As anyone who has followed the games industry over the years will know, online gaming’s boomed in popularity over the last few years. Back in my day it used to be a dodgy internet connection and Diablo II, the Dreamcast, or four mates and a Nintendo 64 with Goldeneye. Mindless reminiscing to one side, it’s 2013 and the games industry is stunningly popular and all about the online experience. However, gaming’s still a very expensive hobby to follow, and in a recession struck world this makes new consoles and games a distant possibility for some.
The excellent news is there are plenty of great online games available to download or play on the internet free of charge. Over the last few months I have had a look online and have put together the ten games I would consider to be the best of the lot (I purposely left out Minecraft, incidentally). And they’re all free! Here’s what you can catch up on.
1. Steam
This isn’t a game, but you’ll want to download it if you’re going to get some of the games listed here. Valve Corporation’s creation is an internet portal providing access to nearly 2,000 online games, many of which are available to download and play for free. They cover pretty much every genre; first-person shooters such as Tribes Ascend, Alien Swarm, Alliance of Valiant Arms and PlanetSide 2, massively multi-player online games such as Age of Conan: Unchained, racing simulators such as RaceRoom Experience, role-playing games such as The Banner Saga: Factions, strategy games such as Stronghold Kingdoms, and many more.
2. PlanetSide 2
It’s absurd this game is actually free! It’s an epic sci-fi MMOFPS where players are plunged into combat with thousands of comrades and enemies. The ultimate aim of the game is to win territory as three factions battle it out for dominance on the planet of Auraxis. The game features the option for various combat classes and specializations and a wide array of weapons and vehicles, game modes, missions, skills and captivating futuristic action.
The graphics are great, the action full-on, and it’s brilliant fun.
3. Alien Swarm
Although it’s basic in setup this main action (which involves blowing up swarming aliens, funnily enough) is surprisingly intense and is a nostalgic hark back to the games of yesteryear. The Arcade styled gameplay, and moody setting, makes for fun bursts of play and an immersive experience. And it’s free, of course, so no complaints!
4. League of Legends
One of the most popular free online games currently available is League of legends (LoL), a fantasy-themed multiplayer battle arena with a choice of 110 different champions to select and pitch in battle. Players start each battle at the side of a map and must defeat their enemies; everyone forms into two even teams of champions and aim to destroy their enemies’ Nexus.
LoL is an addictive, and very aggressive, combat platform with a firm emphasis on a group effort – players must keep in contact with their online friends, coordinate their tactics and communicate effectively during, and between, battles. It’s proved popular, too, and now has a big cult following.
5. Super House of Dead Ninjas
A Flash game on Steam, this game is a traditional 2D action romp of randomly generated adventures through speedy landscapes and violent enemies. It’s full on and you’ll need a quick brain to deal with it all, so only the most daring should take it on.
There is a cheap, extended version you can get, but the free edition is excellent as it is.
6. Tribes Ascend
Tribes Ascend is a critically-acclaimed and immensely popular MMOFPS set in a distant future battle environment. Gameplay involves a choice of three armour and weapon classes and players earning credits for killing enemies, fixing structures and achieving mission objectives; credits can then be spent on purchasing supplies to allow progress through the game. Survival often requires mastering the use of skis and jetpacks to negotiate the battlefield.
The game is spectacular and has a rich backstory of intriguing galactic-wide action. One to own!
7. Sluggish Morss
As innovative as games come, this is a freak-out episode of sci-fi psychedelia. Set in a far-out far-future, the story follows the exploits of a pink pothead alien as he collects gold coins to pay his dealer – along the way he encounters a series of bizarre puzzles and unusual characters. A weird one, for sure, but it’s good fun.
8. Simian.interface
Vested Interest present the simian.interface, a simple yet deep interface to test the aesthetic and special skills of simians, including humans.
Players must experiment with moving shapes around a colourful screen in each level to find the correct alignment. Gameplay starts easily in the early stages as shapes must be placed in the right place but the puzzles become progressively more complex and testing for the simian player’s reasoning skills. Addictive stuff.
9. Hunt’ Em
The stunning artwork featured in Hunt ’Em disguises the rather more dark themes, namely an evolutionary arms race as your character flees from bloodthirsty wolves across a prehistoric styled landscape, gains power-ups from fountains of light and – having evolved into a bigger and stronger creature – becomes a hunter and pursues the wolves.
The wolves also evolve to become more powerful creating a continuously fraught gaming world, but despite this bleak outlook Hunt ’Em is a wonderfully crafted, and enjoyable, experience.
10. Army Rage
Army Rage is a fast-paced and realistic 3D MMOFPS set on the battlefields of the Second World War. Presented by Chinese publisher Yacuba Games, this first-person shooter aims to capture the frantic conflict of the divisive war; players can choose to fight on either Allies or Axis side and there are four different soldier classes to select from: Assault, Scout, Support or Engineer.
