Nowadays, good and free games are hard to come by. AAA games usually cost 60$ (which in some countries this value is so much higher) and not everyone can afford to purchase a nice game. Because of that, some of us are forced to play titles that are free. The biggest problem with free games is that they are either boring, bad or the simply the word “free” describing a particular game, actually means it’s barely a trial version.
That’s why, I’ve decided to create a list of free games, that are still quite popular in 2018 and can be considered interesting for you guys. Most of the titles you most probably heard already, but some of them might be still new to you.
Free MOBA games:
Generally speaking, a definite most of MOBA games are free. Unfortunately, in every single case, they accept some form of payment to give some kind of advantage. However, those advantages in MOBA games are not “game-breaking” and involve faster account leveling od new additional skills or faster access to particular hero/champion. Those paid services have no influence on actual game balance whatsoever. Let’s present three notable MOBA games here
League of Legends
If by any chance you still haven’t heard about “LoL”, this is absolutely the time to learn some facts about the game.
League of Legends (a.k.a LoL) is an absolute giant in MMO team-based strategy genre type (called MOBA).
In this game you control one of many available heroes and have to fulfill your role among your team:
you can be either tank to soak damage and redirect attention from others to you
become an assassin that although is fragile, is usually very mobile and has extremely powerful offensive abilities
be a mage that utilizes both defensive and offensive spells
chose damage dealing character (so-called ADC – “attack dealing carry”), a character that does steady physical ranged damage over a long period of time.
take a role of support – those classes have low damage, but usually have some kind of healing spell, crowd control ability, mobility improvement ability. Those classes are very different among each other. This role is very versatile
Your main goal is to destroy enemy Nexus, that is guarded by lots of turrets and minions that try to push 2 or 3 lanes (depending on the map you’re playing)
It does take some time to purchase certain champions (some are cheaper, and some are not), but every week a certain pool of heroes is available for new players. It is possible to buy special real-money boost that increased the amount of in-game currency. You may also spend real money to purchase particular champion directly.
To other paid service in LoL is purchasing skins for champions.
Remember that League of Legends cannot be treated as solo game. The first and most important thing is not your skill, but sole purpose of teamwork.
DOTA 2
This game is the biggest competition for LoL. The core concept of the game is literally the same, but both games have their differences. First and biggest difference is the pace of the game – League of Legends match takes between 25-45 minutes. Games longer than 50 minutes are quite unusual. In DOTA 2 however, game pace is much slower, with some games taking longer than 70 minutes.
Unlike in LoL, DOTA 2 gives access to ALL champions once you create an account. However, keep in mind that learning one champion takes a lot of time.
Another difference between both games is slight variations in a map and small differences in team roles (while keeping champions unique in both games) and general game balance.
Additionally, both games are featured in huge e-sport events and almost always incredible monetary prize is awarded to the best teams. Some already consider it a huge career path.
Smite
Smite is yet another MOBA game, however from the first look at the game, you may distinguish it from the previous two games. It is played from third-person camera mode unlike LoL and DOTA 2 which are both played from upper perspective.
Concept and goal are pretty much similar to both previous games. The fantasy of the game revolves around the Gods, and it adds a nice “flavour” to the game.
But apart from the camera angle, what are the differences between this game and League of Legends?
There aren’t as many item slots, so the game generally takes much less time to learn
games are shorter – which means it is more casual friendly.
unlike in both games, logging into the game in Smite rewards you (a pretty common thing in free games)
Before you purchase new champion and spend a lot of in-game currency, you may first test it in-game (rent)
Some of the skins can be purchased with in-game currency, unlike in League of Legends.
All three games are definitely noteworthy. Premium currency purchased via real money in all those games does not hinder you or doesn’t create an unfair advantage.
Co-op/team based games:
Path of Exile
And honestly this game isn’t completely free nor it’s an actual MMO (but can be treated as one). It assumed a system “pay for convenience” instead of “pay to win” like many free games tend to do. Path of Exile isn’t also really fully MMORPG title because it holds most aspects of typical action RPG game such as Diablo 3 for example.
Action begins when you take a role of an exile – one of seven available classes. Your goal is to defeat your enemies, do various quests, gain experience to promote your character. Dungeons are generated automatically to improve upon replayability of the game. Other things that are also generated randomly are weapons and armor. You can distinguish between several types of rarity from common to unique.
