Best Free Action Games

Best Free Arcade or Shmup Game

Arcade or shmup (shoot ’em up) games are fast paced action game and/or provide immense replayability value. Mostly they require good hand-eye co-ordination to play and quick reflexes.

• Focus [ Site | Download ] Focus is a platformer game with a teleporting mechanic by Jesse Venbrux. Use your focus powers to avoid missiles by slowing down every object within the focus field! The longer you hold the focus button the smaller the circle becomes, hence your teleport range will shrink until it is no longer possible to perform the feat. The focus power regenerates itself once you stop using it for some time. You need twitchy fingers for this game. With over 50 stages, unlockables, enchanting music, and above all very solid, it’s difficult-but-let’s-try-one-more-time game and very addictive too. On completion, players receive a rank and a medal to honour their achievement.

• Viriax [ Site | Download ] Be part of the Viriax infection and show humans who set the rules in the Earth. Infect important organs one by one, and destroy the ultimate defensive hope of humanity, the Nanobot Assembly System, implemented as a chip near the brain. Reach the organ core to infect it, but watch your energy level: each time you move up or attack you will lose part of your energy, as also you will lose a bunch of energy if you get hit by an enemy cell. Collect red globules to keep your energy full and think when it’s a good moment to stop and make some points.

• Super Crate Box [ Site | Download ] Grabbing crates was never this difficult! In Super Crate Box, your objective is just to get hold of the crates that appear one-by-one on the multi-layered platforms in each level. Each crate has a random hidden weapon that you can use to blast your enemies. After a set milestone of grabbing crates, a new weapon gets unlocked which tends to be more destructive. During the quest you’ll have to dodge or kill various enemies who fall from the top and move along the platforms and finally gets engulfed in a fire in the middle of the lowest platform, but reincarnating themselves as a red demon.

• Other great games in this category:

• • RunMan: Race Around the World– Run through 35+ levels across 6 unique and preposterous zones in this speedy platformer game that has colorful, bright and crude graphics! [ Site | Download ]
  • Hydorah– This space adventure game features lots of short and intense levels with fantasy spatial landscapes, unlockable weapons, secrets, and a large library of enemies and bosses . [ Site | Download ]
  • Spelunky– This is a randomly generated cave exploration / treasure-hunting game, where the goal is to grab as much treasure from the cave as possible. [ Site | Download ]
  • Warning Forever– This is a fixed space shooter game, where strategy is the key to win the game. The bosses grow stronger and more intelligent as you advance. [ Site | Download ]

Best Free Beat’em Up – Fighting Game

This genre includes action games that focus on close-combat fighting, unarmed or using melee weapons; the emphasis is on executing precise moves (punches, kicks, etc.) when facing opponents who usually use similar tactics against the playable character. Fighting games are traditionally divided into two broad categories: Versus fighters and Beat ’em ups / Brawlers.

• Streets of rage Remake [ Site | Download ]  After a remarkable 8 long years of development here’s a tribute to the entire saga of the Sega MegaDrive or Genesis series. Streets of Rage Remake merges all the three Streets of Rage games into one enormous omni basher from lines of code entirely written from scratch. The original sprites of the game have been ripped, adding new moves. by 10 designers and the music have been remixed by 5 different musicians. The stages are either new or competely redesigned. The sheer scope of the project includes 103 stages, 40 cutscenes, 19 playable characters, 64 enemies and 8 different enemies, so there’s plenty to keep you entertained!

• Little Fighter 2 [ Site | Downloads Main One Two Three ] LF2 is a popular freeware PC fighting game for Windows and a sequel to Little Fighter (LF1). The game is hugely popular and especially is the fan favourite for a simultaneous hot seat/network game. The little street fighters have amazing, distinct and diverse special powers that can be unleashed through different combo keys. Different sets of items fall to the ground that can be used to replenish your health or to hurt your opponents. There are different modes to play the game (VS, Stage, Championship, Battle, Demo), various artistic environments and up to 8 human players can be involved in the game. Various fan made versions of LF2 are also available and listed in download mirrors above.

