A lot of gamers don’t wish to purchase high-end gaming rigs as they are costly. Additionally, some people may feel that their PCs are not good enough for gaming. We bring you a list of all the best games for low-end pc so that you can enjoy gaming from whichever computer you own. You can choose to play multiplayer games online or single-player games which need to be installed on your local device. Either way, owning a low-end pc will not deprive you of your gaming pleasure!
Table of Contents
Minecraft: One of the oldest and best games for low-end PC
Minecraft is an extremely popular game that Mojang released in 2009. It was developed using Java and had basic 3-D pixel graphics, which can be run efficiently on low-end PCs. Minecraft is an extremely popular game that operates in Sandbox mode. Players can roam the free game world and collect materials and build objects. A lot of players also stream this game due to its popularity. Some players build massive architectural structures within the game. Minecraft has won many awards and has been hailed as one of the best games for low-end pc.
There are multiple spinoffs of the original Minecraft, and fans of this game also hold tournaments. You can modify the game’s mechanics to build new structures and objects. You can also fight computer-controlled mobs or compete with other players online. In Minecraft, you can fight other players or participate in a competitive build-off where players quickly build objects in the game.
You don’t have to complete a set objective or an end goal, making it one of the best games for low-end pc. As a player, you can choose what you want to do in the game to have fun. You can choose between any of the five modes of the game and choose whichever difficulty you prefer.
Configuring Minecraft to run on your low-end PC
You can make a few changes to the settings for Minecraft to run smoothly on your PC. Set the graphics to fast and ensure that the render distance is two chunks. Additionally, you can turn off smooth lighting, VSync, view bobbing, clouds, mipmap levels, and entity shadows. Setting the GUI scale to 3 is also helpful. Moreover, you can also download mods like Optifine HD to run well on your PC. Thus by tweaking a few settings or installing mods, you can have Minecraft up and running even on low-end PCs.
The Call of Duty Franchise
As you may know, Call of Duty is one of the most popular game franchises in the world. You may find it surprising that all versions of Call of Duty up to the Modern Warfare edition will work on low-end PCs. The combination of a popular franchise and a gripping storyline easily make Call of Duty one of the best games for low-end PC.
The earlier versions of Call of Duty are set in the World War 2 era and will allow you to control a soldier. Call of Duty falls under the domain of first-person shooter games. Thus you can run Call of Duty 1, 2, or 3 efficiently on your low-end PC. Each of these has 20 to 15 hours of gameplay. They also had large online communities, which have now become extinct.
Call of Duty is not just a mindless first-person shooter game. It has a gripping storyline, with some characters even crossing over into the Modern Warfare series. The developers of this game have given special attention to detail when it comes to gameplay. Call of Duty 1,2, and 3 are easily some of the best games for low-end PC that you can play.
Call of Duty 1
COD 1 is the first installment in a long series of successful games. It lets you control a player in the World War 2 Era in the first-person shooter mode. What made this game special is that it is not your conventional lone-wolf shooter game. You have Artificial Intelligence controlled allies who fight alongside you. These allies react to changes in-game and also help you fight the enemy. This enhancement makes it one of the best games for low-end PCs by far.
The game features many realistic effects. If there is an explosion nearby, the player hears a ringing sound and cannot run and hears muffled sounds. The player can carry two weapons and also use mounted machine guns scattered across the map. Despite all these realistic aspects, the game runs well on low-end PCs. The game has three campaigns, the American, the British, and the Soviet Campaigns.
Call of Duty 2
Call of Duty 2 is the next edition in the Call of Duty series that quickly became one of the best games for low-end PCs. It features four individual campaigns for more immersive gameplay. The player controls one soldier in the red army, one in the US Army, and two soldiers in the British forces. Moreover, this is the first game in the franchise to feature regenerating health, which becomes a hallmark of all future Call of Duty games.
The game contains 27 missions in total spread across all three single-player campaigns. Call of Duty 2 also has a multiplayer mode and allows the player to stand, lie prone or kneel. The British campaign introduces you to Captain John Price. Captain Price becomes a central part of the Call of Duty series from now on. Captain Price also plays a significant role in the Modern Warfare series of Call of Duty.
Call of Duty 3
Call of duty was released in 2006, one year after Call of Duty 2. This edition allows you to follow four campaign trails. You can take control of a Polish soldier, a Canadian soldier, an American soldier, or a British soldier. This game has a more immersive multiplayer mode as well. Call of Duty takes you back to 1944 during World War 2. It revolves around the campaigns held around the Battle of Normandy.
