The best free PC games: November | PC Gamer

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Best PC Games of · 1. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey · 2. Shadow of the Tomb Raider · 3. Far Cry 5 · 4. Darksiders 3 · 5. Hitman 2 · 6. A Way Out · 7. A curated selection of the best free games on PC: F2P multiplayer, classics, adventures, puzzlers, and more.
 
 

30 Best PC Games of (Free and Paid) | Beebom

 

Formula One world championship is one of the famous racing games to date. This video game completes the brilliant Formula One racing. Experience the speed on the track like never before. Get the chance to ride on your dream racing car and have the best time on the racing tracks. F1 is a top-notch video game that will take you to the world of champions where winning is the main motto.

Level up your spirit so that you can grab the title of the winner. If racing has ever fascinated you, then get ready with your device because one of the top-notch competitions is about to begin very soon.

F1 is a reputed video game that was officially released on 24th August This video game comes under the very popular franchise of Codemasters F1. F1 was developed by Codemasters and this game was published by Codemasters Electronic Art. Play along with the top-notch racers and the coolest racing cars. F1 comes with more features and many upgrades. This game involves all the circuits and drivers of the entire series. Have a professional team and participate like a professional player. In this sequel, you can also take part in multiple championships and practice sessions.

Experience the fame and life of a popular racer of the city. The gameplay is very easy in F1 if you know the rules. And there is only one rule in this video game — you have to win the race. This is your destiny, it all depends on how you perform on-track and off-track. Show your skills by winning championships. Initially, the players will start with nothing; neither will they have any upgraded racing car. With your awesome performance, you can get fame as well as money.

Collect top-notch sports cars and unlock the other features of F1 The gameplay is very simple; just know which functional button you have to click to control your car on the tracks. Speed up and overcome the hurdles. The challenges will get advanced as you proceed in the gameplay. Players can participate in an interview in front of the camera. You can also manage a personal team. You are going to love this virtual world and the adorable fans as well. The developer of F1 has tried their best to level up the gameplay and enhance the experience of all the gamers.

No doubt, this game is ruling over the heart of millions of players. So, let us all check out the exciting features of F1 Now the gameplay becomes more exciting because of the realistic 3D graphics. The city, car, players and everything look very real.

You can get the feeling of live car racing. You have to play very strategically. Players can take part in an interview, so speak up logically and set your agent to target the rival team. That is how you can become more popular when you compete with the best. This can be played in the new Career Mode.

Players can take part in practice sessions and earn development points. This can be used in developing their car. You just have to meet the research and development targets. F1 features online multiple player modes. You can participate in different leagues and online races along with the other players. Win trophies and boast about your achievements online.

Start collecting all the classic sports cars, F1 is all about the limelight and winning the championship. This top-notch game has also introduced many upgrades and exciting features which can be unlocked by winning the races. Download Now. You Can Contact Me If you face any problems in installing the file or comment below. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

About F1 F1 is a reputed video game that was officially released on 24th August How to play F1 ? Features of F1 The developer of F1 has tried their best to level up the gameplay and enhance the experience of all the gamers. So, let us all check out the exciting features of F1 Improved graphics Now the gameplay becomes more exciting because of the realistic 3D graphics.

Control your destiny You have to play very strategically. Add points Players can take part in practice sessions and earn development points.

Multiple player modes F1 features online multiple player modes. This game needs 50 GB of available space. Which version of the game should I download?

You can download the latest version 11 of F1 Do I need an internet connection for playing F1 ? Yes, broadband action is required for the game. Noah February 16, 0 4 minutes read. Noah Hola! I am Noah Smith. I am a small business owner from Toronto, Ontario. Ever since my childhood, I have been crazy about gaming. I belong to the generation when gamers were imagined to be hooded guys sitting in a pitch-black room with ghastly dark circles under their eyes and a gamepad in their hands.

