It's no more than a common misconception that if you want to get any gaming done on your PC, you'll need to have a PC purpose-built for gaming. There are in fact plenty of games you can play that don't need the bells and whistles of the latest and greatest hardware.

Not only are there plenty of games you can plan without a gaming PC, you also don't have to pay for many of them. If you know where to look, there are a lot of free games you can play on your PC or Apple computer that don't require a gaming PC.

6 Brawlhalla

A platform fighter for any platform.

Talk about games that can run on a potato of a PC, Brawlhalla is a game that I bet my parents old box PC could have run back in the late 2000's. Unfortunately for my gaming youth, it wasn't around until 2014, but in the last decade it has remained a solid platform fighter that's only grown in popularity.

You can play Brawlhalla on pretty much any PC or Mac device, and it's completely free to play. Like most modern free-to-play games, there's always the option to spend a little money for new aesthetic upgrades, but the reality is they're entirely optional. With no need to spend a dime on the game itself or new hardware, you can have a great time battling it out with your friends online, or show them up as they sit right next to you in good old-fashioned split-screen play.

5 Celeste Classic/Celeste 64

Sometimes you don't even need to download anything.

This is what I mean by knowing where to look. Celeste is one of the best platformers to arrive on PC and consoles in the last decade. But if you were unsure about the full game, you can check it out on itch.io with Celeste Classic, a smaller, earlier version of the same game that's playable in your browser. If you're not running a Mac device, then you can go a step further and download Celeste 64 for free.

Of course if you like both of those, then you'll probably love the full game of Celeste that you can buy on pretty much any platform. Though without spending anything, there's a lot of platforming greatness you can experience with either of these games.

4 Fall Guys

A bean-load of fun.

Another game that can run on pretty much run on just about any old computer you have kicking around, Fall Guys is the quintessential game for anyone and everyone. It's bright, colorful, insanely competitive if you want it to be, and a whole lot of fun no matter what. The control scheme is deceptively simple, which helps to make it super easy for anyone to pick up, and of course you can trick out your bean with a number of cosmetic options that can be earned through gameplay, without needing to spend any actual money. Though of course, that option is always available to you, if you want.

Developer Mediatonic's smash hit from 2020 still hasn't lost any of the luster it had when it first arrived on the scene, and is a great game to jump into whenever you have some spare time.

3 Fallout Shelter

It's a great day to be a Vault Dweller.

Fallout Shelter puts you in charge of your very own Vault-Tec vault, where you'll make decisions that make or break the lives of the people living in your vault, as you all try to survive the nuclear apocolypse and the Wasteland the bombs have left behind.

A free spin-off from Bethesda's popular Fallout series, Fallout Shelter offers a smaller experience than the massive open-worlds available in Fallout 3 or Fallout 4, without losing the charm of Bethesda's Fallout universe.

2 RuneScape/Old School RuneScape

Whichever floats your boat.

The classic high-fantasy MMORPG Runescape has truly stood the test of time, since it's been around for over 20 years at time of writing. The latest version of the game, like everything else on this list, can run on pretty much any potato of a PC. If you want to go even further with that however, you can download Old School RuneScape instead, to give whatever hardware you have to work with an even easier time.

Also like everything else on this list, RuneScape can be a massive time-sink, proving yet again how little you need to have in terms of PC hardware to enjoy a lot of gaming.

1 Gwent: The Witcher Card Game

What more do you need?

If you're unfamiliar with Gwent, then it's likely you've not played CD Projekt RED's The Witcher 3, a seminal RPG that is known for excellent writing, gripping characters and action, and its in-game card game. The last of those three is Gwent, a card game within a much bigger game, that has arguably grown to be bigger than the massive RPG it spawned from.

Talk about addicting, Gwent can keep you in a stranglehold for hours with its blend of competitive and trading card game mechanics. You don't need to be a fan of The Witcher franchise to appreciate what makes Gwent so fun. Frankly, if it hadn't started as a single part of a much larger package, it's easy to conceive of a world where CDPR released Gwent as its own premium game, and made buckets of money selling it as its own $20 offer.

Thankfully we don't live in that world, and you can download Gwent for free on your computer, and immediately see why millions of players chose to put off an epic tale in which you save the world to play some cards.

These games are just the beginning

Of course, the list of games that you can play for free without a gaming PC stretches beyond these six. These are just a few to get you started, with each of these being available either on Steam or the Epic Games Store. Except in the case of Celeste Classic/Celeste 64, which can lead you down the even bigger rabbit hole that is itch.io.

There are plenty of examples as to how PC gaming can be the most expensive hobby you'll ever have. But it absolutely does not have to be, and these games are living digital proof of that.