25 Must-Play Free PC Games You Can’t Miss in 2025

Free PC games have been around for decades, with browser games being all the rage during the early 2000s, and classic titles like Solitaire, Minesweeper, and SkiFree, among others, routinely coming pre-installed with any version of Windows.

Thanks to the rise of free-to-play games—many of which can be enjoyed long-term at no cost—and generous developers who release complete games for free, 2025 is packed with an abundance of excellent free games, particularly on PC. There’s also an extensive collection of free titles that hark back to the browser game era and remain relatively unknown in today’s gaming landscape.

If you’re looking to spend hours exploring new games on PC without wanting to spend any money, we have the perfect list for you. Many great free PC games are available on Steam, and we have a separate list of the best free games on Steam for you to check out. We aimed to avoid any overlap here, instead highlighting some lesser-known titles, along with more prominent ones not available on Steam. For more options, take a look at our selections for the best PC games.

• Developer: Roblox Corporation
• Launch Date: September 1, 2006
• Genre: Sandbox

Roblox is more of an experience or platform than a traditional game, as it allows players to engage with user-generated games. From the moment you join a free account, you gain access to a library filled with hundreds of thousands of games that offer nearly every type of experience you can imagine.

Roblox enables anyone to create and submit a game, but the roster of games developed by prominent Roblox creators is where gameplay is often the most refined. Frequently, many of these games receive regular updates, introducing new content, fixing bugs, and delivering what players request. The unique aspect of Roblox is the sheer freedom you have to spend your time however you like. Whether it’s playing a Call of Duty clone or embarking on a role-playing adventure, almost anything is possible within the Roblox universe.

• Developer: Epic Games
• Launch Date: July 21, 2017
• Genre: Battle Royale (and more)

Whether you love it or hate it, Fortnite set a new standard for free-to-play games when its battle royale mode debuted in 2017. The developers at Epic Games crafted a framework for how free games should operate, inspiring numerous other games to mimic its success.

In 2025, Fortnite offers a complete gaming experience rather than just being a battle royale game filled with flashy skins. While battle royale modes remain a central focus, Fortnite provides much more for players who might have grown tired of the genre. A variety of additional modes, including LegoFortnite, Ballistic, Festival, and Rocket Racing, are all accessible right from the main menu. Each of these essentially stands alone as fully developed games filled with replay value and content. Additionally, there’s Creative mode, which is increasingly becoming a Roblox-style experience. Creators can build their own maps, games, and other content for players to enjoy.

Fortnite is considered one of the most versatile gaming experiences available in 2025, regardless of what type of game you prefer to play.

• Developer: Riot Games
• Launch Date: June 2, 2020
• Genre: First-Person Shooter

Since its dramatic debut in 2020, Valorant has quickly become one of the most-played PC games on the market. Valorant is highly polished and offers an enjoyable first-person shooting experience, drawing inspiration from Counter-Strike while introducing its own unique elements.

The core gameplay loop of Valorant involves choosing an Agent, each featuring distinct abilities, and joining a team of six. You then face off against another team of six in a one-life mode, where the attacking team must plant a bomb while the defending team tries to prevent them. The Agents’ abilities truly set Valorant apart from other tactical shooters. Agents can dramatically influence the outcome of a match, and strategizing around using and countering specific abilities is what keeps players returning to the game.

If one-life modes aren’t your preference, Valorant also includes a more casual Team Deathmatch mode. Seasonal updates introduce new content, such as maps, Agents, and of course, cosmetics.

• Developer: Riot Games
• Launch Date: October 27, 2009
• Genre: MOBA

Few free-to-play PC games have endured as long as League of Legends. The mechanics and strategies of a MOBA can become quite intricate, but the essence of League of Legends involves two teams of five attempting to defeat one another. Each player selects a specific champion equipped with various abilities and a role to fulfill on the team. Mastering the roles, knowing when to move on the map, and deciding when to attack or defend are all crucial for success in League of Legends.

