Top 87 Games For Low End Pc and Laptops

If you’re looking for games you can play on a low-end PC or laptop, you’ve come to the right place. This is ExtremeTech’s staff-nominated list of favorite games that will play well, even if your PC is old enough to run for president, with the computing power of a potato.

You shouldn’t have to give up on immersive gaming just because you’ve got an older or low-end rig. If your hardware can’t handle the games of today, don’t be afraid to explore the games of 10 or even 20 years ago. We’ve tried to round up a wide variety of types and genres here, including several that are mod-friendly. Some of the titles listed here will even run fine with integrated graphics. UIs may be a bit clumsy — in some cases layouts only make sense if you remember gamers in the era were often limited to resolutions of 640×480 or 800×600 — but quality tends to shine through regardless.

RimWorld

Build a New Home on the Rim With: A Core 2 Duo, 4 GB of RAM, and 1 GB of available space.

RimWorld is an even mix of Dungeons&Dragons, an RTS, and an ant farm. Instead of assuming the role of a character, the player is a third-person DM who must keep a group of “pawns” thriving on a hostile planet. RimWorld is an open-ended, cooperative story-telling RPG where you set your own win conditions. The game was “inspired by Dwarf Fortress, Firefly and Dune,” if that helps give a sense of tone. Hazards include pirate raiders, marauding aliens, insectile horrors from the deep, and the ever-present specter of starvation or death by elemental extremes. When gameplay begins, your crew has crashlanded on an unknown, procedurally generated rimworld. Night is coming. Make some shelter!

For modding enthusiasts, RimWorld’s Steam Workshop hosts a huge variety of content, storyline, and QOL mods. Like Minecraft, load time is slower with a bunch of mods installed. But that’s not why I’ve got more than six hundred hours of playtime on record. This game is just as addictive as Civ.

Portal, Portal 2

Now We Can Continue Testing: Portal will run on a Pentium 4, while Portal 2 recommends a Core 2 Duo. Both games require 4 GB of RAM, and 1 GB of available space.

We weren't kidding about "runs on a potato."

Pictured here: the Worst Potato. Or perhaps the Best?

What list of games that you can play on a potato would be complete without the inclusion of Portal? If you haven’t tried out the Portal games yet, you’re missing out. They’re a collection of maddening spatial puzzles that really do require you to start thinking with portals. Evade lasers, experience new depths of betrayal, and throw yourself headlong through holes in spacetime. Portal 2 also has co-op. For the fandom: the deadpan genius who voices Cave Johnson is also the voice of Tenzin and J. Jonah Jameson.

Faster Than Light

To Save the Galaxy, You’ll Need: a slide rule. No, seriously, this game’s requirements are the lightest of the lot. You’ll need a 2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 175MB drive space. But FTL only requires a graphics solution capable of 1280×720 and OGL 2.0, with 128MB of RAM.

Do you enjoy spaceships, pixel art, and chiptunes? If so, FTL might be a great next binge game. Faster Than Light delivers a lot of replayability in a compact, low-overhead “spaceship simulation roguelike-like.” Take your ship and crew on an adventure through a randomly generated galaxy filled with glory and bitter defeat. Permadeath means you have to start over if you die, but it’s worth it for the chance to try again.

Old School Runescape

Kick It Old School With: An i3 or thereabouts, capable of 2GHz. You’ll also need 4GB of RAM, 200 MB of disk space, and a broadband connection or compatible mobile device.

In this free-to-play MMORPG, build your character and step into a low-poly medieval wonderland without giving Blizzard a dime. Do you like PVP? Puzzles? Parkour? Runescape offers a dizzying variety of skills to improve. And there are also a lot of ways to play this game. It’s a little like SecondLife. You can hunt, fish, gather and cook. You can roam around as a murder hobo™ and reap XP for slayer quests. If you want to settle in, you can buy and furnish a house. There are no formal classes — you can level each stat to your own liking. Do you want to be a mage? An archer? A paladin? Shape your avatar’s powers in precisely the way you want.

Braid

Weave Your Way Through Time Using Your Wits and: Any processor 1.4GHz or faster, alongside 200 MB of disk space and a gigabyte or so of memory. Requires DX9. Supports Windows XP.

In this dreamy 2D puzzle platformer, the protagonist has come “unstuck” in time. The player must navigate a painterly world where just like their character, only some things move with time’s arrow. Rewinding time and manipulating the timeline are central gameplay mechanics. You can never die, and you never lose. Unlike rogue-type games and grind-heavy open-world RPG titles (cough, ARK, cough), Braid “treats your time and attention as precious.” The game doesn’t force you to solve puzzles by halting your progress until you get it right. If you can’t figure something out, you can simply play onward, and come back when you’re ready.

This game would run on a toaster. But just in case, there’s also a free demo on Steam, so you can try before you buy.

Super Meat Boy

Attain New and Exciting Dimensions of Rage If You Have: Any CPU of 1.4GHz or faster, a gigabyte of RAM, and 300 MB of storage space. Requires DX9; supports Windows XP.

Super Meat Boy is a 2D platformer, and it has a cult following for a reason. Yell in triumph as you finally nail that sweet wall jump and get through the impasse you’ve been swearing at for an hour. Keyboard and mouse controls are tight and responsive, and the title is also gamepad-friendly.

There’s a sequel, Super Meat Boy Forever, but it’s an auto-runner with mixed reviews. Crowd consensus is that in both mechanics and plot, SMBF is more like an expansion pack than a new game.

Bejeweled 3

Give Smaug A Run For His Money Using: Any processor of 1.2GHz or greater, along with 128MB of video RAM and a single gigabyte of RAM. You’ll also need 320MB or so of storage.

Bejeweled is the chillest of the chill. It’s a great way to take a pomodoro break or just wind down. Swap pairs of lustrous jewels to create a lineup of 3, 4 or more. Different game modes offer variations on that central theme. In the Endless mode, Bejeweled actually works with you like a wingman, to enable spectacular combos and cascades. If you like stress, there are also merciless timed and turn-based modes that demand strategy on the fly, like the “Butterflies” mode shown here. I have spent a truly disgraceful amount of time making just one more swap, hoping to hear “EXTRAORDINARY.” Free of in-app purchases, this game is also suitable for kids.

