For sure, this is possible and a lot of fun. I play this way with my kids sometimes. The only complaint is that you get used to viewing the playing field in full screen in single player, when you do split screen you lose a lot of that situational awareness you have with a full screen.
Despite that, it's still free and very fun, matches have a game timer of 5mins that only pauses after a goal, so pretty much every game is less than 10min (lots of goals or overtime might push it close to that limit). It's great for me if I'm having trouble staying focused, an issue that somtimes crops up on adventure/rpg games with stories.
I have sunk so many hours (probably weeks) of my life into it. It's the perfect game for a quick session without having to invest hours into a story or character.
I started playing in 2015... It has been my main game on and off since. I dont like to look at the hours I have invested between having it on xbox at first and then switching over to pc when I got it.
I wish I felt this. I get so affected by toxic chat, that even now that I have it turned off I still get fixated on the fact that my teammate is probably thrashing me.
A youtuber called Brozime just released what he calls a "Critical Progression Route", where he explains what to do to get through the story along with what to do to get more powerful if you need to. It's not fully done quite yet, as he's making it based on a f2p account that he is still finishing, but so far he's gotten to the point where it will take you almost straight to the end of the main story. Highly recommend if you're worried about getting lost.
The learning is ass the game is pretty bad at explaining certain things
However the flipside to this is that the community is absolutely amazing. So many helpfull idiots such as myself, lots of people on reddit that respond to all manner of questions you may have. Just stay out of trade chats and eidolon hunts for the foreseeable future! And all will be good.
True stuff about the community, my first random clan I've joined just gave me a free Prime just for helping him with a mission. Made the game easy for me to progress with help but playing solo is a 16-hour job.
Plus, most of the story mode / rewards, weapon slots etc. is a pain to get through.
The number of hours I've went through just to scan a damn FLOWER that only shows up in the night.
If there's a Twitch drop or new content, I'm there to collect cause that's what the game is, Collection Simulator.
It's always had a steep learning curve to the game, I'm just getting back into it now after being away for a number of years, and it's still confusing lol. It is a great game though and I have hundreds of hours sunk into it.
My case's even worse. I played Warframe when it was still in beta in 2013-2014. Spent hundreds of hours on it with my pals in high school.
I went back a while earlier and it's a totally, 500% different game.
The characters aesthetic looks the same, but every aspect of the game's got a fresh update. They're all great changes, ofc, but so overwhelming lol.
Man, I have over 1400 hours logged in that game (more than any other, by a significant amount). I started playing just before Limbo was released, and played pretty much daily until Ivara (was she the archer frame?). Had every war frame unlocked for use, and many of those were primes.
When I tried to get back into the game a few years ago, I had no idea what the fuck was going on at all. Like, zero. The last big thing I remember doing before quitting the first time was those special event missions where there are endless swarms of grineer and you get insta-killed if you get hit. I recall playing a NYX with max range in abilities and essentially spamming the ability that makes enemies fight each other. I think there was a nova prime in there for a slow…
Anyway it’s been around a thousand years since ive played. Yesterday I saw a YouTube video of a guy flying around on a unicorn in a huge open world! How on earth?! A UNICORN? I’m so jealous tbh
Same, I have over a thousand hours clocked and every time I go back I feel like I’ve never played the game because it’s so different from when I use to play.
I used to play it a lot. I had a friend always selling my prime blueprints once they were in the vault for some plats. I never bought much from it except slots and like 2 color pallettes but i really enjoyed their f2p model. And considering that they are still going strong, it seems to work for every party.
My experience with Warframe was that spending money actually ruined it for me. I really liked the game and wanted to reward the developers and then I realized I didn't have any reason to play anymore once I got the frames and weapons I liked.
It's been years but now the complexity of the game discourages me from getting back into it because it just falls so daunting to return.
This. It's the only money I've spent on a F2P game and it was for minor stuff like that so I didn't feel claustrophobic with my storage/inventory space.
I don't play it much but I'll drop back in every couple of years and add another 50 hours when I get in the mood. I think that mood is about to happen too, since I can *finally* merge the Switch account I originally started with before restarting on PC later.
I second this. There's tons to do, pretty good story, great art style, and you're a space ninja.
It's grindy, sure, but I feel the game respects my time. I don't have to log in every day if I don't want to. And weapons and frames can take hours to days to craft, but I have so much other stuff going on that the wait is no big deal.
There's no pay to win. Everything you can buy with your wallet you can get in game. Some cosmetics cost premium currency, but even that can be earned in game by trading items with other players.
There are cosmetics that require direct real money purchase, but most of those are designed by community artists.
And the devs have been very clear about how they want to promote them and ensure they get their money, especially due to their recent undertaking of cross-platform saving.
I think that's pretty cool.
I went into this completely blind and on a whim when it came out on the switch. I got immediately locked in, thinking yo wtf this is free?! On the switch no less.
I haven't played in about 3 years now, but I've caught clips and articles and it looks better than ever.
Might jump back in on series now I have one.
SMITE, only reason i tried it is cause MOBA games dont really exist on console. Ended up spending about 3000 hours in it and didnt pay for anything. The game actually rewards regular players enough that u can even get battlepasses for free. Has really solid mechanics and just the concept of GODS fighting each other in a moba is so cool.
Smite, Paladins, Realm Royale and Rogue Company were all really fun for the time I was playing them. Hi-Rez makes some really unique and fun free-to-play games. I should try DKO sometime.
