Laptop games exist. And I don’t mean games for expensive, PC-like gaming laptops — I mean games you can play on Chromebook, or any old laptop you have. Which is great news, especially if you’re a student, don’t have a setup yet, or just want to have some fun without investing in expensive devices.
And because I, too, know the pain of wanting to play a game but not having the right equipment, I decided to save you some time and round up the best of the best laptop games ever.
Some of these are oldies but goodies (that I love and you can pry them from my cold, dead hands), and some are very new, and very playable on any laptop with no lag or overheating at all (tried and tested). Let’s get into it!
Terraria
Terraria gives you a whole lot of game for very low hardware requirements. And if you’re into sandbox survival (and especially if you like 2D pixel style), then you’ll love this one. You can even play it with friends, though I’m not sure how that’ll affect its performance.
But anyway, Terraria allows you to do whatever you want to do — literally. You can build houses, explore randomly generated worlds, fight seriously difficult bosses, and many other things. It gives you tons of freedom, which makes it fun to play.
Plus, it’s also fairly cheap, costs less than your coffee/snacks probably do and it’s great value for your money.
Dead Cells
Dead Cells is another great game to play on your laptop thanks to its low system requirements. This one is a bit less chill and lot more difficult — it’s a metroidvania-inspired, rougelite action platformer.
In this game, you control reanimated corpses trying to escape an island prison. And this is extra hard because there are no checkpoints, so every time you die, you go right back to the beginning. You either kill a boss in one go or die trying.
The price of this one is also very low, especially for an award-winning game, so have fun playing!
Stardew Valley
I mean, is a list even complete without Stardew Valley? I’d argue not. You probably already heard about this game before — it has a huge fanbase, and for a good reason. It’s a great game.
If you like chill, cozy farming/life sims, this could be your new favorite. There’s a bit of adventure, a bit of romancing, and a ton of coziness. You’re probably noticing a trend here — this game is also 2D and in pixel style. Graphics are a bit of a trade-off if you want to play games on your laptop. But with this style, you don’t lose anything.
I will say that the game can lag a little when there’s too many things on the screen, but not enough to ruin your fun. It’s also inexpensive.
And if you already played Stardew and want more of that, check out these games like Stardew Valley.
Aquaria
Ah, this is one of my favorite games of all time. I’ll admit I’m biased and that’s why it’s on this list, but Aquaria is truly amazing. You play as a girl who lives in the sea, but doesn’t remember anything about her life. So, she goes on a journey through the ocean in order to find out where she comes from.
The sea is chill to begin with, but then you get to see dangerous fish and dungeons that are more likely to kill you than anything else. It’s relaxing but challenging at times, and beautifully designed.
The best part is that it won’t lag — ever. If I managed to play it without issues on a laptop that would wheeze when I opened a Google Doc (7 years ago), you’ll definitely manage on your laptop now.
Balatro
If you’re into card games, but with a twist, welcome to Balatro! This one will run on anything short of a toaster, so no matter what your specs are like, you can play Balatro.
It’s a rougelike deckbuilder inspired by poker, and I wish I could give you better than that, but just trust me and play it. Why suffer through boring built-in solitaire, when you can have fun with this?
Vampire Survivors
Vampire Survivors has addictive, fast-paced gameplay and short runs that make it very easy to say “just one more” and then end up playing for hours. There’s not much to it, really — you get into a horde of monsters, try to survive as long as possible and that’s it.
And you guessed it — the game is designed in a pixel style (this one might be more pixel style than most on this list, to be honest, it looks like it crawled out of a haunted NES cartridge). But it’s really fun and well-worth trying, especially at such a low price.
Slay the Spire
This is another deckbuilder card game but not quite like Balatro. You play as one of four unique characters, each with their own playstyle, and your goal is to climb a mysterious tower filled with enemies, strange events, and more.
The cards are used more strategically here. Every turn, you draw cards that let you attack, defend, or pull off wild combos—and every time you win a fight, you get to add a new card to your deck. The trick is knowing when to take a card and when to skip, because a bloated deck can be worse than a small, focused one.
You can play it on a phone, so you can imagine how well it can work on a laptop.
SpellForce 2
Spellforce 2 was probably my favorite game ever until Baldur’s Gate 3 came out. And don’t judge me — it’s a really great, underrated franchise and it ticks all the boxes on what I like (and yes, that’s the only reason it’s here, I haven’t seen anyone else talk about it in a while).
But whether you like it or not, here’s the thing — it runs so well on laptops. I had an old, very likely pirated version on my laptop years ago, and didn’t have any issues playing it. And despite it looking just a touch outdated, it’s still very enjoyable. You can also check out the newer release (SpellForce: Conquest of Eo), or some other titles in this franchise, because I don’t think any of them have high requirements.
And as a bonus, none of them are expensive at all (the most recent release is like $11), so you can enjoy these even on a budget.
