2024 was another excellent year for gaming, with standout titles spanning various genres and platforms. Whether you’re into big-budget AAA titles or indie darlings that will devour your free time, there is something for everyone. While the price of a premium AAA title is now up to $70, that doesn’t mean you have to spend that much or at all to have a great time. Free-to-play titles aren’t just cheap mobile games anymore, and there is a lot to choose from to spend thousands of hours in without spending a dime. Here are our picks of the top free games of 2024 that you shouldn’t miss!
Best Free Games of 2024
All of these titles were released in 2024 and are usually available across all major platforms for free — barring a few exceptions.
10) Delta Force
Release Date: December 4, 2024
Developer: Team Jade
Platform(s): PC
If you’re a bit tired of the direction the Battlefield series has taken in its recent entries, Delta Force from Team Jade offers a similar experience with an entry fee of zero. It features everything you’d expect from a large-scale multiplayer battle shooter: extensive destruction, quick respawns, vehicles roaming the battlefield, and diverse operators tailored to different roles.
It also runs surprisingly well for an Unreal Engine game, and you don’t need much to get the FPS in the triple digits. Delta Force also has an extraction game mode that you can enjoy with friends, as well as a PvE raid mode if you just want to shoot some bots. When it comes to free-to-play first-person titles, Delta Force has a lot of the competition by filling in a gap that was occupied by Battlefield for the past decade.
9) Zenless Zone Zero
Release Date: July 4, 2024
Developer: miHoYo
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Android, iOS
You can’t have a gaming year without a major release from miHoYo. After the success of Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail, miHoYo decided to tackle the urban fantasy setting with a far more upbeat and stylized presentation with Zenless Zone Zero. It has all the hallmarks of a typical miHoYo release with a varied cast, satisfying action, and a plethora of content that you can access and enjoy without spending any in-game cash.
Just like Genshin Impact, it’s also receiving regular updates with new characters, missions, and systems. Obviously, this is a gacha title, so unless you’re okay with regularly dropping some cash, be prepared for a lot of grind to get all the characters.
8) Nightmare Kart
Release Date: June 5, 2024
Developer: LWMedia
Platform(s): PC
Nightmare Kart is Bloodborne on PC. That’s it, that’s the pitch. In all honesty, this is one of the most faithful love letters to the Lovecraftian action RPG that’s stuck on the PS4. You can download it for free on itch.io or Steam, and you probably should. It’s shockingly well-made, and we’re still unsure why it’s free.
Nightmare Kart recreates Yharnam in PSX visuals and throws in iconic characters from Bloodborne into a kart racer with over 12 unique vehicles, 16 maps, and tons of weapons to use against other racers. It has a full campaign mode that’s nearly two hours, challenging boss fights, and a versus mode for the local multiplayer goodness. Did I mention it runs on the Steam Deck? Because it does!
7) My First Gran Turismo
Release Date: December 6, 2024
Developer: Polyphony Digital
Platform(s): PS4, PS5
My First Gran Turismo is a free-to-play introduction to Gran Turismo 7 and the franchise in general. It does exactly what it advertises, offering a compact Gran Turismo experience that can be completed in a couple of hours, and replayed quite a bit before you decide if the premium paid version is for you or not.
While this is essentially a demo, there’s a good variety of content here with races, time trials, music rallies, and over 18 vehicles to unlock from the Lamborghini Countach LP400 to the Honda NSX Type R which you can fully customize as well. The best part, if you decide to buy Gran Turismo 7, all the unlocked vehicles will be added to your garage for free.
6) Once Human
Release Date: July 9, 2024
Developer: Starry Studio
Platform(s): PC
Once Human can be a bit of a hard sell. Your progress resets at the end of a season, tons of interconnected systems feel daunting at first, and the general UX experience is a bit messy. That said, once you sink your teeth into Once Human, it’s a tense and rewarding open-world survival experience that values your time and decisions with limitless customization, unpredictable conditions, and base-building options.