• Lugaru [ Site | Download | Mods ] A 3D cross-platform, 3rd person action game featuring Turner, an anthropomorphic rebel bunny rabbit with impressive combat skills. Lugaru employs skeletal animation with ragdoll physics and hand-and-face expressions, where attacks and counters reversals are based on timing and context rather than different key combinations. The fighting system is based largely around close combat, and also includes knives, swords and staves during combat. Stealth also plays a key role to win the fights. The graphics are great, which includes motion blur making fast movement easier to track and other effects, like blood splatter on hit knocking out a couple of teeth, wall cracks when smashing an enemy onto it.

• Other great games in this category:

• • Mortal Kombat Unlimited: This game features all MK characters, with more levels, more opponents, more special moves and is an OpenBor mod. [ Site | Download ]
  • Golden Axe: Myths: A fan-made tribute to the classic 16-bit era series featuring all-new graphics, music and levels, and even a downloadable artbook and soundtrack. [ Site | Download ]
  • Zombie Smashers X: A 2D side scrolling fighting game that has a gripping, fantastic plot where Earth is becoming overrun by zombies and decide(s) to do something about it. [ Site | Download ]

Best Free Versus – Fighting Game

• Super Cosplay War Ultra [ Site | Download ]
  Super Cosplay War Ultra sets itself apart from other freeware fighters with excellent gameplay, fluid animations, a staggering number of combos and secret characters, and top-notch graphics. In addition to the standard fighting genre, there are extra battle modes like Battle Royale and Team Vs Team. The four basic attacks are punch, kick, grab and air attack. Combos will usually cause a character to change into various costumes during the sequence, and perform a powerful attack in the end – this final hit is usually the hardest in the sequence to connect with.

• The Black Heart [ Site | Download ] The Black heart is a horror themed fighting game with its own intro, characters, stages, modifications, credits and even its own storyline which you can play in Story mode. The gameplay of Black Heart is quite unique, when the enemy is below a certain health point, they will start to bleed. In default, each game will last for 99 seconds per round, the first person or team to either K.O their opponents or have a higher amount of health than there opponent will win that round, best two out of three wins. Each character except Final has 5 abilities, these are…Normal moves, Special moves, Super moves, Fatal move, Killer mode.
• Duel Toys 2 [ Site | Download ]  Duel Toys 2 is a fighting/RPG Fan-Game which features tons of different well known characters from various games/ comics/ movies and turn them into Dueling Toys! It features more then 60 characters, from games like Street Fighter, King of Fighters, Mortal Kombat and even pop icons like Darth Vader and Michael Jackson. It also contains more than 10 original characters! But to get all the characters you must travel the city of Green Grapes dueling and collecting Badges. So start playing right now, do you think you can get all the 60 Duel Toys?
• Other great games in this category:

• • Super Marvel vs Capcom: Eternity of Heroes: SMvC: EOH is a full game created the Infinity Mugen Team, based on the popular Marvel vs. Capcom series, and runs on the M.U.G.E.N engine. [ Site | Download ]
  • King of the Streets: Well made 2D fighter inspired by Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter where fights are extremely fun. [ Site | Download ]
  • Toribash: Toribash is an innovative fighting game based on the physics sandbox model where YOU design the moves! [ Site | Download ]

Best Free Pinball Game

Games which simulate the play of an arcade pinball game. Requires good hand-eye co-ordination to play. Although these games could be considered as Table‐Top Games, there is a tradition of video pinball games and a wide variety of them to warrant categorizing them in a genre of their own.

• Future Pinball [ Site | Download+Official Table| Tables ] Future Pinball is a real time Pinball Development System. It allows you to design and play your very own pinball simulation in True real time 3D. It uses Advanced Physics to provide the best possible Simulation of a true to life pinball machine. As Future Pinball is a Game Construction Program it contains some advanced concepts which may require a little bit of time (and patience) to learn and fully understand (such as computer graphics and scripting concepts). I’ve also added a link to various table sets that you can easily add and play.

