10 Good Games for Bad PCs

Old PC Windows 95

“The enemy of art is the absense of limitations.” Orson Welles

Is your PC drastically out of date? Does playing certain games turn it into grill plate? Computer hardware, including cooling, is expensive and keeping up with technology is nigh-on impossible. Nonetheless, there are good games out there for even the humblest of machines, if you know where to look.

Luckily, you won’t have to hunt too far. We’ve compiled a list of 10 great games, from a range of genres, with relatively low minimum PC-spec requirements. If you’re unsure whether your PC meets them you can check your ability to run most games at Can You Run It.

NOTE: All specification requirements (and prices) have been taken from Steam and are presumed to be correct.

Hidden Folks

Hidden Folks

Game Details

Developer: Adriaan de Jongh
Release Date: February 2017

Available on: Steam, itch.io
Price: £5.99

Hidden Folks is a fun, point-and-click, hidden object game. It features a cute, hand-drawn art-style as well as additionally cute ‘mouth-originated sound effects’. The game has a number of levels, each with a different theme and interactive scenery.

Minimum Requirements

OS: Windows 7+ (64-bit)
Processor: SSE2 instruction set support

DirectX: 9.0
Storage: 250 MB available space

Her Story

Her Story

Game Details:

Developer: Sam Barlow
Release Date: June 2015

Available on: Steam, GOG, Humble
Price: £4.99

Her Story, a non-linear crime fiction game, is a unique experience. The premise is seemingly straightforward, with the game granting the player access to an old, relegated computer and its police database. They must then sift through a plentiful array of video clips from a series of interviews in order to piece together the narrative. The initial query has already been entered in the search bar – murder.

Minimum Requirements

OS: Windows XP+
Memory: 2 GB RAM
DirectX: Version 9.0

Graphics: 512 MB
Storage: 2 GB HD space

GRIS

GRIS Title

Game Details

Developer: Nomada Studios
Release Date: December 2018

Available on: Steam, GOG, Humble
Price: £14.49

GRIS provides a beautiful and emotional take on the traditional puzzle-platformer genre. You play as a young girl attempting to deal with a painful experience. Her sorrow and journey through it are represented in her dress which grants an increasing number of abilities as you progress through her world of grief.

It is an aesthetically stunning experience, relaxing yet emotional, with no risk of death. You can read Indie Hive’s full review here.

Minimum Requirements:

OS: Windows 7 or later
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E6750 (2 * 2660) or equivalent / AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ (2 * 2600) or equivalent

Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Geforce GT 430 (1024 MB) / Radeon HD 5570 (1024 MB)
Storage: 4 GB available space

Battleblock Theater

Battleblock Theatre

Game Details

Developer: The Behemoth
Release Date: May 2014

Available on: Steam
Price: £10.99

Batttleblock Theater, a comedic, puzzle platformer, can be played single-player or multi-player (online or local). The game features a story mode, arenas and a level builder. It has a cartoon-like art-style, funny narration and boasts over 450 levels in total, making for plenty for fun gameplay.

Minimum Requirements

OS: Windows XP
Processor: 2.8 GHz Intel® Core™2 Duo or better Memory: 1 GB RAM
DirectX: Version 10

Graphics: 512 MB
Storage: 2 GB HD space
Network: Broadband Internet connection (multiplayer)

To the Moon

To the Moon

Game Details:

Developer: Freebird Games
Release Date: November 2011

Available on: Steam, GOG, Humble
Price: £6.99

To the Moon is an adventure RPG with pixel graphics and an intricate narrative. It tells a sentimental story in which two doctors travel backwards through a dying man’s memories in order to artificially fulfil his last wish. The game touches on a range of difficult subjects such as death, loss and managing life with developmental disabilities but does so in a heartfelt and informed way whilst managing to include an enjoyable hint of silliness.

Full review available here!

