What are the best laptop games? PC gaming isn’t always done at a desk, reclining languorously on an ergonomic leather throne, gazing upon a gaming monitor the size of your front window as hundreds of snazzy LEDs light up your peripheral vision. As anyone who has attended a LAN can attest, hauling your heavy box of tricks around is not for the faint of heart (or arm, or back) and so you might be feeling resigned to taking a break from gaming in the event life takes you on a trip away from home.
Don’t do that. Never stop gaming. Take your laptop with you and play games on the train. Play games on the beach. Play games in the laundry cupboard as you hide from your relatives. We’ll guide you through which games for laptops you will be able to run, and that won’t cause you endless frustration trying to control them with a trackpad.
You don’t necessarily need the best gaming laptop to play our selection, but some of these games do require an internet connection. This is fine if you’re gaming at your relatives’ house, sitting in your childhood bedroom under your Maths Challenge certificates, but if you’re stuck in a hotel room and can’t understand the wifi instructions because they’re in Portuguese, many of these games are also playable offline.
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Magic the Gathering: Arena is one of the best card games for PC. Although it can take a while to get the jist of the rules, it’s rich lore and beautiful artwork are just some of the reasons to learn how to play Magic the Gathering: Arena. And best of all, MTG: Arena doesn’t demand a high-end PC to play, you can still enjoy the same tantalising animations and pristine art from the comfort of your couch.
MTG: Arena receives many updates and expansions, with a range of different modes from draft games to brawl. You can play against the computer until you get the hang of things, but if you ever need a helping hand learning what each card does, check out the guides to MTG: Arena keyword abilities and keyword actions.
Albion Online is not your average laid back laptop-couch experience. This sandbox MMO places an unrivalled emphasis on combat, whether that’s against monsters in PvE, in massive guild vs. guild brawls, or just two players duking it out for bragging rights.
One of the best indie games to emerge from 2019, Untitled Goose Game is something incredibly special. You play as a disgruntled goose. Your job? Wreak havoc on a community of unsuspecting, innocent villagers, by sneaking around pubs, gardens, and market stools, stealing prized objects and honking incessantly.
Created by solo developer ConcernedApe, Stardew Valley is a love letter to farming games like Harvest Moon. You escape the grey drudgery of life as a faceless corporation grunt and head for the countryside to transform your grandfather’s farm, and the nearby town, into a bountiful haven, with the help of fantastical forest sprites called Junimos. Thanks to its charming, homemade pixel art, the tranquil pace, and the fact you only really need directional keys and a right and left click, Stardew Valley is the perfect laptop game.
Even better, Stardew Valley is a great co-op game – team up with up to three friends and build a farm together in multiplayer mode. As of the Stardew Valley 1.4 update, you can even play on a Four Corners map with your friends, which splits the farm into distinct regions, each with their own advantages. The update adds a cornucopia of new features and cosmetic items, but if you’re looking to add Japanese buildings or Pokemon reskins to your game to recreate a Pokemon game on PC, you’ll need our guide to the best Stardew Valley mods.
Runescape is an MMORPG that’s been improving and expanding for 18 years. By gaming standards that should mean it’s weary and decrepit, but even now it’s brimming with personality, fresh ideas and, astonishingly, players. For the most part it’s standard MMORPG fare: start with nothing and grind away for the best and most colourful gear in the game. As it’s been going for so long however, it also has hundreds of quests and content waiting for new players to dive into. And if you need any help getting to grips with things then just ask – Runescape boasts an exceptionally helpful and positive community.
A collectable card game (or CCG for all you youngsters out there) set in Blizzard’s enormous Warcraft universe. You fight against other players using decks of cards made up of magic spells, weapons, and minions that will fight for you. Using these and your chosen character’s special abilities, you must hammer away at your opponent’s 30 health points until they’re defeated. It’s got a huge player base and an ever-evolving metagame, not to mention plenty of inventive expansions to keep it feeling fresh and interesting.
The Dota 2 custom game, Dota Auto Chess, skyrocketed in popularity as fans discovered the joys of autobattler games – you choose from a small random selection of heroes each round, and arrange them on your board to do battle with one of your opponents, gaining gold each turn and competing for the best team composition in a contest to be the last one standing. Underlords is Valve’s own take on the genre, introducing innovations like the presence of a powerful Underlord on each team which you’ll need to optimise carefully to best suit your squad.
Minecraft is one of the most popular games in the world, and it’s easy to see why – its simplicity leaves room for you to embark upon any kind of adventure you choose, whether you’re exploring, building, farming, fighting, or delving deep into one of the many Minecraft mods available. Its simplicity also means it runs flawlessly on most machines, making it one of the best laptop games without a doubt. Even if you’re on the road without an internet connection, the joys of starting fresh in new Minecraft seeds will keep you occupied for hours as you traverse the endless blocky landscape, dodging dangerous Minecraft mobs, discovering Minecraft villages and taming Minecraft foxes.
Disco Elysium is a role-playing game written by a novelist, where you take the reins and guide its red-eyed, beleaguered enigma of a protagonist through the investigation of a murder case in the tattered city of Revachol. From the off, the narrative grips you with both hands and shakes you until you laugh. You won’t be punching and kicking your way through the streets, however, unless you imagine your detective as some kind of flamboyant martial artist, fighting the air as a form of locomotion, which would probably suit him.
A platformer with roguelike elements, Rogue Legacy sees you march a little knight into the bowels of a randomly generated dungeon on a mission to defeat five bosses. Run, jump, hit things: it’s largely what you’d expect from a 2D side-scroller. Get killed and your character is gone for good. Of course there’s a twist. Your hero is replaced not by a bog-standard clone, but by their heir: a new character who retains some genetic traits from their parent. Traits include dwarfism, ADHD, and I.B.S. Some traits make your next playthrough agonisingly difficult, like nearsightedness making anything in the distance blurry, others are there for laughs, like I.B.S. making your character fart with every jump.
A game about playing a border control officer in a corrupt communist country. Check passports and visa papers of immigrants to make sure they meet the requirements for entry. Make mistakes and your pay will be docked. Fail to pay rent, bills, and medical expenses and your family will get ill and die. Sounds simple, but some immigrants may be worth making mistakes for…
One of the best turn-based strategy games, Into The Breach puts you in control of a team of mechs, attempting to defend civilians and buildings from giant insectoid monsters called the Vek. The enemy’s movements are telegraphed the turn before, and each level is relatively short, but the stakes are high – you’re the hero trying to protect civilians who are cheering you on, and if you lose a building to the Vek, you lose one of the nodes that power your squad – lose too many, and it’s game over.
A beautifully harrowing tale everyone should experience, The Walking Dead is an adventure game that plays out like an interactive TV show. You play Lee, a convicted criminal who’s about to go through the toughest period of his life as he’s thrown into a zombie apocalypse rather than a prison cell. It’s violent, shocking, and touching on a moment-to-moment basis.
If you’re looking for a game to occupy your time while you’re travelling, The Binding of Isaac will keep you busy for hundreds of hours completing runs that are different every time. You play as Isaac, escaping from a biblical sacrifice through the basement of his home, traversing randomly generated dungeons and picking up items and power-ups along the way. The pixel art isn’t demanding on your machine, but might be a little hard on your stomach if you’re squeamish – The Binding of Isaac doesn’t shy away from the gory and macabre. Good news for laptop gamers, though – you don’t even need a mouse to play. Movement and combat is controlled solely by the keyboard, making it an ideal game to play on your laptop.
