Most games are understandably pricey, but some developers take the plunge and release a title onto the market for the grand total of free. While many free-to-play multiplayer games are well known, single-player titles can often slip through the cracks, be they indie games or re-releases of classic titles.
Free games also have a habit of featuring unusual gameplay, settings, or both, allowing for distinctly unique games to take hold and thrive better than they might have in a more mainstream market. Even when a large studio makes one, they're often more willing to experiment with the content, resulting in everything from card-based RPGs to surreal tech demos.
An in-text link is included to the official download or webpage for each game.
Updated by Sage Ashford on December 7th, 2022: There's no shortage of amazing free-to-play games being made regularly. With developers experimenting with different price points, new free games are being made all the time. With that in mind, this list has been updated to include more free single-player titles.
15 Genshin Impact's Story Mode Is Played Completely Single-Player
Consoles, PC, Mobile
It's true that miHoYo makes tons of money off Genshin Impact's gacha system. However, players can play through the game's entire story without ever spending a dime. The game grants enough free resources to pull characters as the player goes along, making playing the game as a free player entirely possible.
It's also possible to for players to invite people into their game world, the game is naturally played single-player, and there aren't any other people within the world, either. There's no better time to jump into Genshin Impact's story, as a new update comes out every six weeks, with Update 3.3 releasing on December 7th.
14 The Awesome Adventures Of Captain Spirit Will Leave Players Wanting More
Consoles, PC
By now, everyone's used to Square-Enix's Life is Strange franchise. The series is unique for including superpowers but without focusing on the action that normally comes with being a hero. Instead, everything is about how people in difficult situations adapt to also having powers.
With The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, developer DONTNOD Entertainment works with Square-Enix to release a prequel to Life is Strange 2. Players play as Chris, a nine-year-old who allows himself to run away with his imagination to become the Awesome Captain Spirit. Though the game was initially meant as promo for Life is Strange 2, it's still available to play for free.
13 Honkai Impact 3rd Brings Combo-Based Action With An Anime Story
PC, Mobile
Before there was a Genshin Impact, there was Honkai Impact 3rd. miHoYo managed to build off some of their older games to create this gorgeous-looking hack-and-slash game. The main storyline focuses on the player in the role of a Valkyrie battling against the Honkai, a force that seeks to stop humanity from continuing to grow.
The story mode of the game is entirely single-player, featuring massive boss battles and beautifully animated cutscenes. Even now, the game continues to get story chapter updates, developing the world further. Though there are multiplayer elements, the story mode has nothing to do with them.
12 Our Life: Beginnings & Always Brings Players A Beautiful Visual Novel
PC
GB Patch Games released an underrated game with Our Life: Beginnings & Always. The story focuses on a customizable protagonist and their relationship growing up with the boy next door. The protagonist's look, personality, and even gender can be customized, making this a welcoming experience for all gamers.
Over time, players will get to know the boy next door, Cove Holden, in a story that can last for several hours. The game is delightfully wholesome, and while it's free, players can also support the developers by picking up some of the game's extra DLC that develops the rest of the world.
11 Doki Doki Literature Club Has To Be Seen To Be Believed
PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PC
Doki Doki Literature Club! is a visual novel that has to be seen to be believed. Developed by Team Salvato, the game feels like a bog-standard visual novel at first. The protagonist joins a high school literature club, where he meets a variety of young women he can attempt to date — but what starts as a normal story quickly goes places that no one can predict.
The story delves into topics like mental health, what it means to develop a relationship with someone else, and much more over the course of the game. The fact that a game with writing this amazing is free almost feels unfair, but fans can pick up Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! if they want to support the developers.
10 Tag: The Power of Paint Involves Bringing Life To A Gray City
PC
Armed with only cans of sci-fi spray paint, Tag: The Power of Paint tasks the player with using the deceptively complex mechanics of bouncing, running, and stickiness to navigate the towering rooftops of a grayscale cityscape.
Originally released in 2008, Tag's success led to its developers being hired to build the then-upcoming Portal 2, which featured various gel puzzles heavily inspired by Tag. While the repulsion and propulsion gels are present, the adhesion gel, which would have worked like Tag's blue paint, was cut because it caused motion sickness in testers.
9 The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall Is A Classic Everyone Should Experience
PC
While The Elder Scrolls: Arena may have come out sooner, it was the 1996 release of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall that helped catapult the series and secure the popularity it sees today. Remarkably for the era, Daggerfall possesses thousands of semi-procedural towns and dungeons spread across its vast world.