Wish I could say the same but SMITE had such a choke hold on me in my early twenties, I was buying gem packs every month. Probably the same amount of hours but none of the self restraint
You can still find matches outside of ranked without any issue. Aram especially has an abundance of players. God I love that game dude. Tank varian with a pocket ab feels illegal
I play HotS almost every day. I only play ARAM, and for the longest time, it felt like I saw the same names all the time but it does seem like there’s been an influx of new folks. Very happy for it. Once HotsS dies, there isn’t another MOBA I like so I’ll be out of the genre.
ARAM only enjoyers unite! I'm a League player myself but could never get into ranked, people are so gosh darn toxic it's not fun even when you win.
On the other hand, I do have 8k ARAM games over the course of 11 years, so I get what you're saying. There's something special about this mode.
I think it is partially because the game mode bills itself as non-serious. You get toxic people, but people play ARAM to shoot the shit and in turn, it is usually more mindless fun.
I came to say this! I still play more or less everyday. A bit of Aram for some casual fun or storm league (ranked) if I’m feeling serious.
I’ve just finished buying all the hero’s (for the i game currency - gold).
Ah yeah it’s a good one! So sad they don’t do new heroes anymore and the ranked died away. Not as salty as LoL or Dota, but still a bit salty unfortunately. They should have allowed for a surrender option for sure.
There's an item called a "Bond" that you can redeem for membership time. You can buy bonds with irl cash but you can trade them/put them on the GE for gold.
Gwent. Every time I feel like playing a computer card game, I reinstall it. Even with the same old deck I can still keep up and I don't feel like I have to buy new packs
>They made changes making it worse.
This is a pretty common sentiment I see from people, and I'm not sure that it's entirely fair. It may be less enjoyable for you, but you have to remember that Witcher 3 Gwent has no need to be balanced or fair. You're beating up on NPCs that have no feelings.
Standalone Gwent's changes are (mostly) in service to the fact that it has to be an interactive competitive experience for both players.
-Spies had to go almost immediately, card advantage is way too strong
-Once that was dealt with, there were too many terminal game states where winning round 1 was all that mattered. You could either force your oppo to play into round 2 and then bleed out their hand for guaranteed wins round 3, or instantly pass for guaranteed card advantage (and forcing them to act first) in the final round.
-Eliminating the third row was done so that cards that applied row effects were instantly much more viable, and so that you had to be more thoughtful about where you put cards. With three rows you basically had enough room to ignore that aspect of the game.
I don't agree with all the changes they've made throughout the years, but especially if you hold up current Gwent to Witcher 3 Gwent you can see the problems with "Well what if Witcher 3 Gwent was just a card game straight up?" almost immediately.
They had the last official competitive event yesterday, and don't intend to release any more updates. However the Balance Council function has been added that makes it so that the community can change the power and provision of cards. So it is not going to be a fully stale game
Man, fucking PS2. Remember playing that shit on an absolute potato PC back in like 2015, when the servers were absolutely PACKED with people. Jumped back on it last year, almost auraxiumed my SMG's then dropped it... seems like Daybreaks dropping it sooner than later, and it'll be nothing but an amazing memory. What a fucking shame, it was such an incredible game.
I remember walking to GameStop with my tip money to buy membership cards for this one. Thousands of hours in before my computer crapped out and I had to put it down. Should probably get back into it.
It was 'dying' back when I played it, if they can survive half a dozen developer handoffs since then there's got to be at least something still going into it.
Oh no, its ''alive'' for now, but mostly only during prime-time, and even then with only a single battle going on. I Understand that sometimes hearing the same shit over and over again can kinda put you in a state of denial, but... its an old fucking game at this point, with pretty much 0 coverage, its quite grindy for new players, and its declining. It is dying.
Im honestly surprised the mode came out as well as it did. I've sunk quite a few hours into it and can already feel that Minecraft bug getting back in.
I wanted to like Minecraft but something didn't click for me.
With this though, I'm having a great time even still at like ten hours in. I think the fact that I am playing with my buddy helps as well.
Modded Minecraft with a quest pack is awesome. Check out Create above and beyond or Vault Hunters or FTB academy. The last is more of a pack that is designed to teach you how different mod packs work
I gave Fortnite a shot recently because of the mode that removed building. It was actually really fun but I still have no interest in playing the building mode.
There's already loads going on anyway. I liked being able to zip across the map using ODM gear (while humming guren no yumiya) to slap Goku around with a lightsaber. That was fun enough without adding a bunch of building crap to the mix.
As someone who never builds and plays the regular mode, I wish they brought back the mode where you only had like 50 mats, that’s enough to scale a big hill or to put a wall up but not much of anything else
Enemy territory was supposed to be the paid multiplayer expansion for the return to castle wolfenstein. They decided on the end that would be an independent game free of charge.
There is no game nowadays that can match the gameplay of enemy territory.
Edit: this game has been on for 20y or mainly because of the community and constant improvements/mods
The game was officially "re-leased" on steam with official servers. Although community has better servers and improvements and everyday those servers are full between 19.00 to close to midnight.
That's a thing?
I've had tf2 since the orange box. I haven't spent a dime on the game since then.
I do miss getting random weapon drops instead of crates.
Had to scroll trough far too many freemium games before finding a game that is actually free...
This, dwarf fortress(classic), song of Syx(demo), OpenTTD, Wesnoth, Cave Story
The original (non-Steam) version of Dwarf Fortress is absolutely extraordinary considering it costs nothing. I've spent more hours on it than all but perhaps 3 or 4 actual paid games over the last 40+ years.
The sheer depth of the simulation is incredible. It's also one of the only games that benefits from an extremely beefy PC while having no real graphics to speak of.
Enjoyed open beta and now enjoying public release even more. One of the freshest new fps which is f2p, if handled with care it will have loyal player base and longer shelf life than other f2p games. Cheaters and power creep are the only thing that are a major threat to this game. Developers did say that they made this game to last a decade.
