Free to Play Events Are a Great Way to Game on the Cheap
We've all faced the problem before: you want to try a new game, but you're not sure if you want to buy it. What if you dislike it? What if it runs poorly? What if you just want to try something new, and don't actually want a new game? Free-to-play events are here to save you from your boredom.
Try Games During Steam Free Weekends
If you're itching to try a new game without paying up front, Steam should be your first stop. Steam regularly has special promotions where select games are free to play for a limited time.
Free-to-play weekends are advertised on the Store tab of the Steam app, and they may also be listed in a pop-up that appears when you launch Steam.
Alternatively, SteamDB has a great page that lists all the free content available on Steam. It is much more condensed and there aren't a million other promotions cluttering things up, and it is the way that I prefer to keep an eye on what is currently free.
The only semi-downside to Steam free weekends is that the games are a lottery. Sometimes they seem to be related to a theme; other times they're effectively random. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. You may try something you'd never normally buy and discover you love it, and at worst, you've wasted a bit of bandwidth.
Check Out Games At Launch or After Major Updates
Steam free weekends aren't the only time you can play a game for free. When a game is set to leave early access or receive a large update, it is relatively common for them to have a limited free period.
This is especially true when the update makes significant gameplay changes that are likely to interest new players. For example, No Man's Sky—arguably the great redemption story in gaming history—almost always has free weekends that coincide with major updates.
If you're a console player, don't worry, you're probably not going to be left out—when games have free play weekends associated with a launch or major content update, they're typically free on all platforms.
If you're trying
Read more on howtogeek.com
