What’s a gamer on a budget to do with the price tags on gaming systems and new releases? On a whim, you might explore Steam.
Steam games is a top destination for gamers of all types and skill levels. The best part is many games are 100% free and feature free or paid upgrades to keep your favorite adventures going for even longer.
Free games on Steam range from MMOs and RPGs with huge universes to indie options providing unique snapshots of life in game form. Whatever your speed, you can find a free game to suit it — and then another one.
Counter-Strike Global Offensive
A top-performing option on Steam Games, Counter-Strike Global Offensive uses team-based play in a first-person shooter game. First released in 2012, the game features one-on-one team competition.
In short, you try to not get killed while completing tasks. Due to its popularity, there is always an opportunity to play with a crowd.
Fair warning: the popularity also means you are exposed to a range of other players who may or may not be as committed to authentic game play as you are.
World of Warplanes
If you were a fan of old-school Microsoft Flight sims or any of the modern counterparts, World of Warplanes provides a combat-ready MMO option to sink your teeth into.
Mouse and keyboard controls or a joystick can be used with the game. With multiple aircraft options representing Germany, the U.S., the Soviet Union, Japan, the U.K., France and China and built-in customization options, you can create the plane of your dreams.
Lead it into battle after moving through training scenarios. Over time, you may even establish your own band of flyers using the teams setting.
Cry of Fear
Ready for a bit of psychodrama in your free games? Cry of Fear is a single-player horror game that sends you on a quest for survival through a beautiful Scandinavian City.
Or maybe not so beautiful. It’s hard to say with the monsters and other atrocities you encounter as you move forward after being hit by a car and left in an alley.
However, the puzzles and challenges of fighting and killing deformed humans through the games chapters will keep you busy, and Cry of Fear features a lot of additional downloads for custom campaigns.
Off-Peak
Want a weird little aside game for a rainy day? In Off-Peak you navigate through a train station at an ambiguous point in the “near future” searching for the portions of your ticket.
Along the way you meet strange people, explore hidden passages and see lots of funky in-game art while listening to a custom soundtrack.
Realm Royale
Another super-popular option, Realm Royale is a battle royale game and a spinoff from Paladins.
It is somewhat unique within the genre for the ability to break down items you do not need into pieces and then use those pieces to make the weapons you need.
Additional game features are available for purchase. Best with a team.
Star Trek Online
A free game for the Trekkie in all of us? Yes, please. The Star Trek Online MMO available for free on Steam lets you explore space on the Enterprise while embarking on adventures extremely on point for the Star Trek brand, and they should be.
Many are actually game interpretations of stories from the movies and TV shows. A variety of updates are available for the game despite its age, and it is extremely easy for new players to find their way and access game features.
If you prefer solo adventures, you can also embark on a few of those here.
Duelyst
Duelyst is a major-league strategic option for the PC card game genre due to its pairing of collectible card game elements with a turn-based game you can complete very quickly.
You can also up the competition by embarking on tournaments or competing in a season. For gameplay, two players meet across a game board battlefield where minions and spells are positioned.
The goal? Eliminate the general.
Duelyst features six factions with unique characteristics to explore if you want to master all elements of gameplay.
Path of Exile
Constant expansion and new league releases on the regular make Path of Exile an extremely popular free game option on Steam. This RPG action game is also very deep with a wide array of leveling abilities for your character.
It’s a real choose-your-own adventure as you work on enhancements while battling through the dark, grim world of Wraeclast, a world inhabited by monsters who make the most of the game’s superior combat system.
When you have established power, prepare to take revenge on your enemies. Path of Exile was created by devoted gamers, and it shows.