FREE GAMES
Since starting "The Friday FREE GAME Feature", I've tried numerous games available entirely for free. Here's the cream of the crop so far (listed alphabetically).- 8Bit Killer - FPS goodness heavily inspired by classic Doom and Wolfenstein.
- Abobo's Big Adventure - A hilarious, nostalgia-filled love letter to the NES and the '80s!
- Blackthorne - A cinematic platformer from Blizzard Classics.
- Echoes+ - Asteroids-inspired space shooter, lots of neon colors!
- eCity - City building and management sim with modern design but a classic feel.
- Envrio-Bear 2010 - You're a bear driving a car, trying to prepare for winter. Absurd, yet fun!
- Eternal Senia - A Zelda-like adventure with RPG elements and an excellent story!
- Mansionvania - A short but great Castlevania-inspired game with excellent boss fights.
- Mega Man 2.5D - A fan-made game that's faithful to the classic series but adds a twist.
- MiniDoom 2 - Doom as a 2D platform shooter, somewhere in between Contra and Metroid!
- NAEV - Open-ended space exploration and incredible ship customization.
- No Escape - Procedurally generated scares in an abandoned asylum.
- Notrium - Fight, craft and survive on a harsh alien world.
- Project Adventure Game - A challenging but rewarding Metroidvania platformer.
- Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale (Demo) - Zelda-style ARPG meets business sim with a healthy dose of humor.
- Right Click To Necromance - Addicting army battler where you raise your enemies' corpses to fight by your side!
- Roguelight - Rogue-lite platformer using flaming arrows to see in the darkness.
- Sage Fusion - Hybrid of point-n-click adventure, RPG and visual novel with a well-written and intriguing sci-fi setting.
- Spooky's House of Jump Scares - Traverse 1000+ rooms in a fun-house style mansion.
- The Wizard's Lair - A classic roguelike dungeon crawler.
- Tyrian 2000 - Top-scrolling shooter with weapon/ship options and several game modes.
- Void Pyramid - Simple yet quality sci-fi RPG with details everywhere!
- You Have To Win The Game - Endearing retro platformer with a number of achievements.
MMORPGs
I've played lots (and I mean lots) of MMORPGs! Of them all, my favorites are listed here (in no particular order).- Champions Online - This action-packed superhero MMO has the best character creator ever! Now free-to-play! Endgame was a bit sparse last I played (a long time ago).
- Wizard101 - A fun game that's also family-friendly! A interesting addition to the MMO genre that's a hybrid of RPG and CCG.
- Vindictus - Fast-paced face-smashing action RPG! It's a blast!
- Dungeons & Dragons Online - I have a great time sneaking around in dungeons on this one.
- Lord of the Rings Online - You Shall Not Pay! The game has gone free-to-play and is quite large. Expect lots of grinding if you want to unlock features for free though.
- World of Warcraft - The biggest dog in the yard, and for good reason.
- Project Gorgon - A new sandbox MMO with a classic feel. Small dev team with creative ideas that listen to their community.
- WildStar - 2 factions fight for control of a mysterious planet. Combat contains lots of AoEs and dodge rolls. Fun instances, amazing player housing and a really fair cash shop!
- Secret World Legends - Possibly the best-written MMO ever. Unique alt-modern setting with horror elements and truly challenging puzzles.
- The Elder Scrolls Online - One of the few themepark MMOs to truly attempt improving upon the genre instead of copying the top titles. Makes heavy use of level scaling.
- AdventureQuest 3D - The lunchbreak MMO enters the third dimension, and is playable on multiple platforms! It's updated frequently and I find myself going back time and again!
OTHER ONLINE
If it's exclusively an online game or is primarily intended for online play...- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Fun times that remind me of the earlier days of M:tG. Free to play, and you can do OK without spending a dime. It does have a fair bit of randomness, but overall a solid title.
- Spellweaver - A more strategic take on digital card games that blends the best from what has come before with some new innovations. If you're tired of the heavy RNG factor found in Hearthstone and looking for something a little more complex, check it out.
- MTG Arena - Fresh out of beta, MTG Arena gives you a new way to play the CCG that started it all. New players are given a fairly large amount of preconstructed decks, but expect to invest some time (or money) if you want to be competitive at the top tiers.
OTHER PC (not free)
Single-player titles (initially) available for the PC...- Gothic 1-3 - Action RPG series that was extremely well-written and had great voice acting for its time. The earlier entries can be tricky to get running on newer PCs, but are worth a look if you like unforgiving combat and open exploration (though there is a main storyline that progresses as you complete quests).
- Minecraft - Big, random worlds made of blocks to explore, fight and survive in. It's a true sandbox with unlimited customization in the form of mods, resource packs and special maps.
- Fallout series - Classic post-apocalyptic RPGs that successfully made the transition from an isometric perspective to first person. Exploration, character customization and NPC interactions are key features that made these titles so good.
- Portal 1 & 2 - At the core, these are logic/puzzle games that get you to think creatively using a unique and amazing ability. At first glace, you could mistake these titles as FPS - but they definitely aren't. Both games are also wonderfully written and have some of the best voice acting in any game, ever.
- WazHack - A 2D sidescrolling take on the classic roguelike that still feels really faithful to the original titles in the genre. It's become my go-to game when technical difficulties arise on-stream.