Keep sane during self isolation with these free games!

Listen. Everything is kind of awful right now, and a lot of us are self-isolating (and if you aren’t, you probably should be!). This means a lot of us are finding a lot of free time we’re not 100% sure how to fill. As always, video games are there for us in these trying times, and there’s a lot of developers and resources out there for a lot of games you can play right now, for free! Some of these are limited-time offers, so the sooner you get on to them, the better!

First up is itch.io’s self-isolation on a budget collection, put together by a dedicated itch.io user named avie. They’ve gathered all the games on the platform currently being offered for free, and it’s a lot of games! While most of them you might not have heard of, it’s a great time to dive into the world of indie development.

The second list from itch.io itself contains both free and heavily discounted games and features a lot more games that might be familiar to you, such as Where The Water Tastes Like Wine and Night in the Woods (though this is still at a cost).

For users who want something a little more ‘out there’, itch.io user jackspinoza is offering a huge selection of his titles for free at the moment. They’re weird, but they’re also an utter delight and full of psychedelic graphics and ideas that will leave players wondering what just happened. For a prime example of this, I recommend Sluggish Morss.

Are you more a fan of the classics? Fancy some DOS games in this trying time? The Internet Archive smiles upon you, offering you nearly 7,000 games full of retro flair. Fancy some Carmageddon? A little Prince of Persia? If you can think of a DOS game, it’s gonna be here. Even if you can’t think of it, it’s gonna be in here.

Something a little more current, perhaps? As always, the Epic Games Store is offering up two free games. Right now, they’re pretty good ones. The first one, one of the best narrative games to ever exist, is The Stanley Parable. Dozens of endings and an interesting take on game design, story and how we play games. Secondly is Watch Dogs. It’s ok.

There’s also still a lot of the tried and true classics, with Steam having an entire section dedicated to free to play games. Now is the perfect time to go through the list and maybe pick up something new. Or old! Give Team Fortress 2 or Doki Doki Literature Club a go!
There’s plenty of free titles out there for gamers who need to spend some time, and I bet I’ve missed a bunch. What are your favourite free titles? Whether they’re always free, or only free right now, I’d love to hear about them!