Creeper World 4

Fight the Endless Flood of Goo With: Any dual-core 2GHz CPU (64-bit preferred), 3GB of RAM, and 2GB of storage.

Take charge of an arsenal of weapons to do battle with a strange blue goo that is hellbent on taking over the world. Creeper World 4 is the first Creeper game to use 3D. The battles have a steady challenge level that remains engaging without crushing players via sudden difficulty spikes. Best of all, there’s a free demo on Steam you can experiment with before pulling the trigger.

Bloons TD 6

Dart, Bomb, and Nuke Balloon-Based Foes Powered By: At least a 64-bit 1.5GHz CPU, Windows 10, 4GB of RAM, and an OpenGL 2.0-capable graphics card.

Bloons TD 6 began life as a mobile game and those roots are easy to see. This monkey-themed tower defense game is absolutely ba — well, you know. Your task is to keep an endless stream of increasingly troublesome balloons (“bloons”) from getting through your defenses. (Are monkeys and balloons enemies in the wild?) Choose your Hero, assemble your team of Monkey towers, and pop, zap, scorch and glue your way through dozens of different levels. Bloons is surprisingly complex underneath its bright, cartoonish facade. Difficulty ranges from nearly AFK to completely bonkers.

Hotline Miami 1 and 2

Slaughter the Russian Mob, So Long as You’re Packing: A 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 1GB of RAM, and a DX9 GPU.

The Hotline Miami games both received rave reviews for their unique settings, gameplay, and story. The first game casts you as a nameless character nicknamed “Jacket” by the community. The game takes place in a gritty, stylistically distinctive version of Miami in 1989. Your task? Kill off the local Russian mob. Hotline Miami 2 deals with the aftermath of your actions and the events that led to them, providing additional context around the story. It also skips ahead to 1991 to answer the question of what happened to Jacket after your rampage.

Brutal Doom

Liquify Demons, Slaughter Hellspawn, and Reduce Your Enemies to Slurry With the Power Of: Any dual core CPU, 2GB of RAM, and a GPU with 256MB VRAM.

Brutal Doom is a bit different than any other game on this list. You’ll need to do a bit of legwork — and you need to own the original Doom / Doom 2, their various shareware versions, or have your own free WAD files you want to run. This list gives the instructions for installation and some links to free maps that are great to play with the mod, if you don’t have any of the official WADs.

As for what Brutal Doom is — it’s the version of Doom you’d want to play if it were made today, in a modern FPS engine. There are new, alternate weapons for your starting pistol. Guns now have load mechanics. There are alternate weapons for the Plasma Rifle and the BFG 9000, and you can find and use some enemy weapons that were not previously accessible in-game. Features like mouselook, aiming, and jumping are all implemented. There’s a fast rolling motion to dodge fire, a new fatality mode, and additional difficulty levels.

In short, it’s amazing.

Among Us

Learn to Distrust Friends and Family Using: Intel P4 2GHz, Nvidia GeForce 510, 250MB HDD space.

Among Us pits a group of 4-10 players against each other. 1-3 players are Imposters, while the remainder are Crewmates. Crewmates must complete a defined list of tasks and discover who the Imposters are. Meanwhile, the Imposters pretend to be Crewmates so they can sabotage the ship by stealth. If your family manages to remain zen through four-hour Monopoly games, try challenging them with this.

Poly Bridge

Your Inner Civil Engineer Requires: Pentium 4 2GHz, 2GB of RAM, GeForce 7200 GS, 150MB of storage.

Poly Bridge is a great puzzle game, somewhat in the tradition of now-ancient titles like The Incredible Machine. In this case, you must design bridges that can carry a certain number of vehicles while also coming in under budget. These two simple goals can be difficult to achieve in later levels (there are more than 60), since the game adds various hazards and the need to deploy construction techniques I’m fairly certain the Army Corps of Engineers does not approve of.

The game recently got a sequel (which I haven’t played yet). Reviews of it seem a bit less enthused than for Poly Bridge, with one noting it felt more like an expansion pack to the original. It is, however, excellently rated on Steam.

Disco Elysium

Stagger Drunkenly at an Adequate Frame Rate Using: Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 20GB HDD space, 512MB graphics card.

In Disco Elysium, you’re an alcohol-and-drug-abusing amnesiac detective who has been hired to solve a murder mystery. This sort of thing happens so often in games, you’d think there’d be some kind of agency in charge of ensuring would-be detectives still knew their own names.

As you work to solve a murder you’ll remember things about yourself. You’ll also have access to a system of traits with which to flesh out your character. There are 24 skills in the game, and they all have an impact on how the game evolves. Pick the wrong (or right) ones, and you may end up arguing with yourself over the correct course of action. Disco Elysium won Game of the Year from several publications, and it’ll run on 14-year-old hardware.

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden

Search for Scrap On: Core i5-760, Phenom II X4 965, GTX 580 / AMD Radeon 7870 HD, 6GB RAM, 8GB HDD.

This XCOM-meets-Fallout title is based on the tabletop Mutant Year Zero game. If you’ve played the modern XCOM games, you’ll be familiar with most of the gameplay elements. Mutant Year Zero gives you direct control of your squad outside of combat and fuses XCOM’s gameplay with some light RPG elements.

The worst thing we can say about Mutant Year Zero is that you’ll have to do some Googling to figure out which buttons are tied to which keyboard functions. The game’s plot and post-apocalyptic setting recall the best parts of Fallout. While the game isn’t as deep as one of those sprawling titles, it still feels like a spiritual sequel. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden feels a bit like a “AA” game, for lack of a better phrase. Reasonably well-polished with solid aspirations, but you won’t mistake it for a 400-hour dungeon crawler.

World of Warcraft Classic

Visit Beautiful Molten Core if You Own: Is your PC literally old enough to run for office? No? You’re fine. Officially, Core 2 Duo E6600 or AMD Phenom X3 8750, 8800 GT or Radeon HD 4850, or Intel HD Graphics 4000. Unofficially, you can run probably run Classic on less. I’ve tested it on a 2015 Razer Blade Stealth with Intel 520 HD graphics and the frame rate was high enough to make me think there’s some headroom in those already-low-end graphics options. Interestingly, WoW Classic isn’t listed as requiring a DX11 GPU.

