While Chromebooks are known as sleeker cousins of the laptop, they’re also known for lacking the firepower needed to support some heavy-hitting AAA games on the market. Thankfully, gamers with Chromebooks don’t need to get other hardware to play great titles, as the device is more than capable enough to run some well-known entries in the gaming scene.

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In that regard, gamers who plan on getting a Chromebook soon may want to familiarize themselves with the best games the platform can run. Among the Chromebook’s selection of games are standout entries that are must-tries for owners who want to have fun with their hardware without having to whip out another device.

10 Terraria

Metascore: 83

Despite its age, Terraria remains one of the most celebrated sandbox titles in gaming with its procedurally generated 2D world and support for player activities beyond combat and exploration, such as survival, crafting, and even building. Its lengthy single-player component and rather adventurous multiplayer segments make Terraria a surprising Chrome OS title, with its retro vibe via 16-bit graphics supporting expansive gameplay features.

On top of unique biomes with different enemies, bosses, platforming segments, and puzzles, Terraria gives players ways to up the ante with difficulty options, altered modes (Corruption, Crimson, Hallow), and playing as different classes. During adventures, players can convince NPCs to visit their town, create houses and structures, and collect unique costumes and items with different appearances and powers. On top of inviting friends over, Terraria also offers Mods that can drastically alter styles of play.

9 Tekken 7

Metascore: 82

The action-packed Tekken franchise boasts surprising compatibility with the Chrome OS, with Tekken 7 allowing Chromebook users to learn of the Devil Gene’s more sinister origins. On top of fighting game icons such as Akuma of Street Fighter and Geese Howard of King of Fighters going toe to toe with Tekken staples Heihachi Mishima and Kazuya Mishima, Chromebook owners can enjoy the full offerings of Tekken 7 on their slimmer hardware.

Despite boasting a total roster of 51 characters, Tekken 7 surprises Chromebook fans with how all of them facilitate fast-paced combat. A revised combo system lessens combo-bounding with the introduction of twisting-posing screw states, damage-absorbing power crushes, wall breaks, and stage effects, as well as auto-combos to assist pressured players. Rage Mode returns as a last resort for Tekken characters, giving them access to Rage Arts at lower health and Rage Drive, which improves the damage of attacks.

8 Hades

Metascore: 93

While first appearing as an attempt to combine Dark Souls with the roguelike concept, Hades transforms a traditional dungeon-crawler into an ever-expanding hack-and-slash title available on the Chromebook. The game puts players in control of Zagreus, the son of Hades, as he attempts to escape the Underworld and reach his mother, Persephone. From the House of Hades hub world, Zagreus has to clear four different randomly generated areas, defeat their respective bosses, and defeat Hades himself to breach the Gates of the Underworld.

On top of traditional weapon-based attacks, magic, and summons, Zagreus can earn Boons from gods to unlock persistent upgrades each run. Being a game that stars a demi-god, Hades makes deaths meaningful in each attempt, allowing players to carry over some “currency” to upgrade Zagreus and the House of Hades. Aside from getting new weapons and constructing features that can appear in subsequent runs, players can modify the game’s difficulty with Pacts of Punishment or get stronger per death with God Mode.

7 Sid Meier’s Civilization 5

Metascore: 90

Although Chromebook owners can sink their teeth into Civilization 6 via Chrome OS’s Android support, players who want a more comprehensive Civilization experience can get into Civilization 5. Hailed as a partial revamp of Civ 4’s gameplay system, Civilization 5 offers more customization options that likely paved the way for Civ 6’s district-based city-building and policy cards. At its core, Civ 5 now has hex tiles instead of square tiles, with cities offering more flexibility by generating resources, defending against attacks, expanding into territories, and containing individual units.

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Recalibrated CIv 5 combat emphasizes tactical prowess over sheer numbers, this time introducing diplomacy-enabled city-states that can conquer territory but not expand individual cities. Likewise, Civs can work together on joint ventures, whereas earned Culture can now be used to purchase social policies to further customize governance.

6 Stardew Valley

Metascore: 89

Players who want to enjoy a more casual experience on their Chromebooks can’t go wrong with Stardew Valley. Gamers play as a newcomer to Pelican Town in Stardew Valley, as their grandfather passes on a farm to them as part of their inheritance. On top of building relationships with people in the nearby town, players must maintain their newly-acquired farm with periodic upgrades in between harvests and clean-up work.

