When it comes to PC gaming, Steam is perhaps the king of all platforms. Hundreds of thousands of players log in to Steam each day to play games, peruse sales, and chat with like-minded gamers. It’s easily one of the most successful applications for gaming and more and more companies are hopping onto the Steam bandwagon to sell their products. Even those offering up free-to-play games have turned to Steam to promote their titles.
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In fact, there are a ton of great free-to-play games hiding on the Steam platform but some of them are much better than others. To help gamers decide what free-to-play game they should try next, here’s a look at some of the best of the best titles that anyone can download on Steam right now.
War Thunder
Players that find themselves hopping into tanks, planes, and boats as quickly as possible when playing games like Battlefield or Arma will absolutely want to check out War Thunder. This polished free-to-play epic is a blast with friends or solo and definitely scratches the itch for those that are craving military vehicular warfare.
There’s a ton of stuff to unlock, with vehicles, add-ons, and more. Players can engage in massive fights featuring multiple vehicles or change modes to engage in only airplane dogfights or land vehicle skirmishes. War Thunder offers a lot of substance for a free-to-play release.
Try it here!
Apex Legends
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite helped to usher in a new age of Battle Royale games, pitting players against one another on massive maps where they’d have to navigate zones, collect gear, and eliminate the opposition. It’s a fun concept and the genre has managed to grow exponentially in recent years but one particular game took the base formula and twisted it into something refreshing and new.
Apex Legends features the same Battle Royale structure but includes a myriad of heroes that all have their own special skills and abilities. It’s like Overwatch and PUBG combined and it’s a ton of fun to play with friends.
Phantasy Star Online 2
Players had been anxiously awaiting the western release of Phantasy Star 2 for what felt like eons and many were convinced it was never going to make its way across the sea. It may have taken almost a decade but western players are now able to hop on to Steam and download a copy of Phantasy Star Online 2 for free. Tons of dedicated fans have been logging into this title since it dropped in 2020 and the latest update with New Genesis promises to revive the release even more, pushing it towards a bright future.
There are a lot of classes to play, the combat is addicting, and with so much established content, players could have hours of fun with this release without ever spending a dime.
Warframe
Some free-to-play games are simply massive in the amount of content they provide their players. With a solid business model built around things like cosmetics, they manage to bring huge game worlds to life without ever becoming “pay to win” or obnoxiously repetitive. At its core, Warframe may seem like just another grindy game in a sea of similar releases but that’s immensely far from the truth.
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Warframe is easily one of the most entertaining and engaging free-to-play games ever released, thanks to its addictive combat mechanics and a huge array of warframes to choose from. Players could spend countless hours in this game world simply trying out different warframes and their abilities.
Counter Strike: Global Offensive
FPS fans looking for some free-to-play action should consider Counter Strike: Global Offensive. This monumentally popular FPS has been entertaining fans for so long that it still sees hundreds of thousands of players each day, even though it was technically released all the way back in 2012. A game has to do something right to stay relevant for almost a decade on Steam and Counter Strike: Global Offensive found a formula that keeps everyone coming back for more.
Players itching for fast-paced skill-shooting action will definitely want to put this release at the top of their list. It’s smooth, fun, and fiercely competitive.
Smite
MOBAs took the world by storm, with DOTA 2 and League of Legends pulling in a massive amount of players each day. Their alluring free-to-play structure and large pool of champions keep PVP-hungry gamers coming back for more.
Smite is a slightly different take on the traditional formula, basing many of its champions off the Gods and Goddess of global folklore, with a third-person camera view that makes the gameplay much more engaging and skill-based than its top-down counterparts. Those that enjoy titles like Warframe and FPS shooters should feel more at home with Smite than many other MOBAs. It’s definitely one of the best free-to-play options out there.
Destiny 2
Many fans were heartbroken to hear that Bungie would be leaving the Halo series into the hands of another studio in order to work on a different project but everything turned out for the better when the crew released Destiny. The original title is fondly remembered by FPS fans from all over the globe. Fast-forward to the modern age and Bungie is still cranking out content with their latest release in Destiny 2.
Although some may consider it a grind, the gunplay in Destiny 2 is some of the best to ever exist in the FPS space. Those that are looking for finely tuned combat that looks and feels great should hop into Destiny 2’s expansive worlds to engage in an entertaining PvE and PvP scene.
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