This is Lakeshire, in the Redridge Mountains. Left is Retail, right is Classic.

Revisit a simpler time, when an MMO that largely takes place outside and requires you to congregate with large groups of people didn’t feel fantastical (at least not for those reasons). WoW Classic is everything you loved (or hated) about original World of Warcraft. I’m a biased fan, to be clear, but just because I’m biased doesn’t mean I’m wrong.

It’s World of Warcraft: Classic, which is to say, #NoChanges (except for a few of the changes, but really, there aren’t that many). There’s a lot to love in the original version of Blizzard’s MMO classic, especially if you like games of this era in the first place. It may use the modern WoW engine, but Blizzard re-used original WoW’s textures and assets. The result is a game that runs just fine on a low-end PC, including Carrizo-powered AMD ultrabooks and Intel integrated graphics.

Untitled Goose Game

Chase People Like an A****** With: Core 2 Duo 8500, Nvidia GeForce 510, 4GB of RAM, 820MB storage. The 510 is a bottom-end card from 2011, which means midrange or high-end cards from 2011. As long as your GPU can handle DX11, you’re fine.

Untitled Goose Game challenges you to find the Canadian goose inside yourself. Yup. Don’t let the cute fool you. This is a game about being an unrepentant asshole. Since the joys of honking and flapping don’t require a high-end PC, Untitled Goose Game is another game that’ll run on just about any toaster you can drag out of storage.

Honk. Flap. Troll people. Get into places you shouldn’t. Steal stuff, trick humans, annoy pets, wash, rinse, and repeat with great relish. It’s a brilliant game for people turned off by “typical” titles looking for a silly, funny, low-key experience.

Arkham City

Soar Through Gotham On: Any dual-core CPU at 2.4GHz or more, Nvidia 8800 GT or AMD Radeon 3850, 2GB of RAM. Supports Windows XP.

I’m sticking with Arkham City in this update, rather than moving on to one of the newer titles. Arkham Asylum is, to be sure, still an excellent game, and it runs on an even lower-spec system than Arkham City. But between the two of them, Arkham City is the better overall Batman game. Batman’s overall bag of tricks gets polished and AC offers you playing time as characters like Catwoman, with her own distinct moveset and animation style.

Arkham City feels as though it genuinely captures what it would be like to “be” Batman. The game also has a clever twist explaining why you face a never-ending army of thugs. If you want to find out if you’re going to like the Arkham game series, I’d say this is the best one to try. If you need something even gentler on system specs, try the original Arkham Asylum.

Into the Breach

Calculate Strategic Micro-combat Using: Any 1.7GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 300MB storage, and an Intel HD 3000 IGP.

Into the Breach is a turn-based strategy game that takes place on small maps of 8×8 grids. From the makers of FTL, Into the Breach challenges you to beat back waves of attackers in turn-based combat. There are no XCOM-style probability fields to deal with here — you get full transparency into what actions will be taken by both your own characters and the enemies you engage with.

Into the Breach launched in 2018, but it’s still winning recognition for its unique approach to turn-based combat today. Definitely worth checking out, if you’re looking for some turn-based combat options.

West of Loathing

Spittoon-and Snake-Themed Exploration Needs: An Nvidia GeForce 7200 GS, Core 2 Duo 7400, 2GB of RAM, and 4GB of storage. Runs on Windows XP SP2+.

West of Loathing is a “graphical” adventure game that could run on a Lite-Brite. Don’t let the black-and-white stick-based graphics fool you — under the hood is a classic adventure game with RPG elements, killer clowns, demon cows, snake oil salesmen, and a heap of spittoons to dig through in search of loot. The dialog is laugh-out-loud funny and the game’s irreverent humor recalls the best adventure game writing of earlier eras.

West of Loathing came out at the end of 2017, but it’s still a top pick if you need a game that runs on anything and offers some genuine laugh-out-loud moments.

Stardew Valley

Want to Farm Crops and Help People? Bring Your Pickaxe and: Any CPU at 2GHz or more, any GPU with at least 256MB of RAM and SM 3.0 support, 2GB of RAM and 500MB of storage.

Stardew Valley was heavily inspired by the Harvest Moon series of video games but adds its own spin on the concept. Explore Pelican Town, make friends, fall in love, and restore your grandfather’s farm to health in a gentle, open-ended title that will tease your curiosity as opposed to yanking you hither and yon with frantic quest demands.

Stardew Valley received a second major content update in Patch 1.5. There’s a whole new island to explore, with new villagers and NPCs, alongside new quests, flora, and fauna. The update includes various bug-fixes, quality-of-life improvements, and local split-screen co-op. ConcernedApe has also announced official cooperation with the creator of SMAPI, to add mod support to the game’s vanilla source code in a forthcoming update.

Cuphead

Visit the Era of Classic Animation (and Try Not to Die) if You’ve Got: An Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+, 2GB of RAM, Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT / AMD Radeon HD 3870, 20GB HDD space. Only needs DirectX 9.0c support, but still requires Windows 7.

Cuphead’s visual aesthetic is truly unique — it’s the only game we’ve ever seen that mimics the “rubber hose” animation style of the early 1930s. You’ll need sharp reflexes to beat this frenetic 2D platformer, but not much in the way of PC horsepower.

Cuphead is a great game for someone looking for a game you might fairly call “Nintendo hard,” particularly if they enjoy its animation.

Minecraft

Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Skeledoot With: A Core i3 3210 or A8-7600, Intel HD 4000 or AMD’s Radeon R5 family. You’ll also need 4GB of RAM, 180MB-1GB HDD space, and a 1024×768 display. High draw distances can be hard on performance.