Believe me, I was no different. I used to spend a major part of my day playing and winning. I used to win… win like a lion, every time. My friends had come to believe that I was unbeatable. I thought that too. I wanted to be the best gamer in the world. But the universe has something else planned for me. I was 23 when my life took an unfortunate turn. My dad lost his life in a brutal car accident. The responsibility of my mom and my 3 little sisters fell right on my head and the ‘gaming beast’ in me ended up selling electronic products in a little shop.

I am a tech-guy. The second option for me would have been somewhere in an IT firm. Ah, well! But, things have not changed entirely. The craze in me has not died yet. I still am a pro gamer, only the passion to be world-famous has gotten a little dimmer. Lately, I have been watching kids spending heaps of money on PC games. Why should we put a price tag on the fun? It was last summer when I got this bright idea to share my knowledge of gaming, gaming equipment and reviews with people who share the same interest as mine.

I have used, researched and analyzed the best of everything; beginning from the keyboards to the mouse. I am going to share the same with you.

Thanks to my coding knowledge! I find it unfair for anyone to spend their hard-earned money on simple things like PC games. Surviving in this hungry world is already very expensive. Why spend more on games? Look for your favorite games in the search bar. Related Articles. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Check Also. PC Games.

 

Free pc games 2018

 

Action , first-person shooter. Blizzard Entertainment. Digital collectible card game. Microsoft Windows , OS X. Free to Play [29]. Heroes and Generals. Frostburn Studios. Hidden and Dangerous. King’s Quest 1. King’s Quest 2. King’s Quest 3. The Lord of the Rings Online. Marvel Heroes Moonbase Alpha.

Strategy , Simulation. Metanet Software. No More Room In Hell. Freeware [33]. Open Rails based on Microsoft Train Simulator. Microsoft Windows [34]. Business simulation game.

None [38]. Sony Online Entertainment. Free to Play [39]. Quest for Glory II. First-person shooter , Third-person shooter. Vehicular combat game. SCP: Secret Laboratory. Free to Play [43]. The Silver Lining. Slender: The Eight Pages. Parsec Productions. Free to Play [44]. Street Fighter X Mega Man. Super Mario Bros. Not only have those days long since passed, that criticism is now entirely incorrect – as well as being a multibillion dollar title drawing in tens of millions of players every day, Roblox is slowly becoming an increasingly respected game development tool.

The most high-profile example is VVVVVV creator Terry Cavanagh’s recent foray onto the platform, but a suite of creators has been using its tools and making a decent income from them for years.

As the attention offered to it grows, Roblox’s own development could be fascinating to be a part of. Crusader Kings 3 might have replaced its older brother at the top of the Paradox pecking order, but if you’re looking for grand strategy on a budget, this is easily the best place to start.

The base game, which puts you in charge of your own portion of medieval Europe, is now entirely free. War Thunder is a little more casual than the truly hardcore military sims out there, but if you’re looking for some dogfights or tank skirmishes with some genuine depth, there’s a huge degree of mastery on offer.

Fans of ground, air, and naval combat are all catered to, with a wide roster of vehicles stretching back decades from some of the world’s biggest military powers, and detailed customisation means you can pick a style to suit you and really dominate your opponents. Paid DLC does offer a way to unlock new vehicles faster, but they can also be earned with in-game currency. The blend of football and rocket-powered RC cars might once have seemed peculiar, but after Rocket League’s arrival in , any doubts were immediately assuaged.

A premium release has since made way for a free-to-play model funded by cosmetics inspired by an increasing number of crossovers, from F1 to Jurassic Park. As well as pixel-perfect gameplay that makes Psyonix’s offering one of the best sport games out there, a massive skill ceiling and plenty of interesting variant modes ensures that there’s enough to keep you playing for years at basically no cost.

If you’ve been itching to try out the indie phenomenon but don’t fancy paying for the privilege of dying over and over and over again, the original Spelunky is a free, pixel-art predecessor to the smash hit and its recent sequel. Controlling a fedora and bullwhip-wielding spelunker, the aim is to make it past the dangers that await in a giant, procedurally-generated cave, collecting as much treasure as you can on your way down.

