The Valve-owned game distributor Steam gaming store is one of the most popular sources for PC games. Steam offers all types of games that are full of entertainment. But what if your wallet is empty? Will you still be able to enjoy Steam’s service? The answer is yes. Steam offers a lot of free-to-play games. And they are as much entertaining as their wallet hungry counterparts. You can enjoy these games without ever having to open your wallet.
Recently free games have become the norm. There has been a spike in the development of the gaming world. With it, the gaming industry has faced a spike in the number of gamers as well. Most of these players are casual players who are not willing to spend a fortune to play games. And why should they? After all the free games that the Steam gaming store offers, there is zero to no need to do so.
That is why we have brought you a list of the best free to play games on Steam. So, buckle up and get ready to game. These are also known as the best free games on PC.
🎮 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS GO)
What would you do if you could die and wake up in the same scenario? Try to learn from your past mistakes, right? Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or CS GO puts you in that exact situation. CS GO offers you death as your teacher. You die countless times throughout every single match in this first-person shooting game. Every player does. That is why the players keep getting better, and so will you.
Brought to you by Valve corporation, the same company that developed Steam. CS GO has been holding the position of the top dog for a while now. It has been competing and beating newer games. It does so based only on its skill-based playstyle alone. We have even discussed this game before in another article named “Best Games on Steam.”
The Valve-owned first-person shooting game is growth-based. It is an essential factor in CS GO. CS GO demands that you keep growing and keep thinking. So, if you are coming back to CS GO, you might want to brush up on your skills. With a timeless heart and soul, Global offensive always keeps you on your toes. The developers also keep trying to throw you off by bringing new changes to the old maps. They also bring in new mods.
In the evolving genre of the first-person shooter, CS GO is its own genre and does not care to adapt. And for good reasons. To this day, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has the most prominent player base on Steam.
🎮 Defense of the Ancients 2 (DOTA 2)
DOTA 2 welcomes every new player with open arms. But do not let them fool you. This is the friendly treatment you are going to get before they beat you up. They will maul you and then let you know that you suck with a ‘GGEZ.’ It is true, though. Nobody starts as a good player in their first few days.
DOTA 2 consists of competitive players who are unforgiving of the weak. And with a few hours of gameplay in your hands, you will be like putty in their hands. But if you can hammer away and keep on, this Steam-powered game will give you one of the most gratifying online gaming experiences ever.
This intense team-based multiplayer game has a high learning curve. You have to get familiar with the items, the champions. You have to instill in your muscle memory how to react to every situation. And trust me, you have a lot to learn. If you expect to have fun and get hooked on this game on your first day, prepare to be disappointed. You might not enjoy it even in your first week. But if you are willing to stick around, it will be worth it. After all, it did not earn the second biggest player base on Steam for nothing. You can get the game for free on Steam.
🎮 Destiny 2
Bungie Inc had been stuck between what it accomplished and what it hoped to achieve. They were always unrivaled at developing thrilling fantasy firearms for PC Games. Players shoot these firearms at monstrous aliens in an aesthetical setting.
But that was all Bungie could amount to for a while. They always failed to match their fine-tuned playstyle with a story-driven campaign. But that is all history now.
Bungie Inc has finally gotten over their slump with Destiny 2. At long last, Bungie has delivered us with a story-driven campaign. Making it the best free story-based game on steam. And it comes coupled with their awesome playstyle and vistas.
Bungie has changed the sequel process by bringing in an evolution process. They have gone as far as announcing the cancellation of Destiny 3. They have decided that they will expand on Destiny 2, giving the players a new thrill.
Destiny 2 offers an ever-evolving campaign. Even in the early game, it is easy to get distracted by the side quests and aesthetics. Bungie has equipped Destiny 2 with emotion-invoking soundtracks as well. Destiny 2 is a total knockout thanks to its strong story-based campaign. And its excellent gameplay makes it even better.
🎮 Brawlhalla
Many view Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros franchise as one of a kind. It may have been correct before. But in 2017, Blue Mammoth Games has brought out Brawlhalla. This is your best alternative approach to the indie game for players who are not particularly comfortable with Nintendo. It also comes with a sub-genre of fighting.
This free-to-play game features an unpolished and unique fighting style. This simple mechanic is sure to impress even the veteran Smash fans. Blue Mammoth offers cross-platform gameplay. This allows you to enjoy this game on console, mobile, and PC.
Brawlhalla has the reputation of a casual game. The fighters sport more straightforward move sets that make it easy for everyone to enjoy this game. This game offers a more dynamic playstyle. Brawlhalla puts you onto a stage with your opponents. In the arena, rather than trying to shave off their health bar, you try to knock them off the arena. But that does not mean that the concept of damage is not present. The more damage a player takes, the easier it is to knock them out.
