA’s success speaks for itself.

Team Fortress 2

Metascore: 92

Team Fortress 2

might be the best online team-based shooter ever made.

Team Fortress 2

continues the class-based play style that the original

Team Fortress

made popular. Critics and users alike have almost nothing but praise for this game’s graphics, control, class balance, and low system requirements.

This game is twelve years old, and yet it is still considered the go-to shooter for intense multiplayer action. There are in-game transactions in

Team Fortress 2

, but they are limited to cosmetic changes. Gamers who haven’t played this game yet should head over to Steam and give it a try.

Valorant

Metascore: 80

Created by a team that understands a thing or two about crafting successful free-to-play games,

Valorant

hit the ground running and quickly found its place in the oversaturated hero shooter genre. Even though

Overwatch 2

eventually went the free route, Riot’s project is arguably the price point’s strongest team-based first-person shooter, and it is showing no signs of slowing down. Featuring multiple modes and a good range of maps,

Valorant

blends tight gunplay with strategic nuance thanks to its wide variety of agents, each one of which fits into a few different class types. As matches are 5v5, team synergy plays a significant part in determining the winner, and players are expected to fulfill certain roles depending on their chosen agent.

Even though it has been around for three years and has been great for most of that period,

Valorant

still feels like it has room to improve. While longevity can be difficult to predict, Riot’s shooter seems destined to be around for the long haul.

Fortnite

Metascore: 81

Fortnite

exploded in 2017 and has refused to go away ever since. Now, not every part of Epic’s monster is free-to-play – the

Save the World

campaign requires an investment, which could be worth it for people looking for a co-op experience. However, the battle royale mode is comfortably the game’s most decorated element, and it is free for everyone. Even though there are roughly 10 billion battle royales on the market, none of them compare to

Fortnite

in terms of mainstream appeal, and most of the genre’s releases only exist due to the game’s success.

Unsurprisingly due to its inescapable nature,

Fortnite

has received quite a bit of backlash over the years, to the point that some people might feel discouraged from giving it a go. While it is probably not going to convince anyone who hates battle royales,

Fortnite

‘s gameplay, visual style, and building mechanics help set it apart from the crowd.

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