Once Human also introduces new scenarios within each Season to surprise players with new mechanics and conditions. This constantly keeps the experience fresh with new ways to play, fight, and cooperate. Oh, and speaking of monetization? There’s no pay to win, but there is a cosmetics dump just about every fortnight. Thankfully, the UI can be so hard to navigate that you’re unlikely to ever even find the cash shop.
5) Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket
Release Date: July 9, 2024
Developer: The Pokémon Company
Platform(s): PC
There’s nothing more satisfying than opening a new pack of trading cards, and Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket manages to recreate that feeling digitally with its addictive mobile game. Apply foils, complete iconic decks, and showcase your collection on beautiful boards.
Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket is a celebration of the trading card game that has a relaxing edge to it. Yes, you can technically spend money on this to complete your collection faster, and get fancier cosmetics, but I prefer this as a free-to-play experience because you always have daily packs to unlock, which in itself is rewarding.
The detailed animations, sound effects, and card variants are all a joy to interact with and you can practically smell the pack. Oh, and there’s a battle mode in this too, but who cares about that?
4) Celeste 64: Fragments of the Mountain
Release Date: January 29, 2024
Developer: Extremely OK Games
Platform(s): PC
Celeste celebrated its sixth anniversary earlier this year with a full 3D adventure reminiscent of Nintendo 64 platformers. Make no mistake, this isn’t just another Mario 64 clone, but the developers over at Extremely OK Games managed to transfer the incredible 2D Celeste experience to 3D with a bunch of new twists to suit the new perspective.
It’s a bit on the shorter side averaging around two hours, but every second of that is high-quality platforming that we’ve come to expect from the studio. It’s also completely free on Itch.io and can run on a toaster. Okay, maybe a fancy toaster, but my point stands.
It’s also technically a sequel in terms of story, so if you’ve been aching to find out what’s next for Madeline, this is essential.
3) Infinity Nikki
Release Date: December 5, 2024
Developer: Papergames
Platform(s): PC, PS5 Android, iOS
Are you tired of Gacha games that force you to play a certain way? What about the insane amount of grinding required to unlock some half-decent? Infinity Nikki does away with that for a casual experience that’s all about dressing up your character, taking photos, biking around, interacting with wholesome characters, and meaningful exploration.
The only thing holding back Infinity Nikki is a lack of challenge in basically any aspect of it. The bigger focus is on its picturesque world, stylish outfits, and shorter quests. This is the first major Gacha release that gives miHoYo titles some competition, and depending on who you ask, the casual tone and pacing is possibly more rewarding.
2) Marvel Rivals
Release Date: December 5, 2024
Developer: NetEase Games
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series S|X
Overwatch 2 finally has some competition in the form of a third-person hero shooter from NetEase Games with a Marvel hook. Marvel Rivals launched for free across all major platforms with over 33 characters unlocked from the get-go. The sheer variety of playable heroes, platform availability, and reasonable monetization meant that players could finally hop into something competent, fresh, and feature-rich without paying a dime.
Sure, a lot of heroes are essentially reskins of Overwatch characters right down to their archetype, design, and abilities. But the new perspective, added abilities, and team-up mechanic make it more than just an Overwatch clone. Marvel Rivals has done what many other hero shooters haven’t been able to, and that’s a successful launch with a striking art style that doesn’t feel half-baked. It has the potential to grow further, and currently offers a lot of value even in its free state.
1) Deadlock
Release Date: TBA
Developer: Valve
Platform(s): PC
Deadlock, the game Valve pretended doesn’t exist tops our list despite being in an alpha state. This hero shooter with MOBA mechanics is full of fresh ideas, incredible character designs, and some of the most engaging team-based battles we’ve seen since Team Fortress 2. Each character brings something unique to the table and evolves throughout the match into something truly special. If you’ve struggled to get into MOBAs because of their perspective, Deadlock offers a fresh new way to enjoy the genre.
Yes, this game is still in early access at the moment with plenty of unfinished in-game assets, but there’s nothing like it on the market. If you haven’t been invited to it yet, now is the time to bug someone in your Steam friends list for an invite because it takes mere seconds to get invited.
Published: Dec 16, 2024 01:37 pm