Top 10 Free-to-Play Games of All Time

Twenty or ten years ago “free-to-play” seemed to be a very suspicious way to describe the games. Free games in 2025 are all different: many games of high caliber are being released free for all players, including the industry mammoths such as COD Warzone and Fortnite. Developers earn money either by selling in-game offers or a battle pass that enhances the gaming experience richly. But the main game is free – the great fun you can have with your friends or even on your own is still here!

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This blog post is dedicated to some of the greatest recently released games, available for free. Let’s look at these good free video games: 

• Marvel Rivals
• Overwatch 2
• Apex Legends
• Counter-Strike 2
• DOTA 2
• The Finals
• The Sims 4
• Warframe
• Genshin Impact
• Delta Force

Before diving into the list, let’s first talk about the games that had the biggest impact on the F2P market and what truly sets great free-to-play games apart today. If you’d rather skip ahead, jump straight to the titles above.

Trending Free Games That Shaped Free-To-Play Gaming

Free-to-play games made a long way from not-so-great experiences to big and beloved titles that enhanced the industry’s standards. Some of these titles have been active for more than ten years and they still manage to be trending with active player bases. Let’s talk about them. 

Iconic Free2Play Games That Set the Standard

In 2011, Valve made Team Fortress 2, their popular and successful class-oriented shooter released in 2007, a F2P game. They wanted to bring new audiences to a well-established title and they could afford it by focusing on getting revenue from in-game purchases rather than selling copies. It seemed to be working great, and they did the same with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and DOTA 2 – free2play games with cosmetic accessories that were completely optional but desirable by passionate players. You didn’t have to purchase either them or a game – but if you liked the game and spent a lot of time with it, chances are you’d like to get your hands on a fancy skin, making a transaction.

The same method worked for Epic, who released Fortnite as a F2P game that allowed you to purchase in-game currency and access new seasons with real money – it was a great success. The game gained popularity and everybody who wanted to try it out could do it without paying money. And if the game was addicting and fun enough for their taste, they could invest in battle passes, get new cosmetic skins and other benefits.

How These Free Games Influence the Industry Today

These games are still popular to this day: DOTA 2 is the definitive MOBA experience, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive became “CS2”, which is virtually the same old game, but better – and still free! Valve is also currently making a new game called Deadlock, which is going to be free as well. It’s a new multiplayer experience that should combine hero shooters and MOBA F2P games. Speaking of Epic, Fortnite is still going strong and being regularly updated with heaps of new stuff for players to have fun with. Their examples inspire other developers to make their games free2play and focus on an exciting pipeline of new content rather than distribution and pricing.

Best Free2Play Games to Play in 2025

There are lots of awesome free2play games available in 2025. We are going to look at them, but first, let’s try to answer a simple question.

Why Free Games in 2025 Are Better Than Ever?

• New high standards of modern production: Thanks to the fact that the gaming industry evolves every single day, attracting great investment by big companies, the standards of a final product have been raised to new heights. New F2P games are made to last, to gain the interest of players in a very saturated market of free games. A lot of new interesting mechanics are here, they look amazing on a technical level and some games even manage to collaborate with other entertainment mediums to promote both sides. 
• They are not as P2W as some titles used to be: Some people still think that a free-to-play game means that you have to pay a lot of money not for the game itself, but for its separate aspects, which may be true about games from the 00s but not true anymore, luckily. A lot of games have managed to follow the features we described above, providing a great and regularly updated product without any annoyances and tricks.
• The popularity of live services and strong player communities: Nowadays, free-to-play games provide “live service”, meaning that they’re being frequently updated and regularly enhanced with new content patches. The game can’t get old because a lot of new stuff constantly shakes things up for those who already know every nook and corner on all maps. Communities that are established on Discord or other social networks help to keep the conversation going: patches and balance changes are being discussed, memes are being made and constructive feedback is always reaching developers. 

Must-Try F2P Games Everyone Is Talking About

In no particular order, let’s talk about some exciting F2P games that are either fresh and hot or just manage to keep player bases’ interest after all this time! 

Marvel Rivals‍

Genre: Hero shooter | Developer: NetEase Games | Release date: 2024

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One of the most recent additions to the good free video games category, Marvel Rivals came out in late 2024 and became a big hit among fans of hero shooters. By combining classic hero shooter gameplay (heroes with established roles of attackers, defenders and supporters) and beloved comic book characters, Marvel Rivals managed to present a fresh, fast-paced gameplay that encourages you to work together with your friends or team members to reach victory.

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Overwatch 2‍

Genre: Hero shooter | Developer: Activision Blizzard | Release date: 2022

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Overwatch 2 is a sequel to a very popular first installment. Originally released as a huge patch-slash-sequel to make the famous game more PVE-oriented, OW2 has, to the surprise of fans, quickly changed its plans and decided to focus on the PVP experience, adding new heroes and maps in the same way the original was extended. The biggest strength of Overwatch has always been its fun, fast gameplay that encourages you to work in teams. While it had some complications during the direction change, it still manages to be a great choice for those who want to have some fun with a coop-oriented F2P game.

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Apex Legends‍

Genre: Battle royale | Developer: Respawn Entertainment | Release date: 2019

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Apex Legends is, among some other titles in this list, a great example that the game that came out six years ago still manages to be trending, popular, fun, adored by players and regularly updated. A fast movement that its developers, Respawn, refined in the Titanfall series, a classic squad-based battle royale gameplay and regular updates is what made Apex Legends so good and regularly played after all these years.