League is a game capable of drawing you in, and once you start to appreciate its timeless mechanics, it becomes hard to step away.

Furthermore, no longer universally applicable.

• Creator: miHoYo
• Release Date: July 4, 2024
• Category: RPG

Introducing one of the titles set in the “HoYoverse.” Zenless Zone Zero is an action-RPG crafted by miHoYo, a studio that has become synonymous with delivering high-quality free-to-play experiences steeped in a distinct anime art style.

In Zenless Zone Zero, you assume the role of one of many characters as you navigate vibrant cyberpunk cityscapes, battling creatures, completing missions, and encountering new allies. The combat and storyline are the two principal points of interest in Zenless Zone Zero. Combat is exceptionally smooth, allowing for a range of weapon configurations. As the game progresses, antagonists can become increasingly challenging, ensuring this isn’t merely a straightforward hack-and-slash experience. Regarding the story, although there is an abundance of dialogue and cutscenes throughout the game, the overarching plot remains quite engaging.

Zenless Zone Zero is brimming with content, featuring an engaging gameplay cycle that intertwines combat, worldbuilding, and narrative into a cohesive experience.

• Creator: Jagex
• Release Date: February 16, 2013
• Category: MMORPG

The first MMORPG on our list is the legendary Old School Runescape. Right from the beginning of OSRS, you gain access to hundreds of hours of free content. The free version of the game allows you to level up 15 unique skills, embark on over 20 quests, and explore numerous expansive locations across a rich and engaging map.

The beauty of Old School Runescape lies in its versatility; you never have to focus solely on one aspect. One moment you might be honing your Smithing skill, while the next, you could be traversing the landscape defeating various monsters in hopes of acquiring a valuable drop that can help you earn more gold or learn a new skill. OSRS features a comprehensive trading system through both player-to-player exchanges or by utilizing the Grand Exchange, allowing you to buy and sell any free-to-play items.

A significant portion of Old School Runescape’s content is gated behind a paid membership, but the free-to-play portion has more than enough material to keep you occupied for countless hours.

• Creator: Psyonix
• Release Date: July 7, 2015
• Category: Car Soccer

Rocket League lets you take control of a vehicle as you strive to score a massive soccer ball into the rival team’s goal.

Beyond that, there are virtually no rules. There are no offsides or fouls, allowing you to do whatever is necessary with your vehicle to score. Every vehicle can collect boost packs that aid in speeding up and even flying through the air to reach the ball. If this sounds simple, it is anything but: Controlling your vehicle alongside the ball in Rocket League is remarkably challenging, yet it remains enjoyable, even when you frequently miss your target.

Rocket League offers its standard mode in 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 formats, but you can also access a variety of other entertaining and quirky modes for free, such as Hoops and Hockey. You can choose from a multitude of different vehicles, although enjoying full customization options may require some expenditure.

• Creator: Square Enix
• Release Date: September 22, 2010
• Category: MMORPG

FFXIV Online is another MMORPG that features both a free and premium version. You can access a free trial that is so accommodating it has turned into a meme—it grants you dozens of hours of content, including the entirety of the main story quest, two expansions, numerous storyline dungeons, and nearly everything you need to develop your character.

The free trial of FFXIV can provide anywhere from 50 to over 100 hours of gameplay, depending on how thoroughly you explore the various maps and what you choose to engage with. The narrative allows you to discover many vast and vibrant maps filled with side quests, intriguing characters, and diverse monsters to combat. However, a substantial amount of the free trial content revolves around “jobs,” which are skills that you can develop for diverse combat and exploration capabilities. If you wish to delve deeper into FFXIV, you may purchase significant expansions, like the most recent one known as Dawntrail, which offers hours upon hours of additional content. To fully engage with FFXIV, you’ll need to buy expansions and subscribe to a monthly fee.

Unfortunately, the free trial doesn’t allow for Player vs. Player gameplay and is somewhat limited regarding partying with friends, as you cannot send any party invitations yourself during the trial. However, if you are merely looking to experience FFXIV from a content standpoint, it is difficult to argue against.