Despite its adorable aesthetic, however, Spelunky is hiding a dark side, with enough ways to kill you that you’ll still be learning its secrets dozens of hours in. Sadly, you won’t be able to play Super Smash Bros on PC any time soon, but there are plenty of alternative platform fighters available.

Of those, Brawlhalla is arguably the leader of the pack, with regular season updates, a huge and growing roster of fighters, and plenty of weapons and gadgets to ensure that fights always feel fresh and that there’s ample opportunity to master your favourite styles.

Cosmetic items and new characters can be purchased with premium currency, but there’s also an in-game currency to help you progress. The game that arguably kickstarted the esports craze, StarCraft II maintains a thriving competitive scene more than a decade on from its original release.

Following on from the events of ‘s Brood War expansion of the original game, the sequel continues Blizzard’s epic space opera, featuring the return of its three iconic factions.

A classic narrative mixes with oceans-deep tactical gameplay to make one of the best examples of this iconic genre. The free version offers access to the entire Wings of Liberty single-player campaign, as well as the multiplayer modes, although the Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void expansions are paid additions to the story. The open-ended gameplay tasks players with establishing and running a colony of dwarves within an auto-generated world with its own unique history.

The original text-based graphics can be hard to parse although modded alternatives are available and the punishing nature of the world can be a turn-off, but persevere and you’ll be met with a hugely-immersive experience with a level of detail hard to match in any game that you don’t play with a D Not quite Overwatch, not quite Counter-Strike, Valorant is an intriguing blend of the tactical and hero shooter genres that manages to capture the best of both.

A diverse and growing roster of characters head into best-of round-based contest; one team tries to plant and defend the explosive ‘spike’, while the other attempts to stop them, before the roles are reversed at half time. Characters are split into multiple classes based on their combat abilities, but everyone has access to the same guns, meaning that you’ll need to master both the crisp gunplay as well as the map-changing abilities to succeed.

One of the biggest breakout hits of , a reasonable elevator pitch for Genshin Impact might describe it as ‘anime Breath of the Wild’, but that’s far from the entire picture. Its four-player combat lets you switch between characters on the fly, using their elemental magic to pull off crazy combos.

During downtime, you can explore the massive open world of Teyvat, climbing, gliding, and swimming to unlock its many secrets. The Gacha-style approach to microtransactions won’t be popular with everyone, but it doesn’t stop Genshin from being one of the most ambitious free-to-play titles on this list.

Halo’s premium Xbox heritage might once have made Halo a strange choice for a free PC game, but with the release of Infinite, the game is changing.

After all, some of the best things in life are free. The No One Lives Forever series is one that you might have missed. In this love letter to old spy films, you play as Catie Archer, a spy who must complete various missions. Hopefully, those are fixed in the future. Never knock the power of a point-and-click adventure game, because they can be deceptively good. Choose this one if you prefer something story-heavy. This game is meant to subvert expectations and make you question everything.

Space Funeral was a title made in RPG Maker , and the game plays on certain tropes to deliver an interesting experience that blends shooting and role-playing elements quite well. Sonic Robo Blast 2 uses certain ports to create an open-source 3D world for Sonic and pals to roam. La Mulana is a retro-inspired adventure title that has players taking on the role of a certain archaeologist in search of the Secret Treasure of Life.

Can you make it out alive? Based on a Doom 3 mod and influenced by the Thief series, The Dark Mod is another open-source fan game where you can make your own content as well as play levels made by others. The title stands for Another Metroid 2 Remake and the game features improvements like a map system, new areas, mini-bosses, redone graphics and music, an updated artificial intelligence for enemies, and a log system similar to Metroid Prime.