• Visual Pinball [ Site | Download| Tables ] Visual Pinball is a new tool that allows users to create and play their own pinball tables. If you like, you can start with nothing but a blank table and build up your creation, or start with a preset table or edit an existing table. Tables come alive with realistic shading and shadows. Gameplay with Visual Pinball is fun and fast-paced. Choose to view the table at any angle, at any resolution – a small window to play while multi-tasking or full-screen max-resolution for a complete pinball effect.

• Pinball FX2 [ Site | Download ]  This is a pinball game for Windows 8 users. Pinball FX is back, and it is better than ever! Pinball FX2 offers brand new tables and a host of new features and improvements, including a new state-of-the-art physics model that surpasses anything available so far. The game includes several new features, such as local multiplayer and the ability to tweak table settings. Each of the game’s tables become more complex as the game advances, opening new paths and opportunities. It also features leaderboards and online multiplayer for up to four players.

Best Free Platformer (Action)

Platformer games are ones in which the primary objective requires movement through a series of levels, by way of running, climbing, jumping, and other means of locomotion. Characters and settings are seen in side view as opposed to top view. There is heavy emphasis on action and shooting, and may have a story and collectibles.

• Cave Story [ Site | Download ] Cave Story is really one of those games that can be considered a masterpiece of game design. The developer, Pixel spent five years making this game as fun and as great as it is by adding solid controls, smooth gameplay, a great cast of characters and dialogue, an interesting plot, good music and beautiful old-school 2-D artwork. And on top of all this added multiple endings, several boss battles, tons of items to collect, all kinds of added secret bonuses and special challenges, various and considerably different methods of playing through the game depending on your actions, competition ranking features and an extremely high replay value. Cave Story is by far the best freeware game I have ever had the honor of playing through and certainly one of the best games I’ve played.

• Iji [ Site | Download ] Iji is an action-packed strategic platform shooter with a detailed story, large levels with multiple paths, powerful bosses and lots of secrets. There are alternate gameplay events, dialogues and scenes depending on what you do, a wealth of extras and bonus features, and seven stats to upgrade through a leveling system. Iji herself has superhuman strength and abilities, and can crack Nanotechnology, use her enemies’ most devastating weapons against them, and be a pacifist or a killer – the story adapts to how you play. There are 8 mainstream guns, combining standard firearms unlocks 8 additional weapons. Iji gains experience points and gains a level when enough are collected and an upgrade station is used to increase her skills, abilities and armor.

• TAGAP 2 [ Site | Download ] TAGAP 2 continues the story of cyber-penguins Pablo and Pedro, who now have joined forces. Following the events of TAGAP, our waddling heroes stumble on even bigger zombie penguin army, spearheaded by general Primo, the most epic cyber-penguin ever! More advanced and better equipped, Primo and his troops are going to accomplish what their predecessors failed to achieve; To conquer the world! Pablo is more able than before tossing grenades, using new vehicles, utilizing electro-magnetism and being more bad-ass, while Pedro provides back-up via air strikes. Not only that, but if you have a game pad your friend can assume the role of Pedro and join you side-by-side in split-screen co-op play.

• Other great games in this category:

• • Hero Core – A great platformer with black and white graphics where the protagonist get to the center of the asteroid base, and defeat the Machine Warlord, Cruiser Tetron. [ Site | Download ]
  • Gun Girl 2 – A freeware action platformer in the style of games like Metroid, Castlevania or Cave Story. But with blood… LOTS of blood [ Site | Download ]
  • I Wanna Be the Guy – A sardonic love letter to the halcyon days of early American videogaming, packaged as a nail-grippingly difficult platform adventure. [ Site | Download ]
  • Pixel Force Halo – From the developer of the fantastic Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead comes a retro de-make of Halo, mirroring the events of Halo: Combat Evolved in ten 8-bit levels. [ Site | Download ]
  • Legend of Princess – A Zelda like action game that has its levels change slightly depending on your equipment. [ Site | Download ]

Best Free Shooter – First Person Shooter

Shooters are action games in which the player character shoots enemies. The shooting is usually performed with firearms in these games. In FPS, the environments are displayed from a 1st-person perspective or view; i.e. from the viewer’s own eyes and will be in 3D. Most free FPS are multiplayer, with human or computer opponents, and there is heavy emphasis on team-work, while campaign modes are very rare.