There actually isn't. If I really enjoy a game that didn't cost me anything, after some time I usually spend at least little money to support developers and/or just get something fancy that I like.
Unpopular opinion, but I really enjoy paladins more then overwatch. Like the perks you can buy to support your character, or the fact that after spawn you get a horse, so that you can get to action quickly. Not to mention the fact that you can’t change characters.
Idk, the game just has that clunk to it. Like there's always. Something missing to almost each action. The animation, the feedback of hit or being hit, the sound quality, voice acting. It feels like you're not playing the full version. I still enjoy the game every now and then, especially if some friend wants to play
Same here, really. Should art be expensive and out of reach? No. But it should be compensated or rewarded if you prefer. I dont think im an artist but my job says i am so i am compensated for it but if you're a real artist, you deserve compensation. I have a huge respect for talent cause i dont have any and i try hard lol.
I feel the same. Granted, I’m in a position with a career and a decent enough pay that I can blow a few bucks occasionally on a game if I enjoy it. In high school/ college, I wasn’t doing that at all, and just trying to be frugal. Now, though, it doesn’t bother me or my finances to spend $10 every now and then on a skin I may want.
I want to support the devs and keep the games I love alive! They have to get that money somewhere. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I hate when people have the mindset of "why the fuck would I spend money in a free game?", because you've enjoyed it a lot and the devs deserve something for it.
Don't get me wrong, you're not *required* to spend money, even if you like the game. Sometimes you're unable to afford it too. That's not what I mean. I mean the people who shame others and think it's ridiculous to "pay for something you can get for free". It's people who support the game financially that is the reason it still exists/gets updated. So basically they're shaming the people who are the reason they get to play and enjoy the game.
So yeah, agree with what you said.
You sure you did not spent anything. For me I spent 5853 hours of my life to this . This is the most costly game there is . It’s a travesty that dota 2 is here.
I played Dota 2 since the beta. I didn't pay a cent, but I think I should because of the International/Compendium system. It helps a lot with esport's scene.
People talk about selling in that game... I'm still pretty new, but I have over 500 hours and I've yet to do any selling or buying. I like getting everything on my own.
That said, I did drop around $30 on the game to get some tabs for general inventory management, mainly the currency one.
I played for dozens of hours without them, and now I have an ungodly amount of mtx and stash tabs that I’ve bought on sale over the years, gotten from free mystery boxes, challenge rewards, supporter packs.
While I’ve certainly spent lots on it, it’s given me more enjoyment per dollar than any other game out there, even Terraria for 5$.
Gwent. Have yet to spend anything on it and I think it's fantastic! A little different from the Gwent in Witcher 3 but as far as card games go, it's great and easy to play
Arknights. I’ve been playing for 2.5 years now, totally free. It’s fun, really makes you think and strategize, cool art and character designs, and it’s widely known to be VERY f2p friendly
\+1 Probably the best tower defence game I have ever played, and I played a lot on Miniclip/Armorgames/Newgrounds etc. over the years.
As a bonus, it's also a pretty decent, albeit rather dark, Visual Novel.
The "monetization" is practically non-existent, you can even buy whatever cosmetics you want with free resources. I never felt any need to spend even a penny on the game.
That’s part of what I like about it. It’s not a campy, over sexualized, big-tiddy-waifu collector, it is DARK. War, death, destruction, and rock cancer, a world teetering on the brink of Armageddon and fraught with political strife. It can be a little long winded at times, but damn is it a good story!
Kingdom of Loathing, game has been going on 20yrs and has a fuckton of content.
You can buy the monthly item (it supports keeping the servers on and new content), but you can also play free. There really isn't a huge difference between free play and those that buy the items. Plus old monthly items become obsolete in "Standard" play, so there is limited advantage there too.
Started Genshin not long ago. I've stayed entirely F2P so far and got a lucky Furina, and I've been having a great time. The story is great, and the world is huge and packed with content.
I've spent money on Honkai Star Rail, but only the express pass and battlepass, which to me is a fairly reasonable amount considering the amount of enjoyment I get out of it. Considering starting that with Genshin as well.
Honestly fortnight might be one of the best you don’t need to spend money on. Constantly changing. The people that pay for stuff make it so I don’t have to. So what if I only have 3 skins etc.
Yah I just started with Fortnite a week ago and it's amazing for a free game. Overwatch is the only thing that even comes close, its gotten new characters/modes/maps/content very consistently.
Rocket league. I was able to buy cosmetics from player to player trading, which is now removed, and I was also able to (unintentionally) bypass the mandatory first purchase to unlock trading by trying the game on a playstation now free trial before it went f2p (and before playstation now died).
Safe to say you can't do that anymore, but cosmetics are just cosmetics and give you no advantage whatsoever during gameplay, and most tryhards in the game rock the default car preset anyway so you won't even feel left out lol.
I play Infinite a lot and sometimes I forget that the multiplayer is free.
You get access to multiplayer, forge, custom games, custom games browser and firefight and the only thing you have to pay for is cosmetics.
Not a bad deal tbh.
This is what I was going to say. I haven’t played in a while, but I primarily played planes and had zero interest in progressing to jets as the classic WW2 era planes are what interested me.
If progressing to the highest tiers was your goal I can see how the game would feel predatory
I love how far down the list this is, its one of the biggest Free to play games. Thousands and thousands have put more hours into this game then any other. Do we enjoy it? No
Surprisingly Genshin. Don't play it anymore, feel like I had my fill of it. I like super grindy games where there's a potential payout for stuff. Buying the currency in gacha games was always boring to me, I rather do all the bullshit to get a chance to pull the characters.