• Creator: miHoYo
• Release Date: April 26, 2023
• Category: RPG

Another title within the HoYoverse, Honkai: Star Rail is one of the standout entries in miHoYo’s extensive catalog. Set within a fantastical open world, you can choose to play as one of many characters and board the Astral Express as a Trailblazer. Your mission is to explore different regions of the galaxy while unfolding a captivating narrative and charting your character’s journey.

Each character in Honkai: Star Rail has several distinct progression paths that define their combat styles and abilities. Combat in Honkai…

Well-known game Rail is turn-based, which means there’s a significant level of strategic complexity in every battle, no matter how insignificant it may seem at first glance. Combat involves various skills your character can utilize, including basic abilities and ultimate skills.

As you navigate the different open world maps within the game, you may encounter enemies but also discover side quests and plenty of loot to equip. Some of this loot is hidden behind puzzles that you must solve, adding further depth to the game’s exploration.

• Developer: Riot Games
• Release Date: June 26, 2019
• Genre: Strategy

Teamfight Tactics allows players to form a team using characters drawn directly from League of Legends. From that point, it’s essential to outsmart and outmaneuver other teams in a multiplayer arena to be the last team standing.

Although TFT is based on League of Legends, it features completely different combat and mechanics. TFT is defined as an “auto battler” played in rounds. The rounds begin with teams positioned at the edges of a square arena, and your task is to organize your roster of champions to successfully dominate and defeat the opposing team’s champions. Once you’ve positioned your champions, they automatically use their abilities to eliminate the enemy. To earn more XP each round, you can place more champions on the board, increasing the complexity of every battle.

TFT requires a considerable amount of strategy as you start to grasp the fundamentals and engage in more intricate battles. However, there is also a bit of luck involved, so your chances are never entirely hopeless.

• Developer: Nexon Games
• Release Date: July 2, 2024
• Genre: Third-Person Shooter

The First Descendant is a third-person looter shooter set in a massively multiplayer world. The game allows you to choose from a variety of characters, each equipped with unique abilities you can use in combat. However, there is also an extensive list of locked characters that you can unlock by acquiring rare and specific drops.

This game firmly falls into the “grindy” category of looter shooters, as much of the content you ultimately desire to unlock cannot be earned unless you manage to get lucky with your drops or otherwise possess the necessary resources. Despite these free-to-play mechanics, The First Descendant features a well-crafted narrative, numerous unique maps to explore, and a varied combat system. You will be able to collect and utilize a wide array of weapon types, engage in side quests, and participate in other content aimed at providing XP and additional rewards. The developers at Nexon continuously update The First Descendant, ensuring that more content is consistently on the way.

• Developer: NetEase Games
• Release Date: July 9, 2024
• Genre: Open-World Survival

Once Human has emerged as one of the surprise hits of 2024. This unique survival game takes place in a vast open world featuring distinctly tiered zones with unscaled enemies, meaning you must strategically progress to tackle tougher areas on the map.

At its core, Once Human is an RPG that prioritizes survival. You’ll need to consume food and water regularly, or else your stamina will deplete and you’ll struggle to perform effectively. Fortunately, the game offers extensive crafting options, allowing you to create various stations that can be set up around a base. Base-building plays a crucial role in the game, enabling you to complete missions and level up to acquire new abilities.

As you venture into new areas in Once Human, you’ll encounter enemy hives full of mutated creatures and tackle narrative missions to advance your character. While the map is extensive, you can easily navigate by utilizing one of the many craftable vehicles available in Once Human. The game provides you with guidance on how to craft everything you need, but it’s up to you to go the extra mile to truly progress.

• Developer: Blizzard
• Release Date: March 11, 2014
• Genre: Card/Strategy

Hearthstone is a classic free game that utilizes characters and lore from the World of Warcraft series to create unique cards for you to collect. Each player selects a specific WoW hero class such as Paladin, Mage, or Demon Hunter and assembles a themed deck of cards. These include weapons, spells, and minions employed to battle opponents in a turn-based 1v1 duel.

