Short on cash? These free-to-play games will see you through (we LOVE number 4)

On a budget, but have an endless thirst for games that just can’t be quenched?

We can relate – but luckily, we have the perfect solution, too. Free-to-play games are getting bigger, better and broader than ever before, appealing to the tastes of every type of cashless gamer across every console. Here are just five of our favourites.

1. Apex Legends (PC, Xbox One and PS4)

Are you one of the 50 million gamers who’ve binge-played Apex Legends since it burst onto the scene on February 4th? If not (what!?), then you don’t know what you’re missing. Based on the Titanfall saga, this battle royale game is jam-packed with awesome features that set it apart from PUBG and Fortnite – such as the fact that you’re required to play in a squad of three, making your ability to work as a team crucial to your success. On top of this, each “Legend” that you can play as has unique abilities all their own. Master them quickly, and you’re bound to become an Apex Legends’… legend. Legendary.

2. Warframe (Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch)

Warframe is a free-to-play third-person co-op sci-fi shooter game (phew) with plenty of irresistible elements. Aliens? Yep. Gigantic, intergalactic space wars? Mhm. Great mods, cool weapons and over 30, brilliantly-detailed and powerful characters/clans to choose from? Uh huh, honey. With its technical gameplay, frankly gorgeous looks and massive suite of objectives, you won’t believe that it’s free. Put it on your list.

3. Fortnite: Battle Royale (Xbox One, PC, Ps4, iOS, Android, macOS and Nintendo Switch)

Amassing around 80 million players per month, Fortnite is far and away the most popular game in the battle royale genre right now. We get it. It’s bright, unpredictable and boasts some pretty cool game mechanics to boot – such as building, which is key to survival. Each match will require that you build shelters to protect yourself from attacks and inventions that’ll help you travel across different terrain, pushing your imagination to the limits in order to live. And with up to 100 players involved per match, you’re guaranteed a pretty inventive landscape. Ready for battle?

4. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (Xbox One, PS4 and PC)

If you loved Life Is Strange, Captain Spirit should be on your radar. Serving as a teaser for Life Is Strange 2, this short but gripping game blends everything you loved about the first title in the franchise – puzzle-solving, choice and consequence interactions and undertones of mystery – with its child protagonist’s unique perception of the world. There’s no shortage of fun or feels as you switch between battling an evil snowman to exploring your fraught relationship with your father, and hacking his computer to play a hotdog game to learning about your missing mother. Be warned, though. Captain Spirit leaves some intriguing loose ends, and will make investing in Life Is Strange 2 difficult to resist.

5. The Darwin Project (PC and Xbox One)

Though it technically falls under the “battle royale” umbrella, The Darwin Project is unlike any other game in the genre that you’ve played before. Based in the frosty Canadian Rockies, you and a team of nine others collaborate to get by: setting up shelter, hunting food and setting traps for your enemies. To make things trickier, each match, an 11th character – The Show Director – oversees the arena and can manipulate your fate by controlling the weather, closing certain zones and more. Will you stay alive despite the odds?

6. South Park: Phone Destroyer (iOS and Android)

It’s been over a year since Phone Destroyer came out, and, well, it’s still destroying our phones. Maybe it’s something about Cartman’s angelic voice. Maybe it’s something to do with it’s awesome PvP battles and card-based gameplay. Or maybe it’s because it’s a dose of iconic South Park hilarity every time we pick it up. Whatever it is, this game’s got that addictive quality that makes you want to play it again and again. (See ya later, Candy Crush.)