The best free PC games in 2022
The quiet offset of a new year is always a expert time to look back on games from the year before, or to spend a few weeks exploring the fun, seize with teeth-sized games out there that get swallowed upwards in the busier months. In other words, information technology'south a good time to play free games.
Go on some short adventures, become overly fastened to some new characters, become hooked on a daily give-and-take game—free games on the PC run the gamut. Y'all can exist a frugal PC gamer and spend years playing gratis games without buying new ones, or at least fill in the gaps between those large games with something smaller and quite possibly more satisfying.
Where should yous spend those rare snippets of gratuitous time, though? We accept some ideas, including a ton of gratis PC classics and our favorite gratuitous games of the terminal few months.
This guide to the best costless games is updated monthly with suggestions from members of the PC Gamer team. Below that we have our favorite free-to-play stuff that nosotros're dipping into correct now and a boatload more than recommendations if you're just looking for the verbal correct game to play on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It's a drove of timeless free PC games organized by genre.
If you're looking for more free games to add to your permanent game library, brand sure to check in every week on which games you can grab at no cost on the Epic Games Shop and also all the temporary freebies right at present available on other sites.
The all-time free games: November 2021
The best free PC games right now
- Worlde - A discussion game sensation at the offset of the yr, this free daily puzzle challenge you lot with filling a filigree with 5-letter words, using a few simple clues to hone in on what y'all got correct and wrong before you lot run out of guesses. Its sudden explosion in popularity has already spawned endless imitators.
- Townscaper - A delightful town-drawing game, where you simply place roads and buildings on top of the sea to create an aesthetically pleasing little city. Yous can become it on Steam or play a gratis version of it correct in the browser.
- Babble Royale - This is battle royale, merely Scrabble. Decimate your enemies by spelling "plankton" or "guts" or "perfidious." Just watch out for PC Gamer EIC Evan Lahti, who's patiently waiting to snipe you with a perfectly timed Q.
- Blaseball - A massive sports betting simulation that nearly defies explanation, only we did endeavour. It'due south yet an accented wild mess and we honey information technology.
- NERTS! Online - A competitive solitaire game for up to six players, NERTS! Online is a new version of a long-running multiplayer solitaire from strategy masterminds Zachtronics.
Best free PC games: Free-to-play
Complimentary-to-play games
🔫 Apex Legends - Still our favorite boxing royale, offset and foremost because information technology's a nifty-feeling commencement-person shooter. Noon has climbed to one of the summit spots on the Steam charts for good reason. Information technology's the shooter we proceed coming back to.
⛏ Fortnite - Information technology'southward Fortnite. Y'know, the massive sandbox boxing royale, a game that's hosted concerts, Star Wars characters, Marvel superheroes, and so much more. Right now is a skillful time to play, every bit Fortnite's Chapter 3 launch near the end of 2021 made some sweeping changes to the game.
🔮 Path of Exile - This is a crunchy and detailed Diablo-like with remarkably deep character development and progression systems. It's non the most cute action-RPG in the earth, only it is engaging and rewarding in the long run. The microtransactions aren't too intrusive either, which makes this a must-attempt for fans of Diablo two and its ilk. 2021 is a keen time to play, as Path of Exile has gotten what is likely its concluding expansion before sequel Path of Exile 2 lands onetime this year.
🔫 Valorant - Riot's tactical shooter takes a straight shot at Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with a hero-driven spin. It's a fantastic competitive shooter that you lot can play for hours. Most heroes come for gratuitous out of the box, and the rest can exist unlocked for free if you play enough.
All-time gratuitous PC games: Story & Adventure
Best gratis Story & Adventure games
Deltarune: Capacity 1&2 - This sorta sequel to Undertale is packed with memorable characters, catchy tunes, and emotive dialogue. Chapter two released in 2021 and was a Big Deal for Undertale fans.
The Doll Shop - Blending horror with romance, The Doll Store transports you to a small village, which is beingness buried under a relentless snow. It tells a sinister story involving creepy handmade dolls. The art is sublime and the ending is especially memorable.
