Best free Steam games in 2024

Get the full amount of fun for zero investment with these free PC games

Author:
Marco Wutz
Publish date:
Jan 2, 2024 9:59 AM EST

A memorable gaming experience on PC or Steam Deck doesn’t have to be expensive – the best free Steam games deliver the all-around package of quality and fun for zero investment on your part. The leading store platform on PC has lots of completely free video games to offer that you can enjoy by yourself or with your friends. With titles from many different genres present, there is something for everyone’s taste.

A bonus with these free-to-play titles is their healthy player base, which reduces queue times and helps you find balanced matches with a fair chance to win.

Here are some of the best Steam games you can play for free in 2024.

Counter-Strike 2

The sequel to CS:GO is now here and it's better than ever before. With a lot of major visual and mechanical updates, it makes for a much smoother experience while still being the game you know and love. It's a top-tier tactical shooter, and one you can easily while away countless hours on at just about any skill level.

Dota 2

Dota 2 is one of the biggest games on Steam, featuring the same action-packed, intense, and complicated 5v5 hero-based gameplay the original custom game for WarCraft 3 did. If you find League of Legends not mechanically engaging enough, prepare to enter the next level with this game, which adds tons of additional systems on top of the core experience you already know. Another big difference between the two games is that everything is actually free in Dota 2 – you don’t need to buy any of the 124 playable characters, but have access to all of them from the start.

War Thunder

You may have heard of War Thunder on your local news, because players of the military sim title just keep leaking secret or restricted military intelligence on the game’s forum to win arguments with each other. Other than that, War Thunder is a very fun multiplayer game that allows you to control basically any ground, air, or water vehicle built between World War II and today and pit them against each other. That won’t lead to any accurate battles like you’d expect from a sim game like Arma, but is very challenging and entertaining. That said, you should prepare for a lot of grinding if you want to work your way through the tech tree you’ve chosen.

Team Fortress 2

A Valve classic that just never gets old. These class-based firefights with their cartoon aesthetic and their childish sense of humor really are timeless, so if you played five years ago you will be able to simply jump in today, shake off the rust in one or two matches, and feel the years leave your body as you regain your youth. Watch out for spies masquerading as your friends, keep those heavies healed up as they push the objective, and rocket-jump to hell and back with the trusty old soldier. The only difference between now and then: There’s a lot more hats.

Lost Ark

Lost Ark is basically what you get when you coat Diablo into an Asian fantasy setting and make it into an MMO game – it still plays and feels like an action RPG with snappy combat and fun skills, but has all the scale, story, and community cooperation of a typical MMO. Launching after some delay in the West in 2022, this South Korean game became a record-breaking hit on Steam. So much so, in fact, that even tech giant Amazon had problems allocating enough server capacity to meet the unexpectedly high demand. Lost Ark is still going strong, adding more and more new content as time goes on, and is definitely an experience that even players not typically into MMOs might enjoy.

Warframe

Two words: Space. Ninjas. That’s basically what you play as in Warframe, as you take control over the titular battlesuits that imbue you with awesome firepower, slick sword skills, and other mighty abilities to use on your quest for – what else? – better loot. This game has been out for quite some time now, which has led to tons of feature additions and the development of an epic story with many twists and turns, which really adds value to the still excellent gameplay. Saved from the verge of bankruptcy by the late and great TotalBiscuit, the Warframe devs made the most of the second chance they got.

Marvel Snap

From the mind of Ben Brode, one of the brains behind Hearthstone and the grand CCG revival of the 2010s, came Marvel Snap in 2022 and blew people away. The deck-building is very diverse, the unique game mode centered around certain locations is entertaining, and the pacing of each match is great as well. Like in any other card game, you’ll need to catch up on established users with big collections, but thanks to the various deck options the game is offering you won’t need every card to be competitive. You can check our Marvel Snap best decks guide for inspiration.

Halo Infinite

Gripes with the progression system and the speed at which new content is released for Halo Infinite aside, the shooting in this free-to-play title feels as good as when it first launched. With many familiar weapons and vehicles being available for your perusal, each match in 343 Industries’ multiplayer game is a blast. With the Forge finally out, players are also generating a ton of fun custom maps to try, adding even more content you can dive into. If you’re looking for a new shooter to play with your friends for a while, this one is a great option.

Path of Exile

We already talked about a Diablo-MMO hybrid above, but Path of Exile is the Diablo for purists – those who never got over Diablo 3 not being like Diablo 2. Path of Exile is a quintessential action RPG experience, which adds different content and challenges on a seasonal basis to keep the game fresh. If you love grinding enemies to dust with powerful abilities just to slowly make your way to a certain bonus in a humongous skill tree or farm an item to finally get one with a very specific substat, then Path of Exile is the time sink you’ve been looking for.

Paladins

Overwatch became a free-to-play game with Overwatch 2, but the original was a full-price title. If you wanted a similar (sometimes even too similar, for some people) hero shooter experience, you didn’t have to look further than Paladins, which is still sticking around and thriving, even spawning a successful battle royale spin-off in the form of Realms Royale. Paladins offers a few different game modes from Overwatch and each character, who belongs to one of four classes, has a unique weapon, several skills, and an ultimate.

Conqueror’s Blade

Conqueror’s Blade is a unique multiplayer game, allowing you to build up an army to lead into big team-based battles that also include individual hero characters. It’s part Dynasty Warriors, Mount & Blade, and Total War: Arena – which I still wish would come back to us in some form, because it was tons of fun. There’s lots of grinding involved to get to the best units, but if you want to try out something completely different from most other games, then Conqueror’s Blade certainly stands out as an interesting experience.

Apex Legends

If you’re looking to get into the battle royale shooter genre, then you could certainly do worse than Apex Legends. This hero-based first-person shooter is full of powerful abilities and characters, but never forgets that it’s a shooter at heart, which is apparent in complex and deep mechanics such as its doors. Set in the same universe as the Titanfall series, Respawn Entertainment’s hit title is still going strong and being continuously updated.

Crusader Kings 2

Are you ready for a world of intrigue and war, complex relationships, generational and religious conflicts, and the occasional encounter with the plague? Boy, do I have the game for you: While a bit dated in terms of UI and accessibility, Crusader Kings 2 is an incredible story generator in which you steer your family through the dangers and opportunities the medieval world has to offer – with all of its distasteful tools at your fingertips. Usurp your liege, seduce your daughter, cuckold your son, make your own religion, name your horse to your council, elope with the pope, and, do with your realm whatever the hell you want, because it’s good to be the king* in this grand strategy RPG.

*Disclaimer: Being king also gets you cuckolded, seduced, murdered, conspired against, and spied on – paranoia and child murder are advisable.

Goose Goose Duck

Cartoony ducks in a futuristic building. — Gaggle Studios

Among Us who? Goose Goose Duck is the new social deduction game king on Steam: It’s free and has a lot more to offer in terms of game modes. It’s also endorsed by a big K-Pop star, so you know it’s cool.

The Sims 4

If you just need a break from your life and want to jump into someone else's, then you could do worse than playing The Sims 4. Switching to a free-to-play model a while back, EA's life simulation can be enjoyed without paying a dime now, though you'll only get access to the basics. Still, those are enough to get in a relaxing session of creating characters, building and decorating a house, or committing heinous pool-related crimes against your sims.

You should also check out our lists of the best PC games and best laptop games if you do have a bit of a budget for new purchases right now.