Set in Lilac Bay, the story starts with "the agent" seeking a lost letter and rumors of a ghostly king. Things soon escalate as players find themselves trapped after a shipwreck and forced to navigate a dark dungeon full of giant rats, bats, and a band of dangerous thieves.
8 The Lost Vikings Combines Puzzle-Solving With Platforming
PC
Abducted from their homes by the intergalactic zookeeper Tomator, the Viking brothers Olag the Stout, Baleog the Fierce, and Erik the Swift must glide, fight, and jump their way to freedom as they try to escape from the bowels of his spaceship. With a mix of puzzle and platformer gameplay, The Lost Vikings swiftly became a classic Blizzard (then Silicon & Synapse) game.
Cameos of the Vikings showed up in games ranging from World of Warcraft to Rock n' Roll Racing, proving that they left a lasting impact on the gaming community. They even had a playable appearance as a unique hero in Heroes of the Storm.
7 Cookie Clicker Challenges The Player To Grow Their Cookie Empire
Browser
It all started with "you feel like making cookies," then one click, then a few more. Soon, the player had a band of grandmas working in their bakery. Bit by bit, the cookie empire grows with inexplicable mines, sinister temples, and the eventual scouring of the galaxy for sugary planets to harvest.
While some idle games had existed before, it was the 2013 launch of Cookie Clicker that truly helped raise the genre to what it is today. While simple at the start, the game rapidly grows in complexity as the player unlocks new buildings, upgrades, and several minigames.
6 The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Invites Exploration At One's Own Risk
Browser
Based on the sci-fi comedy series by Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy follows much of the first book's plot. The game version mixes the humor common to the series with the delightfully weird and often surreal puzzles common to classic adventure games.
Sharing a lethality on par with Elden Ring, part of the fun with Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is finding all the strange and unusual ways to die, from oversleeping to Vogon constructor fleets. If the player survives long enough, they might even obtain a Babel fish.
5 Aperture Desk Job Escalates From A Normal Desk Job Quickly
PC, Steam Deck
Intended as a tech demo and tutorial for the Steam Deck, this quirky little game ended up being much more. While only around 30 to 45 minutes in length, Aperture Desk Job manages to jam in the humor and writing expected from a Portal game while still finding room for oodles of Easter eggs.
The adventures of Grady and the semi-nameless protagonist start benignly enough with a namesake desk job at the Aperture Science corporation. Things rapidly escalate as toilets, guns, and an alarming number of praying mantises enter the picture.
4 Princess Remedy In A World Of Hurt Combines Genres For An Experience Unlike Any Other
PC
With graphics inspired by old systems such as the ZX Spectrum, Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt stars the titular Princess Remedy as she descends into Hurtland to search for the missing Prince Hingst. Along the way, she tries to cure as many residents as she can.
Created as part of a 2014 charity game jam, Princess Remedy is a unique mix of genres. The game features elements of both top-down shooters and JRPGs as the player navigates the world of Hurtland in search of inhabitants to heal through any means necessary.
3 Helltaker Mixes Puzzles With The Harem Genre
PC
One day, a man decided to descend into the depths of Hell itself, seeking to escape his mundane life and assemble a "harem" of cute demons. Exactly how he managed to arrive is a mystery, but he soon set about dodging spikes and smashing skeletons in his quest for companionship.
Helltaker is a charming puzzle game by Polish developer Łukasz Piskorz. The player must navigate the layers of hell by kicking blocks and smashing skeletons while still reaching the various demon girls within the turn limit of each level.
2 Fate/Grand Order Takes Players All Across Time
Mobile
Fate/Grand Order begins with the protagonist starting their new job at the mysterious Chaldea Security Organization. Things quickly take a turn as they find themselves tumbling through space and time armed with dumb luck and the aid of a mysterious girl named Mash.
With actions directed via card draws, gameplay takes the form of quick, turn-based battles between the player's party of summoned servants and a host of monsters. With a massive main story and plenty of side content, there's a lot to do in Grand Order given the low price of entry.
1 Deltarune Is The Long-Awaited Successor To Undertale
PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch
A spiritual successor to Undertale, Deltarune follows a teenager named Kris as they discover a mysterious Dark World after falling through a portal alongside their classmate Susie. Soon after, they encounter a hooded prince and an ancient prophecy claiming the trio are the heroes of legend.
Originally released as a secret on Halloween 2018, the game saw the release of Chapter 2 in late 2021. Despite only being partially released, Deltarune has enough content for many hours of gameplay, including the chance to hunt for an alternate ending.