For seven years I’ve been amassing the most effective PC video games yearly that don’t want a graphics card, monitoring down video games for these of us with older computer systems or laptops. And I like doing it a lot (and there are simply so many freakin’ video games on the market) that I made a decision ten new video games a yr simply isn’t sufficient. That is now a biannual function — you’re welcome, 5 individuals who requested for it.
These video games can run on a toaster, as long as that toaster runs Home windows. They’re additionally nice picks for a Steam Deck or just about every other handheld PC. Oh, and it positive doesn’t harm that each one of those video games are below $20 at full worth, and lots of include demos. And would you take a look at that, this roundup simply occurs to be operating concurrently the Steam Summer season Sale, which begins in the present day.
Listed here are my picks, in no specific order. Need much more? Then take a look at the identical article from 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021.
I’ve been hooked on 9 Kings for just a few weeks. It’s nominally a base-builder, whereby you lay down buildings and items on a really small variety of tiles and create a military from the consequence. However the randomized nature of your enemies, and the playing cards you get from them to energy up your items and buildings, feels quite a bit like carving out a run in Balatro.
The interaction of the buildings and tiles, and the way the totally different ones you possibly can accumulate from the totally different opponent kings, are essential. Discovering all of the useful mixtures and creating your personal technique to maximise them is the way you go from 10 harm in a “yr” to 10 million, and the method makes this an extremely satisfying, bite-sized technique recreation.
9 Kings is in early entry, at the moment $15 on Steam.
Y’all children may not know this, however the Recreation Boy Advance is perhaps the most effective 2D console of all time. And this recreation is a love letter to a few of its finest. Pipstrello and the Cursed Yoyo lloks like a colourful tackle ye olde top-down Zelda, however the place all of the weapons and traversal powers revolve across the titular yoyo. However the colourful world and nice tunes (supplied by famed recreation composer Yoko Shimomura) make me suppose extra of an previous Cartoon Community manufacturing.
It might’t be overstated how exhausting this recreation goes on the yoyo schtick, displaying off an unimaginable quantity of allure and creativity. Actual-time fight and puzzles will problem your reflexes and timing, however there’s an apparently sarcastic undertone to all of this that works effectively with the anthropic mafioso baddies. Completionists could have a enjoyable time with the surprisingly broad and deep world, too.
Pipstrello and the Cursed Yoyo is $20 on Steam. It’s additionally out there on Epic, PlayStation, Xbox, and Swap.
The phrase “edu-tainment” would possibly make you cringe in case you bear in mind Mavis Beacon, however gamified language studying is about pretty much as good because it will get in case you don’t have entry to full immersion. Enter So to Converse, a puzzle recreation that teaches you the fundamentals of Japanese vocabulary in an interface that makes Dulingo look positively pedestrian. It’s a giant assist if, like me, you’re helpless on the subject of kanji characters.
Progressing via the sport will allow you to transfer from primary phrases to phrases and full sentences, with a give attention to guests and journey. However you’ll additionally get a pleasant style of some Japanese tradition if that’s what you’re in search of. The setup right here is good — effectively, not less than I believe so — and I’m excited to see if the developer can develop it into different languages.
So to Converse is $18 on Steam.
Who would have guessed that clerical video games could be a factor after the success of Papers Please? In The Roottrees are Lifeless, you’re an investigator making an attempt to piece collectively the aftermath of a small airplane crash that took out a household of billionaires. Utilizing a mountain of proof and exploring a fictional, late-90s model of the web, you’ll uncover the darkish secrets and techniques hiding simply beneath the veneer of wealth and energy.
That is an extremely distinctive setup, a kind of genealogical whodunnit that may tickle the drama fancies of anybody who’s ever gasped at a cleaning soap opera parentage reveal. Initially launched as a free browser recreation, this full model will get remastered visuals and audios, plus full voice appearing if you uncover related tapes and different proof, plus some bonus mysteries.
The Roottrees are Lifeless is $20 on Steam.
I don’t suppose I’ve ever seen pixel artwork this beautiful…and I say that as somebody who’s so freakin’ uninterested in pixel artwork as shorhthand for indie. Solid N Chill does what it says on the field, providing an intriguing mixture of primary 2D fishing that wouldn’t be misplaced on the NES with some unimaginable environment. When you’ve got no precise curiosity in fishing, you may not get quite a bit out of the mechanics, until the improve grind will get its hooks into you. No, I’m not apologizing for that pun.
