Most players don't have unlimited funds to buy video games, but they don't want to compromise on quality either. The solution for many is freeware. Whereas free-to-play games like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Warframe reserve some content for paying customers only, freeware games offer a complete experience at no cost to the player.
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Freeware offers hope to players who can't afford a series of $60 triple-A titles or are sick of being nickel-and-dimed by the many gacha games that hope players will pick their own pockets through microtransactions. For those willing to take a closer look amongst the rubble, there are diamonds aplenty, freeware games that are more than worth their $0 price tag.
Battle For Wesnoth
This high fantasy, turn-based strategy title might look dated, but its gameplay remains as sharp as it was upon its 2003 release. Multiple factions ranging from elves to undead, along with numerous units and leaders, offer plenty of strategic diversity, and for players not enamored of its maps, Battle for Wesnoth boasts a user-friendly map editor.
If that weren't enough, the game includes local and online multiplayer battles for those that want to jump into the dwarven trenches with some friends. Though it lacks the flair of big-name rivals like Humankind and Civilization, Battle for Wesnoth remains an excellent freeware alternative.
Endless Sky
Fans of Eve Online and other sci-fi sims will find much to love in Endless Sky. Far more immersive than its 2D graphics would suggest, the game features space exploration, combat, trade, and passenger transport as players take their brand-new pilot's license into the stars.
It achieves just the right balance of photography, text, and top-down graphics to sell its universe, and it's easy to lose hours pouring over star charts and lists of trade goods, plotting one's next move, just as one would in any of the best sci-fi games. Fortune, the universe of Endless Sky seems to suggest, is always just one jump of the warp drive away.
Beneath A Steel Sky
For players that long for the return of Escape From Monkey Island, King's Quest, and other point-and-click puzzle games from a bygone era, 1994's Beneath a Steel Sky by Revolution Software may be the game to beat. Raised in the wasteland of "the Gap" only to be kidnapped and taken to the dystopian Union City as an adult, protagonist Robert Foster is buried in a societal conspiracy he doesn't want any part of.
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Its cyberpunk setting is reminiscent of 1984 as much as Cyberpunk 2077, yet it blends the tone of its source material and that of its genre perfectly, never becoming so bleak that it ruins the fun. While it may not break new narrative ground, its exploration of the intersection of technology, politics, and economics provides an excellent background for the hijinks at hand.
Black Mesa
The Half-Life series will always be renowned for its storytelling, but after some years the original (1998) game began to look dated, especially compared to its sequel. Enter the Crowbar Collective, a team of fans dedicated to raising the original to the graphical standards of its sequel, as well as reimagining the final Xen chapters.
Black Mesa was so well done that Valve gave an official nod of approval, letting the remake see a full release in 2020. This version of Gordon Freeman's adventures through City 17 is the perfect entry point for players who missed the original or for veterans who just want prettier monsters and a better finale.
The Dark Mod
A first-person stealth game inspired by the Thief series, The Dark Mod contains numerous fan-made missions and campaigns. Just as mods can change everything in Minecraft, The Dark Mod was originally released in 2009 as a total conversion mod for Doom 3, turning radically away from its base game in search of something new.
Fans of Dishonored and other stealth titles will find much to love with The Dark Mod's cleverly balanced blend of subterfuge, sabotage, and sneaking. At its best, the game is a sandbox of interlocking systems in which survival and success depend upon the player's ability to avoid and outsmart enemies in this gothic steampunk city.
Yume Nikki
This surreal, sprite-based JRPG is a unique journey into a girl's dreams. From the first the player enters the dream world, travels through the Nexus, and begins exploring, Yume Nikki casts a spell that won't let go.
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While the mechanics are simple, they articulate the childlike wonder of the setting perfectly. Small touches (like the use of F9 to have the character pinch her own cheek and wake up) only enhance the delightful weirdness of the story. The game's sound design is a phenomenal complement to its graphics, and both the soundtrack and noises like the scuffle of shoes on the carpet are perfectly suited to Yume Nikki's gameplay, helping it to stand side-by-side with some of the best RPG soundtracks.
Doki Doki Literature Club
Forget the deluge of poorly crafted titles desperate to cash in on a heaping helping of fan service. Doki Doki Literature Club is arguably the finest example of why the visual novel genre should never be ignored.
While the titular club seems like the perfect setting for a bright, engrossing dating sim, beneath hides a story with psychological twists so shattering that players will need a hammer and chisel to scrape their jaws off the floor. Spoiling the fantastic story or any of its multiple endings would be a disservice to anyone who hasn't yet played it. Doki Doki Literature Club has to be played to be believed.
Spelunky
Randomly generated worlds can feel haphazard and empty. Not so with Spelunky, a rollicking 2D platforming adventure into the pixelated caverns below. Cute art, a charming protagonist, bountiful secrets, and many, many ways for players to die, whether by trap or beast, encourage hours of play.
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Freeform navigation through the game's fully destructible levels prevents railroading, and numerous character deaths haven't been enough to keep many a player from loving this 2008 classic. Though not one of the hardest action games, the game is tough. Spelunky rewards strategic analysis as much as leaps of faith, and for players willing to climb the difficulty curve, the view from the top is hard to beat.
Cave Story
The triumphant product of a one-person development team, Cave Story is a 2D Metroidvania platform-adventure game. While the central gameplay loop will be comfortably familiar to fans of Metroid and Castlevania, Cave Story's attention to detail sets it apart from many of its competitors.
First released in 2004, its pitch-perfect gameplay, tone, and characters (particularly Quote, the amnesiac robot protagonist who joins the ranks of gaming's best robots) have enabled the game to grow from cult favorite to popular success, and though ports sell on Steam and the Switch, the original remains gloriously free. Explore, leap, battle, and repeat.
Dwarf Fortress
Whether called by its full name (Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter 2: Dwarf Fortress) or its more famous abbreviation, Dwarf Fortress offers arguably the deepest simulation in existence. While another notoriously huge sim, No Man's Sky, may offer diverse planets, no game approaches Dwarf Fortress for the sheer depth of its randomly generated societies. Every new game means a new world and new dwarves to fall in love with as they struggle to expand their fortress and keep marauding monsters at bay.
More importantly, it means new lore, as the game writes entire sagas as a backdrop. As Tolkienesque in its scope as it is Lovecraftian in its willingness to kill characters, Dwarf Fortress is unrelenting and spectacular. Those familiar with the tale of the doomed fortress Boatmurdered know all too well.