I'm currently looking for new free PC games that aren't completely pay-to-win. My friends are always talking about different F2P titles, but I don't know which ones are actually still active and fun to play. What are you guys playing right now?
The most important thing is to check the community size - with smaller F2P games the player base dies out quickly and then it's not fun anymore. Look at the Steam charts, sort by "Free to Play" and filter by game type, then you'll see right away which games are still alive. A trick: join the subreddits for the games that interest you - within a week you'll notice whether the devs are still active or if they've already abandoned the thing.
I'd first tell you to test things out yourself instead of just blindly following recommendations - lots of F2P games change constantly and what used to be good can be pay-to-win today. Check out Steam or the Epic Games Store and read through the current reviews, especially the negative ones, that's where you'll quickly find out if the monetization is annoying. Plenty of people complain there explicitly about pay-to-win mechanics, so you can filter that out pretty easily.
What's still running solid right now: Valorant is basically just cosmetics, the actual gameplay isn't pay-to-win. Team Fortress 2 has been around forever and it still works, even if the community is a bit thin sometimes. Dota 2 unlocked all heroes without paying - only skins cost money. With these three you can actually play without feeling ripped off. Path of Exile is pretty okay if you're into loot-hunting, but you gotta be careful not to fall into the trap of convenience items.
The thing is: pretty much every bigger F2P game has some annoying mechanic, whether it's battle passes, energy systems, or hidden pay-walls. My strategy is to just start several games and check after a week whether the monetization gets to me or not. If you notice you're constantly staring at the "pay now" button, it's time to move on to the next one. The really good free games are the ones where you realize you're paying voluntarily, not because you have to.
For free-to-play games, it's worth checking out Discord servers or Reddit communities for individual titles - you'll quickly figure out if the player base is still active or if it's just hardcore fans hanging around. The problem that often gets overlooked: many F2P games look fair at first glance, but the grind becomes artificially slow after a few hours, so you're basically forced to spend money - so pay less attention to the first hour and more to how it feels after 10-15 hours. Popular titles like Valorant or Team Fortress 2 work simply because the developers know the business model only holds up if the gameplay itself is fun - go by that kind of thing, not all those survival games with battle passes.
The best trick is to just check the patch notes from the last few months - if stuff's still happening regularly, the game isn't dead 🎮 All the well-known F2P titles like Valorant, CS2 or Dota 2 are obviously still running, but things get really interesting with the less hyped games that are still being actively developed. Just look at when the last major update came out - if it was less than three months ago, you can jump back in with a clear conscience. In the end though, you've gotta test it yourself anyway because "fun" is subjective and some F2P games feel completely different to you than they do to your friends.
Do you prefer playing competitively or more just hanging out with friends? What everyone's missing here: yeah, a lot of the big free titles have active communities, but the entry barrier's gotten brutal - if you're not playing every single day, you'll end up facing people in Valorant or CS2 who basically live in the game. My trick is to look at older or less hyped titles that do their thing and don't need constant new content to stay relevant - you usually find more chill players and way less toxic vibes there. Check out what's been running with steady updates over the last few months instead of just looking at the big names.
Just check if the developers are still actively putting out content - if patch notes come regularly and the roadmap isn't empty, the game's not dead! That's honestly the most important thing, because nothing's more depressing than an abandoned game where literally nothing happens after a while.
As for the selection: there are definitely solid titles that aren't completely milked dry. Lots of people fixate on the big names, but it's really worth not using player base size as your only criterion - sometimes smaller communities have better cohesion and are less toxic. Just check out a few that interest you, play for an hour, and you'll quickly figure out whether it's your thing or if you end up frustrated by monetization walls after a short while!
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