FORTNITE
BEST FREE GAMES YOU CAN PLAY RIGHT NOW
Although Fortnite’s online PvE campaign will cost you, the reason the game has such a huge following right now is due to its free Battle Royale mode on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
In one giant map, 100 players go up against each other in solo, duo, and squad groups to try and be the last ones standing. With weapons, bandages, potions and more scattered around the map, you’ll have to choose the best locations to land to get as much gear as possible right away before the map starts shrinking and more and more players begin dying off.
While the concept is very similar to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, what makes Fortnite unique is its crafting system that allows players to make elaborate forts on the go, ensuring the last few moments of any match are going to be a hectic, crafting mess.
You’re bound to get numerous hours in Fortnite’s free mode, especially if you’re planning on finally being the last person standing.
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
BEST FREE GAMES YOU CAN PLAY RIGHT NOW
Like most other free games out there, the hugely popular MOBA title League of Legends runs in a freemium model wherein the base game is free-to-play but there are still numerous different microtransactions so the studio can keep making money. In LoL, there are two in-game currencies entitled Riot Points (RP) and Blue Essence (BE). While RP can be bought with real money and is used to purchase characters, skins, icons, emotes, boosts, and more, BE can only be obtained by leveling up in-game.
League of Legends has been and always plans to be free-to-play, and has become one of the most successful MOBAs of all time with the most recently released figures stating there are 100 million monthly players.
You will really be getting bang for your buck if you choose to pick up League of Legends, as it costs zero bucks and is immensely compelling.
STARCRAFT 2
BEST FREE GAMES YOU CAN PLAY RIGHT NOW
Sequel to the 1998 game of the same name, StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty released in 2010 and was split into three installments including the base game, an expansion pack entitled Heart of the Swarm, and most recently a stand-alone expansion pack Legacy of the Void.
The story is focused on the conflicts between three different species, human exiles from earth called the Terrans, the Zerg alien race that can mutate to give themselves beneficial traits, and the technological superior Protoss race that also have strong mental powers. The gameplay is basic RTS, set in a fictional military/sci-fi world setting.
It wasn’t until BlizzCon 2017 that StarCraft 2 was re-branded to be strictly free-to-play, which opened up the multiplayer, campaign, and other smaller modes to everyone on PC. The microtransactions continued, allowing players to purchase skins, voice packs, war chests, and more.
PATH OF EXILE
BEST FREE GAMES YOU CAN PLAY RIGHT NOW
Path of Exile is an immensely popular ARPG with over 16 million registered users and 1.1 million monthly active users on PC. It released for PC in 2013 and later in summer 2017 on Xbox One as well.
In Path of Exile, you fulfill quests and explore dungeons in a classic old-school format, with almost all areas being randomly generated so you never feel like you are exploring the same areas twice. You can choose your character to be from one of six different classes (Duelist, Marauder, Ranger, Shadow, Templar, and Witch) that have their own unique skills and abilities. There is a special seventh class called the Scion, but you’ll have to unlock that for yourself.
Not only are the areas randomly generated, but the items and weapons are as well. This means when you defeat an enemy and they drop a new sword or armor piece, it’s stats and gem sockets are likely going to be unique to that item.
So far, the title has had seven free expansions including Sacrifice of the Vaal in 2014, Forsaken Masters in 2014, The Awakening in 2015, The Ascendancy in 2016, Atlas of Worlds in 2016, and most recently The Fall of Oriath and War for the Atlas in 2017. The Fall of Oriath is the largest expansion yet, adding six new acts, a character selection screen, side missions, bosses, a passive skill tree, and more.
Path of Exile also has what the developer refers to as ‘ethical transactions.’ In the game, you can have multiple accounts with more than one of them logged in at once meaning you have lots of potential inventory space. The transactions, along with offering cosmetic items, allow you to purchase semi-automated public trading inventories and more character slots if your multiple accounts end up not having enough room for all your loot.
WARFRAME
BEST FREE GAMES YOU CAN PLAY RIGHT NOW
Set in a unique sci-fi world, Warframe is a co-op free-to-play, online action game with immense popularity since its 2013 release date. It is available on PS4 and PC, and as of 2014 on Xbox One as well.
In Warframe, you play as a member of the Tenno race, a warrior group who awaken to a war between extremely weaponized human clones. As a Tenno, you use a mechanical suit to harness your natural skills in combat known as Warframes. You can engage in PvE and PvP content, as well as basic quests with an actual narrative story interconnecting them.
You are equipped with a primary weapon, secondary weapon, and melee weapons, all of which can be upgraded with mods that drop from fallen enemies. It has a very similar weapons system to the Monster Hunter series, which will have you grinding to make the best stuff before moving on to tackling harder enemies.
