Free and easy: no-cost games on Steam
There’s a good chance you’re crying inside now that this year’s Steam summer sale has finished. Either you’ve just checked your bank balance and realised you’ve no money left for the rest of the month; you’ve added a few more titles to your never-ending backlog and have given yourself an even higher list to get through; or you showed great restraint and didn’t buy anything at all, but are now lamenting over all the great games you possibly missed out on.
Well, don’t worry: I’m here to ease the pain. While my other-half has taken over the living-room to cope with another bout of The Division obsession in preparation for the sequel, I’ve been using the laptop to check out a bunch of free titles. That means you can have even more games despite having spent all your cash during the past few weeks – or for those worried about their backlog, less than 60-minutes of entertainment at a time you distract you from it. It’s a win-win situation!
The Monster Inside
If you’re looking for something short that isn’t very taxing, then The Monster Inside may be for you. I completed it in just 15 minutes and enjoyed both the story and the artwork: it’s a ‘film-noir style audio-visual novella’ about a mysterious woman, a string of murders and a man with a hidden past, set in black and white isometric world. It’d be great to see Random Seed Games’ private investigator star in a full-length point-and-click so we can help him case crime scenes and interrogate witnesses.
Silver Creek Falls: Chapter 1
Keeping the detective vibe going, next up is the first chapter in Silver Creek Falls by Sapphire Dragon Productions. Two city detectives are sent to the small town in North Carolina to investigate a series of strange events after the local sheriff goes missing; and things get even stranger when his deputy is killed and the FBI take over the streets. This episode sets the scene for the rest of the game with a Twin Peaks vibe: there’s a whiff of the supernatural and everything isn’t as it seems.
A Raven Monologue
There’s one particular review on A Raven Monologue’s Steam page which stood out for me because it perfectly sums up the experience: “10 minutes and I’m sad without knowing why.” Who’d have thought such a little title by Mojiken Studio could have such a big effect on the player? The hand-drawn artwork that depicts the story of a raven who doesn’t know how to croak is just right, and the song that accompanies the gameplay is beautiful in a heart-breaking kind of way.
The Lion’s Song: Silence
The first episode in The Lion’s Song series may be free, but it’s a charming standalone story in its own right which is nicely wrapped up by the end. Players join talented young composer Wilma as she tries to prepare for her breakthrough concert in the solitude of the Austrian Alps and makes an unexpected friend along the way. Your choices influence what happens in the later episodes and you’ll also get to see the decisions taken by other players – incentive to buy the next episodes by Mi’pu’mi Games.
The Flood
The Flood may be a very short narrative title which can be completed in no more than ten minutes, but it has such a lovely message at its core. Players pilot a boat down a river and with no real action or puzzles, it’s a charming and peaceful experience. Here’s a sweet reminder than sometimes we need to stop worrying so much about our destination so we can simply enjoy the journey; and that being lost isn’t always a bad thing. Simple Ghost’s game is one to turn to if you’ve had a really stressful day.
Marie’s Room
Considering it’s free, there’s an awful lot of quality evident in Marie’s Room by Kenny Guillaume and Dagmar Blommaert: the highly-polished visuals, great voice-acting and lovely soundtrack give the impression you’re playing something created by a much larger team. This exploration title about an unconventional friendship between two classmates, told through memories sparked by items left within a room, is one I’d highly recommend trying if you enjoy narrative games such as Gone Home.
Flightless
I don’t play puzzlers very often (I overdosed on The Witness) but Flightless by Bristol Street Studios stood out due to its minimalist isometric setting. This title-based title has players navigating their way through a series of floating islands, each presenting a curious challenge they must overcome in order to unlock the next gate. It almost feels like a demo for a much larger game; it took me around 20 minutes to complete the ten-or-so levels that left me wanting more and the piano soundtrack had a really calming effect.
CAYNE
Most of the games on this list are pretty short and peaceful experiences, but CAYNE will give you around three hours’ playtime along with a bit of gore and a few jump-scares. This sci-fi horror-adventure was released as a freebie by The Brotherhood following a successful Kickstarter campaign and the release of STASIS. nufafitc from Emotional Multimedia Ride and I discussed this title at length earlier this year and you can read all about our thoughts in this post.
Are there any other free games you’d recommend, or have you played any of the others above? Let me know in the comments below!
Great list, and nice to see some adventure gaming love (obviously) ;-). If there just weren’t so many games on my pile-of-shame (not even including Steam), but less than 60 minutes playtime sounds good :-).
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When is there *not* some adventure gaming love in my posts? ha ha 😉
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True, that’s “obviously” true ;-). We have to do another blog post together. I have an idea, although where to take the time? :-).
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Ooh now that sounds interesting… I wonder what you have in mind… 🤔
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It’s a co-op adventure game, and it’s for free ;-). The sequel isn’t, but it works via voice chat, a unique experience. Should be the perfect fit for us as the basis of an interesting article :-).
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Oh this sounds familiar… I have a feeling it I saw it on Steam recently while looking at games for this post. What’s it called?
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“We were here”, and it also has a sequel, but that one isn’t free ;-). It’s a true co-op experience as you can’t solve it without communicating over voice chat and you have to describe to the other player what you see :-).
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Yes, I remember it now! It had some pretty good reviews on Steam and the graphics looked nice. 🙂
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Yes, so let’s see if we can try that one out via Steam. At the moment I’m pretty busy with all kinds of reviews and articles to write, but maybe we’ll manage something for October/November. Would be something like an anniversary co-op article, as it’ll be one year after our first :-).
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Now that sounds like a plan – I look forward to it! 😀
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Me, too. I think we’ll either get in touch with Steam chat or email for further planning :-).
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Well I’m sold on Cayne!
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I enjoyed Stasis more than Cayne, but it’s definitely worth a play. And you can’t go wrong seeing as it’s free!
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Thanks for sharing this post, I keepmeaning to get steam, but sometimes I don’t want to pay the money for some games because im tight, free games are always worth exploring too…
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If you like narrative games, you’ll probably find several on this list that will appeal. And getting to play a title for free is never a bad thing! 😉
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Reblogged this on DDOCentral.
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Free games I would like to include are Warframe, Star Conflict, Shadowverse, Duelyst, and Path of Exile. All amazing games that don’t cost a dime.
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The genres these games fall into aren’t my area of expertise, so I’m glad someone has pointed them out here! Who doesn’t love a good game you can get for free. 😉
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No problem :). I’ll be around more often since I got my PC back. I missed reading everyone’s post on WP. If you’re into shooters I highly recommend Warframe. I’ve sunk about 800 hours into myself.
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Not my cup of tea unfortunately, but one of my friends has been trying to get my other-half into playing it recently. I have a feeling I might lose him to the game if that finally happens! ha ha
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Lol! My wife lost me for awhile after I started playing Warframe for the first time. I got her into though and she has almost as much time as I do in it.
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You know what they say: the family that games together, stays together. 😉
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Warframe is a great free game. I’m also absolutely loving Deceit at the moment – it’s a fantastic werewolf-like game!
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I’ve seen a few bits of gameplay footage of Deceit and it looks really good… I know I’d be terrible at it but I’m kind of tempted to give it a go…
Is it easy enough for a new player to get into? 🤔
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Really easy! – Even though you level up and can get some cool perks and skins, new players are only really at a disadvantage in experience. It’s quite a level playing field!
Plus the game rounds are so quick that the urge to rage quit never lasts too long! 😀
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Ha ha ha that’s what I like to hear! Sold – I’ll give it a try.
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