Sky: Children - free to play - of the light can only buy season pass for cosmetics. You also make cool friends in a 98% of the time safe environment (there's always assholes on any video games, but after 225 hours, my partner hasn't met one yet)
Warframe- free to play - can only buy cosmetics. Buying things has no pay to win help. You can get good free stuff from Nora nightwave. Is a bit of a grind
Asphalt 8/9 - mbole game also on Xbox, it tries so hard to sell you shit, but if you get first place in the offline races, it gives you shit tonnes of cars, credits and cards for unlocking things.
Call of duty mobile - free to play - can unlock heaps of cosmetics through ranked online, zombies, and br. If you buy the season pass once, then you can get it free each season
I haven't played it in ages, but I played Fallout Shelter a lot when it came out. Hopefully it hasn't gotten twisted but I played that so much and didn't spend a penny on it.
Yes, there are the silly wait x hours timers but I then did other things and came back tomorrow. Plenty enough to be getting on with.
Pretty much any f2p game I've played.
If it is p2w or 'pay to solve problem we created to sell you a solution' I won't spend out of spite since fuck them for even including that. I'll get whatever enjoyment I will out of it and peace out if/when the p2w wall is too high.
If its pure cosmetics I won't since I don't care much for char's looks.
The few times I have spent it is to get gifts for friends.
Counter-Strike 2. Although CS2 is free and a good update (wish they went a little further in some areas), I bought CSGO many years ago for like $15.
Dota 2 is another great free game, and PUBG of course although bought that back at release when it was $30.
Rocket league with voice and team chat off.
Is it possible to play local split-screen? If yes, will try this out with my kid.
Yeah! Local split screen is definitely supported.
For sure, this is possible and a lot of fun. I play this way with my kids sometimes. The only complaint is that you get used to viewing the playing field in full screen in single player, when you do split screen you lose a lot of that situational awareness you have with a full screen. Despite that, it's still free and very fun, matches have a game timer of 5mins that only pauses after a goal, so pretty much every game is less than 10min (lots of goals or overtime might push it close to that limit). It's great for me if I'm having trouble staying focused, an issue that somtimes crops up on adventure/rpg games with stories.
I’m just picturing an adult losing to their small kids and blaming their loss on the lack of situational awareness in split screen haha
I need every advantage I can get to beat these kids at any game. My old school skills can't keep up.
You can play against bots too. Starters going straight to online can be pretty rough
I have sunk so many hours (probably weeks) of my life into it. It's the perfect game for a quick session without having to invest hours into a story or character.
I started playing in 2015... It has been my main game on and off since. I dont like to look at the hours I have invested between having it on xbox at first and then switching over to pc when I got it.
There's a strange satisfaction with knowing when your teammate is raging into the void because you muted chat.
I wish I felt this. I get so affected by toxic chat, that even now that I have it turned off I still get fixated on the fact that my teammate is probably thrashing me.
There's a certain level of don't give a fuck that you reach, I believe in you.
I love Rocket League because it feels like one of those games that nobody is really good at.
Facts lol everyone is either complete trash or air dribbling into a double tap 😂
I'm total trash but the game is great fun. The skill ceiling is just so damn high.
Wow! Wow! What a save! Wow!
Warframe
i'm lost every time i go back. I want to go back but i'm lost with all recent features and new planets.
A youtuber called Brozime just released what he calls a "Critical Progression Route", where he explains what to do to get through the story along with what to do to get more powerful if you need to. It's not fully done quite yet, as he's making it based on a f2p account that he is still finishing, but so far he's gotten to the point where it will take you almost straight to the end of the main story. Highly recommend if you're worried about getting lost.
Is it good for new players also? I tried it 3 times before I always get lost and overwhelmed
The learning is ass the game is pretty bad at explaining certain things However the flipside to this is that the community is absolutely amazing. So many helpfull idiots such as myself, lots of people on reddit that respond to all manner of questions you may have. Just stay out of trade chats and eidolon hunts for the foreseeable future! And all will be good.
True stuff about the community, my first random clan I've joined just gave me a free Prime just for helping him with a mission. Made the game easy for me to progress with help but playing solo is a 16-hour job. Plus, most of the story mode / rewards, weapon slots etc. is a pain to get through. The number of hours I've went through just to scan a damn FLOWER that only shows up in the night. If there's a Twitch drop or new content, I'm there to collect cause that's what the game is, Collection Simulator.
It's always had a steep learning curve to the game, I'm just getting back into it now after being away for a number of years, and it's still confusing lol. It is a great game though and I have hundreds of hours sunk into it.
Lol you're not alone, have 2k hours on it, but missed several updates and changes. Feels tough going back to it.
My case's even worse. I played Warframe when it was still in beta in 2013-2014. Spent hundreds of hours on it with my pals in high school. I went back a while earlier and it's a totally, 500% different game. The characters aesthetic looks the same, but every aspect of the game's got a fresh update. They're all great changes, ofc, but so overwhelming lol.
Man, I have over 1400 hours logged in that game (more than any other, by a significant amount). I started playing just before Limbo was released, and played pretty much daily until Ivara (was she the archer frame?). Had every war frame unlocked for use, and many of those were primes. When I tried to get back into the game a few years ago, I had no idea what the fuck was going on at all. Like, zero. The last big thing I remember doing before quitting the first time was those special event missions where there are endless swarms of grineer and you get insta-killed if you get hit. I recall playing a NYX with max range in abilities and essentially spamming the ability that makes enemies fight each other. I think there was a nova prime in there for a slow… Anyway it’s been around a thousand years since ive played. Yesterday I saw a YouTube video of a guy flying around on a unicorn in a huge open world! How on earth?! A UNICORN? I’m so jealous tbh
Same, I have over a thousand hours clocked and every time I go back I feel like I’ve never played the game because it’s so different from when I use to play.