Minimum Requirements:

OS: Windows 98, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10
Processor: 2 Intel Pentium III 800 MHz Duo or better
Memory: 512 MB RAM

DirectX: Version 9.0
Graphics:  1024×768 High Color +
Storage: 100 MB HD space

Dear Esther

Dear Esther

Game Details:

Developer: The Chinese Room
Release Date: October 2016

Available on: Steam, GOG
Price: £7.99

Dear Esther is a game changer- literally; it essentially founded and defined the ‘walking simulator’ genre. Starting as a Half-Life mod, progressing to a full game and now the beautiful landmark edition is the default. However, the previous version is included in the landmark edition so I will list minimum specs for the earlier edition.

As the protagonist you wander a Hebridean island piecing together bits of your past through triggered voice-overs, scenery and items; all of which are randomly generated and non-linear, ensuring every player has a unique experience!

You can read a full review as well as the history of Dear Esther here.

Minimum Requirements:

OS: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista / Vista64 Processor: Intel core 2 duo 2.4GHz or higher Memory: 1GB XP / 2GB Vista
DirectX:9.0c
Storage: 2 GB HD space

Graphics: DirectX 9 compliant video card with Shader model 3.0 support. NVidia 7600, ATI X1600 or better (Pre-Sandybridge Intel graphics chipsets not yet supported)

FTL: Faster Than Light

Faster than Light - FTL

Game Details:Developer: Subset Games

Developer: Subset Games
Release Date: September 2012

Available on: Steam, GOG, Humble
Price: £6.99

FTL is a strategic, spaceship simulation, rogue-like in which you must successfully manage and run a ship trying to save the galaxy. Every encounter presents a unique challenge with multiple solutions and randomised environments and perma-death add to the tension in each play-through.

Minimum Requirements:

OS: Windows XP / Vista / 7
Processor: 2.0 GHz
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Storage: 75 MB HD space

Graphics: 1280×720 minimum resolution, OpenGL 2.0 Support, and recommended dedicated graphics card with 128 MB of RAM

Orwell

Orwell Title

Game Details:

Developer: Osmotic Studios
Release Date: October 2016

Available on: Steam, GOG, itch.io and Humble
Price: £7.19

Orwell is a politically themed, dystopian point-and-click game with multiple endings. It is also the name of a new governmental security program that has the power to survey the online presence of every person in The Nation. The game consists largely of using Orwell to explore websites, personal files and communications to find information about people of interest following a terrorist attack.

You can read Indie Hive’s review of Orwell and its 2018 sequel here.

Minimum Requirements:

OS: Windows XP SP2+
Processor: 2.0 GHz
Memory:4 GB RAM

Graphics: GPU: DirectX 9 compatible
Storage: 3 GB available spac

The Return of the Obra Dinn

Return of the Obra Dinn - Title

Game Details:

Developer: Lucas Pope
Release Date: October 2018

Available on: GOG, Steam, Humble
Price: £15.49

Return of the Obra Dinn is a murder-mystery, puzzle game set aboard the Obra Dinn. After setting sail from Falmouth in 1803, the ship never reached its destination and was declared lost at sea. Four years later, the Obra Dinn drifts back into port and the player must assume the role of insurance investigator and prepare an assessment of damages.

Indie Hive’s 2-for-1 Obra Dinn review by Rachael and David is available to read here.

Minimum Requirements:

OS: Windows 7 or better
Processor: 2 GHz Intel i5 or better
Memory:4 GB RAM
Graphics:Discrete GPU

Storage: 2 GB available space
Additional Notes: Requires 720p or higher resolution and outputs 16:9 aspect only, letterboxed if necessary.

Along the Edge

Along the Edge

Game Details:

Developer: Nova-Box
Release Date: October 2016

Available on: Steam, Humble, itch.io
Price: £10.99

Along the Edge is a compelling interactive novel set in a rural European countryside with choices that affect the narrative as well as the protagonist,Daphné’s appearance. It boasts “a huge amount of content, enough to fill a two years compendium of a comic-book series [with] over 450 hand-made full-screen illustrations and 20 characters with over 400 different variants and attitudes”.

Minimum Requirements:

OS: Windows 7 or later
Processor: Intel Core 2-Duo or equivalent

Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Intel HD 4000 or better
Storage: 1 GB available space


For more in-depth game reviews, click here!

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