The convenience of playing in your browser without installing anything is like no other. It’s perfect for fast-paced games where administrators restrict rights otherwise, such as in offices or universities, as well as for non-Windows operating systems.
There are now sites that take advantage of blockchain technology to speed up multiplayer games, sites that let you save game progress, and even sites where you can find free downloadable games.
GameDatum is an aggregator of the best free-to-play games available online. It not only offers browser games but also several PC game titles for the Windows operating system and of course you will need to download these games to play them. But the good news is that you can play offline.
Not all browser games offered on GameDatum are hosted on the website. For many popular games, such as Settlers Online or Travian Legends, it only serves as a link to the host site. But you can still use GameDatum as a place to bookmark all those games by creating a “playlist” after creating an account.
Of course, the best part of GameDatum is the game discovery. With hundreds of games in the catalog, you’ll probably want to use the Game Filter menu to add or remove genres like MMO, MMORPG, Shooter, Strategy, MOBA, Battle Royale, Card Game, Anime, Racing, Sports, Social, Fighting, Indie , open world, sci-fi, simulation, action and fantasy. Each game includes a brief description, minimum system or browser requirements, and release date.
Saito is a layer 1 blockchain project that allows blockchain applications to run directly in a web browser. To demonstrate its capabilities, they have released Saito Arcade, a collection of browser games and emulators for retro games.
All games on Saito Arcade are multiplayer, and the site supports a community chat window to see who’s active, invite others to play, and interact with players online. You will see the games list in the left sidebar, and open the highlighted games in the center to join. You start with an anonymous account and a random name, but you can change that.
Saito Arcade games feature several interesting titles that you won’t find anywhere else. For example, there are Settlers of Saitoa (a clone of Catan) and Epidemic (a clone of Pandemic). You can even play the classic arena shooter Quake 3 in your browser! And a Nintendo 64 emulator works in the browser to play classic retro arcade games in single-player mode, like Mario Kart 64 and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
3. Simmer.io (Web): Play and test Unity WebGL games from indie developers.
Simmer is a site for independent game developers who create video games with the Unity platform to share them as browser games. All the developer has to do is export the game in WebGL format, then drag it to Simmer to put it online. It’s a bit like a “YouTube game,” as the site claims.
This ease of use for developers means you get many independently created games on Simmer that you won’t find anywhere else. You’ll find the latest games recommended by the editors in the first list of titles to play – the site is largely run by one person. Scroll down for more lists, such as latest downloads, Simmer early adopter games, and mobile-optimized games built with Unity’s Tiny Project.
It’s a shame that Simmer doesn’t let you browse titles by genre, because that’s how most people prefer to discover new games. Still, it’s hard to complain given the quality of the games in the browser and the variety of new games being added every day.
While there’s no clear definition of IO games, we like GameNGuide’s explanation: “Browser-based, free-to-play, multiplayer, casual game with relatively poor graphics.” Ever since Agar.IO, these “in/out” games have been an internet favorite when you want a quick in-browser gaming session, especially at work. But it has always been difficult to find them because they are all scattered around the web on their own site. IOGames.Space tries to list all these great games in one place.
You can quickly check out featured titles (most played on the site in the last week), recently added games, all-time most popular games, classic IO games and more. You can also sort by genre, such as shooting games, battle royale games, free games, team games, zombie games, space games, tower defense games, RPGs and many more, if you click the little blue arrow in the upper left corner. This sorting was sorely lacking on a similar site, Kevin Games, which we featured when talking about the best free browser game sites for multiplayer games.
Every game on IOGames.Space has a short description and sometimes includes gameplay videos to show what it looks like. Registered users can choose their own nickname.
5. Crazy Games (Web): Huge collection of HTML5 games, with save progress.
After Adobe finally phased out Flash in 2020, online games switched to HTML5 by default. Crazy Games has put together one of the largest collections of these games in one place, with an easy to navigate interface and some features like saved games.
Currently, their catalog has more than 5,000 games, divided into genres such as 2 player, action, puzzle, multiplayer, platformer, escape, tower defense, car/motorcycle, shooter, etc. You can also quickly view featured games, new additions, and trending titles. Hovering over a game will show you a quick GIF animation of the gameplay, making your decision easier. If you find it difficult to choose, just click the “random” button to start any game.
If you create a Crazy Games account, you unlock the ability to save game progress, which can be very useful for some single-player games. You can also save your favorite games and see what you’ve played recently. And as you play, Crazy Games starts learning your preferences and recommends games for you.
Whichever site you use to play these games, you’ll need a modern browser. Both Edge and Safari can support them and should be your preferred option. Other third party browsers like Chrome, Firefox or Vivaldi will take up more system memory and slow down your entire computer.