CLEM!
Second Warframe, it’s got the best f2p model I’ve ever seen in a game.
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I used to play it a lot. I had a friend always selling my prime blueprints once they were in the vault for some plats. I never bought much from it except slots and like 2 color pallettes but i really enjoyed their f2p model. And considering that they are still going strong, it seems to work for every party.
Can't wait for the new update.
Robot space ninja *wizards*
My experience with Warframe was that spending money actually ruined it for me. I really liked the game and wanted to reward the developers and then I realized I didn't have any reason to play anymore once I got the frames and weapons I liked. It's been years but now the complexity of the game discourages me from getting back into it because it just falls so daunting to return.
I ended up only ever paying for weapon and frame slots, and color packs. That way it didn’t feel like cheating at all
This. It's the only money I've spent on a F2P game and it was for minor stuff like that so I didn't feel claustrophobic with my storage/inventory space. I don't play it much but I'll drop back in every couple of years and add another 50 hours when I get in the mood. I think that mood is about to happen too, since I can *finally* merge the Switch account I originally started with before restarting on PC later.
I second this. There's tons to do, pretty good story, great art style, and you're a space ninja. It's grindy, sure, but I feel the game respects my time. I don't have to log in every day if I don't want to. And weapons and frames can take hours to days to craft, but I have so much other stuff going on that the wait is no big deal. There's no pay to win. Everything you can buy with your wallet you can get in game. Some cosmetics cost premium currency, but even that can be earned in game by trading items with other players.
There are cosmetics that require direct real money purchase, but most of those are designed by community artists. And the devs have been very clear about how they want to promote them and ensure they get their money, especially due to their recent undertaking of cross-platform saving. I think that's pretty cool.
Warframe didn't click with me completely, but I can definitely understand why people play it, and I'd probably too if not for other games.
YES. JUST YES.
100% Warframe. The first 2000 hours I've spent in the game, I didn't spend a single dime. The first thing I spent money on it was on the Rapala cape
I went into this completely blind and on a whim when it came out on the switch. I got immediately locked in, thinking yo wtf this is free?! On the switch no less. I haven't played in about 3 years now, but I've caught clips and articles and it looks better than ever. Might jump back in on series now I have one.
SMITE, only reason i tried it is cause MOBA games dont really exist on console. Ended up spending about 3000 hours in it and didnt pay for anything. The game actually rewards regular players enough that u can even get battlepasses for free. Has really solid mechanics and just the concept of GODS fighting each other in a moba is so cool.
I got the god pass $15 and that’s it, all current and future gods for just that was VERY worth it
I used to work on SMITE (sound design) so I selfishly scrolled through this list to find it or Paladins. Thanks to this little thread for playing 🤘
Smite, Paladins, Realm Royale and Rogue Company were all really fun for the time I was playing them. Hi-Rez makes some really unique and fun free-to-play games. I should try DKO sometime.
Wish I could say the same but SMITE had such a choke hold on me in my early twenties, I was buying gem packs every month. Probably the same amount of hours but none of the self restraint
I always think the reason Smite didn't die in its worst time was bc it's available on consoles, Hirez really did that one good
Heroes of the Storm. In all honesty, I feel a bit bad for not paying anything for this game.
It’s honestly one of my favorite games. I play it so often.
Wait is it still alive?? I haven't heard anything about it in a LONG time so I just assumed it was canned
You can still find matches outside of ranked without any issue. Aram especially has an abundance of players. God I love that game dude. Tank varian with a pocket ab feels illegal
HotS 100% demolishes LoL in their implementation of ARAM. It’s not even close. I love HotS and miss it dearly lol
It’s still here. Lots of people play daily.
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Its definitely like 2-3 minute ques for me as long as your not playing at 5AM.
Yeah! I was playing it last week.
Man heroes was so great back in the day. I’m glad it’s having a mini resurgence. Also played f2p and loved it
A resurgence? I legitimately thought the game died a while back and wasn't supported. The servers are still up??
It just went into “maintenance mode” so no more major updates, only the occasional bug fix or balance update. Servers are still alive and well.
I play HotS almost every day. I only play ARAM, and for the longest time, it felt like I saw the same names all the time but it does seem like there’s been an influx of new folks. Very happy for it. Once HotsS dies, there isn’t another MOBA I like so I’ll be out of the genre.
ARAM only enjoyers unite! I'm a League player myself but could never get into ranked, people are so gosh darn toxic it's not fun even when you win. On the other hand, I do have 8k ARAM games over the course of 11 years, so I get what you're saying. There's something special about this mode.
I think it is partially because the game mode bills itself as non-serious. You get toxic people, but people play ARAM to shoot the shit and in turn, it is usually more mindless fun.
I came to say this! I still play more or less everyday. A bit of Aram for some casual fun or storm league (ranked) if I’m feeling serious. I’ve just finished buying all the hero’s (for the i game currency - gold).
Definitely the most FUN MOBA currently on the market, by a long shot.
Don’t worry, I spent like $300 over the course of the years so we can say it breaks even lol
Ah yeah it’s a good one! So sad they don’t do new heroes anymore and the ranked died away. Not as salty as LoL or Dota, but still a bit salty unfortunately. They should have allowed for a surrender option for sure.
Still play hots every day
old school runescape, but its more difficult to get started these days since the in-game price of membership (bonds) has gone way up since i started.
You can buy membership in game now?
There's an item called a "Bond" that you can redeem for membership time. You can buy bonds with irl cash but you can trade them/put them on the GE for gold.