1. Single-Player

• Black Mesa [ Site | Download | Steam | Source SDK Base 2007 ]
  Black Mesa is a Half-Life 2 total conversion remaking of Valve Software’s award-winning PC game, Half-Life. Utilizing the Source engine, Black Mesa will reintroduce the player as Doctor Gordon Freeman, along with the original cast of memorable characters and environments seen in Half-Life by fully reconstructing the Half-Life universe utilizing Source to its fullest potential. The idea is to remake the storyline used in Half Life into a new polished Source Engine version with new models, maps, soundtrack, voice acting and textures.

2. Multi-Player

• Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory [ Site | Download ] Formerly a expansion pack, Enemy Territory was released as a free multiplayer add-on featuring multiplayer support for as many as 64 players. Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory challenges gamers to the ultimate test of teamwork and strategy. Each of the five character classes is critical to a team’s ultimate victory or defeat on the battlefield. These include Soldier, Medic, Engineer, Field Ops, Covert Ops each having their own traits. Every time you kill an opponent, or your team manages to accomplish its goals, you will get experience. Experience translates into experience points and the more points you earn the higher your skill level.

• America’s Army: Special Forces [ Site | Download ] One of the most realistic games ever, and winning 3 Guinness World Records for largest traveling game simulator, largest virtual army and most downloaded war game in 2008, AA2 is a multiplayer (single player available) round based tactical shooter game with the player acting as a soldier in the U.S. Army, with combat at squad-level with multiple fireteams. Created and designed by the United States Army, this adrenaline-packed multiplayer game is in a class all its own in terms of its realistic game play and military detail.

• Tribes 2 aka TribesNext [ Site | Download| Patch ] Tribes 2 is a fast paced 3D combat type FPS over a huge area. Set in the year 3941, Tribes 2 allows the user to play as a soldier in one of several factions (referred to in the game as tribes), such as the Children of the Phoenix, the Blood Eagle, the Diamond Sword, and the Star Wolf. Players can also choose to play a rebelling human-created soldier/worker race called the BioDerms. The game can be played in FPS and TPS modes. Game modes include capture the flag, deathmatch, rabbit-chase, and various others.

• Other great games in this category:

• • Area51– Played from the perspective of the protagonist, Ethan Cole, first starts out with intense combat where the player has several AI teammates with him versus hordes of mutants. [ Site | Download ]
  • Xonotic– A fast paced, free and open source FPS game, Xonotic combines an addictive, arena-style gameplay with rapid movement and a wide array of weapons. [ Site | Download ]
  • Cube 2:Sauerbraten– This multiplayer/singleplayer shooter, built as a major redesign of the Cube FPS, allows map/geometry editing to be done dynamically in-game, to create fun gameplay and an elegant engine. [ Site | Download ]
  • WG Realms 2: Siege Breaker– An action packed single player shooter that is a total conversion of Duke Nukem 3D with 3 huge levels with some of WG’s best work to date. [ Site | Download ]
  • Urban Terror –Urban Terror can be described as a Hollywood tactical shooter; somewhat realism based, but the motto is “fun over realism”. This results in a very unique, enjoyable and addictive game. [ Site | Download ]
  • OpenArena –A community-produced deathmatch FPS, OpenArena many game types supported including Free For All, Capture The Flag, Domination, Overload, Harvester, and more. [ Site | Download ]

Best Free Shooter -Third Person Shooter

The environments are displayed from a 3rd-person perspective or view; i.e. player is able to see his/her own avatar. Most third-person shooters have a defined campaign. There are different sorts of collectibles, like medkits, ammo, weapons, etc in-game as well as various types of enemies, and may also include elements of RPG.

• Psi Ops: The Mind Gate Conspiracy [ Site | Download ] Psi Ops The Mindgate Conspiracy is a third person shooter which puts players in control of Nick Scryer a Psi-operative with psychic abilities such as telekinesis, remote viewing, mind drain, pyrokinesis, aura view and mind control. To begin with Nick has no access to his psychic powers, but regains his memories of how to use them one by one at various points in the game. Each remembering event is followed by a training level instructing the player in each powers’ use. Use these psychic abilities along with traditional weapons to fight your way through an army of terrorists.