The game features an anime-style open-world environment and an action-based battle system using elemental magic. This RPG is free-to-play and monetized through gacha game mechanics where players can obtain new characters and weapons by spending real-world cash. Genshin Impact has proved so popular, it received a PS5 version in The game is also on its way to Nintendo Switch sometime in the future. Rocket League was a quick indie hit when it launched. Two players can work together as a team or engage in a competitive mode.

Visually, the game has a similar setting to Overwatch , and the gameplay is incredibly fast. With several teams dropping into the map, the game begins to shrink down. Rather than being a standard circle that closes in on players, random sections of the city will start to glitch and eventually be erased off the map, forcing you to leave. If a teammate happens to lose their life, they will be able to maneuver around the map to respawn points for another living player to revive them.

Another interesting aspect is that this game is focused on streaming—viewers can vote on different in-game events such as low gravity or offering infinite ammo for a duration of time. Valorant launched in for PC.

The game focuses on team objectives and fast-paced movement along with high-precision gunplay. The game has a large roster of heroes available, and each hero has their own unique ability and attributes. Instead, players must focus on outlasting everyone else while searching for different unique power-ups and weapons.

Recent reviews have been rather positive and while there is the usual battle pass to purchase for different goods, you can enjoy the game for free without being at a disadvantage. Dauntless is a great game for those who enjoy the Monster Hunter franchise. Since this is a free-to-play title, you can save quite a bit of money picking this game up before attempting something like Monster Hunter: World , a game we have listed down below.

With Dauntless , players are tasked with forming parties and joining in on hunts against mythical monsters. With each takedown, players are rewarded with new loot.

With this loot, players can craft new armor and buff their stats when having to face other types of monsters. Players will also find a rather active online community enjoying this title. Duelyst is a competitive multiplayer tactical turn-based strategy game with cards. Warframe is a title that has been out for a while, but one that many may have missed. With over 40 different kinds of Warframes to choose from, each featuring different capabilities, players will need to choose the best one for the mission at hand.

That mission, as told you to by the mysterious Lotus, is to travel across a vast system of planets and fight off warring factions that are trying to destroy everything. Popular for years now, players pick from a pool of over a hundred heroes, forming two teams of five players that go up against each other on a map, defending their base and attacking the enemy.

From the developers of World of Warcraft and Diablo comes Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft , an online card game that pits players against each other using fully customizable player decks. Players can earn new cards simply by playing the game for free or can pay to gain instant access to new decks of cards.

This is a major esports title and one well worth playing for no cost at all. Planetside 2 is a free-to-play massively multiplayer first-person shooter which offers full-scale battles across the face of the planet Auraxis, where three distinct groups are locked in a battle for territorial dominance.

They have at their disposal numerous vehicles and weapons to allow for a futuristic experience of war. The game also plays host to a variety of objective control modes and a bomb delivery mode. Players can also indulge in a cooperative mode called Mann vs Mann, which pits players against throngs of robotic enemies across a variety of maps. Released by Valve for free, Alien Swarm is a remake of the Unreal mod that brought classic Gauntlet-style cooperative gameplay to Steam.

With several classes to choose from, a host of upgrades, and a ranking system, Alien Swarm provides countless hours of four-person cooperative play. In Spelunky , players control a spelunker in search of treasure within a series of different caves. While underground, players are susceptible to enemies, traps, and, of course, damsels in need of rescuing.

Spelunky is eternally entertaining and unique as levels are randomly generated with four distinct areas that increase in difficulty. The second installment only adds to the fun, with more treasure to loot, dangerous caverns to explore, and people in need of rescue. Best of all, the sequel added cooperative gameplay with secondary player options available both locally and online. Cave Story is an epic adventure told in gorgeous bit.

 
 

Best free PC games | Tech Advisor

 
 

Expect hyperactive duels in a series of arenas. Cuckoo Curling – A fun four-player game that combines the rules of curling with Connect Four. An easy game to pick up and play with friends, you can play Cuckoo Curling in local or online multiplayer.