🎮 Warframe
Do you remember the last time you jumped through the air while dodging bullets? In reality, you do not. But many of us pretended to do so when we were kids. Digital Extremes has given us the chance to get back to our imaginative childhood phase. The one where we had to dodge bullets to stay alive!
Warframe became available on Steam in 2013. Back then, this co-op shooter had not earned much fame due to its limited playstyle. But Digital Extremes has taken various measures to change that.
Warframe comes equipped with deep story missions and open-world gameplay. Many more exciting features like underwater combat and PVP battles are there as well.
But you cannot compare Warframe’s growth to that of a tree. It grew like a lab experiment gone wrong. And that is what is enjoyable about this Steam game. If you were one of the early players and are still playing it, you know what I am talking about.
Warframe looks like its developers put it together in a hurry. Sometimes this can confuse a player. But that is one of its ghoulish charms. The game does not focus on a progression style but instead lets you decide what you want to do.
🎮 Team Fortress 2
Valve waited eight long years to bring out the sequel to Team Fortress. Though they contain some similarities, Steam’s owner Valve Inc has injected enough changes to make this game fresh. Especially the graphics and the design of it. Although after a decade, its visual style fades in comparison to its newer counterparts.
But let us not get hung up on the visuals. While they do matter, the visuals are not the most crucial factor in a game. What matters most are the gameplay style and the entertainment it offers. Team Fortress 2’s gameplay style remains relevant despite the passage of time.
Although Steam offers its users Team Fortress 2 for free, they have created a pay-to-win situation. For example, a free user only gets 50 slots for storage space. Whereas a premium user, a paid user, gets 300 of those. They also get access to some other attractive features. But it is worth spending some money on it. And it is okay if you do not want to. You can still thrive without paying. Paying makes it easier to do so.
🎮 War Thunder
War Thunder is not a game that you can conquer by mastering one type of combat. One moment you are flying a Boston MK1 bomber and thrashing NPCs along with your friends with bombs from high altitude. The next, you will find yourself on the ground, smashing through the enemy camp in a tanker.
This Steam-powered game is not repetitive. It offers two types of gameplay. It ranges from Domination to Ground Attack. For each role, you will have different objectives to complete. And to achieve these objectives, you need to rely on your teammates. For example, you have an enemy on your tail. You can ask your teammates to get them off your back. So, communication is key. Without proper communications, you will not be able to conquer the stages.
The game offers different difficulty levels. The higher the difficulty level you are playing in, the more realistic it gets. In the arcade mode, the vehicle damage is kept to the least, and you can respawn. But at the peak, the Simulation mode, even a single mistake, can cause your vehicle to be obliterated. And you are not given another chance. You cannot respawn in this mode. If you make a mistake, you are made to watch from the sidelines while your teammates pay for your mistakes. No pressure, though!
Another noticeable aspect is War Thunder’s audio quality. This PC game audio quality gives you the feeling of actually being on the battlefield.
🎮 Aim Lab
In this era of competitive first-person shooting, many of us cannot quite keep up with the competition. So, are we supposed to drop out because we cannot ‘git gud’? State Space has brought a solution to this problem in the name of Aim Lab.
What is Aim Lab, one might ask? Aim Lab is a first and third-person shooting simulator available on Steam that is designed to make your aim better. It comes equipped with cutting-edge performance tracking. State Space has also included analytics with machine learning. The developers have designed it to make you better and your reactions faster.
It does not matter if you are bad at flick shots or strafing or jumping targets. You can train for every situation with Aim Lab. This free game’s training system will learn your strengths and weaknesses and design a training plan personalized for you. It is available not only for PC but also for mobiles as well. So, it does not matter what you suck at. If you want to get better, Aim Lab will help you in your quest.
🎮 Path of Exile
What if one day you find yourself shipwrecked on an unknown shore surrounded by bloated corpses? How are you going to survive? You are going to take a piece of wood and keep hitting them till they go down. That is precisely where the Path of Exile starts.
Path of Exile has evolved since its debut in 2013. You can compare its growth to that of a tree. Developers have catered to it. This has made Path of Exile stand apart from other action RPGs. Unlike your run-of-the-mill RPGs, in Path of Exile, you have to build your hideouts and items. Where the others usually focus only on leveling up your character. This PC game is a free-to-play game.
It is better if you do a bit of research before indulging in the game. The Path of Exile offers a wide range of choices. And among those choices, some options are more ‘optimum’ than others. So, doing a bit of research beforehand is advisable. You can download this game for free from Steam.
🎮 Unturned
What do you think would happen if you introduced Minecraft to DayZ? It would be something like Unturned. Released in 2014, Smartly Dressed Games released a survival simulation with an art style inspired by Minecraft. And unlike many Minecraft and DayZ clones, Unturned stands on its grounds.