Minecraft is an endearing, engaging open-world sandbox. People have used Minecraft’s redstone mechanic to create everything from 1:1 scale models of the starship Enterprise to functional (if simple) CPUs. For us mere mortals, Minecraft is an easily accessible game with a rich crafting system, dangerous mobs, and huge worlds to explore. Rebel sympathizers may also be pleased to hear that the game has even become a bastion of journalistic freedom, thwarting disinformation and censorship on an international scale. The International Library of Alexandria exists within Minecraft, where Reporters Without Borders (RSF) uses it to bypass Internet censorship efforts like the Great Firewall of China Golden Shield.

This game has inspired millions of people to spend billions of hours stacking 8-bit voxels on top of each other. Its simple graphics belie incredible creative and expressive potential. Minecraft is a phenomenal crafting and building game, but its ending is enough to bring even jaded veteran gamers up short. It’s astonishingly evocative — if you know, you know.

Orcs Must Die, Orcs Must Die 2

The Plot Chickens. Defend the Order Rift Using: Any dual-core CPU at 2GHz or above, a GeForce 6800 or ATI Radeon x1950 with 256GB of RAM, 2GB of RAM, and at least 256MB of VRAM. Supports Windows XP.

Revisit the simple joy of spring-loaded traps and acid bombs. I recommend OMD1, but OMD2 is definitely the better game.

Orcs Must Die and Orcs Must Die 2 are some of our favorite titles for mindless slaughtery goodness. There’s an army of marauding orcs coming — and, you see, they must die. This hybrid tower-defense/action game tasks you with burning, blasting, freezing, smashing, dissolving, shooting, and generally wreaking mayhem against wave after wave of orcs, trolls, ogres, and other various bad guys. It’s easy to learn and sometimes surprisingly difficult to master.

OMD excels at offering a variety of fun ways to end monsters in style. Spring-loaded traps that hurl creatures through the air? Check. Acid sprayers and arrow traps? Check. Trinkets to transform you into a massive ogre, hurl fireballs, or turn orcs into chickens? Check.

Darkest Dungeon

Face the Unspeakable Horrors Your Ancestor Unleashed in the Stygian Depths: 2GB of RAM, a GPU capable of supporting OpenGL 3.2 (released in 2009), 2GB of storage. 1080p, 16:9 displays recommended.

Darkest Dungeon is a 2D, side-scrolling dungeon crawler with a side helping of Lovecraftian horror (hold the racism) and a mental health management simulator. As your heroes wind their way through the stygian abyss, they’ll face the dripping claws and rasping moans of the eons-damned creatures that dwell beyond the stars. Safeguard them carefully, or you’ll find the abyss staring back at you when you least expect it…

Darkest Dungeon can be legitimately annoying, but if you love mods like “Longest War” for XCOM, this series is a treasure. DD doesn’t pull punches, and if you think you’ve figured the game out, that probably means there’s a DLC or difficulty level waiting to kneecap you around the corner.

So there you have it: our list of favorite games for low-end PCs. Feel free to chime in with your own. What older games or titles still have a cherished spot on your hard drive, and what games do you find yourself returning to, long after they’ve supposedly been surpassed by more recent releases?

Are you still hungry? want more games? Here you go!

62 More Games For Low End Pc's And Laptops:

Signs of the Sojourner

A clever deckbuilder where the goal isn’t necessarily to overpower your opponents with the best cards, but to play the right cards to work through various conversations.

Unlike Slay the Spire or other modern deckbuilders, Signs of the Sojourner is more story-driven. Your home town is at risk of losing relevance, so you’re tasked with collecting more goods to make it a more trade-friendly destination.

That involves travelling and talking to various characters, playing cards in a quest to make a connection. You play cards in turn, and each card has a coloured shape on either side. The idea is to match cards up in a ongoing chain, mirroring the flow of a natural, happy chat. As you travel further, however, you’ll pick up fatigue cards that can’t be matched with any symbol. Break the chain of conversation too much and you’ll have a disagreement — too many of those and the conversation ends, with the character remembering that in the future.

It’s a really clever take on deckbuilding that’s vastly more interesting that a lot of other models I’ve seen lately. And, because it’s a cute indie game, it’ll naturally run on just about any PC under the sun. More info here on Steam.

Blood: Fresh Supply

Before Shadow of War, Monolith Productions had a history making some very old-school classic shooters. One of those was the original Blood games, which funnily enough would inspire its own South Korean comic, Priest.

Remaster house Night Dive Studios recently brought Blood back to life, adding Vulkan support, a co-op mode, better graphics, support for modern system and full 3D look, making it a much more playable game by today’s standards. It’ll still run on an absolute potato, however, so if you want a dose of nostalgia, Blood: Fresh Supply will get you there on the cheap.

Coffee Talk

A game with strong Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories vibes, the Indonesian-made Coffee Talk is all about running your own cafe. Creatures of various species come into your bar, all with their own stories and preferences for what they want in their drink.

While you prepare their drink, they’ll chat to you, other diners, and just generally unwind from their day. If you loved visual novels like VA-11 Hall-A, then Coffee Talk will absolutely be your jam. The aesthetic is fantastic, the background music is effortlessly chill in almost like a lo-fi beats vibe, and as you’d expect, it’s a game that will run on practically anything. There’s a free demo here, and the whole game is available for just under $13 at the time of writing.

Fallout: New Vegas

Any of the old Fallout games will happily run on games with integrated graphics. But if you had to pick one, and you haven’t played it already, Fallout: New Vegas has a very special charm to it. There’s a reason it’s the most beloved Fallout on Steam despite the notorious jank, occasional crashes and bugs that occasionally break quests.

New Vegas has also been the beneficiary of some outstanding mods — including ones to reduce how much the game crashes — and if you’ve got an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate/Game Pass for PC subscription, then you’ll already have access to New Vegas along with it.

The Shadowrun Series

You can’t go wrong with any of the Shadowrun games. Hong Kong is probably the best of the lot, although I still thoroughly enjoyed the original Shadowrun Returns.

All three games are available now for $26, and if you’re after something that runs natively on Macs, the Shadowrun games work on those too. (They’ll fly on M1 laptops, if you’re sporting one of those.)

XCOM 2

Another Mac-supported game, XCOM 2 has been a benchmark for turn-based tactics since its original reboot in 2012. Both XCOM games are playable on mobiles and tablets, too, although I’ve always found the most stable experience is on a proper desktop or laptop.

