Best pc games 2018 free

Looking for:

Our favorite PC games of | PC Gamer

It’s the best time of year to play free PC games: the summer doldrums. Or the winter doldrums, if you’re in the southern hemisphere. The point is: this is not the season of big games. When the triple-A calendar is looking slim, it’s time for the best free PC games to shine. Not that there’s ever a bad time to spend a relaxing weekend trying out a bunch of free games, but this season is a particularly good time to check out some cute indies or get really, really into a competitive free-to-play FPS.

Free games don’t have to be throwaway experiences you forget about in a week: some of the biggest games in the world like League of Legends and Fortnite are free. Meanwhile, indie developers release fantastic and thoughtful puzzle games and micro adventures and visual novels for free all the time.

What all these games cost is your time, which is why this guide is a safeguard for that precious resource. Any game here you devote a few hours to will be worth it. Our selection of the best free PC games is regularly updated with our personal picks. It’s divided into some basic categories: major free-to-play games, casual free games you can pick up for an afternoon, and PC classics you can now download for free or play online.

If you’re looking for free games to add to your permanent game library , make sure to check a couple of our other guides:. It’s going F2P on July 26, with more characters to come. Obstacle course slapstick is the gist here, but it’s a silly good time. It’s the best FPS battle royale to play right now. Combat’s always throwing hordes at you so you can carve them up with style. Surprisingly generous as a F2P game, giving you all the inventory space you need and a free mount early on.

The most notable recent addition is the no-build mode, an easier entry point if you like to focus on shooting over the building meta. You might turn into a key to open a lock, or a boat to sail the open sea. The Republia Times – You’re the editor of a newspaper in a totalitarian state in this game from the creator of Return of the Obra Dinn.

Each day you must choose which stories to run and how much space to give them, impacting your paper’s popularity and the government’s approval with the general populace. Smart and cynical. 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 cutting visuals and music that makes your skin crawl.

Bleakshore – This chilling adventure uses the fuzzy, lo-fi aesthetic of PS1-era 3D graphics to create an impressively eerie atmosphere as a shadowy figure stalks you across the landscape Faith – Faith lures you into feeling secure—if a little 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 a gross twitching bug. Great work, kiddo! But placement is everything, as every icon has its own set of rules. Brogue, despite staying true to the genre, works hard to feel approachable.

In this relaxing, therapeutic anti-builder, you construct devices to cleanse the earth, and to regrow green plants and trees. Chapter 2 released in and was a Big Deal for Undertale fans. The Doll Shop – Blending horror with romance, The Doll Shop transports you to a small village, which is being buried under a relentless snowfall.

It tells a sinister story involving creepy handmade dolls. The art is sublime and the ending is especially memorable. You play as a peg-legged tavern owner, who has to serve three very special dishes to a trio of horrible pirates, who really should have checked the Food Standards rating first The Herbalist – A wordless adventure about a traveller searching for a mysterious herb.

You wander around 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.

If you enjoy this, paid-for sequel Emily is Away Too is worth checking out. Olav and the Lute opens in new tab – An enigmatic adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic world, with a cracking central mechanic. Rather than combining objects with other objects, you’re affecting the world with a lute by plucking at its colour-coded strings.

Pressing it in time with certain beats lets you jump, crouch, and dodge out of the way of oncoming attacks. And lots and lots of practice. 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. Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter opens in new tab and Tested opens in new tab before joining the PC Gamer team in Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he’ll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.

When he’s not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory it’s really becoming a problem , he’s probably playing a year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities.

Wes Fenlon opens in new tab opens in new tab. More features. Go listen to the first-ever gaming concert at the BBC Proms, a landmar See comments.

Best pc games 2018 free.25 Best free PC games to play today

And with its consistent pace of updates every three to four months, Apex Legends stands out as one of the best free-to-play PC games, year after year. Apex Legends: Hunted, the shooter’s next major update coming August 9, introduces a new character named Vantage. This reinvention of the classic series is truly fantastic, all the way from its excellent and challenging combat to the incredibly touching story that weaves it together.

It masterfully mixes pieces of classic cRPGs with more modern mechanics and designs, feeling old and new at the same time. The sequel has improved upon its predecessor’s already incredible combat by deepening its systems while simultaneously simplifying and smoothing out its clunkier bits – not to mention it introduced some brutally smart new AI. There’s also an overwhelming amount of game here to play.

