The Benefits Of Playing Games Online For Adults
Many people think that playing cool online games is just for entertainment or passing the time. But it turns out, playing also has plenty of benefits for your health and mental wellness. The most obvious benefit is that certain games can relieve stress and anxiety. Its why many people unwind at the end of a busy day by playing simple and relaxing games like Solitaire or Minesweeper.
Playing free games online can help with mental stimulation as well. Playing and winning even the simplest game requires more brain power than you may think. You often need to strategize on the fly or come up with a split-second decision in the heat of the moment. This can help you develop your problem-solving skills and strengthen your mind. Fast, real-time games can even test your hand-eye coordination, mechanical skills, and accuracy.
This mental engagement makes playing free PC games a good treatment for certain mental illnesses and trauma. For example, studies have shown that playing games online can help people deal with post-traumatic stress disorder , attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome , and depression by encouraging focus and making patients forget their psychological pain, even if just for a while.
Winning a video game offers a sense of pride and accomplishment. On the flip side, losing in a video game can also be an exercise in developing mental resilience. In a way, it gives a safe space for people to experience failure and, thus, learn how to deal with it.
Mutant Year Zero: Road To Eden
Search for Scrap On: Core i5-760, Phenom II X4 965, GTX 580 / AMD Radeon 7870 HD, 6GB RAM, 8GB HDD.
This XCOM-meets-Fallout title is based on the tabletop Mutant Year Zero game. If youve played the modern XCOM games, youll be familiar with most of the gameplay elements. Mutant Year Zero gives you direct control of your squad outside of combat and fuses XCOMs gameplay with some light RPG elements.
The worst thing we can say about Mutant Year Zero is that youll have to do some Googling to figure out which buttons are tied to which keyboard functions. The games plot and post-apocalyptic setting recall the best parts of Fallout. While the game isnt as deep as one of those sprawling titles, it still feels like a spiritual sequel. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden feels a bit like a AA game, for lack of a better phrase. Reasonably well-polished with solid aspirations, but you wont mistake it for a 400-hour dungeon crawler.
Orcs Must Die Orcs Must Die 2
The Plot Chickens. Defend the Order Rift Using: Any dual-core CPU at 2GHz or above, a GeForce 6800 or ATI Radeon x1950 with 256GB of RAM, 2GB of RAM, and at least 256MB of VRAM. Supports Windows XP.
Revisit the simple joy of spring-loaded traps and acid bombs. I recommend OMD1, but OMD2 is definitely the better game.
Orcs Must Die and Orcs Must Die 2 are some of our favorite titles for mindless slaughtery goodness. Theres an army of marauding orcs coming and, you see, they must die. This hybrid tower-defense/action game tasks you with burning, blasting, freezing, smashing, dissolving, shooting, and generally wreaking mayhem against wave after wave of orcs, trolls, ogres, and other various bad guys. Its easy to learn and sometimes surprisingly difficult to master.
OMD excels at offering a variety of fun ways to end monsters in style. Spring-loaded traps that hurl creatures through the air? Check. Acid sprayers and arrow traps? Check. Trinkets to transform you into a massive ogre, hurl fireballs, or turn orcs into chickens? Check.
Don’t Miss: How To Find My Dell Laptop Model
Try Classic Games And Low
If all else fails, remember that not all games require beastly PCs to play. There’s a whole world of low-spec titles out there, especially if you dig into the past and want to play retro video games. Check out stores like GOG for tons of classic titles that have been repackaged for modern operating systems. to find the older, laptop-friendly ones.)
Never got around to playing Baldur’s Gate as a kid? There’s no better time than now, thanks to the Enhanced Edition. Can’t run Skyrim on your antique laptop? Some argue its predecessor Morrowind is the superior game. Never played Chrono Trigger? Steam has you covered.
In addition, there are lots of indie titles that trade polygons for inventive gameplay. You can check out adventure games like The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and Gone Home. Looking for strategy? Try Into the Breach or Slay the Spire. If you want an RPG, go for Undertale or Disco Elysium. You can even make action games, like Terraria and Risk of Rain, work.
There are plenty of games that will run on lower-spec machines, and they’re usually cheaper, too. Some games will claim higher minimum specs than others with its required 4GB of RAM and GTX 650), but with Steam’s 24-hour refund window, you can always give it a shot. Just don’t forget to turn those graphics settings down.
Like What You’re Reading?
Sign up for Tips & Tricks newsletter for expert advice to get the most out of your technology.