The Supper - The Supper is a nighttime story of revenge that brings to listen Sweeney Todd. Y'all play every bit a peg-legged tavern owner, who has to serve three very special dishes to a trio of horrible pirates, who really should take checked the Nutrient Standards rating first...
Lockheart Indigo - This is a sci-fi detective game that feels a lot similar a JRPG. You've arrived at a vast mansion to solve the murder of its former owner, simply locked doors and suspects stand up in your mode.
Eternal Home Floristry - The tale of a hitman who gets taken in at a bloom shop while he recovers from his injuries. The game's ability to tackle tough topics through the act of gentle flower arrangement is remarkable.
The Herbalist - A wordless adventure near a traveller searching for a mysterious herb. You wander effectually its strange world trying to interpret symbols, in the hope of discovering the plant you need.
Off-Peak - Stranding you at an otherworldly train station, Off-Peak encourages you to explore, talk to the locals, and luxuriate in its strange atmosphere. It's got an incredible sense of place, despite feeling like nowhere on Earth, and every bit yous poke effectually its nooks and crannies, the true nature of its earth is revealed piece past piece.
Haunted Cities - There are three volumes worth of Haunted Cities to savour. Despite the name, these aren't really horror games – they've just inherited much of the atmosphere of games such as Silent Hill.
Emily is Away - Political party similar it's the early on-'00s in this narrative game set in a chat customer. Y'all'll go to know fellow high schoolhouse pupil Emily through snippets of online conversations about life, dearest and indie rock music. If yous enjoy this, paid-for sequel Emily is Away Too is worth checking out.
Olav and the Lute - An enigmatic gamble game ready in a mail service-apocalyptic world, with a cracking central mechanic. Rather than combining objects with other objects, you're affecting the globe with a lute by plucking at its colour-coded strings.
All-time costless PC games: Horror
Gratis horror games
No Players Online - In the chilling No Players Online, you log onto an quondam FPS server, simply where you're the only thespian in a futile game of Capture the Flag.
We Are Broken - An interactive visual novel where you must talk your way out of being eaten by a vampire. We Are Broken conjures a dark and cruel world with cut visuals and music that makes your skin clamber.
Sentient - This one's a little Saw-esque. You're stuck in a room and forced to obey instructions given through an old speaker. Being trapped is horrible enough, but what cranks up the creepiness factor here is the domestic dog-flap sized pigsty looming in the corner of the room, darkness shrouding whatever, or whoever, is within.
Bleakshore - This chilling adventure uses the fuzzy, lo-fi artful of PS1-era 3D graphics to create an impressively eerie atmosphere as a shadowy figure stalks y'all across the landscape...
Faith - Faith lures y'all into feeling secure—if a petty jumpy—with its retro aesthetic, before it transcends its limitations in one shockingly scary moment.
David Lynch Teaches Typing - What begins as a friendly typing lesson from film director David Lynch slowly descends into a surreal, disorientating nightmare. At one point you have to touch on a gross twitching bug. Keen piece of work, kiddo!
Firm of Abandon - This story of a person playing a text chance takes a sinister plough. Originally standalone, it became the outset episode of eerie, atmospheric adventure Stories Untold.
Chyrza - Chyrza's make of horror is that unsettling strangeness you get with ruined alien desertscapes and mentions of a foreign and terrible pyramid. But information technology's not merely Chyrza.
All-time gratuitous PC games: Action & Platformers
Costless action & platformer games
1Boss1Battle1Button - This challenging rhythm game pits yous against a scary Picasso-faced monster, and your only hopes of survival lie with a single button. Pressing it in fourth dimension with certain beats lets y'all jump, crouch, and dodge out of the mode of oncoming attacks.
N 2.0 - In this ultra hardcore platformer with simple controls and a minimalist aesthetic, the focus is entirely on quick, precise control. And lots and lots of practice.
The Last Tango - Rhythm espionage survival. You play every bit two spies, dancing through a variety of deadly locations. They'll pirouette past traps, dodge under attacks, and take down enemies with an elegant twirl. And a gun.
Eggnogg+ - This is Nidhogg, but free, and with different moves, and a bit more tongue-in-cheek. Expect hyperactive duels in a serial of arenas.