With six different origin characters, custom tags to make your own, and over 74, lines of fully voiced dialogue, this massive RPG has more than enough to keep you coming back to it. Through its relaunch and subsequent four expansions, FFXIV has slowly morphed from a relatively generic good-versus-evil plot into a sprawling, political, and fantastical thriller. Story missions are intended to be tackled solo, and even instanced dungeons now have an option for you to enter with computer-controlled party members instead of forcing you into a group with strangers.

Series fans may also be interested in Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth , due out in Summer and Winter , respectively. From its exhilarating combat, to its incredible soundtrack, to its clever and well written narrative with characters that seemingly never run out of meaningful things to say, all the way to its deep and innovative post game that keeps you wanting to come back for more even after beating the last boss.

Hades is incredibly difficult, but it never feels punishing in defeat. Dying is part of the game, and actually comes with its own rewards in the form of new conversations with its fascinating cast of characters, new opportunities to purchase game changing upgrades, and an opportunity for a brand new run with a completely new set of godly boons that dramatically alter how you approach combat.

Every 22 minutes, everything ends — and restarts again. The sands that had passed between twin planets go back to their original place, a planet that had fallen apart becomes whole, and you awaken to see a mysterious object in space break apart once again. In Outer Wilds , you live through those same 22 minutes until you can successfully solve the puzzle of why you’re stuck in the time loop, among other mysteries, by exploring ruins left by a long-dead civilization across multiple planets.

This gorgeous, heartfelt space adventure is one of the best examples of video game exploration and discovery. Outer Wilds encourages you to hop into your spaceship and go wherever you want — or just stay on your home planet and see what’s happening there. Should you feel lost or need a hint on what to do next, all of your activities and progress are saved to your ship’s log, which helpfully tells you when there’s still more to discover in an area.

The only thing limiting your curiosity is time, but even that can sometimes be your ally. The short expansion’s puzzles are just as enjoyable as what you’ll find in the rest of Outer Wilds, but the pervasive, menacing tension in Echoes of the Eye makes each step forward in the overall mystery feel even more rewarding.

Its sprawling caves open up and offer multiple paths to you at any given time, but no matter which way you go there are exciting bosses to fight and significant power-ups to make you stronger.

And even though it was already a massive game, Hollow Knight has only gotten bigger since its launch in early Developer Team Cherry released multiple free updates with new areas and bosses, each harder than the last. 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.

PES brings a larger selection of licensed leagues , 11 new skill traits for players, an updated Myclub feature to sign players to your own club, 4K HDR support , and a manager mode with changes to ICC pre-season, an in-depth transfer system and new league licenses. Ride 3 If bike racing is more up your alley, then you should definitely check out Ride 3, a great racing game that offers users around bikes and 30 different tracks to choose from.

The bikes range from old time vintage riders to modern cafe racers , while the tracks range from the popular North West to the Nordscheleife via Outlon Park and Sugo, all of which have their own set of challenges. The high-seas expansion for the World of Warcraft universe is full of pirates, dinosaurs and larger-than-life monsters.

Both the Horde and the Alliance receive their own separate continents to level up on, with the new level cap increased to Supported platforms: Windows, macOS.

The game packs three stunning new maps , a new battle royale mode and a fleshed out zombie mode , which will definitely keep you occupied for far longer than a single player campaign ever would.

Sea of Thieves Looking for an authentic pirate experience? Quake Champions Quake Champions is a fast-paced multiplayer shooting game which reinvents the multiplayer mode of Quake III Arena, adding unique champions into the mix. Quake Champions also features a variety of different modes, including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, a competitive 1v1 duel mode and a new team-based mode called Sacrifice. Do note that the game is currently in a pre-release early access stage, so you might encounter some bugs and glitches.

Fallout 76 is an online prequel in which each and every survivor that you encounter in the wasteland is a real person. You can choose to play however you like, either making friends along the way and exploring the wasteland together or going solo in the largest world ever created for a Fallout game. Fallout 76 might not be one the best PC games for some, but it definitely is one for me as I really enjoy the experience it offers, admittedly more than the actual gameplay.

Dragon Ball FighterZ Dragon Ball FighterZ is undoubtedly one of the best arcade-style fighting games released this year , offering fans of the Dragon Ball franchise the opportunity to play as their favorite character in a three-on-three 2D fighting game. But placement is everything, as every icon has its own set of rules. Brogue, despite staying true to the genre, works hard to feel approachable.

The controls make navigating its dungeons a breeze, and the elegant shading makes its symbols atmospheric and readable. Terra Nil – Terra Nil begins at the ultimate end of civilisation, letting you breathe life back into a post-apocalyptic wasteland. In this relaxing, therapeutic anti-builder, you construct devices to cleanse the earth, and to regrow green plants and trees.