Warframe is one of the most played games on Steam, and is currently in the number two slot for most popular free-to-play game right behind Path of Exile.
VRCHAT
BEST FREE GAMES YOU CAN PLAY RIGHT NOW
For a more silly and fun entry to this list, we decided to include free-to-play VRChat that allows you to interact with people all over the world via your own VR headset.
VRChat works on PC with both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets. You simply log on and choose/create an avatar and begin chatting with real people who are also engaging in the world via VR. You can use and make almost every avatar type you could possibly think of, Rick from Rick and Morty, Darth Vader, Sora from Kingdom Hearts, Woody from Toy Story, Steve Jobs himself, the list goes on and on.
VRChat uses lip syncing and eye tracking/blinking to attempt to mimic human speaking even further, while also using gestures, emotes, and emojiis as well. You can explore other user’s worlds or play games such as bowling, capture the flag, and other community-made games.
Another thing that has become very popular in VRChat is roleplaying certain scenarios like a zombie apocalypse, a massive robot war, and more. With VRChat, you can actually look and act like the charterers you wish to represent, adding a whole new feeling of reality to fun, made-up situations.
TEAM FORTRESS 2
BEST FREE GAMES YOU CAN PLAY RIGHT NOW
A 2007 classic, Team Fortress 2 remains one of the most popular and highest-rated free-to-play game of all time due to its solid FPS gameplay and charming humor infused in its memorable characters.
You can choose from nine different classes, all broken down into three groups including offense, defense, and support. You can then battle in multiple different game modes like king of the hill or capture the flag, with cartoon-like visuals to keep the whole thing feeling pretty lighthearted.
It wasn’t until 2011 that Team Fortress 2 became free-to-play, and even after this change the support for the game has been continual with new updates arriving frequently. Some are just patches that add fixing tweaks to the game, but a lot actually add new game modes, maps, weapons and more, over a decade after the game’s initial release.
There’s no harm in trying out Team Fortress 2 as it won’t cost you a penny, and you can freely check out what all the hype is about.
DOTA 2
BEST FREE GAMES YOU CAN PLAY RIGHT NOW
When it comes to free-to-play, few games have found success like Valve’s MOBA Dota 2 has. With millions of players every day, Dota 2 has one of the largest esports scenes with prize pools reaching into the millions of USD.
In Dota 2, two teams of five players fight in arenas with one of over 100 different characters. You use real-time strategy controls to outwit the enemy team and emerge victorious by defeating them in combat. Each hero has a basic damage attack, along with at least four other unique abilities. You begin each match with only one experience level, and as you fight and progress you level up to a maximum of 25 to become more powerful.
Dota 2 is and continues to be a powerhouse MOBA title, and making it free-to-play only makes it all the more accessible to more and more players every day since its release. Make sure to try it out on PC or Mac whenever you have some free time, but be warned it may end up taking up the rest of your day.
HEARTHSTONE
BEST FREE GAMES YOU CAN PLAY RIGHT NOW
Like StarCraft 2, Hearthstone comes from the hugely popular developer Blizzard Entertainment. Released back in 2o14, Hearthstone is a free-to-play collectible card game where two players with 30 cards each take turns to cast spells, summon characters, and more to get their opponent’s health to zero and win in-game gold.
It is available on Mac, PC, iOS, and Android, with cross-platform play with only geographical location limitations in case you and your friends happen to play on different formats.
Hearthstone builds upon the lore of the Warcraft series, so if you are already a fan and want to try something new, Hearthstone should be right up your alley. As of May 2017, there were a recorded 70 million Hearthstone players per month, so the community is still very active.
DOKI DOKI LITERATURE CLUB!
BEST FREE GAMES YOU CAN PLAY RIGHT NOW
Doki Doki Literature Club! is a visual novel following a male high school student who joins a literature club at his school that already consists of four female members. It released in 2017 and is available for Mac and PC.
Since it is a visual novel the gameplay is pretty basic. You will mostly be reading along and occasionally you will be prompted to make decisions that, in turn, affect the events of the story slightly. However, there are also minigames such as various poetry challenges where you choose words to fit into blank spaces. Each female has a preference when it comes to word choice, so some decisions may make one of the characters like you more, while others will see you gain favor with one of the others.
It is free with a ‘fan-pack’ also available for $10 that includes wallpapers, a digital concept art booklet, and the game’s official soundtrack.
Don’t be fooled though, this cute-looking game also has some horror elements to it that will come as a surprise. Plus, there’s a whole meta side to the game, so be sure to look into those when you think the story has come to a close.