You may catch and doc 50 totally different sorts of fish, 13 of that are legendary. However I believe a sure sort of participant will miss a whole lot of them, simply watching the designated boat canine.
Solid N Chill is $15 on Steam.
Magical DOOM. That’s it, that’s the sport. Whereas Wizordum isn’t the primary recreation to adapt quick first-person shooter mechanics to slinging spells as a substitute of blasting bullets, it’s benefiting from a whole lot of current work within the boomer shooter area of interest. 2.5D graphics imply a whole lot of pixel artwork on show, at the same time as goblins and skeletons are wizzing previous your head at about 40 miles an hour. I’m digging the epic fantasy tunes, too.
That is very a lot a single-player affair, however speedrunners can submit their occasions to a web-based leaderboard. The true lasting impression of the sport is perhaps its built-in stage editor, which helps you to make and share challenges in a really Minecraft kind of manner. I guess it’ll attraction to you in case you’re uninterested in rolling for initiative and simply wish to blast some baddies.
Wizordum is $20 on Steam.
A “glass cannon” is a time period for somebody or one thing that may dish out a whole lot of harm, however not take a lot in return. This little physics puzzler takes issues a bit extra actually. It’s a mixture of puzzle and motion with a physics-based setup and a roguelike development system. And if that sounds too technical, simply go by this: shoot all of the unhealthy guys (or unhealthy shapes) with as few bullets as attainable.
Fastidiously selecting your angle to reap the benefits of bounces and maximizing your upgrades for harm and unfold are the keys to victory. The randomized ranges and comparatively low number of enemies may appear limiting at first, however it’s the mix of upgrades that’ll hold you coming again for an optimum run.
Glass Cannon is $5 on Steam.
Think about if Management got here out within the 80s and was extra all in favour of Japanese horror than on-line copypasta, and also you’ve received City Fable Dissolution Middle. You play a psychic ghostbuster in coaching who’s a part of the titular group, monitoring down clues to unravel spooky circumstances and interacting with a wealthy assortment of characters.
This one’s undoubtedly on the creepy aspect of issues, with a direct attraction to followers of each retro video games and anime. Followers of Doki Doki Literature Membership would possibly really feel proper at residence with all of the hidden intrigue and deep characterization, however in case you can’t deal with the psychedelic pixel artwork cinematics, I couldn’t blame you.
City Fable Dissolution Middle is $18 on Steam. It’s additionally out there on PlayStation and Swap.
Do you just like the mechanics of Castlevania, however you’re extra of a Group Jacob sorta gamer? Then Chronicles of the Wolf is what you’ve been ready for. This side-scrolling motion recreation is ready on the backdrop of the legendary (and not less than nominally actual) Beast of Gévaudan assaults in 18th-century France. Oh, and simply in case the truth that a wolf hunter is operating round a medieval citadel as a substitute of the woods didn’t clue you in, there’s just a few cameos from some well-known gamers within the style, too.
The entire recreation is shamelessly riffing on Symphony of the Evening, and that’s in no way a nasty factor. There’s a bit extra polish in play than you would possibly count on from the setup, with some beautiful artwork and voice-over in addition to some tunes that’ll make you surprise the place you left your PS1 reminiscence card.
Chronicles of the Wolf is $20 on Steam. It’s additionally out there on PlayStation, Swap, and Xbox.
Okay, I do know a few of you weirdos are gonna be into this one. Vampire Survivors has impressed a complete demonic hoard of comparable “stroll round, keep away from assaults, improve your stuff” video games, however I guess you’ve by no means seen it play out with the notorious Clippy as a most important character. The sport mechanics are acquainted, however the visuals — a sure blissful inexperienced hill and a whole lot of gray home windows — are much more so.
However don’t suppose this recreation is nothing however a nostalgia play (although it definitely is). Little hooks into different “packages” from ye olde Home windows will add in goofy recreation parts you’re not anticipating. Should you’ve ever misplaced hours to customizing your Home windows theme, you’ll discover one thing to like right here.
Desktop Survivors 98 is $5 on Steam.