First Cut is that but in 2D, essentially, offering feudal Japan-themed duels against some truly beautiful pixel art backdrops. Instead of friends, your companions here are loads and loads of birds. Just sit back and explore your apartment, examining every nook and every crevice for your feathered friends. 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 behind, teaching you about which mushrooms are okay to eat and teaching you her humble life lessons. Forest Are For Trees – Walking through the forest is something that takes on new meaning in this mind-expanding exploration game, which is small and possibly infinite all at once. But something funny happens when you make contact with a tree. Head Over Hooves: My Heart Bleats For You – An apocalyptic dating sim where you must make a goat fall in love with you and then sacrifice it to save the world from eternal damnation.

Stick Shift – As creator Robert Yang says, “Stick Shift is an autoerotic night-driving game about pleasuring a gay car. Stick Shift is funny while also offering food for thought. Its clever humour and charming s setting hold up nicely, as do the arsenal of goofy, Bond-esque gadgets at your disposal.

That includes lipstick bombs, sleeping gas perfume, and a briefcase rocket launcher. A lot of series staples, like joining the Mages Guild, started here. But then you might starve. Figuring out the connections between everything remains the most thrilling element of the game. How grim that would be! Hitman 2 works like Groundhog Day with considerably more murder. The more I play, the more I learn about how these intricately layered contraptions function, how each person will behave.

And once I know the rules, I can bend them to my will as I orchestrate the perfect hit. A Way Out may have frustrated some players with its ending. But the hours leading to the conclusion were by turns ludicrous, heartfelt, quirky and memorable.

The plot follows two escaped convicts on the run from every police officer in the world. And yet, the leads seem unconcerned when controlled by me and a friend. Might as well stop and play some baseball in the trailer park, right? Action movie set-pieces invariably follow these more playful sequences, destroying tonal consistency but giving players a lovable ride.

Like people say, sometimes the journey is more important than the destination, especially when the journey features so many hats. Yes, that is exactly what they say. Get it here: GameStop Origin. Players have been given more freedom to explore the universe as they see fit, be it constructing an underwater bases or assembling a massive fleet of frigates.

Crafting systems are revamped, the UI enhanced and new music added. You almost never lack something new to do or discover. And you can now truly play online with three other players — exploring the galaxy, transferring resources and building bases. The addition of multiplayer has had an unexpected side effect: the need for a third-person camera option. This new angle reframes the game. The update that finally brings players together also makes it easier to feel like the only being in the entire universe.

In , Bethesda released a handful of deep and inventive single-player games, including Prey , The Evil Within 2 and a stand-alone expansion to Dishonored 2. Though critically lauded, none of them sold especially well, raising questions about the sustainability of smartly designed single-player games, particularly those in the so-called immersive sim genre.

Since then, some fans and critics have speculated on what the developers of these projects might be forced to create to stay alive. Vapid first-person shooters? Cynical battle royale modes? Match-three apps? I decided to wait them out in an air vent, but I made too much noise.

Rather than wait for me outside, the enemies used their powers to detonate the gas lines in the vent, causing the pipes to spew fire. As I tried to escape, their telekinesis ability lifted me into the air, pressing me against the ceiling of the vent, allowing the fire to roast me like a pig on a spit. Its semi-permadeath sessions encourage you to actually use all your fancy skills, rather than sitting on them for the perfect occasion.

And its goals are refreshingly opaque, inviting players to discover how its elaborate systems work over the course of dozens of hourlong playthroughs — or to learn with help from a Twitch chat audience. Though its commercial viability remains a question mark. Get it here: Steam H umble. Bungie completely re-engineered the weapons system to offer more flexibility and increased access to powerful guns like shotguns and sniper rifles.