How To Stream Pc Games To Your Mobile Tablet Or Laptop
Gaming on the PC is fun but it can be tiring spending long hours in front of it. Gaming laptops are a great idea and we highly recommend considering one if youre someone who needs to travel a lot, and need to carry your work station along. However, if youre someone who wants to play PC games in the comfort of your bed or couch, there is a very robust and freely available option present. Its made by Valve, the folks behind Half-Life, and they now run Steam, the worlds largest online game store and distribution system. Enter, Steam In-Home Streaming, a feature that lets you stream games from one device to another. You can now run games across systems even if all of them dont have high-end gaming hardware on-board. You can stream from a gaming PC to a basic laptop, or from a gaming laptop to a mobile device, or a gaming laptop to another laptop or any such combination. Here is how you go about setting it up.
What do you need?
Oh, and this setup requires no internet connectivity for streaming, just to login to Steam and authenticate your devices. Steam in-home streaming only works on the same network, so dont expect to stream games from a different city or location. Also, make sure your Windows screen isnt logged out or locked. You cannot have others using that device at the same time.
How do you setup Steam In-Home Streaming?
Testing out your Steam In-Home Streaming setup
Tweaking your streaming setup further
How do you make the gaming experience more intuitive?
Read Also: How To Locate My Stolen Laptop
Retro City Rampage Dx
Retro City Rampage DX already runs on low-end systems, but if you really want, the game comes with an extra thats designed to run on a 486 DX PC. Theres even a prototype Windows 3.1 version.
That aside, Retro City is great for scratching that 8-bit, early GTA vibe. Its also a great call back to the late 80s and early 90s, for those that love exploring that world.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
Only The Stanley Parable, a nearly unexplainable game where things get regularly weird and meta, could get away with hiding what amounts to a sequel within the frame of an expanded re-release of the original game. Like the original title, the strange and hilariously distracted nature of The Stanley Parable is something that you have to experience for yourself, as words simply do not do it justice. With the Ultra Deluxe edition, you’re getting an experience that feels like a game within a game, adding the illusion of freedom and other surprises along the way. It’s nothing short of a clever and thought-provoking examination of video games and the relationship that we have with them.
You May Like: A Laptop At Walmart
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
As cute as it is hard-hitting in the emotional department, Chicory: A Colorful Tale gives you a blank canvas on which to explore a world stripped of color and in dire need of an artist’s touch. As the newest hero to wield a magical paintbrush, Chicory’s approach to art and finding your place in life is surprisingly gentle and honest. Its world is filled with touching stories and wonderful landscapes to create some art in, while its gameplay manages to be clever and accessible. It’s main lesson though, is that there’s no right or wrong way to express your creativity, so long as you do something to help brighten up the world around you.
Torment: Tides Of Numenera
Release date: 2017 | Developer: inXile Entertainment | Link:Humble Store
A successor to Planescape: Torment? It seemed too good to be true, and yet inXile took the engine Obsidian made for Pillars of Eternity and managed to return to the world of Torment in an RPG that recaptures much of what made the original so special. Lucky for laptop gamers, it can also run on low-end hardware, which is fitting for a throwback RPG. In our Torment: Tides of Numenera review, we wrote that “a slow start gives way to a thought-provoking adventure in a remarkable setting. A fitting follow-up to a beloved RPG.”
Don’t Miss: Who Recycles Laptops
You’ll Soon Be Able To Play 2 Age Of Empires Games From The Comfort Of Your Sofa
The Controller Age is here.
Age of Empires just celebrated its 25th birthday, and with it a cheeky little livestream that announced that both Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition and Age of Empires 4 are coming to Xbox in 2023. Turns out that’s pretty good news for us too, as the PC versions will be getting the extra goodies coming to console.
Both games will be getting cloud gaming support and, more excitingly, controller support and crossplay with our console friends. I can imagine contorting complex RTS controls onto a controller was no easy feat. In an Xbox News Wire post, director of customer voice at World’s Edge Emma Bridle acknowledged that it was a “massive task,” one which the developer “had to approach carefully and thoughtfully.”
Bridle added that there’ll be a new controller-specific tutorial added to the game, “paired with a new user experience for consoles” that should help those who favour a pad over the ol’ keyboard and mouse. On top of that, both games will have “a new game AI which helps make resource management in a strategy game efficient and intuitive.”
The additions will come to PC when each game gets its respective console release. That’s January 31, 2023 for Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition and sometime later that year for Age of Empires 4. That wasn’t all the fun AoE news in the livestream eitherwe’re also getting a definitive edition of a very beloved spinoff in the near future. Neat!
What Are Laptop Games
A laptop game is a video game that can be played on a low-spec Windows computer and often does not require a constant connection to the Internet. Best low-end laptop games come in many different varieties, from simple games like hidden object games to more complex role-playing games. They are typically smaller and simpler than console or PC games because they are designed to be played on lower-powered hardware. This makes them more portable and convenient for gaming, especially when traveling.
