It’s a season for giving presents, which also implies it’s a season for receiving gifts. While we’re not meant to focus on that aspect, I won’t spill the beans if you choose to indulge a little. Acquiring free items is delightful, and there’s an abundance of complimentary offerings available from various PC gaming retailers during this period.
Below, I have compiled some of our favorite free game suggestions at the moment—plus a few extras I personally endorse—but also explore our more extensive catalogs of the finest free games on Steam and the best free PC titles overall.
Epic’s complimentary games
Even if it’s merely their strategy to entice non-Fortnite players into the Epic ecosystem, complaining about receiving a free game on the Epic Games Store each month seems pointless. Furthermore, during the holiday season, Epic distributes a new free game daily.
So far, they’ve given away Vampire Survivors and Astrea: Six Sided Oracles, with new titles available each day until January 1. Check out our Epic Games Store free games tracker to discover what can be claimed and what has already been handed out.
Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred (free trial concludes January 3)
You can experience the new Spiritborn class in Diablo 4 for free on Battle.net until January 3. We were quite fond of Diablo 4 at its launch, and it has only improved as Blizzard has diligently worked on updates and balancing adjustments. Tyler Colp was a significant admirer of the Vessel of Hatred expansion, which he reviewed in October. If your ARPG time isn’t being overshadowed by Path of Exile 2, it’s definitely worth trying Diablo 4.
Straftat
PC Gamer’s output experienced a brief pause in October once we stumbled upon this fresh, free 1v1 shooter, leading everyone to challenge one another in deathmatches. It’s so impressive we remarked that it feels almost unfair to offer it for free. You can grab Straftat on Steam.
100 Christmas Cats
One among numerous free hidden object games in the “100 Cats” series on Steam, this game involves searching for cats. Upon finding a cat, you click on it, causing it to meow loudly, disappear, and award you a Steam achievement. It is remarkably entertaining. If the holiday season causes you stress, click on some cats. You’ll feel rejuvenated. Acquire it along with the others on Steam.
GOG’s winter surprises
GOG has some gifts for us. Until December 31, you will discover fresh presents to unwrap in its Winter Sale Calendar (scroll down to locate it). Primarily, these aren’t games—I just downloaded some lovely seasonal wallpapers—but as of this writing, you can secure Chicken Assassin: Reloaded for $0, albeit the giveaway concludes shortly. To check if a game giveaway is present, visitwww.gog.com/en/#giveaway.
You can also explore GOG’s more enduring free games collection—there are some fantastic classics within. (A few are available on Steam, as well, should you prefer.)
Virtual Interactive Fireplace
Alright, this isn’t truly a game, but if your PC is connected to a TV (or if you can stream to it using Remote Play), Virtual Interactive Fireplace provides a pleasant alternative to whatever looping yule log visuals Netflix or your local public television station has this season. I adore the aspect that you initiate the fire by striking a match and tossing crumpled paper onto the logs—I could almost detect the sulfuric scent.
Supervive
It has gained considerable popularity since its launch in early access on Steam last month, but this free-to-play “MOBA battle royale mixed with hero shooter” might have gone unnoticed while Marvel Rivals monopolized the F2P spotlight. We found the genre blend quite impressive when we previewed it earlier this year; if you’re seeking a new team game to engage your Discord buddies in, it’s a solid choice.
Betrayer
This peculiar 2014 horror shooter was removed from Steam and is currently unavailable there for some unknown reason, yet it has reemerged on GOG for free. Snatch it! It’s not the cheeriest game, I’ll concede, and I didn’t assign it a particularly high rating when I reviewed it a decade ago, but I recall feeling conflicted about it. Obviously, it left an impression.
SkiFree
Gather the children and demonstrate what a true PC gaming classic appears like. If you’re not acquainted, we composed an extensive article about SkiFree a few years earlier, and you can download it from the website of creator Chris Pirih.
Warframe 1999
Warframe has been around for quite some time, of course, but its most recent update is “absurd,” as Fraser described it. As a brief preview of what to expect from the free-to-play shooter’s new storyline, it includes an alternate-history ’90s boy band known as “On-lyne.” Fraser has more information here, and Warframe is available on Steam as usual.