Cuckoo Crimper - A fun iv-player game that combines the rules of curling with Connect Four. An like shooting fish in a barrel game to choice up and play with friends, you tin play Cuckoo Curling in local or online multiplayer.
First Cut - Flashy fighting games are all well and good, but there's something satisfying about the one-on-one sword duel, as evidenced in Square's classic Bushido Blade. Showtime Cut is that but in 2D, essentially, offering feudal Japan-themed duels confronting some truly beautiful pixel fine art backdrops.
Best gratuitous PC games: Strategy
Best free strategy games
Dwarf Fortress - A circuitous game of colony management that'south still in development 18 years after its original inception. The incredible depth of its simulation doesn't just add together depth and claiming, information technology allows for emergent stories to ascend as you play, giving your dwarves a life of their own.
Tiny Islands - Y'all're drawing maps of picayune islands in the sea here, past placing beaches, houses, even waves as random cards are dealt out to y'all. But placement is everything, every bit every icon has its own set of rules.
Brogue - ASCII roguelikes have a reputation for existence bulletproof. Brogue, despite staying true to the genre, works hard to feel approachable. The controls brand navigating its dungeons a cakewalk, and the elegant shading makes its symbols atmospheric and readable.
Terra Goose egg - Terra Cipher begins at the ultimate end of civilisation, letting y'all breathe life back into a post-apocalyptic wasteland. In this relaxing, therapeutic anti-builder, you construct devices to cleanse the earth, and to regrow dark-green plants and copse.
Best costless PC games: Chill and relaxing
All-time free chill games
Toripon - Yous're stuck inside your flat, thankfully with company. Instead of friends, your companions hither are loads and loads of birds. Don't look a gift parakeet in the oral fissure. Just sit dorsum and explore your apartment, examining every nook and every crevice for your feathered friends.
Bernband - You're an alien in an alien city, going for a squeamish walk. Flying cars BladeRunner by as you cross a bridge, someone's rapping in the corner of the car park, and every crowd hubbubs abroad. Despite the four-fingered hands and alien aviary, it feels similar a real city. A real arctic city.
Lieve Oma - Lieve Oma takes you on a relaxing jaunt through an autumnal wood on the hunt for mushrooms. As you scamper around, your granny follows slowly backside, teaching yous well-nigh which mushrooms are okay to consume and teaching yous her apprehensive life lessons.
Forest Are For Trees - Walking through the forest is something that takes on new significant in this mind-expanding exploration game, which is small and possibly infinite all at in one case. It'south a walking sim, sort of, where you traipse around an eerie woodland. But something funny happens when y'all brand contact with a tree. Inside every tree there'south another woods full of ghostly trees.
All-time free PC games: Puzzle
Free puzzle games
Transmute! - Play as a sorcerer who tin transform into different objects. You might turn into a primal to open up a lock, or a boat to sail the open sea. And yous'll exercise then to unlock a gorgeous, friendly fantasy globe.
Mirror Isles - No list of puzzle games is actually complete without a PuzzleScript game from Alan Hazelden, and Mirror Isles is one of the very best. It'southward a acme-down, Sokoban-way conundrum where you lot accept to hop between islands, by using magic mirrors to bandy places with your reflection.
Cube Escape - There'south a strange atmosphere to developer Rusty Lake's series of locked room puzzle games. Getting out of each one will test your brain, but you lot'll be fifty-fifty more taxed trying to figure out what'south going on in their bizarre universe.
Corrypt - What starts as a relatively simple block-pushing game ends as one where you'll reshape the world, by using magic to reprogram the state of the environment.
Apocryphal Monkey - Words are keen, aren't they? They agree power over the world—literally, even, in this text-based puzzle game. You come equipped with a letter remover, which allows you to alter the items around you, by deleting a single alphabetic character from their names.
Naya's Quest - Naya'due south Quest was made by VVVVVV and Super Hexagon creator Terry Cavanagh. In case you were wondering: Yes, information technology is bastard hard, simply less stressful on your reflexes. Information technology's an isometric puzzle-platformer about a girl and her pilgrimage to the border of the globe.