• Hidden and Dangerous Deluxe [ Site | Download ] Hidden and Dangerous Deluxe is about the beginning of the SAS during world war 2, you control a four-man squad of soldiers. It is a 3rd person/1st person, tactical action game. The mix of both tactical action and strategy is a must use in Hidden & Dangerous. The game has 23 missions in total spread over 6 campaigns set throughout Italy, Germany, Norway and many other countries. Mission objectives vary from rescuing hostages, to capturing German officers and from blowing up bridges, to stealing an enigma coding machine.
• Crime Life 2 [ Site | Download ] Crimelife 2 is a full 3D GTA clone. You can free roam around the new huge city. Shoot people and explode vehicles with 7 weapons including Uzi, shotguns, rocket launchers and more. You can purchase more weapons from the Weapon-Nation shop. Drive a car from 16 available, all different in appearance and interior. Enter a building to explore the rich content and many, many other things.
• Other great games in this category:

• • Dark Ocean: A survival horror videogame settled on a luxurious cruise ship. Dark Ocean emphasizes the tension and anxiety in an original and exclusive environment, influenced by modern horror movies and horror games. [ Site | Download ]
  • Noxious: You, a scientist, got trapped inside when the research facility went into lock down due to the test subjects escaping containment. You must reroute power from around the facility to a large laser cannon to blow your way out. [ Site | Download ]

Best Free Top Down Shooter

Top-down perspective is used to describe any game where the main setting of gameplay is represented by a top-down (also known as overhead) view of the playfield. These games may have a well defined campaigns, or multiplayer and team based.

• Alien Swarm [ Site | Download | Steam ] The game thrusts players into an epic bug hunt featuring a unique blend of co-op play and squad-level tactics. With your friends, form a squad of four distinct IAF Marine classes. Plan your attack using an unlockable arsenal of weapons with countless loadout configurations against a wide variety of aliens. Blaze your way through an overrun, off-world colony, eradicating the alien infestation in environments ranging from the icy planet’s surface, to a subterranean lava-flooded mining facility. Over 40 weapons and equipment with countless loadout configurations, 4 unique classes and 8 unique characters.

• GTA 2 [ Site | Download ]  GTA2 expanded on the top-down, open-ended crime world gameplay formula of it’s predecessor with a host of new features including the advent of multiple rival gangs – seven, to be exact, including the Yakuza, Scientists, Looneys, Rednecks, Zaibatsu, the Russian Mob and Hare Krishnas. Earn your respect with each gang. Reap the benefits with all manner of shady work-for-hire gigs contracted your way. And climb your way to the top of the criminal pile.

• Counter Strike 2D [ Site | Download ] Counter-Strike 2D is more than just a freeware clone of the well known game Counter-Strike! Experience the popular multiplayer shooter in a top-down 2D perspective or accomplish new missions like capture the flag or domination! Use a huge arsenal of weapons and equipment including crazy new stuff like portal guns, lasers, RPGs, turrets and much more! The game has all the weapons from the original CS, a very easy to use map editor and many modes.

• Other great games in this category:

• • Subvein: Mutant Factions: A tactical and fast paced multiplayer action game. It has over 20 weapons, a strategic skills system, crazy vehicles and countless user-generated maps. [ Site | Download ]
  • Notrium: A very modable game having 4 player characters: Human, Android, Alien, Psionic with survival, action and exploration taking place on the planet Notrium. [ Site | Download ]
  • Thesus: Return of the Hero: A logical sequel to Alien Shooter with 10 missions, mostly taking place in open spaces across forest, village, highway and city battles. [ Site | Download ]
  • Killing Engine: A free multiplayer shooter between 2 teams having large varied battlegrounds, 28 different weapons, Level editor, destructible environment and three different game modes. [ Site | Download ]
  • Bloodmasters: An arcade, old-school multiplayer shooter with lots of blood, that supports Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag and Scavenger game modes. [ Site | Download ]

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