Forsaken pours a foundation that the team at Bungie can build upon for years to come, starting with its new approach to seasonal content in the upcoming Annual Pass. Get it here: Amazon GameStop Battle. In so many ways, playing Moss is like vacationing in a storybook. I take on the role of the Reader, a powerful force that the residents of Moss can sense but not see. I come across a tiny mouse named Quill who is on a quest to save her uncle, after their kingdom was overthrown by a fire-breathing snake.

As the Reader, my job is to solve puzzles and clear obstacles to aid Quill in her journey. Magic radiates from every corner of the game: Pulling a handle from the ground renders a tower of stone steps. Pushing and pulling objects feels like an act of wizardry — wisps of light follow my path, as if from a magic wand.

There are tiny libraries, mouse-sized pubs and rich forests, each worth the few minutes rest to pause and marvel at their details. Polyarc Games uses VR fostering a sense of intimacy, to build a protectiveness of its lead character. Like its central characters, Moss is a game of small things that make a big impact. Get it here: Steam Oculus Vive. Sea of Thieves emerged as a promising game in need of more content — a chaotic pirate sandbox kept interesting by its players.

The beauty of Sea of Thieves is how organic and responsive it is. Very few systems stand between the player and the pirate sandbox. There are minimal menus, and goals are straightforward. And yet, when you combine all of the above and add other players to the mix, you end up with cinematic ship battles, dramatic betrayals and alliances, and an adventure that feels different from one session to the next.

As the game stands in , between the AI threats on the sea and the other players at the helm of their own ships, a session of Sea of Thieves can be as tranquil as a road trip with friends or as frantic and terrifying as the final firefights of a battle royale match. Get it here: Microsoft Store. Unlike in other adventure games, where exploring vast landscapes and poring over the tiny details of the surroundings is the norm, every second counts in Minit.

The main character dies every minute, only to get another chance at the moment. The hero makes gradual progress by reaching checkpoints from which death restarts the adventure. Progress, die, restart from the beginning, apply what you learned, reach a checkpoint, die, restart a little further in the quest, and repeat.

With the finite amount of life there is to live, mundane tasks turn into monumental undertakings. Each new life becomes a fresh opportunity to learn more secrets or find more money to buy new sneakers. Most modern games expect players to do a bit of everything at once; Minit succeeds because it focuses on one thing at a time.

Progress, it shows, is incremental and deliberate. It looked as good as it played, something rare in the strategy space. Definitely check out Vampyr for its unique approach to the way it handles the concept of vampyrs by carefully intertwining them with events in history.

Vmpyr is definitely one of the best PC games for fans of, well, vampire games. You play as Will, an adventurous shopkeeper who has to tend to his shopkeeping duties during the day and give in to his fantasies of becoming a hero by night.

As a result, you have to juggle both the objectives quite efficiently and play the game in a way that all of your actions are mutually beneficial for both the objectives.

For example, you can sell the goods that you collect in dungeons at your shop for a quick profit, investing the gold in better weapons to help you clear dungeons more efficiently. Civilization VI: Rise and Fall is no different, offering players a new Governor system, eight new civilizations with nine new leaders, eight new world wonders and a variety of new units, districts, building and improvements. Civilization VI: Rise and Fall might just be an expansion for the original game , but it offers enough in terms of content to make its way to this list.

Supported platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux. Into the Breach Another great retro-looking game on this list is Into the Breach — a challenging strategy title in which you have to protect human civilization using powerful mechs. Then you should check out BattleTech, another strategy game in which you take command of your own mercenary outfit of mech suits and mech warriors to fight in a brutal interstellar civil war.

The game features over 30 different BattleMechs that you can deploy and make use of terrain, positioning, weapon selection and special abilities, to take down your opponents. State of Decay 2 State of Decay 2 is another great sequel that was released this year, challenging players to survive in an open world ravaged by a zombie apocalypse. Unlike other zombie apocalypse related games that you might have seen before, State of Decay 2 is not all about mowing down the undead.