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Counter-Strike 2 ‍

Genre: Tactical Shooter | Developer: Valve | Release date: 2023

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In 2023, instead of releasing a separate new game, Valve decided to take their popular game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and update it for all players, introducing a new engine, Source 2. A new chapter for Valve’s insanely popular first-person shooter was free-to-play from the start and allowed them to gain interest not just by updating the game with a great big patch, but by “turning a page” of one of the biggest and most popular franchises in the world and keeping the old player base. It’s still the same old CS, as addicting to play and fun to watch as ever. 

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DOTA 2‍

Genre: MOBA | Developer: Valve | Release date: 2013

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Just like Counter-Strike, DOTA is the name that you have definitely heard even if you don’t play games. One of the most popular games in the world that are adored by players thanks to its addicting game loop, a big pool of unique characters to choose from, various combinations of items, surprising situations that lead to making friends or enemies, exciting matchmaking and so on. And it’s free, always has been free! DOTA is definitely on the list of good F2P games.

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The Finals‍

Genre: FPS | Developer: Embark Studios | Release date: 2023

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Developed by Battlefield series veterans, The Finals is not just a good free video game, it’s a great spiritual successor to many beloved fast-paced shooters of the past that manages to feel fresh thanks to a unique destruction mechanic and its takes on classic game modes.

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The Sims 4‍

Genre: Life Simulation | Developer: Maxis | Release date: 2014

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Speaking of a true classic everyone has heard of, The Sims series has always been the perfect game to chill and relax after a hard working day and build up rooms, houses and relationships. The fourth installment came out in 2013 and was updated all this time, later becoming free in 2022 as developed were able to get revenue by selling paid cosmetic DLCs.

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Warframe‍

Genre: Action RPG | Developer: Digital Extremes | Release date: 2013

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One of the games that have been active for nearly a decade in this list, Warframe is a great example of a F2P game that was regularly updated, didn’t have any hostile monetization and provided insanely addicting, co-op gameplay. Digital Extremes, the developer, understood from the very start that creating a firm community of passionate fans and supporting their enthusiasm along listening to their feedback is essential for a live service game. 

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Genshin Impact‍

Genre: Action RPG | Developer: miHoYo | Release date: 2020

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A game that became a classic so quickly that you probably think it came out much earlier than late 2020, Genshin Impact is a free game of a high-quality, with a big open world to explore however you want, regular content patches, intricate lore and unique characters with deep backstories beloved by the player base. 

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Delta Force‍

Genre: Tactical Shooter | Developer: TiMi Studios | Release date: 2025

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One of the most recently released additions to our list, Delta Force is a military extraction shooter with amazing graphics, thanks to Unreal Engine 5, fun PVP and PVE modes, vehicle systems and large-scale battles with up to 64 players. It came out in early 2025, but devs have big plans to keep it going and make their players happy with heaps of new content.

What Defines a Great Free-to-Play Game?

People have different opinions about an amazing free-to-play experience. Some people think a regularly updated game is the best, while others think that other aspects of the game matter more. Let’s look at some features that will make your free game truly special and beloved by players.

Key Features of the Best F2P Game Designs

• The game is fun: Simple as that. If the game is fun, great, unique and engaging, players will want it. And the fact that it’s free will only make things better in terms of popularity, community and so on: not everyone can afford a $40 game. If the game is amazing and free, developers will inevitably have a giant player base, excited to spend hundreds and thousands of hours in it. 
• Steady progression: Some free games may be the victim of “grinding” – forcing players to spend a lot of time doing boring tasks and challenges to get something to continue. The catch is that “just for the price of a cup of coffee” you can increase the speed of grinding and finish it much faster. Players don’t like that and prefer when the progression is natural and is encouraged by gameplay, not by paying money. The compromises seem to be reached by the introduction of battle passes, which allow players to play and try out new additions to the game, progress and get optional cosmetic treats that are not required per se. 
• No “pay2win” items: Focus on cosmetic items as the main income for developers is better than making gameplay changes with players’ money. In other words, people don’t like it when there’s a powerful item or a tool available only for those who are eager to “vote with their wallet”, which can drastically affect the game’s balance. Fair monetization is crucial to make a great F2P game.
• Unified access to everything: A good f2p game doesn’t hide some features from some players, providing all crucial content without any limitations. It allows to keep things fair and free for all players. In some cases, cosmetic skins or items can be available only for those players who, for instance, started to play the game earlier, but it usually doesn’t affect the gameplay. 

Designing good free video games can be a daunting task. As you can see above, there are lots of aspects you must pay attention to to get a proper final result: from art and sound design to game mechanics, game balance, animation and so on. Luckily, developers can outsource several sides of it or even the whole project to an outsourcing studio.

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At RocketBrush Studio, we have been working on numerous projects of different genres, including mobile F2P games such as Kingdoms At War, Ava’s Manor and many others. If you need game art or even game dev services, reach us at hello@rocketbrush.com, we would love to help you create great new things!‍

Conclusion

As you can see, all these free games look exciting and kind of make you want to take a day off and dive into them. What’s even better is that this list covers only a selection of trending free games. There are more titles we haven’t mentioned, but they all have a big dedicated fan base, they are still being updated and developers are planning even more as we speak. 

‍If you are interested in creating a F2P project, a game outsourcing studio can help you with that. RocketBrush Studio has been working since 2016, assisting many prominent industry developers, such as Supercell, Paradox Interactive, Apploving and others, with their projects, ensuring high-quality deliverables. Our testimonials can be read here.‍

‍We have been working with all kinds of styles, genres and aesthetics: from friendly, casual games to 2D pixelated indie roguelites. We also assisted with art for mobile free-to-play games. Our scope of skills can be seen in the portfolio. ‍

Fun, exciting and addicting free-to-play games exist and everyone can play them. It’s no longer a scary word to trick you into monetization traps. It’s a big collection of games of all genres for all kinds of fun there is.