Here are fifteen games you can play on older, low-end PCs. We tested these games on a rig with the following specs:
- CPU: i3-7100
- RAM: 4GB DDR3
- HDD: 512 GB, 7200 rpm
- GPU: Onboard Intel HD 630
15. Conan Chop Chop
Select warriors from Conan the Barbarian fights as stickmen to stop a raging wizard. It’s a chaotic roguelite best played with friends, on the couch and online.
As it is, Conan Chop Chop is still fun despite the bugs. Thankfully, issues are unrelated to its performance. It runs well at 60fps on our test machine, with only occasional drops in frame.
14. Serious Sam: Tormental
Another roguelite enters the list! Serious Sam: Tormental is bite-sized version… made for players who love games like Binding of Isaac, Enter the Gungeon, and other top-down shooters. With guns in hand, blast horrors and monsters imagined by the demigod of destruction.
Sadly, the game runs poorly on our machine at 1080. It’s barely playable with 22-27 frames per second, eating up the GPU and RAM at almost 100%. Setting the resolution to 900p brings the fps just above 30.
13. Trolley Problem, Inc.
Let’s take a break from the shooting and the carnage and decide the fate of millions. When faced with two dire options, what will you choose? Trolley Problem, Inc. is a game that will make you ponder the value and meaning of life. You might get a chuckle or two, or a moment of deep thought.
Despite mostly text and pictures, the game barely runs in fullscreen. You would need to play it in Window mode to break above 40 fps. You can lower the graphics and quality to further improve the game’s performance.
12. Floppy Knights
Remember floppy disks? I do! (I’m that old) I used to store Diablo saved games in them. Floppy Knights is, essentially, the same. Summon your knights from your floppy disks! It’s deck building, and turn-based strategy rolled into one.
Thankfully, you don’t need a floppy drive to run it. It played perfectly fine when we tested it. No obvious frame drops, and it played at a near-constant 60fps.
11. Cat Cafe Manager
Feline friends are the best! Imagine this… your own cafe for these furballs! If you love games like Animal Crossing or the old Diner Dash titles, this is for you. Manage your cafe, befriend and house local cats, and keep your small business growing.
You don’t have to worry about your cats freezing on you. The game runs at 60 frames per second. There is an option to run the game at “low-performance” mode if you have an even older machine. Just be warned, the loading at start-up can take a long time.
10. A Musical Story
From cats to music! A Musical Story is a rhythm game set in the backdrop of the 70s. Relive the memories of Gabriel, the main character, one melody at a time. It’s a game with no words, just music, beautiful visuals, and 26 original songs.
It doesn’t need much to play it. A minimum of 4-gigs of RAM and integrated graphics. At default settings, framerate is between 40-60 fps. So you don’t have to worry about lag ruining your timings.
9. Jack Move
If you can’t run Cyberpunk 2077. Jack Move will quench your thirst for a neon-lit, dystopian world. Play as a vigilante hacker and bring down a mega-corporation. Its well-crafted story and unique take on turn-based JRPG makes for a satisfying play-through.
For a game about tech, it is optimized, running at a constant 60 frames per second. Even during turn-based battles, you won’t find any noticeable dips.
8. Grapple Dog
There’s something special about a dog with a grappling hook… on a mission to save the world (of course). It starts out easy and fun — seemingly made for kids. But difficulty slowly spikes and becomes really challenging later on.
Grapple Dog is a game that depends on precision. I’m happy to report that it runs with no issues at all, constant framerate all throughout.. So you can enjoy zipping across platforms with ease!
7. Kaiju Wars
Protect your city from Kaiju attacks! This turn-based strategy game was inspired by old Kaiju movies like Godzilla and Ultraman. If you played Into the Breach (another game that plays perfectly on older machines), Kaiju Wars shares a lot of similarities including visual style.
This one is tricky. It plays really well once you get past the long load times… The biggest problem we experienced was the laggy title screen, where framerate dropped below 20. Once you’re in, though, it hits around 40fps at 1080p and more than 60fps at lowest graphics and resolution.
6. Card Shark
From giant monsters to tricking nobles. This is a game of deceit, sleight of hands, and not getting caught! Use subtlety help your clients cheat in a game of cards. Manipulate the table and help them score the bag.
40 fps at 1080; scaling it down to 900p brings it to 50+ fps. Window mode doesn’t help either and the noticeable dips only happen during 2D sections. The card gameplay runs at 60fps.
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
The turtles are back, and they’re doing it old-school. Like the days of arcades, it recreates the look and feels of the late 80s to early 90s video games. Playing with friends or online is a seamless experience. Drop in, drop out, and smack Shredder’s goons!
When we were testing games, I expected this to fail. Surprisingly, it plays really well, running smoothly at 60 fps. We’ve only tested single-player mode so expect a decrease in performance when playing multiplayer.
4. Dorfromantik
If turtle chaos is not for you. Check out this city builder designed to help you unwind. Build a village and expand by placing tiles in strategic locations. Dorfromantik is a game that gives you the option to either take on a challenge or play in creative mode for a relaxing session.
It runs at 30 fps and dips to 20 when you zoom in. This is when playing at default settings. Turning off anti-aliasing or VSync increases the frame-rate by 10. It is playable, but as your village expands, your PC will have to keep up.
3. Final Fantasy VI
Does this even need an introduction? If the remakes are too demanding for your gaming pc, this is good enough to scratch that Final Fantasy itch. Updated pixel arts; re-arranged soundtrack; and improved gameplay!
Despite the improved experience, it works well. Running at a stable 60 fps, even during overworld and turn-based combat. It’s living up to its ‘classic’ title.
2. Strange Horticulture
Ohhh. Of all the games in this list, this is my favorite! Man the counter of an herb dispensary. Identify plants, gather new samples, and help your community solve deathly mysteries. It’s a simple game that every plant-lover will enjoy!
It’s a point-and-click game, so it’s not surprising that it runs smooth. At default settings, it fluctuates between 30 to 40 fps. The dips happen during more complex scenes like opening the map, zooming in and out, and interacting with the plants.
1. OlliOlli World
This is best bang for your buck if you want to play a less demanding game. OlliOlli World is a vibrant skateboarding adventure. Skate fast and rack up points while performing snazzy moves. It’s tricky, but that’s always been the challenge with OlliOlli games.
But you need a controller to play it. At opening levels, it runs mostly between 50-60 fps. It does drop to around 40 when the map gets bigger. This is at default with Borderless Window, VSync, and at 1080p.