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Video games are great. Unfortunately, gaming can be a costly hobby. The big and flashy ones are extraordinarily pricey to produce, and even all those more modestly budgeted indies need to turn a profit. We, as consumers, are accustomed to paying for all that. No wonder we’re increasingly attracted to the idea of all-you-can-play services like PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass.
There’s also Apple Arcade. Even Nintendo Switch Online tosses some free games our way at times. PC storefronts like Amazon Prime and Epic Games Store are courting players with freebies galore. What a wonderful way to avoid spendingquiteso much on video games.
We reckon there’s a place on the net for an all-encompassing guide on every free game you’re able to grab at any given time. That’s precisely what this article sets out to be. Set your wallets aside and download away, friends.
PlayStation Plus
PlayStation Pluscomes in three tiers. In each tier, you will be granted access to free games. The difference in quantity, however, is massive.
PlayStation Plus Essential
For $9.99 per month, PlayStation Plus Essential offers access to online multiplayer and exclusive discounts as well as - and this is the important bit - a handful of games to download every month.
Additionally, PlayStation Plus members will receive an exclusive set of DLC items forOverwatch 2.
PlayStation Plus Extra
This $14.99 per month deal is the proverbial meat-and-potatoes of PlayStation Plus, where you’ll find a huge library of games to play for free at your leisure so long as you have an active membership.
Below is the bulk of what Sony has on offer, though there are plenty more titles coming and going over time.Just remember to go to the PlayStation Plus portion of your console’s main menu to download these whenever you’d like.
Call of the Sea
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round
Hack and Slash
Jak and Daxter The Lost Frontier
Life is Strange 2
LittleBigPlanet 3
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom
NBA 2K Playgrounds 2
NBA 2K23
Rock of Ages 3: Make and Break
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 13
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
Shadow of the Beast
Shadow of the Colossus
South Park: The Fractured But Whole
Spirit of the North
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness
This is the Police
This is the Police 2
XCOM 2
9 Monkies of Shaolin
PlayStation Plus Premium
For $17.99 per month, players will gain access not just to all of the above, but a growing number of PS1, PS2, PS3, and even PSP games as well. It’s effectively Sony’s answer to long-running demand for the support and sale of older games. Importantly, the PS3 games are all cloud-based, so you’ll want reliable enough internet to handle streaming.
On the other hand, you can freely download the following PS1, PS2, and PSP games. We’ll keep this updated going forward.Note that the PlayStation Classics label is beginning to include PS4 titles as well,so don’t be surprised to see a few down here.
PlayStation 2
PlayStation 4
PaRappa the Rapper 2
Rise of the Kasai
Get PlayStation Plus here!
Xbox Game Pass
In July 2023, Xbox announced some sweeping changes to theXbox Game Passecosystem. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, previously $14.99 per month, has climbed to $16.99. It includes the console library, the PC library, and EA Play. We still think it’s a great deal, and unfortunately, on a long enough timeline, prices are always destined to go up like this.
There’s also the Console version for $10.99, which gives you access to the full Xbox One/Series library, but neither the PC library nor EA Play. There’s the PC version as well, which is $9.99, and includes the PC library but neither of the other two sections.
Regardless of which route you choose, we’ll be as thorough as possible in listing what you’ll find.
State of Decay 2
7 Days to Die
Console and PC
Age of Empires 4
Ashes of the Singularity
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
Close to the Sun
FIFA 2021
FIFA 2022
FIFA 2023
Gears of War 2
Gears of War 3
Gears of War 4
Gears of War 5
GoldenEye 007
McPixel 3
Mount and Blade 2
NHL 2022
NHL 2023
Ori and the Blind Forest
Ori and the Will of Wisps
Plants vs Zombies 2
RoboQuest 1.0
SimCity 2000
SimCity 4
Sword and Fairy: Together Forever
The Bard’s Tale: Remastered and Resnarkled
UFC 4
Get Xbox Game Pass here!
Nintendo Switch Online
Nintendo’s always marched to the beat of its own drum, and its approach to an online gaming subscription is suitably different from PlayStation’s and Xbox’s. $19.99 gets you a year’s worth of online multiplayer access, plus a growing group of games from the classic Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and (most recently) Game Boy systems.
There’s a second tier as well, which adds representatives from two more vintage consoles as well as free DLC for certain games. For $49.99 per year - a notable jump, to be sure - you can enjoy titles from the Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, and even the Sega Genesis. Like NES, SNES, and Game Boy, these will receive more games over time, and we’ll be sure to add them.
Shadow of the Ninja
Breath of Fire 2
Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Streets of Rage 2
Kirby Tilt and Tumble
Get Nintendo Switch Online here!
Epic Games
The Epic Games Store plays host to a veritable ton of free-to-play games, but folks revel most in its rotating offerings of totally-freepremiumgames. The rotation tends to be swift - it’s a weekly effort - but as soon as you’ve claimed it, it’s yours forever. You won’t have to spend a dime, whereas everybody who didn’t snag it that week will.
Check out Epic’s free games here!
Prime Gaming
Amazon’s free video game approach closely mirrors Epic’s, though it tends to offer a larger number of games for a longer duration. On the one hand, that means more games in the short-term, and less pressure to claim. On the other hand, it means fewer fresh picks on a routine basis.
In addition to free games, Prime Gaming also offers its members in-game content like weapon skins and free-to-play premium currency, so keep tabs on their page for more.
Check out Amazon’s free games here!
Apple Arcade
Those of us who have bought into the iOS ecosystem - iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and Macs - can check outApple Arcade, a $4.99-per-month catalog of games with a surprisingly solid roster including more than a handful of Apple exclusives.
Our favorite thing about Apple Arcade is that gameplay saves can cross between hardware, so you can mess around with a game for an hour on the bus with your iPhone, then return to it later from the comfort of your Apple TV.To get the games each month, just check the Arcade page on your mobile device, iMac, or Apple TV.
Chess: Play and Learn
Frogger and the Rumbling Ruins
Kings of the Castle
Legend of the Skyfish 2
Pro Snooker and Pool 2022
Shantae and the Seven Sirens
South of the Circle
Takeshi and Hiroshi
Way of the Turtle