Players team up into up to six groups of four soldiers, so as many as 24 people can be fighting in one room, with the action taking place across a variety of maps, missions and game modes. Good old fashioned violent fun!
Steam is best, played all my best games over Steam, started from CSCZ then CSGO and many more now currently playing PUBG it is luv 😛
Thanks for posting such useful information. You really have nice games in the list of brilliant free online games. Thanks
Steam is best for me 🙂
Hey Alex Morris! Thanks a lot for sharing such an amazing package of games. League of Legends is one of the best game that I have ever played.
Well, I’ve personally used steam and it’s a very good platform to play online games whether they’re paid or free, it never disappoints me! I can spend days on steam playing different games daily, Very helpful information! Keep it up!
A informative post indeed. This post is very helpful for those who love to play online games. Thanks for sharing this with us.
These 10 online games are really great. League of Legends (LoL) is one of the best in the gaming world. Thanks for sharing this interesting list.
Hello Josh
I love playing games too. So here is a nice collection of games I found.
Thanks for creating such an awesome post.
~Shabir
A lot of people play League of Legends. It’s very popular. Although I never tried it. Looks like I should try it once.
That’s pretty awesome article. Thanks for sharing this kind of stuff with your visitors
Hi there,
you are awesome at writing article finally i got the 10 offline games for android i recently bought a phone and i am searching for the games your website is a right place for such games thanks a lot !
In my humble opinion, all these years later, League of Legends ought to have the number one spot.
Planet Side 2 is one of my favorite game as you said its really amazing game graphics are great, the action full-on, and it’s brilliant fun. i used to play action games. but now i am finding something new and more enjoyable games can you please suggest new games ?
interesting post about online games!
I definitely expected a pretty standard lists of titles but you’ve included some very unique offerings on your list beyond what people would usually consider.
League of Legends would be the winner for me, that growth of that game and it’s eSports scene is simply insane, you know there will always be a challenge and great free to play experiences to be had whenever you load up the client.
Having Steam in the top spot is also pretty relevant, it’s free to play library was really just in its infancy in 2013 and has exploded since.
I really love steam actually. I recently played euro truck simulator 2. Great game and the graphics were excellent.
PlanetSide 2 is my favorite game of all time . Love this game from my childhood. Thanks man for this 😉
Hi,
I liked the way you started the blog and took off well throughout. Thank you for sharing the list of games. I would try all of them. I would also like to share some more free online games with you – zepak, miniclip, addicting games and foreseegame.
I am a lover of online games so the one’s stated by you have added to my list. Also I would love to play army rage the most as these war type games are my favorite.
Hey there…Thank you so much for this post. Well I am a game freak and I love to play video games an online games. In this list I had played almost all games and rest of them I will try. Keep posting and keep growing.
Thanks for posting such useful information with us; this one is very helpful for those who love to play online games. You have a list of top ten online games for game lovers. I personally love these games; I must say it’s a really nice collection of online games.
Nice collection, Alex. Loved all the games but don’t you think minecraft should be in this collection? Ditto Skyrim is also a good game. Keep up the good work =)
Hi Ahmad – You’re right, Minecraft should have been in there. Due to its popularity I left it out as most people are aware of it. Still, it should be in there as it is good fun and very addictive.
I found it interesting that you didn’t have Leagues at the top. Not only is it the most popular free online game, but it is the most popular game out there. As for the others, I have seen/heard a couple of them. Very interesting list. Thanks for the article!
Hi Dyrus, the list order isn’t supposed to represent which is best. They are just 10 games (and the Steam platform) for anyone uninitiated with them. Thanks for reading!
Sir Please Upload The Links To Download The Game
At first I was like, “Steam as number one?” you’re kidding yourself. But then I actually looked at the number of free-to-play games that Steam has these days and I was impressed. Having used the platform since its early days I’m impressed to see it branch into free games.
I can’t fight League of Legends as my favourite from the list though, also had my hands in that game since beta and I just can’t get enough of playing it and even just watching it.
Hi Amy, again sorry the list isn’t in any real order. It’s just 10 I consider to be fine examples of free games, as there are quite a lot of naff ones out there.
League of Legends had an overhaul of late to remove the rampant elitism which was plaguing it! Hopefully new players will now find it more accessible.
Hey alix morris, how are you? I enjoy very much “Army Rage” thanks for your sharing. I am waiting for free to play game and i hope you will post an article about it.
Another Internet Gaming servicing – Gameranger and i’d like to see some strategy games such as Age of Empires – Conquerors or some other!!
Thanks Josh – actually I think Command and Conquer has a new edition coming out this year and it will be a free-to-play game. That’s one to look out for.