Instead, the game also requires you to survive the zombie apocalypse by setting up a stronghold and it even allows you to play as several different characters, all of whom have different qualities, in the same storyline. Supported platforms: Windows, Xbox One. Surviving Mars Ever thought what it would be like to live on Mars? Well, you can do just that on Surviving Mars — a strategy-based survival game in which you have to manage a colony on the red planet and keep your colonists alive by carefully managing the supplies.

The game offers several different game modes to choose from, randomized frostlands in which you have to build your city, and a couple of different maps to choose from. While Capcom’s smash-hit is a full-priced experience, Phoenix Labs’ offering conjures a similar experience for absolutely nothing.

It’s not quite as broad as the long-running series that inspired it, but still offers hours of slaying, with multiple weapon types to master as you make your journey across its fractured, floating world with your party of up to six players. Plenty of companies tried to cash in on the ‘Auto Chess’ phenomenon, but Teamfight Tactics has easily been the most successful. Riot’s effort, which uses various League of Legends characters and their extra-dimensional alternatives as its units, seems to have gone the distance, with regular updates and even a narrative element that’s weaving into LoL’s ongoing and somewhat nebulous narrative arc.

Seasonal changes can be dramatic, but a lot of attention is paid to balance, and major overhauls have kept TFT from going stale. The game mode resides within League of Legends’ client, and a battle pass and cosmetics are both available for the game’s premium currency. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit was initially released as a companion narrative ahead of the arrival of Life is Strange 2, but even if you’re not familiar with Sean and Daniel’s story, this is another charming outing from Dontnod, filled with as much charm and attention to detail as any of the official games.

Focused on Chris, a young boy with a vivid imagination and a father struggling to cope with his grief, Captain Spirit offers a heartfelt standalone narrative from one of the best story-driven studios out there.

Once upon a time, it might have been easy to write off Roblox as another blocky kids game just ripping off Minecraft. Not only have those days long since passed, that criticism is now entirely incorrect – as well as being a multibillion dollar title drawing in tens of millions of players every day, Roblox is slowly becoming an increasingly respected game development tool.

The most high-profile example is VVVVVV creator Terry Cavanagh’s recent foray onto the platform, but a suite of creators has been using its tools and making a decent income from them for years. As the attention offered to it grows, Roblox’s own development could be fascinating to be a part of. Crusader Kings 3 might have replaced its older brother at the top of the Paradox pecking order, but if you’re looking for grand strategy on a budget, this is easily the best place to start.

The base game, which puts you in charge of your own portion of medieval Europe, is now entirely free.

War Thunder is a little more casual than the truly hardcore military sims out there, but if you’re looking for some dogfights or tank skirmishes with some genuine depth, there’s a huge degree of mastery on offer.

Fans of ground, air, and naval combat are all catered to, with a wide roster of vehicles stretching back decades from some of the world’s biggest military powers, and detailed customisation means you can pick a style to suit you and really dominate your opponents. Paid DLC does offer a way to unlock new vehicles faster, but they can also be earned with in-game currency. The blend of football and rocket-powered RC cars might once have seemed peculiar, but after Rocket League’s arrival in , any doubts were immediately assuaged.

A premium release has since made way for a free-to-play model funded by cosmetics inspired by an increasing number of crossovers, from F1 to Jurassic Park. As well as pixel-perfect gameplay that makes Psyonix’s offering one of the best sport games out there, a massive skill ceiling and plenty of interesting variant modes ensures that there’s enough to keep you playing for years at basically no cost.

If you’ve been itching to try out the indie phenomenon but don’t fancy paying for the privilege of dying over and over and over again, the original Spelunky is a free, pixel-art predecessor to the smash hit and its recent sequel. Controlling a fedora and bullwhip-wielding spelunker, the aim is to make it past the dangers that await in a giant, procedurally-generated cave, collecting as much treasure as you can on your way down. Despite its adorable aesthetic, however, Spelunky is hiding a dark side, with enough ways to kill you that you’ll still be learning its secrets dozens of hours in.