Call of Duty 3 allows you to chuck live grenades thrown at you, back at the enemy.
It also features AI allies that fight alongside you during the campaign. Despite being an advanced version of the earlier installments, it can be run on low-end PCs. The immersive gameplay of Call of Duty 3 makes it one of the best games for low-end PC that you can play on your system. The series adds close-quarter combat scenes to enhance your gameplay further.
Among Us
Among Us is one of the most popular multiplayer online games that you can play on a low-end pc. It gained popularity during the COVID-19 lockdown as it allows you to play online against other players from the safety of your home. It tops the list of low-end pc games free due to its immersive player modes. The game features a group of players trying to repair their spaceship before takeoff.
You can play with 4-10 players, making it one of the best games for low-end pc. Out of the 4-10 players, 1-3 players are imposters, and the rest are crew members. As one of the imposters, you need to kill all the crew members till only one crew member remains. You also need to make sure that you don’t get caught while killing crew members. Crew members can call an emergency meeting to vote out and eject the imposters. Imposters lose the game if all the imposters are ejected.
Gameplay
As a crew member, you need to complete a series of tasks to get the spaceship in flying condition. These tasks need to be completed along with the rest of the crew members. You need to make sure not to get killed by one of the imposters while doing these tasks. If you complete all the tasks before the imposters kill all but one of the crew members, the crew members win the game.
If players spot a dead body, they can report it, which leads to an emergency meeting. In this meeting, the players can chat with each other and decide who the imposter might be. After a discussion, the player with the maximum number of votes gets ejected. The imposters can confuse the crew members in the chat to get another crew member ejected. This game does not require high graphics and hence is one the best survival games for low-end PC.
Poly Bridge
Poly Bridge is an exciting sandbox game that is one of the best games for low-end PCs without graphics cards. In this game, a player must build bridges across challenging landscapes. You must create a strong bridge to let a set number of vehicles cross over to the other side—the number of vehicles that need to cross increases as the level and difficulty of the game increase. You may even find the game intellectually stimulating as you need to apply mechanics to win.
Poly Bridge appeals to the inner civil engineer in you. You need to make sure all the load-bearing points are strong enough to handle the weight of the vehicles that need to cross. This game also allows you to make use of different materials to make various bridges. Poly Bridge runs smoothly even on low-end pcs. This game is a testament to the fact that low-resolution games can also provide you with the same level of fun that graphic-intensive ones can.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto or GTA is one of the most popular game franchises that exist to date. This franchise is still alive and all set to release GTA 6 in the coming years. You can play GTA: Vice City even on low-end PCs. It is one of the best open-world pc games with low system requirements. GTA Vice city allows you to roam an open world in the fictional Vice City and do almost anything you like.
Rockstar Games released the game in 2002, and it takes you back to the 1980s. You control Tommy Vercetti, who is a criminal just coming over to Vice City. You can drive cars, fly helicopters, and ride bikes. Riding bikes is the new addition to this version of GTA as it was not possible in the earlier versions. The game allows players to carry firearms and even perform melee attacks. As a criminal, you can shoot whomever you want and hijack vehicles to drive them. The game has a gripping storyline full of criminals and betrayal.
You can free roam around Vice-City, which has two main islands and two smaller islands. To move forward in the game, you need to complete missions in line with the story. You can complete a significant chunk of the game just by completing the missions in the storyline. Apart from the main storyline, there are plenty of side missions that you can participate in. You also need to complete all side missions to take the game to 100% completion.
You can hijack a taxi and become a taxi driver. If you hijack an ambulance, you can play missions as a paramedic. You can steal a firetruck and act as a firefighter. Moreover, if you steal a police car or a police truck, you can act as a vigilante to catch criminals. These side missions add an extra layer of fun to the game. You can also find hidden packages throughout Vice City, and these contribute to the game completion too. All in all, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City can be a one-stop solution to all kinds of thrill-seekers.
Final Thoughts
Owning a low-end PC will not deprive you of gaming pleasure. You will find plenty of games that you can play on low-end pcs and are just as fun as the ones made on high-end ones. Just make sure that you optimize the settings so that the game runs smoothly on your system. You may also need to install a few mods, but apart from that, you can start gaming on your low-end pc right now!
