The best free PC games

By Jesse Lennox and Jon Bitner Updated March 12, 2025

They say the best things in life are free, but does that hold true for video games? Those on the hunt for the best PC games have come around to the idea that sometimes you don’t need to put down any money upfront to play a top-quality game. In fact, many of the best multiplayer PC games are (or have become) free-to-play and fully cross-platform games to entice more people to play. While you don’t have to spend your cash to test these games out, your time is just as valuable. As many free PS5 games and free Xbox Series X games as there are, the number of free games on Steam alone dwarfs those platforms by orders of magnitude. Let us narrow down your search for the best free games on PC.

Plenty of upcoming PC games will also release for free, so keep your eye out for new entries.

If you ever wondered what Counter-Strike 2 would look like if it embraced hero shooter mechanics, you would get Valorant. There are two teams: One has the goal of planting the bomb (the “spike”), and the other is trying to diffuse it. On top of that, though, Valorant adds a roster of hero shooter-like heroes that each have their own set of abilities to add more depth to the combat on top of intelligent positioning and twitch reflexes. Valorant combines so many elements from other genres that it creates something new entirely. The game plays like CS 2, sure, but after a few rounds, it’s clear that Valorant is operating on a different level. It’s engrossing, complex, and, best of all, free to play.

The new kid in the free-to-play hero shooter space is Marvel Rivals, which shakes up the formula by being far more than an Overwatch clone. Putting literal superheroes into the game is part of that, but Rivals doesn’t just rely on its characters to carry the experience. Each hero feels unique and true to their powers and personalities. Almost a direct counterpoint to Overwatch, this game is in third person, so you can see all your cool cosmetics and abilities, has no role queue, and is built for 6v6 battles. With 33 heroes at launch and more added each season, odds are at least one of your favorites is on this roster.

While it wasn’t the first game to introduce destructibility into online shooters, it was the Battlefield franchise that pushed that technology the hardest first. Those are still some of the best FPS games on PC, but they are not free. Now, a smaller game called The Finals took that idea, shrunk it down to a more intimate PvP experience, and made destructibility both fun and tactical. Each match feels completely unique, and the different game types all shine when the map is a constantly evolving battlefield for you to exploit.

Blizzard is the master of polish, and this was never more apparent than when the developer released Hearthstone in 2014. Taking fan-favorite characters from the Warcraft series (Thrall, Jaina Proudmoore, and many more), players battle in a Magic: The Gathering-style card duel to the virtual death, using a variety of spells and minions — including Murlocs — in an effort to lower their opponent’s health to zero. It’s a deceptively simple premise. Aside from “mana crystals,” which determine how many cards — and which cards — you can play in any one turn, there aren’t many unique game mechanics to Hearthstone. Yet the game’s brisk matches and wide range of strategies will keep you itching to play one more game. New cards, which can be purchased using gold earned through normal play, help you develop your own custom decks. You can also get cards more quickly by spending real money, though gold is given out at such a liberal rate that you can stick with playing free if you hone in on a single competitive deck.