You are free to choose how your character will improve. The game can be played in multiplayer mode, but nothing stops you from playing alone in single player mode.
Warframe
Warframe has undergone lots of changes in its history. At one point it was on a brink of oblivion, but miraculously it managed to climb intensely in popularity after series of core gameplay changes. As it turns out, currently Warframe is a great game available for free, with some paid element, mainly for convenience. It is possible to buy certain weapons for real money (instead of finding/crafting it yourself), however, you still need to invest some time to improve it by actually playing the game. But what is Warframe and what it’s all about?
Warframe is a co-op TPS (third person shooter) where you control your character, an ancient race Tenno, who has awoken from cryosleep that lasted for centuries. Very quickly you get involved in the conflict.
Tennos are equipped with biomechanical suits called “Warframes”. Throughout your story, you learn how to create new suits for your character giving you unique abilities. The game is rather fast paced, that doesn’t allow you to slack around.
Warframe is also very casual friendly, as finishing a single (repeatable) mission takes from 3 to 10 minutes at the longest. It has also quite high replayability value, as the progression takes a lot of time.
Paladins
Paladins is a first person shooter revolving around multiplayer matches. You may choose one from 35 available heroes, with each having different abilities. Heroes differ from each others depending on their role – either front line, damage, support or flank heroes can be chosen.
Apart from typical FPS experience, developers of Paladins are planning to add Battle Royale type of gameplay.
If you know Overwatch and/or Team Fortress 2, then you can already imagine how Paladins gameplay looks like. It has received unusually good reviews and while around 3-4 million players tried the game within first months of the early-access release, in 2017 more than 11 million people played the game.
Fortnite Battle Royale
Fortnite is a great game type with survival elements, available completely for free and created by “People Can Fly” and “Epic Games” released in early access in 25 July, 2017.
In Battle royale type of games you are left alone to fight against other players. It’s an actual deathmatch, however, the size of the map as well as a huge number of players make it indeed a grand Battle royale title.
The game is played in third person camera. It is based on creating researchers, collecting resources and building fortifications. At first, it was heavily criticized for being a rip-off from Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, but seeing how popular this game has grown and what kind of mechanics it provided, it can be said that both games have their visible differences at first glance. For example, Fortnite allows to build new structures and destroy pre-existing ones. In PUBG this is impossible (at least for now).
Card games:
Hearthstone
Blizzard never seizes to amaze. By now they have released a single title from almost every type of game genre. But Hearthstone (apart from Heroes of the Storm which we didn’t mention in this article) is Blizzards most popular free game currently available. It features multiple tournaments where people battle for huge rewards. Diversity of playstyles is very common.
So, how is Hearthstone played? Simple. You collect cards, create a deck and fight against other players (or AI). Your goal is to take down entire enemy health pool by placing your offensive cards and attacking the enemy line. You struggle is made harder due to a huge amount of various utility/defensive cards that make your efforts futile. In order to place a card, you need to have an adequate amount of ‘mana’ (your resource), which grows every round. Simply put, the longer the game lasts, the stronger cards you may use.
Currently, the game requires you to put a lot of effort into collecting competitive decks, however only on high-level matches. Low tier duels are very enjoyable.
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game
Great card game released by CD Projekt Red for Windows, PS4 and Xbox One. And while Hearthstone itself is very easy, Gwent proves to be one of the easiest to get around card game there is (but just as hard to master as other card games). If you happened to play Witcher 3, you absolutely shouldn’t have any problems learning the basics of the game.
Gwent is a digital collection card game taking place in a world known from Witcher series. It offers a single player and multiplayer mode. While playing, you have to collect your card deck, divided into 5 different factions. Currently, players can start a skirmish match between them and their friend or a random player. Most card games feature health pool that you need to take down in order to win. what’s more, those games usually have some kind of resource system that lets you use a particular card. Gwent is different in those two aspects. Neither it has resource system or health pool. Your goal is to gain the biggest score to win a round. The duel ends after one player wins 2 rounds (“best of 3” system). Gwent also doesn’t have any resource system – from the very beginning you can use your strongest cards (not that it would be entirely smart, but if situation allows, you may do so)
If you are remotely interested in card games, you have to try this game out.
Author: Mirillis Team