Chapter 2 released in and was a Big Deal for Undertale fans. The Doll Shop – Blending horror with romance, The Doll Shop transports you to a small village, which is being buried under a relentless snowfall.

You wander around 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. If you enjoy this, paid-for sequel Emily is Away Too is worth checking out.

Get it here: Amazon GameStop Steam. The lengthy development of Wreckfest encapsulates the trajectory of midsized independent game studios over the past six years. So in , Bugbear tried to crowdfund its game. The team pivoted, offering pre-orders and a surprisingly deep demo on its website. In , Bugbear pivoted again, this time putting the game on Steam Early Access. It became Wreckfest in October , and like so many Kickstarter and early access games, it began to sputter with setbacks, delays and fussy updates.

But like a special few games within this ecosystem, at a certain point, years into development, everything began to click. Fans who had soured on the game returned for new updates. Its Steam rating began to shift toward the positive again. And it speaks to the state of the industry that a doomed Kickstarter from half a decade ago could become, today, one of the best games of the year.

The Gardens Between starts on a rainy night, with two middle-school-aged friends huddled together in a treehouse. A mysterious light transports them to a gorgeous, mystical world filled with islands populated by memories of their friendship. Each island is a towering puzzle; the tweens must work together to reach the top, but obstacles block the path. One character carries a lantern holding a mysterious light that can dispel fog and create bridges, while the other works magical machinery that can stop and reverse time.

Playing The Gardens Between feels like a lucid dream. When I start to get frustrated by a difficult puzzle, I pause and observe the flow of time. But the visuals, story and bending of time harmonize in way that elevates the game, bringing new light to an overworked theme. The traditional multiplayer and Zombies modes — two hallmarks of the Call of Duty franchise during the last decade — have been freed of the bloat accumulated over recent years, with developer Treyarch refocusing the central mechanics that give Call of Duty its iconic feel.

Rather than release another overwrought single-player campaign, Treyarch has invested in a huge multiplayer expansion. Blackout is battle royale with the signature Call of Duty shine. But where the mode really sets itself apart is the map. Each town in the massive space is taken from the multiplayer maps of previous Call of Duty games, ensuring it was designed to stand on its own as a full multiplayer map.

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth is hard to place in Our initial impressions praised the leveling experience and the content of the world. Slowly, Blizzard and the players find a point of equilibrium with each expansion. New patches have just arrived with more in the works. Battle for Azeroth is still a World of Warcraft expansion, and World of Warcraft is still pretty damn good. Available on Mac and Windows PC. A Case of Distrust is one of the slickest-looking games of Not once did I skip this option, because each taxi driver has an opinion on a cultural event, or a story to tell about his life.

Attempts to seed historical detail into fiction can come off as stilted, but here they feel present and lived-in. Get it here: Steam Game Jolt. Moonlighter answered a question I never thought to ask: Where do shopkeepers in adventure games find the items they sell in their stores? In this fantasy world, at least one shopkeeper works double duty as the kind of adventurer they serve in their store. To gather wares to sell, each night the main character journeys into the darkest depths of various dungeons, slaying beasts and collecting items.

As a shopkeeper, he needs to stock the shelves, speculate on pricing, entice customers with lovely decor and tackle would-be thieves. Whatever is left in his cash register that day becomes the purse he brings around town to the various weapons dealers, potion makers and more.

With better gear, he can explore more dangerous dungeons, which beget better loot, which fetches higher prices in the shop and so on. Blame the disaster on BK, an extremely selfish — and extremely cute — raccoon with a nasty smartphone addiction. Donut County invites plenty of comparisons to Katamari Damacy : A strange, unexplainable force descends on a town and its unwitting residents, consuming everything it comes across.

But where chaos reaches literal new heights with Katamari, the holes that terrorize Donut County are silent, efficient and clean. Where Katamari giveth, Donut County taketh away. The premise of the game is simple: Be a hole in the ground and swallow up as many things as you can while solving a few puzzles along the way.

The dialogue is witty, charming and funny. Texting BK is a joy. I spam him a duck emoji; he spams it right back. Tastes ok. As puzzle games go, Donut County is a sugary treat. Get it here: Steam GOG. I love the way games can turn the most mundane activities into delicious loops that I want to slurp up with with my morning cereal.

Metascore: 81 User Score: 3. 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. Best pc games 2018 free of Exile features the explorations of large outdoor areas, caves, and dungeons.

About the author