If you’ve got a really old system, you might have better luck with the original XCOM. Either game is well worth playing at least once, if only so you have the experience of knowing where so many other games drew their foundations from. But if you want a more punishing experience that’s more like the original X-COM PC games from the ’90s, Xenonauts is the way to go.

Anodyne 2: Return to Dust

A lot of games hark back to the polygonal PS1/early 3D-accelerated era of PC gaming, but not all of them do so well. Anodyne is one series that does, and Anodyne 2 is especially clever about it.

The sequel blends that early era of open-world adventures like Spyro and Little Big Adventure 2 with top-down dungeons evoking Zelda and the Game Boy Color era. Heather said it best when she played Anodyne 2 here:

Anodyne 2 feels like the product of several lessons coming home to roost, both in terms of how confidently it weaves together different gameplay styles and how much it nails old school Playstation visuals … even the few moments I’ve spent with it have been inspiring. If you like good games or want to slide into a truly nostalgic and kind-hearted experience, keep your eyes on Anodyne 2.

Both Anodyne games are playable on Macs too, if you’re after something for that platform. More info’s available on the Steam page.

Disco Elysium

Apart from being the kind of RPG that doesn’t require much dexterity, making it playable with just a touchpad, Disco Elysium also rolled up an update to make it playable on the lowest-end possible machines. “With this latest update, Disco Elysium’s minimum specs have been dropped down to Mariana Trench levels,” the devs announced in mid-2020.

But how low, you might ask? Low enough that mid-2012 Macbook Airs, or any PC/laptop with a Core 2 Duo (that’s a CPU from 2006) is capable of playing ZA/UM drunken adventure.

Also, Disco Elysium happens to be one of the best RPGs released in the last few years. So if you can, play it for that.

SUPERHOT

One of the best indie games of the last five years that knows how not to overstay its welcome. Surprisingly well optimised, too, and it’ll also run natively on Macs (although not natively on new M1 laptops, mind you).

Persona 4: Golden

best laptop games — Image: Persona 4 Golden

Persona 4 was built to run on the PS2 and the Vita, so there should be no surprise that it runs just fine on today’s potato rigs and laptops. The JRPG is one of the best in the long-running series, and its PC release is probably the best indicator that, finally, Atlus might actually port Persona 5 to PC. (Or the Switch.)

The Persona series was always perfect as a second-screen adventure, and you can absolutely enjoy Persona 4 if you’re completely new to the franchise. (Persona games are standalone anthologies, much like the Final Fantasy titles.) It’s a cracking adventure, it was brilliant when it first launched, and it’s still brilliant today. Have at it.

Loop Hero

Part auto-battler, part RPG, part settlement builder, part resource management and part deckbuilding, Loop Hero is one of the most creative indies of the last couple of years. A supremely clever game, and the auto-battling element makes it a breeze to play on a laptop too.

Alien Swarm / Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop

Imagine you’re a bunch of modders, and then you get hired by Valve. And just for kicks, you decide to make a top-down take on Aliens. Complete with unique classes, characters, over 40 weapons, loadouts, a level editor and mod tools, and then you release the entire thing for free.

That’s Alien Swarm. It’s the best co-op game available for nothing these days. Oh and just for fun? The game’s AI Director is the same one that’s in Left 4 Dead. And if 4 players isn’t enough co-op action for you, Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop supports up to 8 players … and it’s also completely free.

The Dark Mod

This is technically a massive love letter to Thief: The Dark Project, so you really should play that first if you can. Practically every modern stealth game owes something to Looking Glass’s iconic design, and The Dark Mod is the ultimate love letter to that.

It’s a standalone open source game, so you don’t have to buy Thief beforehand. Updates over the years have made it easier to maintain, install, while also improving performance on a wide range of systems.

Battle for Wesnoth

Imagine Fire Emblem as a strategy game but with hexes, more like the classic PC turn-based games of the ’90s. That’s kind of what Battle for Wesnoth, a free open source title on Steam, provides.

There’s plenty of content to enjoy: the game was first released in 2003 and has been updated with 17 separate solo campaigns over the time. Obviously it’ll run on just about any PC that boots these days, although the developers have done well to maintain a very clean aesthetic.

OpenTTD

While not available on Steam yet (although it’s coming), OpenTTD is the open source fan-remake of Transport Tycoon Deluxe. There’s not much to say beyond that: it’s a huge fan project that has been running for ages, and is really the ultimate version of one of the best early-era simulator games. Check it out on the official site here.

Rhythm Doctor

A one-button game about healing patients by activating the defibrillator in time with each patient’s heartbeat, each of which is unique. A deeply clever spin on the genre, Rhythm Doctor is one of the highest rated games on Steam this year and a very cheeky way to learn music without realising it. There is a level editor too, and there’s local multiplayer support (or online play via Steam’s Remote Play Together feature) for the whole campaign. Check it out here.

LISA

To say much about lisa would be to completely spoil the experience, so I’m just going to leave you with this from the official description.

Players will learn what kind of person they are by being FORCED to make choices. These choices permanently effect the game play. If you want to save a party member from death, you will have to sacrifice the strength of your character. Whether it’s taking a beating for them, or chopping off limbs, or some other inhuman way.

Lisa is weird, fucked up, and utterly astonishing. One of the most underrated stories in video games, hands down, and it’ll run on just about everything under the sun. Get it here, and there’s a fan game to check out once you’re done.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

One of the great visual novel series, Danganronpa pits you in a life-or-death situation. You’re a high schooler with a serious problem: people are dying, and the only way to graduate is to kill someone without others finding out. The only way out is to solve the murder Ace Attorney-style, although there’s a lot of mini games sprinkled throughout.

The game also has one of the better villains in a visual novel series. Here’s the sadistic teddy bear Monokuma creepily laughing while a teenager cries in horror.

Just standard visual novel things. Head here if you’re into that stuff.

ULTRAKILL

Devil May Cry meets Quake. Do I need to sell it any more than that? I shouldn’t, but just in case, here’s everything you need to know. Alternatively, just head straight to Steam.

