Society places a lot of emphasis on the latest AAA games, with each new $50, $60, or $70 release hailed as a must-have. However, there are ways to play quality games for free, and not just those that catch on with the masses or are built on the freemium model. We’re talking games that should or once cost money to play, but that are now available without cost.
There are some major platforms that offer gaming for free, like Epic Games and GOG, but most gamers already know about these. So, let’s explore the surprising places where you can find top-class games for free.
Google hides some games to find
Many have become familiar with the Google Chrome Dinosaur Game. The side-scrolling jump game has helped us through plenty of dull periods of internet outages. However, it’s not the only game that Google has hidden away across its many apps and services. The biggest name of the bunch is certainly Pac-Man, which comes up as a playable game whenever you search for it in Chrome.
A more hidden game, and arguably a much more expansive one than the aforementioned arcade classic, would be Flight Simulator. This isn’t the triple-A Microsoft Flight Simulator, rather a game that you can play with the desktop version of Google Earth. Compatible with plug-in joystick controls or your keyboard, all that you need to do is open Google Earth, click Tools, and then select Enter Flight Simulator.
Playing the premium games for free
Many single-player games request an upfront payment for you to gain access to the entire experience. Modern, mostly multiplayer, games often ask for an upfront payment and then cover some content behind additional payments. Then, there are the pay-as-you-play games, the online casino games, where you pay for each spin or turn against the house.
Now, across the United States, the best online casino bonuses offer free gaming, with the outright best of these bonus types being the no-deposit offer. Free spins are everywhere, but it’s the no-deposit offers that let you play a selection of casino games without inputting your card details. So, it’s free plays on premium games.
Retro classics for browser and download play
There comes a time when pieces of digital entertainment exist for long enough or go without ownership for enough time that they enter the public domain and can be found and downloaded for free. Gaming hasn’t been around as long as movies or music, but we’re now at a point where many retro and classic games are freely available online.
While there are a lot of demos available, which are free games in themselves, there are also several free games available for download. Rakion Latin, Theme Park World, Halo: Hell on Earth, and even Championship Manager 2003/04 live on through these hosts of free gaming. For an even more retro experience to download, you can find a stack of games from as far back as 1978, including Chuckie Egg, Mario & Luigi, and Zoo Tycoon.
Free gaming can be found in the most surprising places, and more surprisingly, many of these top-class creations can now be downloaded and kept without charge.