Recommended Reading: How To Free Space On My Laptop
How To Play Pc Games On Your Laptop
Almost everyone likes playing games on their PC, but not everyone wants a large desktop computer. Laptops provide the perfect solution to this problem, as well as giving you more mobility. If you are looking for an affordable and fast way to get your laptop up and running with PC games, then take a look at some of these tips that we have laid out for you in this article!
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Euro Truck Simulator 2 is extremely fun and addictive, even if a little more on the relaxed side. Although its visuals are a little more detailed, the game itself is not that heavy, making it ideal to play on a laptop with an integrated graphics card. While many swear by it, it is not a game for everyone.
In it, youâll transport cargo across dozens of Europan cities all over the continent, customize your vehicles , build your fleet, and much more. To check it out, follow this link.
Don’t Miss: How To Retrieve Deleted Photos On Laptop
Final Fantasy Xiv Online
In short, Final Fantasy XIV is not just the best MMO you can play right now, its a fantastic Final Fantasy game in its own right. Through its relaunch and subsequent four expansions, FFXIV has slowly morphed from a relatively generic good-versus-evil plot into a sprawling, political, and fantastical thriller. The latest expansion, Endwalker, brings a satisfying conclusion to the games now 8+ year storyline, returning some familiar faces, settling old scores, and of course saving the world from the greatest calamity yet.
Dont be scared away by the fact that its online. Despite being an MMO, Square-Enix has streamlined things so much that, if you dont want to, you really dont have to play with other people. Story missions are intended to be tackled solo, and even instanced dungeons now have an option for you to enter with computer-controlled party members instead of forcing you into a group with strangers. Of course, its also a fully-fleshed MMO with end-game raiding that ranges from totally accessible to maddeningly punishing.
Series fans may also be interested in Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth , due out in Summer 2023 and Winter 2023, respectively.
Release Date:Developer:Last Position:
How To Install Games Onto Your Laptop
Installing games onto your laptop is a pretty easy process, and there are a few different ways that you can do it. One of the most popular methods is to use a service like Steam or GOG, which will allow you to purchase and download games directly to your machine.
Another option is to use a program like PlayOnMac or Wine, which will let you run Windows-based games on your laptop. This can be a bit more complicated, but its definitely doable if youre willing to put in the effort.
Finally, you can always just install Windows onto your laptop and then play any PC game that way. This will obviously require a bit more work, but its definitely an option if you want to be able to play all of your favorite games.
No matter which method you choose, installing games onto your laptop is actually pretty easy. So dont be intimidated by the process just jump in and start playing!
Read Also: Best Laptop For $500
Best Laptop Games: Multiplayer
Release date: 2018 | Developer: InnerSloth | Link: Steam
If you’re up for a bit of subterfuge with friends, Among Us is one you can be sure they’ll be able to play almost no matter how old their machine is. It even has cross-play between PCs and phones if that’s all they have handy. Among Us is a familiar format to anyone who’s played Werewolf or other similar group tabletop games. A crew of brightly-colored space engineers are stuck trying to repair a ship while discovering who among them is the imposter trying to murder the rest. The fun is in how well you and your friends can fool one another more than fancy lighting effects, so it’s an easy one to pick up and play on a low-spec machine.
Games You Should Try On Your Laptop
There are a lot of great PC games out there that you can enjoy on your laptop. Here are a few games that we think you should try out:
Also Check: What Processor Do I Need For My Laptop
Yakuza : The Song Of Life
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is Kazuma Kiryu’s swan song, so it was hard not to scrutinize it more than previous entries in the series. It also had the honor of being the first title in the series designed solely around the PS4 hardware when it first debuted. With so many new fans meeting Kiryu for the first time at the beginning of his adventure with the smash hit release of Yakuza 0, it seemed almost too soon for Yakuza 6 to arrive when it did. After all, we were just getting to know him.
Yakuza has been a cult hit for years now, but it wasn’t until Yakuza 0 that the series started to resonate in the west. Because of its blossoming popularity, much of the Western audience has a vastly different perspective on the franchise. New fans love Kiryu and Yakuza because, well, they’re excellent games. However, many don’t have the years of history with the franchise as longtime fans do.
As a result, Yakuza 6 ran the risk of alienating one of the two crowds especially since those who started the series with Yakuza 0 likely haven’t had the time to play through each game yet. Thankfully, Yakuza 6 manages to strike a fantastic balance. It fills new players with the information they need from past titles without being so referential as to alienate those who have already played through previous Yakuza games. And now that the game is on PC, it opens the floor to more fans around the globe.
Brittany Vincent