Dicey Dungeons

Imagine Slay the Spire roguelike deckbuilding, but you’re a dice. Literally. And you’re fighting vacuum cleaners, snowmen, dragons, cute space marines with hilariously oversized guns and more. It’s got a banging soundtrack too, courtesy of the same composer from Super Hexagon.

But really, it’s best to understand Dicey Dungeons by watching some gameplay. It’s cute, a great twist on some classic mechanics and plenty of laughs, as you’d expect from a Terry Cavanagh game. More info is available here.

Dawn of War 2

Still one of the best RTS co-op experiences, and one of the best strategy games to share with a friend. Dawn of War 2 broke a lot of ground by focusing on tactics rather than traditional base and resource management, but over a decade later the game and its excellent expansions still holds up today. DoW 2 often goes on sale for a few dollars, so you and a mate can grab it for the cost of a large pizza if you’re patient.

Fights in Tight Spaces

Imagine a John Woo movie crossed with a deckbuilder, and you’re halfway to understanding Fights in Tight Spaces. An early access game that’s a couple of months out, the game is all about managing your positioning, movement and the balance of your cards to navigate any given situation. It’s a deeply clever little tactics game with a simple hook and a brilliant aesthetic. Definitely check it out.

Umurangi Generation

Umurangi Generation has a ton of different things going for it. For one, it’s one of those rare games based around the idea of photography, with each level being a different part of a dystopian future city that you’re chronicling through your lens.

The game’s also steeped in Māori culture, courtesy of Ngai Te Rangi designer Naphtali Faulkner. Faulkner’s living in Australia right now, and the game’s heavily influenced by the recent Australian bushfires, which you can see throughout Umurangi as the city hangs on the precipice of disaster.

Umurangi Generation is a low-key, chill game that moves at its own pace. That’s a great fit if you’re looking for something to play on a laptop or low-end rig.

Among Us

You know, $7.50 is great value if you wanna immolate every shred of trust between your friends and family. The year’s best version of Werewolf or Secret Hitler, Among Us has absolutely exploded in popularity this year. Great with friends and for helping reconnect with friends when you’re not able to meet in person, although if you can get together in a group, the mobile version works great too.

Firewatch

One of the best indies of the current generation and absolutely worth a few hours time replaying. Apart from being relaxed enough to be easily playable on a laptop or low-end rig, Firewatch also had the remarkable effect of inspiring fans to take up firewatching for real, which is always a wonderful legacy for a game to leave.

Gunpoint

One of the great stealth PC indies, Gunpoint is all about dodging alarms, sight cones and crafting clever plans to confound enemies. Sometimes it’ll all work perfectly, and other times you’ll completely screw it up. A great, short title with tight mechanics that’s often available on sale for a few dollars.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky

One of the most well-crafted — and most enormous — JRPGs ever made, Trails in the Sky is an excellent adventure that you can comfortably get lost in for weeks. It’ll run on literally everything: the minimum requirements are a Pentium 3 550Mhz CPU, which was released all the way back in 1999. Your laptop can handle this one easy.

La Mulana

If you’ve got some patience, then one of the most difficult platformers awaits. La Mulana is one of the original Metroidvanias that delighted in brutalising players, far more than Castlevania or its ilk ever did. A complex dungeon and some truly brutal puzzles, but if you like a challenge, La Mulana will keep you busy.

The Witness

Look. I personally wouldn’t play The Witness on a laptop of any description, but that’s because The Witness would be liable to make me throw said laptop across the room. The game has an astonishing ability to make you feel real dumb. Hell, some people started drawing on their TVs just to work out some of the puzzles.

But in all seriousness, it’s an extraordinary game. Great on the eyes, too, if you’re playing on a newer laptop with a HDR-capable screen.

Star Wars: Empire at War

Age of Empires meets Star Wars. Do you really need more than that?

Strife: Veteran Edition

A blast from the past courtesy of remaster legends Night Dive Studios. Strife was a shooter first released in 1996, built on the principle that DOOM-esque games were capable of incorporating deeper stories and RPG elements.

The re-released version plays much more nicely on modern screens and operating systems. The low-end requirements mean you won’t have to tank every detail into oblivion either. A great nostalgic trip and a wonderful window into a great era of PC games to boot.

Heroes of Might and Magic 3

Still the best and greatest of the HoMM high fantasy series. Don’t get the HD edition that’s floating around on Steam: make sure you grab the better version from GOG instead.

Xenonauts

A harder version of X-COM, styled much more like the original MicroProse game, for those who hate themselves. I’m warning you: Xenonauts is damn hard.

Retro City Rampage DX

Retro City Rampage DX already runs on low-end systems, but if you really want, the game comes with an extra that’s designed to run on a 486 DX PC. There’s even a prototype Windows 3.1 version.

That aside, Retro City is great for scratching that 8-bit, early GTA vibe. It’s also a great call back to the late ’80s and early ’90s, for those that love exploring that world.

UnderRail

Love the original Fallout games? Then UnderRail might be up your alley. Humanity has retreated to a series of underground train stations, fleeing from the radiation on the surface. It’s fairly challenging, offers a deep character creation system, and has some savage difficulty spikes to boot. But if you love that era of isometric, hardcore RPGs, there’s something in UnderRail for you.

Invisible, Inc.

Invisible Inc.

One of Klei’s best adventures and a great roguelite adventure. Klei’s art chops are world class, as always, but what really makes Invisible Inc is its deep customisation. The soundtrack and characters are excellent too, and there’s the Contingency Plan DLC for extra starting characters and a longer campaign.

Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection

Want that classic RTS feeling with a modern touch? C&C Remastered is a great choice, running just fine on modern integrated graphics. It’s not on Macs, though.

The Command & Conquer Remaster Is Just Excellent

It's 2020 and I'm writing about a) EA re-releasing Command & Conquer and b) absolutely recommending everyone buy it. What a strange timeline we live in.

One of the greatest indies ever released on Steam, and also one of the most popular PC games on the platform. If you want something that’s great solo, shared with friends, or just a giant sandbox with more defined progression than Minecraft, Terraria is it.