Knights of Honor
And here’s another one of my favorites — Knights of Honor. If you like strategy, politics, and don’t mind using cheats to speed things up (or otherwise have endless patience), this is the game for you.
You start out with a medieval country of your choosing, and from there, you start to expand, trade goods, declare wars, defend your nation from others, etc. I used to play this in the background while doing homework, and I can’t even tell you how many times I owned most of Europe thanks to useful cheats that give you extra money.
I tried the mods/expansions that allow you to play the whole world, but I still believe the original is the best.
You can see my full review here, but if you’re (like I used to) doing homework on your Chromebook and need a game that doesn’t require your full attention all of the time, this one is a great choice.
Gris
Gris is a relaxing, beautifully-drawn, emotional game. It’s quite short if you need something quick but also heart-wrenching, and it can run on basically anything without issues.
You play as a girl who’s lost her voice — literally and emotionally — and the game is all about her journey through grief, color by color. Each new area adds a splash of color back into the world, along with new abilities that help you move forward.
It’s also not expensive to start with, but it’s also frequently on sale, so try to catch it when it is.
What Remains of Edith Finch
And if you haven’t had enough of short, devastating games, here’s another one — What Remains of Edith Finch.
You play as Edith, returning to her bizarre, creaky family home to uncover why so many members of her family died in, well, incredibly weird ways. Each room tells a different story, and each story plays out in a totally unique style — from flipping through a comic book to working a fish cannery while daydreaming.
I’d highly recommend it just for the experience.
Wingspan
Wingspan is a thoughtful, calming game that actually originated as a board game, and you can tell (in the best way possible). It’s all about building the best bird sanctuary you can.
You place birds into different habitats (forest, grassland, wetland), and each one gives you different abilities or resources — like food, eggs, or extra cards. You can play it easily on any laptop because it doesn’t have high requirements, but it does give you hours of gameplay and lots of relaxing times.
Hades
I loved Hades — it’s probably one of my favorite games ever, even if I’m not much for roguelikes. But all of the procedurally generated dungeons, and all the humor and all the fun characters made me quite a fan.
I’d highly recommend this if you want action and fighting but don’t have the system requirements for anything AAA. And especially if you like Greek mythology. This one gets bonus points for beautiful art from me as well.
And you can see my full review here.
Ori and The Blind Forest
Ori and The Blind Forest is a metroidvania platformer that took the world by a storm quite a few years ago, and for a good reason — it’s such an emotional story and such beautiful art. That’s not to say that it isn’t hard at times, and challenging as well.
I won’t say anything more or spoil anything for you, so you can experience it properly. Just trust me, it’s a good one.
Don’t Starve
If Tim Burton made a survival game, this would be it. Don’t Starve is creepy and mean but so much fun, and best of all — playable on any laptop.
It’s lightweight, runs well on basically anything, and doesn’t need a constant internet connection — which makes it ideal if you’re, say, hiding from social obligations in a coffee shop corner. Or procrastinating at work (we won’t tell).
Bonus: if you end up loving the base game, there are expansions and Don’t Starve Together, which is great if you want to bring a friend into your procrastination.
Plague Inc: Evolved
I loved this game so much years ago. And I mean I still love it, but back then, I was the evil villain of a global disaster on the daily. Though, after the whole pandemic incident of 2020, maybe that’s not something to brag about.
Well, anywho — in this game, you create a virus or a bacteria and then you try to wipe out humanity before the scientists figure it out. There’s a lot of strategy in finding the best way for your virus thingy to spread.
It runs beautifully on just about any laptop, doesn’t ask much in terms of specs, and the sessions are quick enough that you can squeeze one in anytime.
Prison Architect
Prison Architect is a management sim that lets you design, build, and run your very own correctional facility — and it is way more intense (and surprisingly thoughtful) than it sounds. At first there’s just building, but soon enough you’ll need to manage the needs of your prisoners, budgets, and all sorts of things — a bit like Sim City but in prison.
The art style is minimalist, which makes it run perfectly on anything.
Celeste
Celeste is a tight little platformer designed in pixel art where your role is to climb a mountain which may or may not be a metaphor for anxiety and other pesky things like that. It’s comforting in that way, but also very challenging to play (I guess there’s a metaphor in that).
It runs great on just about any laptop, and it’s one of the most popular titles for a reason.
Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight is a souls like metroidvania that takes you on a journey through ancient ruins. I found it really challenging, even frustratingly so at times, but rewarding overall. It’s beautiful, atmospheric, and very stressful.
It’s also shockingly generous for the price — massive world, tons of content, and it runs well on most laptops.
Plants vs Zombies
Plants vs Zombies is a classic, so you probably already know about it — or at least a version of it that everyone and their mother played on their phones ages ago. But, you might not know that you can also play it on your laptop.
In case you don’t know, it’s a tower defense game where you defend your home from zombies with flowers. It’s light on system requirements, doesn’t need an internet connection, and plays great on any laptop.
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