At the start of each turn, you draw one card from the deck and determine how to play with the cards you’ve drawn, or use your unique hero power. Unlike some CCGs, mana increases automatically to streamline the gameplay. Your goal is to reduce the enemy’s health to zero while neutralizing threats to your own health. However, this is much easier said than done, as the strategy in Hearthstone can become incredibly complex with the variety of cards, abilities, and synergies at play. As Blizzard puts it, the game is easy to learn but difficult to master. Fortunately, there are various modes to test your skills, including an auto-battler known as Battlegrounds, Tavern Brawl where special rules apply, and a single-player mode that features CPUs as opponents.

Having been going strong for more than a decade, Blizzard has made considerable progress in onboarding new players and helping them catch up to the current state of the game. Each year, the core set of cards rotates, introducing a fresh selection for new players that get added with expansions. There are also giveaways of pre-made decks and “catch-up packs” available for new or returning players, making it easy to jump right in.

• Developer: Kuro Games
• Launch Date: May 22, 2024
• Category: RPG

Wuthering Waves is a game that draws significant inspiration from RPGs created by miHoYo. It features a similar art style and gameplay cycle, yet it is a remarkable open-world RPG that offers ample freedom in terms of combat and exploration.

At the outset, you control a character named Rover, but you can recruit and manage a team of other companions, termed Resonators. You will engage in a multitude of narrative elements, which is where Wuthering Waves truly excels. The setting captures your attention immediately, and the cutscenes and story events keep you thoroughly entertained. Between narrative segments, you can traverse an expansive world and engage in an elegant and rewarding combat system that includes various abilities to utilize.

Once you complete the main game of Wuthering Waves, you will unlock the endgame, where combat duels against high-level foes and a roguelike mode await, granting access to a variety of experimental builds.

• Creator: Dani
• Launch Date: October 29, 2021
• Category: Battle Royale

You may not have encountered Crab Game before, but once you learn about the concept, you might be inclined to rush and download it. Inspired by a popular Netflix series set in South Korea, Crab Game is a large-player multiplayer experience where your goal is to be the last player remaining. To achieve that, you and a group of other players compete by engaging in childhood games.

All these games were spotlighted by the mentioned Netflix series, but there are additional games to enjoy as well. The games are played in rounds, with players eliminated after each one. Eventually, the final round includes only a few players, and the last one standing claims victory. There are large team games, 1v1 matchups, and everything in between. Some of the games feature the classic glass bridge challenge where you must determine which glass panel is stable, Red Light Green Light, The Floor is Lava, and even Hide and Seek.

Anything goes in Crab Game to survive, and it is certainly one of the more intense, yet thrilling gaming experiences on this list.

• Creator: Dreamnoid
• Launch Date: December 15, 2023
• Category: Platformer

Silent Paradise is a metroidvania-themed platformer that immerses you in the depths of an underwater city. It offers eight unique stages along with several movement abilities that you can acquire to help you advance through those stages. Scattered throughout the stages are 20 codex entries that you can collect, revealing the history of the submerged city.

In addition to figuring out how to navigate the various stages, you will encounter some enemies that patrol specific areas, as well as two bosses that you must defeat to proceed. The enemies are not particularly challenging, but they provide some challenge amidst the engaging platforming experience. It is a brief adventure, yet a worthwhile one.

• Creator: Gameloft
• Launch Date: August 22, 2013
• Category: Racing

There are numerous free racing games available on PC, but Asphalt 8: Airborne is arguably one of the most comprehensive experiences. Featuring both single-player and multiplayer modes, Asphalt 8 is an arcade-style racer that prioritizes adrenaline above all else.

You will have the opportunity to unlock and use over 300 fully licensed vehicles and race on nearly 75 tracks set in various locations. From urban courses to rugged environments,