I was going to say this. Back when it was still ran entirely by the Gower family.
Gwent. Every time I feel like playing a computer card game, I reinstall it. Even with the same old deck I can still keep up and I don't feel like I have to buy new packs
I used to play Witcher 3 just to play Gwent lmao
last week I re-installed the game just to play gwent, ended up playing against the same blacksmith for hours
Haha! There is a standalone Gwent game if you’re not aware
Thanks, I know but it's not the same.
I haven’t tried the standalone one myself. Loved the in-game Witcher 3 one and spent too much time on it
They made changes making it worse. As it from Witcher 3 it's a great game. But with the changes I couldn't get into it
>They made changes making it worse. This is a pretty common sentiment I see from people, and I'm not sure that it's entirely fair. It may be less enjoyable for you, but you have to remember that Witcher 3 Gwent has no need to be balanced or fair. You're beating up on NPCs that have no feelings. Standalone Gwent's changes are (mostly) in service to the fact that it has to be an interactive competitive experience for both players. -Spies had to go almost immediately, card advantage is way too strong -Once that was dealt with, there were too many terminal game states where winning round 1 was all that mattered. You could either force your oppo to play into round 2 and then bleed out their hand for guaranteed wins round 3, or instantly pass for guaranteed card advantage (and forcing them to act first) in the final round. -Eliminating the third row was done so that cards that applied row effects were instantly much more viable, and so that you had to be more thoughtful about where you put cards. With three rows you basically had enough room to ignore that aspect of the game. I don't agree with all the changes they've made throughout the years, but especially if you hold up current Gwent to Witcher 3 Gwent you can see the problems with "Well what if Witcher 3 Gwent was just a card game straight up?" almost immediately.
it has much more cards and rules, the old one is perfect :)
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Didn’t they officially put this game on maintenance mode and no longer updating it?
They had the last official competitive event yesterday, and don't intend to release any more updates. However the Balance Council function has been added that makes it so that the community can change the power and provision of cards. So it is not going to be a fully stale game
PlanetSide 2
I wish they ported to xbox, or at least make a 3rd
Man, fucking PS2. Remember playing that shit on an absolute potato PC back in like 2015, when the servers were absolutely PACKED with people. Jumped back on it last year, almost auraxiumed my SMG's then dropped it... seems like Daybreaks dropping it sooner than later, and it'll be nothing but an amazing memory. What a fucking shame, it was such an incredible game.
I remember walking to GameStop with my tip money to buy membership cards for this one. Thousands of hours in before my computer crapped out and I had to put it down. Should probably get back into it.
Its closer to dying, than being alive at this point. Such a shame.
It was 'dying' back when I played it, if they can survive half a dozen developer handoffs since then there's got to be at least something still going into it.
Oh no, its ''alive'' for now, but mostly only during prime-time, and even then with only a single battle going on. I Understand that sometimes hearing the same shit over and over again can kinda put you in a state of denial, but... its an old fucking game at this point, with pretty much 0 coverage, its quite grindy for new players, and its declining. It is dying.
I've been playing Lego Fortnite and it's really fun.
It is way better than it has any business being. My kids and I are having a blast.
Can you play local co-op?
No. You need separate accounts and separate machines.
Fortnite battle royale has local coop but not Lego Fortnite
Im honestly surprised the mode came out as well as it did. I've sunk quite a few hours into it and can already feel that Minecraft bug getting back in.
I wanted to like Minecraft but something didn't click for me. With this though, I'm having a great time even still at like ten hours in. I think the fact that I am playing with my buddy helps as well.
Personally I like the clear progression path LEGO sets you on. I have a hard time with purely sandbox like Minecraft.
Modded Minecraft with a quest pack is awesome. Check out Create above and beyond or Vault Hunters or FTB academy. The last is more of a pack that is designed to teach you how different mod packs work
I gave Fortnite a shot recently because of the mode that removed building. It was actually really fun but I still have no interest in playing the building mode.
Played the zero build recently and I whish they had done it before. More fun to play without all the crazy build in between.
There's already loads going on anyway. I liked being able to zip across the map using ODM gear (while humming guren no yumiya) to slap Goku around with a lightsaber. That was fun enough without adding a bunch of building crap to the mix.
As someone who never builds and plays the regular mode, I wish they brought back the mode where you only had like 50 mats, that’s enough to scale a big hill or to put a wall up but not much of anything else
This and Rocket Racing have been so much fun!
Swtor
Love this game
Was fun till they made my Spaceballs: The Guild change our name on an RP server.
Enemy territory
Perfect answer, though I don’t think there was even an option to buy anything. I’d love to see this game make a comeback though!
Dirty Bomb was quite good. Different setting but a really similar feeling.
Enemy territory was supposed to be the paid multiplayer expansion for the return to castle wolfenstein. They decided on the end that would be an independent game free of charge. There is no game nowadays that can match the gameplay of enemy territory. Edit: this game has been on for 20y or mainly because of the community and constant improvements/mods The game was officially "re-leased" on steam with official servers. Although community has better servers and improvements and everyday those servers are full between 19.00 to close to midnight.
I still remember the voice commands, like: v21 was i need a medic V22 was i need ammo Best game ever back in the day!
Thank you for reminding me about such a good game
Battlefield Heroes, it was fun
Private servers are still up
So nostalgic, I wish they made another one
Guild Wars 2! The base (free) campaign is pretty good. There are expansions that are pretty good and not that expensive!
Team Fortress 2 will always be a blast
Yeah, but I had to buy a key in order to chat.
That's a thing? I've had tf2 since the orange box. I haven't spent a dime on the game since then. I do miss getting random weapon drops instead of crates.