Journey

Traditionally only available on PS3 and the PS4, Journey has since made the leap over to PC by way of the Epic Games Store. Like some of the indies on this list, Journey is one of those seminal, unmissable titles. It’s also got relatively low PC requirements, only needing a Nvidia GTS 450 which any modern integrated GPU will be able to match.

Elsinore

An intriguing indie where you’re stuck in the world of Hamlet, with a twist: everyone you know will die, and the world continually repeats itself until Ophelia can figure everything out. Elsinore‘s dynamic story engine means Ophelia learns from every time loop, and the game immediately reacts to your decisions in the beginning and every future loop.

It’s a narrative adventure that really flew under the radar last year, and it’s great to dive into if you need a gripping story when you’re on the road. A minimum GPU requirement of a HD 4000 means most modern laptops will run the game with no issue, too.

AMID EVIL

It’s like oldschool Heretic, but in a modern wrapping with a totally different context. If you want more retro shooters, DUSK is also another banger of a title that runs on low end PCs, but as is customary, they’re both better with a mouse (wired or wireless).

Amid Evil Is Basically A Modern Heretic

Just before the end of the year, Tegan and I played through a bunch of indies from PAX Australia on the Kotaku Twitch channel. One of those games was a New Zealand-developed shooter called Amid Evil, which looked like a fun bit of nostalgia. And that's pretty much what it is: a modern indie retake on Heretic, complete with giant blocky pixels to remind you of the '90s.

My Favourite Games Of 2019: Kotaku Australia's Editor

Everyone else has had their say, but it'd be a bit weird if the editor of a gaming site didn't weigh in, too.

Less of a traditional game and more a wholesome experience, Kind Words is all about writing anonymous letters – and responses – to people in need. Some of those questions might be fairly low-key things, like whether you like the rain. But many of them are personal, asking for a bit of guidance, career advice, help on dealing with a problematic friend, and the kind of issues that anyone can relate to.

Kind Words Is Basically Wholesome Twitter With A Cute Deer

If Twitter was less of a hellscape and had lo-fi beats playing in the background whenever you scrolled through your feed, the experience of it might be a little like Kind Words.

Baba is you is 2019’s The Witness: the puzzler that makes you feel stupid until that shining moment where everything clicks. Originally borne from a game jam, Baba is you is one of those rare titles that upends and confounds your expectations and understanding with every level. A brilliant, brilliant game, and one you can play on anything.

Baba Is You Is A Brilliant Puzzle Game

There’s a certain trick that smart game designers use to mess with their players. You’ll finish a level, all satisfied and cocky about it, and then the next stage will look exactly the same, with a twist. Maybe it’s missing the crate that was the lynchpin of your first strategy, or maybe there’s an extra enemy blocking the path. “Ha, you thought you were better than me,” declares the game. “You are not.” Baba Is You is the master of this design trick.

Sometimes you need a game that’s constant stress so you don’t have time to stress. That’s a little what Cook, Serve, Delicious! is like to play. The latest iteration, CSD 3, is out now and can run on practically anything. I prefer to play it with the keyboard, but a controller works well too. Alternatively, the first and second game are fully fleshed out, and are fairly cheap on Steam.

Nuclear Throne

Difficult, full of secrets to discover and with basically no requirements that would challenge any PC in the last seven or eight years, Nuclear Throne is a cracking roguelike shooter. It’s fast-paced, has plenty of clever ways to teach you how to move forward, has tons of weapons and characters to unlock. Best of all for low-end PCs and laptops: the game is locked to 30fps, so you won’t even feel like you’re missing out on anything. The game’s best played with controller or a wireless mouse though, for those on a laptop.

Nuclear Throne, One Of Steam's Highest Rated Games, Leaves Early Access

It's been a bit of an indie darling since launching on Steam back in 2013. The roguelike top-down 8-bit shooter finally left Early Access this week, and it does so with one of the most impressive Steam records to boot.

Take the spirit of GTA, mix it with Nuclear Throne, and then add a dose of emergent RPG gameplay. That’s basically Streets of Rogue, so you can see why it’s one of the highest rated games on Steam. And just like Nuclear Throne, its pixel-art style is compatible with practically any PC imaginable.

Slay the Spire

Image: Steam

A great deckbuilder that will not only run on anything – all you need is 2GB RAM and basically any GPU in the last decade that still functions – but it’s also available through Xbox Game Pass on PC. You can buy the game outright for about $35 right now, but you could also pay $3 and play it for three months instead. Just make sure you’ve updated Windows and downloaded the beta Xbox app.

Tips For Playing Slay The Spire

After over a year in Early Access, the challenging deck-building roguelike Slay the Spire is officially out on Steam today with a Switch port to following later in 2019. The game was really good when I played the hell out of it back in early 2018, and though the finished version is mostly the same, it still bears the marks of nearly 14 months of updates, balance improvements, and overall polish.

Want the enjoyment of a card game but don’t have a consistent internet connection, or you just want something with more of a story? Thronebreaker is a retooling of CD Projekt Red’s Gwent that provides a surprisingly deep RPG experience, with the cards used not only as a foil for 1-on-1 matches but some puzzle solving. And with a measly i3 being the recommended requirement – not minimum, recommended – it’ll run on basically anything. Thronebreaker also fills in the gaps before the Witcher games well, so it’s definitely worth checking out for Geralt fans.

Undertale

One of the biggest indies from the last decade and one of the few games that everyone should check out without reservation.

Undertale, As Told By Steam Reviews

Undertale came out of nowhere and turned RPGs upside-down with its deft mix of emotions, dogs, emotions and more dogs. It's become one of the biggest games on Steam.

The League of Legends CCG is coming to mobiles later this year, but for now its only PC players that can jump into the open beta. Gracefully, the game has wonderfully low requirements that will work on practically any modern laptop and integrated GPU. The CCG itself is halfway between Hearthstone and Magic: Arena – both great games run on low-end laptops themselves – and it’s a perfect extension of Riot’s universe for League‘s fans.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

The Witcher 3 might be Geralt’s magnum opus, but the GOTY edition of The Witcher 2 is still a superb adventure in its own right. The combat takes some getting used to, but you’ll have more leeway over the direction of the story, and it’s a great way to scratch any itches left over from the Netflix series.