If you take Unturned’s face value by its looks, you will be mistaken. Unturned is deep, brutal, and detailed. As the perfect survival sim, Unturned harasses you at every turn, giving you a lot to deal with. You have to grind all day just to get by before zombies raid you.
Unlike other typical survival games, Unturned is not a static game. Since its debut, the developers have been feeding it constant updates making it the giant as it is now. And despite its unoriginality, it has earned its distinctions throughout the gaming community. This Steam-powered game is a free-to-play game.
🎮 SMITE
I am sure you have often wondered what it would be like if we played DOTA or any other MOBA games in third person view. Titan Forge has answered this long-asked question by bringing out Smite.
It is not easy to sneak up on an enemy when they have peripheral vision. You never expect to sneak up on your enemy in a MOBA game unless your character comes equipped with stealth abilities. But what if they did not have this life-saving peripheral vision? Smite has introduced this concept into the genre of MOBA games and revolutionized the whole gaming industry. They have introduced close-range kills into the age-old formula of MOBA. And turned this free game into a close combat game with clutch dodges and skill shots.
All these being said, Smite adheres to the MOBA template of five players on two teams. These two teams compete in an arena trying to tear each other down. These matches are long-lasting. The quick ones are as long as 25 minutes, whereas the longer ones may even take up to an hour. The gameplay is very gratifying. Every skill shot you can land will fill you up with a sense of achievement. But beware, you may lose hours playing one of the best free games on Steam!
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🎮 Paladins: Champions of the Realm
Is it not frustrating when you pick a champion you are skilled in, but you get outplayed only because the opponent has chosen a ‘counter-pick’? In Paladins, you do not have to suffer from this problem. This hero shooter game allows you to change your champion in the preparation room.
Paladin offers 46 playable characters. These champions are divided into four different classes. They are front liner, damage dealer, supporter, and flanker. In a 5v5 match, you look for the best combination of the four classes to build your team. You can enhance your character by earning items.
Every one of these forty-six champions has unique and exciting lores or backgrounds. If you are unsure whether to spend money on Blizzard’s Overwatch, Steam’s Paladins is a close competitor. Paladin will get you hooked. Be its customization points or its imagined champions; you will love this free-to-play hero shooter.
🎮 VRChat
Nowadays, social media has become one of the primary sources of entertainment for many people. With the advancement of digital social interactions, the integration of virtual reality in social media was only a matter of time. And that is where VRChat comes in.
VRChat is an enticing virtual reality social platform. Users can use different avatars to represent themselves. They can also use these avatars to interact with other users’ avatars. After its debut in 2017, VRChat has become popular in the gaming world.
This virtual reality social platform relies on user-made content. Like you can build your avatar, you can also create your world. It has several exciting features, such as 3D spatialized audio, avatar, word creation, etc.
These avatars feature eye-tracking, lip-sync, and a complete range of motion. So, if typical social media bores you, give VRChat a try. You can download this for free on the Steam gaming store.
🎮 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links
One of the most famous animes of all time is Yu-Gi-Oh! It is also one of the most successful games in the world. Brought to us by Konami in 2016, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links takes you back to the basics so that the game looks less daunting.
Backed by a whole franchise of Yu-Gi-Oh games, the duel-links version is more developed than its predecessors. This free game includes proper voice acting, 3D monsters, PVP battles, and many more exciting features. These features are what make it one of the best single-player games on Steam.
While some members of the franchise did include these features, but none of them could measure up to Duel Links. Duel Links is the ultimate package for both the Yu-Gi-Oh fans and all the CCG fans. While the game’s story strays from the actual anime’s, it does not leave you unsatisfied. And if you are a fan of the CCG genre, this is a must-try game for you.
🎮 World of Warships
Is there anyone who does not find battleships cool? We doubt that. But they have never had their day, have they? Fortunately for fans of battleships, Wargaming Group has brought out World of Warships for them. This game is available on the Steam store for free.
Battleships are floating weapon platforms. And its heart is its gunnery. Shooting with battleships is a lot harder than your typical first-person shooting. This specialized gunnery requires a mix of mathematics, aim, geometry, and intuition. You have to measure the distance between your vessel and the enemy’s and shoot using a proper trajectory.
You cannot expect to get the aiming down on the get-go. But you will get better once you have some playtime under your belt. For a battleship enthusiast, there is no better game.
Steam offers a wide variety of free games. And once you download them from Steam, they offer you access to all the contents, without any exception. Do not think that they are less entertaining just because they are free. So, if you feel an empty wallet can stop you from playing Steam games, then we hope the Best Free To Play Games On Steam article will change your mind.