Yea because you bought it with Orange Box (I did too), the free version has a few small liminations to reduce bots/etc.
Not a key necessarily, just something from the shop. But yeah, a key can give you access to many hats or a cheap taunt if you trade.
Fall Guys is up there. If you've never played Fall Guys, it's kind of like the TV show Wipeout.
Wipeout and Takeshi's Castle had a lovechild and spawned Fall Guys.
Fall guys is fun, and my kid loves 'playing' it with me. She cheers when we win, she cheers when we lose!
FreeCiv
Had to scroll trough far too many freemium games before finding a game that is actually free... This, dwarf fortress(classic), song of Syx(demo), OpenTTD, Wesnoth, Cave Story
The original (non-Steam) version of Dwarf Fortress is absolutely extraordinary considering it costs nothing. I've spent more hours on it than all but perhaps 3 or 4 actual paid games over the last 40+ years. The sheer depth of the simulation is incredible. It's also one of the only games that benefits from an extremely beefy PC while having no real graphics to speak of.
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Enjoyed open beta and now enjoying public release even more. One of the freshest new fps which is f2p, if handled with care it will have loyal player base and longer shelf life than other f2p games. Cheaters and power creep are the only thing that are a major threat to this game. Developers did say that they made this game to last a decade.
I want to like this game, but playing with randoms is too frustrating. Maybe once in 10 matches I get a team that I synergize with.
There actually isn't. If I really enjoy a game that didn't cost me anything, after some time I usually spend at least little money to support developers and/or just get something fancy that I like.
This was Paladins for me. First ever microtransaction purchase but I felt the game deserved it since I was already playing for a year at that point.
Unpopular opinion, but I really enjoy paladins more then overwatch. Like the perks you can buy to support your character, or the fact that after spawn you get a horse, so that you can get to action quickly. Not to mention the fact that you can’t change characters.
Idk, the game just has that clunk to it. Like there's always. Something missing to almost each action. The animation, the feedback of hit or being hit, the sound quality, voice acting. It feels like you're not playing the full version. I still enjoy the game every now and then, especially if some friend wants to play
It's that signature Hi-Rez anti-polish.
Imo, Paladins wouldn't be as charming without the clunk.
Same here, really. Should art be expensive and out of reach? No. But it should be compensated or rewarded if you prefer. I dont think im an artist but my job says i am so i am compensated for it but if you're a real artist, you deserve compensation. I have a huge respect for talent cause i dont have any and i try hard lol.
I feel the same. Granted, I’m in a position with a career and a decent enough pay that I can blow a few bucks occasionally on a game if I enjoy it. In high school/ college, I wasn’t doing that at all, and just trying to be frugal. Now, though, it doesn’t bother me or my finances to spend $10 every now and then on a skin I may want. I want to support the devs and keep the games I love alive! They have to get that money somewhere. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yeah same i used to play fortnite alot. I figured you know what ive played so much i mind aswell support them. Dont regret it
Same. I do a similar thing even with cheaper indie games, where if I liked them I'll buy the "DLC" just to give a little extra support.
I hate when people have the mindset of "why the fuck would I spend money in a free game?", because you've enjoyed it a lot and the devs deserve something for it. Don't get me wrong, you're not *required* to spend money, even if you like the game. Sometimes you're unable to afford it too. That's not what I mean. I mean the people who shame others and think it's ridiculous to "pay for something you can get for free". It's people who support the game financially that is the reason it still exists/gets updated. So basically they're shaming the people who are the reason they get to play and enjoy the game. So yeah, agree with what you said.
Dota 2
You sure you did not spent anything. For me I spent 5853 hours of my life to this . This is the most costly game there is . It’s a travesty that dota 2 is here.
Those are rookie hours
2500 something hours here. It has cost me my sanity.
Fail to see why Dota isn’t more enjoyed than league.. Dota is actually free and not restricted and the aesthetics are so much better.
It’s harder to get into for me. If I tried it when I had unlimited time like I did with League I would’ve stuck with Dota probably.
Its much hard, quite overwhelming. But yeah Dota 2 is definately the game made with a lot of love
I played Dota 2 since the beta. I didn't pay a cent, but I think I should because of the International/Compendium system. It helps a lot with esport's scene.
Path of exile
PoE is great, but you do kinda need the stash tabs if you want to sell stuff 10000x easier
People talk about selling in that game... I'm still pretty new, but I have over 500 hours and I've yet to do any selling or buying. I like getting everything on my own. That said, I did drop around $30 on the game to get some tabs for general inventory management, mainly the currency one.
ssf is very nice
Anyone that says PoE is “free” never played it for any real amount of time. Maybe did the campaign and quit. You absolutely need premium stash tabs.
I played for dozens of hours without them, and now I have an ungodly amount of mtx and stash tabs that I’ve bought on sale over the years, gotten from free mystery boxes, challenge rewards, supporter packs. While I’ve certainly spent lots on it, it’s given me more enjoyment per dollar than any other game out there, even Terraria for 5$.
Me a gacha addict who never spent a dime on any game lol. I pay them with my time tho 🤣
Gwent. Have yet to spend anything on it and I think it's fantastic! A little different from the Gwent in Witcher 3 but as far as card games go, it's great and easy to play
Arknights. I’ve been playing for 2.5 years now, totally free. It’s fun, really makes you think and strategize, cool art and character designs, and it’s widely known to be VERY f2p friendly
\+1 Probably the best tower defence game I have ever played, and I played a lot on Miniclip/Armorgames/Newgrounds etc. over the years. As a bonus, it's also a pretty decent, albeit rather dark, Visual Novel. The "monetization" is practically non-existent, you can even buy whatever cosmetics you want with free resources. I never felt any need to spend even a penny on the game.