Best of all: The Witcher 2 can run rather smoothly on low-end games and integrated laptops, particularly laptops over the last few years. YouTuber LowSpecGamer found a way to maintain a minimum of 30fps back in 2015 by messing around with the options in the Witcher 2 launcher, and you’ll get more leeway from any laptop with integrated graphics in the last three years. If your laptop is one of the ones with the low-end Nvidia discrete MX150 GPUs, you can go even further – hell, people have found ways to capably play Apex Legends and The Witcher 3 on those, provided you don’t mind playing on the lowest possible resolutions.

Risk of Rain

Image: Steam

Part of the problem with gaming on the laptop, however, is that sometimes that’s all you have. No mouse, no separate controller, and sometimes no room for either anyway.

Risk of Rain is perfect in those scenarios, since it’s purely a keyboard-only game. An action platformer that gets harder every 5 minutes, Risk of Rain is all about balancing the risk/reward mechanic of hanging around a level long enough to gain XP and money before the crazier enemies show up. The 8-bit graphics are designed to run on just about anything too, so you won’t feel handicapped by your choice of hardware.

Civilization 5

Image: 2K/Firaxis

As long as you have an Intel Core i3 or better CPU, you’ll have enough grunt in your low-end laptop to run Civilization 5. And if you’re looking for a game that you can carry on your hard drive until the day it dies, it’s hard to ignore Civ 5.

There’s plenty of depth with the expansions and the mods available in the Steam Workshop, although chances are the Complete Edition will have enough content to keep you going through those lonely nights in hotels. It also plays just fine with the touchpad, which can be a lifesaver sometimes if you don’t have a spare mouse aroun

Owlboy

Image: Supplied

But if you’re after something a little more vibrant, a little faster and something a tad fresher, the side-scrolling platformer Owlboy will be right up your alley. Apart from the fact that Nathan found it was a surprisingly clever and quite modern despite the look, the game will basically run on anything. There’s no requirement for a discrete GPU and you only need 600MB of space, which is always a plus if you’re gaming on your work laptop.

Stardew Valley

Image: Stardew Valley

Unsurprisingly, if you were busy farming up a storm at home you can do it on the road as well. Stardew Valley has bugger all hardware requirements save for 2GB of RAM and a GPU with 256mb of video memory, which pretty much any laptop from the last few years will be able to manage with no problems at all. You can also play quite happily using the keyboard, although taking a controller with you isn’t a bad idea.

The Binding of Isaac

Image: Supplied

Another game that runs on a potato, The Binding of Isaac deserves a special mention here because it’s perfectly playable with keyboard controls. The arrow keys determine the direction you shoot and you just rely on SPACE for items, WASD for movement and SHIFT (or E) to place bombs. Easy.

Oh and there’s the small part that The Binding of Isaac is an excellent game with loads of depth. There’s a reason it has a competitive scene.

Endless Legend

If you like the idea of playing a thoughtful 4X on the go, but want more of a fantasy bent to the experience, Amplitude’s Endless Legend is an excellent alternative. You’ll want to turn the graphics down all the way, but the game will run. Which is nice, since it gives you a reason to discover why Junglist thought Endless Legend was a better game than Civilization 5.

Dungeon Keeper 2

Image: Good Old Games

But if you need some strategy with a sick sense of humour to keep you distracted while you’re away from home, there’s perhaps nothing better than Bullfrog’s bizarre classic, Dungeon Keeper 2. The original is arguably a purer experience – well, as pure as commanding a bunch of minions from Hell trying to belt the snot out of wandering adventurers – but the sequel stands up a lot better in this day and age.

It’s something I would recommend having a separate mouse for, however, although you can control the first-person elements with the keyboard easily enough. And don’t worry about the system requirements – DK2 released in 1999, although the Good Old Games version plays nicely with Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

Faster Than Light

Image: Supplied

Released in 2012 and one of the most successful early uses of the Kickstarter platform, Faster Than Light should be on most people’s PCs already (if not their tablets). There’s plenty of content and difficulty thanks to the expansion and the modding scene, and FTL also has a small footprint on your hard drive (which is a lifesaver if you’re running off a 128GB SSD).

Darkest Dungeon

Image: Steam

Another recent game with bugger all hardware requirements is the grim world of Darkest Dungeon. A RPG with roguelike elements, Darkest Dungeon needs nothing more than a few GBs of RAM and an OpenGL 3.2+ compliant GPU – which is basically everything from the last five years.

On the practical side of things, the game’s turn-based nature means you won’t have any issues just playing it with the trackpad if that’s the only option available to you. The developers do recommend having a 1080p screen as a minimum, but with 1440p and even 4K laptop screens increasingly becoming standard that shouldn’t be much of a stumbling block.

Oh and just in case you needed it: Darkest Dungeon is pretty damn good, if a tad punishing.

Sleeping Dogs

Image: Supplied

Sometimes you just want to lose yourself in an open world. And what better world to explore than the brutal streets of Hong Kong. Sleeping Dogs was already incredibly well optimised on PC, but it runs just fine on laptops as well. I’d recommend packing a controller in your travel case for this, and it’s not the kind of game you want to download on airport Wi-Fi.

But any integrated graphics from the HD 2500 series and up can run Sleeping Dogs, albeit at reduced settings. And besides, sometimes when you’re miles away from home it’s just good to grab a bike and punch a few blokes in the face. (The story is also uncannily good, if you like the undercover cop shtick.)

Euro Truck Simulator 2

You might miss having your full trucking rig from home, but any laptop with an Intel HD 4000 or better GPU will be able to run SLS’s cathartic trucking simulation. Euro Truck Simulator 2’s relaxing nature already makes it a strong candidate for being on your laptop, but the added benefit is that the game has a full suite of keyboard controls. You’ll still have to use the trackpad to turn the game’s camera around, but since left and right is mapped to A/D you can manage that on a laptop pretty easily.

So those are some games you can play on your laptop or potato PC, from action platformers to addictive CCGs to good old farming simulators. What are your favourites?

Sorry if I spammed same game two times I hope you got your game and I gtg sleep XD

More games may come soon....