When Chromebook owners get into the “groove” of Stardew Valley’s acclaimed soundtrack, they can get into the game’s “meta” aspect: learning which crops grow per season, which products are made from raw materials, and which animals appear at certain times. The game also offers a pseudo-RPG component, where the underground Mines expand into hundreds of floors below ground that feature opponents, weapons, and special loot.

5 Age Of Empires 2: Definitive Edition

Metascore: 84

With Age of Empires 2 releasing to critical acclaim in 1999, the 2019 Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition improves the game with better graphics, a spectator mode, as well as four new factions that come with their respective units. Set in a thousand-year timeline from the Dark Ages to the Imperial Age, Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition expands on the RTS formula, with players amassing enough military power and economic resources to defeat enemies while also meeting requirements to unlock better upgrades across each Age.

The RTS premise of Age of Empires 2 begins with villagers gathering resources, which can then be stored in checkpoint buildings or used to create structures, train units, and conduct research. Unique to Age of Empires 2 is a marketplace for trade, where players exchange resources for gold to buy other commodities, with the possibility to trade with enemy marketplaces at the risk of being attacked. Aside from factions having campaigns based on historical highlights, Age of Empires 2’s fast-paced gameplay has spawned an active online community that persists to this day.

4 Divinity: Original Sin 2

Metascore: 93

Chromebook owners who love RPGs can sink their teeth into Divinity: Original Sin 2 to learn why this 2017 Kickstarter-funded sequel to 2014’s Divinity: Original Sin has earned the title of one of gaming’s best entries in the genre. Set in Rivellon, players take on the role of Sourcerers who have been exiled for their powers; powers that can attract creatures from a realm beyond known as the Void. When players and their new comrades engineer an escape from their exile, they become embroiled in a campaign that gives them the opportunity to become Divine.

While Divinity: Original Sin 2 plays like a traditional turn-based tactical RPG, its level of interactivity and customization makes it the closest equivalent to D&D prior to Baldur’s Gate 3. On top of every character having the opportunity to learn all skills (magical and melee) in the game, Rivellon’s massively interactive landscapes give players opportunities to manipulate and destroy much of the environment to suit their combat and exploration needs.

3 The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition

Metascore: 84

Players can finally wake up as prisoners in Helgeth with Chromebooks in tow, especially when The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition is available for Chrome OS users. While the overall graphical fidelity of the game on the platform isn’t on par with players of Skyrim on the PC, the Special Edition’s more cohesive take on gameplay offerings gives Chromebook owners one of the most immersive RPGs in their library.

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Taking place in the eponymous region in The Elder Scrolls world of Tamriel, players known as the Dragonborn try to interrupt an impending civil war to warn citizens of the return of extinct dragons. In typical Elder Scrolls fashion, players can explore the 15 square miles’ worth of land Skyrim has to offer, all littered with villages, towns, and dungeons for visiting. On top of buying houses, players can marry various characters, gather companions, and simulate a life in Tamriel’s northernmost province even before they save the world.

2 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Metascore: 92

Chromebook owners who want to fight supernatural creatures as traveling monster hunters can play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on the Chrome OS. Set on the Continent, players control the eponymous Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, as he searches for his adopted daughter before the Wild Hunt gets to her. Armed to the teeth with two swords, a crossbow, bombs, potions, and spells, Geralt’s travels have him cross paths with monsters and fellow fighters who have a vested interest in his presence.

Being an action RPG, Geralt’s success in fights depends greatly on a player’s understanding of his arsenal. The Chromebook is powerful enough to let Geralt facilitate fierce combos, time dodges and parries, as well as cast powerful Witcher Signs to create various effects. The game’s advanced AI also influences the world as players explore it, with effects such as moon-empowered werewolves potentially affecting gameplay.

1 Baldur’s Gate 3

Metascore: 96

Players of Dungeons & Dragons can once again visit the Forgotten Realms in Baldur’s Gate 3, this time saving the land from a Mindflayer invasion while trying to stop themselves from turning into their attackers. Taking place hundreds of years after Baldur’s Gate 2, players and up to three companions explore dungeons and fight monsters in what may be the most accurate translation of D&D 5e rules into a video game to date.

Accessible to the Chromebook via cloud gaming through NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW, Baldur’s Gate 3's gameplay takes the form of a turn-based tactical RPG with a more in-depth take on mechanics. As they customize their characters by leveling up, players can approach encounters from different perspectives: dishing out powerful spells, using the special skills of weapons for their Class, or talking their way out of trouble. Developer Larian Studios also took cues from their critical hit Divinity: Original Sin 2 in having interactive environments, with reactive background elements further diversifying the flow of combat.

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