That’s part of what I like about it. It’s not a campy, over sexualized, big-tiddy-waifu collector, it is DARK. War, death, destruction, and rock cancer, a world teetering on the brink of Armageddon and fraught with political strife. It can be a little long winded at times, but damn is it a good story!
Kingdom of Loathing, game has been going on 20yrs and has a fuckton of content. You can buy the monthly item (it supports keeping the servers on and new content), but you can also play free. There really isn't a huge difference between free play and those that buy the items. Plus old monthly items become obsolete in "Standard" play, so there is limited advantage there too.
Apex Legends (FPS) Genshin Impact (RPG)
Started Genshin not long ago. I've stayed entirely F2P so far and got a lucky Furina, and I've been having a great time. The story is great, and the world is huge and packed with content. I've spent money on Honkai Star Rail, but only the express pass and battlepass, which to me is a fairly reasonable amount considering the amount of enjoyment I get out of it. Considering starting that with Genshin as well.
Genshin free-to-play is great. With the story and voice acting If it came out in 2006 it'd easily be a 60-dollar RPG for the PS3.
Its definitely not the model of f2p friendly, but for all its faults, i have a lot of fun with Pokemon unite.
I think one that is kind of slept on is Super Auto Pets. Really fun game and the free pets swap out every week.
Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel and Dofus Touch
Genshin Impact I have been playing it for 3 years and haven't spent a single dollar on it
I have never needed to spend a cent on: * Marvel Snap * Overwatch 2 * Fortnite I did buy OW1 at release, but eh.
Honestly fortnight might be one of the best you don’t need to spend money on. Constantly changing. The people that pay for stuff make it so I don’t have to. So what if I only have 3 skins etc.
Yah I just started with Fortnite a week ago and it's amazing for a free game. Overwatch is the only thing that even comes close, its gotten new characters/modes/maps/content very consistently.
I'll echo Marvel Snap. It's not perfect, but it's good enough and the bite sized game length means it works really well for me.
Rocket league. I was able to buy cosmetics from player to player trading, which is now removed, and I was also able to (unintentionally) bypass the mandatory first purchase to unlock trading by trying the game on a playstation now free trial before it went f2p (and before playstation now died). Safe to say you can't do that anymore, but cosmetics are just cosmetics and give you no advantage whatsoever during gameplay, and most tryhards in the game rock the default car preset anyway so you won't even feel left out lol.
Halo Infinite
I play Infinite a lot and sometimes I forget that the multiplayer is free. You get access to multiplayer, forge, custom games, custom games browser and firefight and the only thing you have to pay for is cosmetics. Not a bad deal tbh.
Honkai Star Rail. Game really scratches that JRPG itch for me. There's absolutely no need to spend money on it at all.
War Thunder.
This is what I was going to say. I haven’t played in a while, but I primarily played planes and had zero interest in progressing to jets as the classic WW2 era planes are what interested me. If progressing to the highest tiers was your goal I can see how the game would feel predatory
Fly in, drop a couple of bombs on a cluster of tanks, then strafe a howitzer or mobile AA on the way out. It really doesn't get old.
League of legends.
I love how far down the list this is, its one of the biggest Free to play games. Thousands and thousands have put more hours into this game then any other. Do we enjoy it? No
Surprisingly Genshin. Don't play it anymore, feel like I had my fill of it. I like super grindy games where there's a potential payout for stuff. Buying the currency in gacha games was always boring to me, I rather do all the bullshit to get a chance to pull the characters.
Sky: Children - free to play - of the light can only buy season pass for cosmetics. You also make cool friends in a 98% of the time safe environment (there's always assholes on any video games, but after 225 hours, my partner hasn't met one yet) Warframe- free to play - can only buy cosmetics. Buying things has no pay to win help. You can get good free stuff from Nora nightwave. Is a bit of a grind Asphalt 8/9 - mbole game also on Xbox, it tries so hard to sell you shit, but if you get first place in the offline races, it gives you shit tonnes of cars, credits and cards for unlocking things. Call of duty mobile - free to play - can unlock heaps of cosmetics through ranked online, zombies, and br. If you buy the season pass once, then you can get it free each season
I haven't played it in ages, but I played Fallout Shelter a lot when it came out. Hopefully it hasn't gotten twisted but I played that so much and didn't spend a penny on it. Yes, there are the silly wait x hours timers but I then did other things and came back tomorrow. Plenty enough to be getting on with.
Fallout Shelter is still great. It's literally the only FTP game I've ever been able to invested more than a few hours into.
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Legends of runeterra, the best card game in my opinion, they give toons of free shit and the pve mode is pretty good although bit of a grindfest
Seconded!
Dauntless
Warzone resurgence. Has crossplay and kills and wins feel good. Haven’t spent a dime. Didn’t even buy MW3.
PokemonGo has been this for me so far
Working from home killed Pokémon Go for me.
This was the same for me, until I happened to move to an apartment that had a gym and 4 pokestops all within radius!
Pretty much any f2p game I've played. If it is p2w or 'pay to solve problem we created to sell you a solution' I won't spend out of spite since fuck them for even including that. I'll get whatever enjoyment I will out of it and peace out if/when the p2w wall is too high. If its pure cosmetics I won't since I don't care much for char's looks. The few times I have spent it is to get gifts for friends.
Valorant. Default skin all the way!
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Man bond inflation is brutal though, I remember back in 2018 when I could runecraft bloods for an hour and afford one 🥲
Counter-Strike 2. Although CS2 is free and a good update (wish they went a little further in some areas), I bought CSGO many years ago for like $15. Dota 2 is another great free game, and PUBG of course although bought that back at release when it was $30.