The Republia Times - You're the editor of a paper in a totalitarian state in this game from the creator of Render of the Obra Dinn. Each day you must choose which stories to run and how much space to give them, impacting your newspaper'due south popularity and the government's approval with the general populace. Smart and contemptuous.
Best complimentary PC games: Comedy and Oddity
Best weird and funny games
Everything Is Going To Be Okay - Vividly animated creatures deal with existential horror and pain—and are alarmingly sanguine about information technology—in this cathartic collection of minigames, videos, and quizzes. It's overwhelming, only as life tin can be overwhelming. But it's refreshing for a game to deal with that fact.
Pet the Pup at the Party - You've run out of pocket-size talk at a rambunctious house party and before anyone notices how awkward yous are, you must find a pooch and pet it.
Head Over Hooves: My Centre Bleats For You - An apocalyptic dating sim where you must make a goat fall in love with you lot then sacrifice it to salvage the world from eternal damnation.
Alfonso's Bowling Challenge - This sort-of sports game swerves away from its premise quickly, building on its strange version of bowling until yous're making breakfast and chopping hair with your bowling brawl.
Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, And The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Cyclone Heist - This team-upwards of The Stanley Parable creator William Pugh and stand-up comedian Simon Amstell takes you on a hilarious journey backside the scenes of a game falling autonomously at the seams.
The Book Of Beasts and Buddies - An interactive monster manual filled with curious creatures. Each page throws you lot into a cursory Pokémon-inspired encounter, and through interacting with them you can gather your findings for the bestiary.
Cooldog Teaches Typing - There are plenty of educational game parodies, but merely i features a chihuahua-looking thing as the teacher. If you learned to type by having a instructor shout at you, you'll appreciate the gentler methods of Cooldog.
Stick Shift - Every bit creator Robert Yang says, "Stick Shift is an autoerotic dark-driving game about pleasuring a gay motorcar." It's part of an anthology with Hurt Me Plenty and Succulent, covering eroticism, politics and more. Stick Shift is funny while as well offering food for thought.
Skeal - Recommending Skeal is a tough job because the absolute best experience is to go in with zero thought of what to wait. To that end, it'south a downhill skiing feel which becomes transcendental the longer you ski and the more reveals yous trigger every bit the jape unfurls.
All-time costless PC games: Classics
Free classic games
StarCraft - These days Blizzard sells a shiny remaster, just if the original'south practiced enough for Republic of korea, it'due south skilful enough for united states of america. In that location's a reason that fifty-fifty today it'southward an esports awareness – this iconic RTS remains a triumph of tight strategy and intense competition, with an incredible amount of depth for devotees to get lost in.
The Dark Modern - A tribute to the Thief serial, this standalone game lets y'all download a massive diversity of user-made stealth levels, from tightly independent ones like Thief'due south Den to the more open variety of Return to the City, and plenty of spooky ones like The Creeps.
The Operative: No Ane Lives Forever - The classic stealth FPS, never re-released cheers to licensing hell. Its clever sense of humour and charming 1960s setting hold up nicely, as practice the armory of goofy, Bail-esque gadgets at your disposal. That includes lipstick bombs, sleeping gas perfume, and a briefcase rocket launcher.
The Elderberry Scrolls 2: Daggerfall - 1996'due south Elderberry Scrolls sequel was huge and ambitious, letting you explore High Rock and Hammerfell. A lot of serial staples, similar joining the Mages Gild, started hither.
Beneath a Steel Heaven - This point-and-click adventure features art past Watchmen'southward Dave Gibbons, a twisty sci-fi story, and a really goofy sense of humor. One of its neatest ideas is how you can stick your AI pal Joey's electronic brain into different mechanical robots to solve puzzles.
The MS-DOS Archive.org library - A collection of thousands of classic, free PC games playable in your browser. The MS-DOS collection on Annal.org contains more than than 4,000 games, all emulated and like shooting fish in a barrel to play in just a few seconds. Wolfenstein 3D, Prince of Persia, Jazz Jackrabbit, Carmen Sandiego... you lot could spend a lifetime of lunch breaks in here. But then you might starve.
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