With thousands of games being released on Steam every year, and the number only increasing, it can be hard to find good, unique games. Furthermore, publishing a game to Steam requires a lot of work (and financial investment) on the developer's part—something that many developers aren't always in the position to undertake.
Because of this, and due to Steam being the primary way that most PC users buy and play games, players may be missing out on a plethora of fun and interesting games that aren't on Steam. This list aims to provide players with a broad range of games that can be played in a browser, or downloaded through websites such as Itch.io.
8 Friday Night Funkin'
Fans of old-school, hardcore disco rhythm games looking for an experience that isn't on Steam, can be played in a browser, and is completely free, should look no further than Friday Night Funkin'.
This game oozes with cartoony style and features well-produced music, along with a unique duet system; the left of the screen displays what the player's opponent is doing (which is often the same inputs the player is given), while the right shows the inputs the player must do.
This can lead to some really tricky situations where the player is expected to begin their inputs while the opponent is still in the middle of their own. Overall, Friday Night Funkin' is great for fans of classic rhythm games that don't mind a challenge, and it provides just enough uniqueness to make it worth giving a go.
7 BloodbornePSX
With the recent surge and popularity of indie games emulating PSX-era graphics, fans of this new style may be yearning for a Souls-like that uses it. BloodbornePSX faithfully rebuilds the first few hours of the PlayStation exclusive with old-school graphics and allows PC users to at least play a version of Bloodborne on their machines, and it's 100% free.
Fans of the original Bloodborne are sure to get a kick out of the faithful reconstruction of the game, but BloodbornePSX stands strong enough on its own that it's certain to impress souls-like and PSX fans who have never played the original.
6 Serpentes
This hyper-polished arcade game inspired by the classic Snake has a stylized arcade cabinet aesthetic and fluid, fast-paced gameplay; the game itself only lasts for 60 seconds, in which players are tasked with getting the highest score they can.
During a game of Serpentes, players must collect fruit with random properties that can only be discovered by eating them, which can even lead to gaining a time bonus. Similar to the original Snake, players must collect fruit while simultaneously avoiding bumping into themselves, the walls, and in Serpentes, enemies as well.
5 GeoGuessr
This geography browser game puts players into random locations visualized by Google Street View images and tasks them with figuring out where they are in the world. Players are given no tools except for their own knowledge and must utilize language, registration plates, landmarks, and even local fauna and flora to give them a better idea of their surroundings.
What makes GeoGuessr great is that it acts as both an educational tool and a test of geography, allowing players to learn while playing a genuinely engaging game. GeoGuessr even features several game modes, including a duel mode in which players battle it out until one guesses wrong.
4 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
This game takes inspiration from classic old-school roguelikes, using a hardcore permanent death system, procedurally generated dungeons, and turn-based gameplay with tile-based graphics to create a faithful but unique roguelike.
It's no shock that Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup plays so similarly to an old-school roguelike from the 90s, given that it's heavily based on Linley's Dungeon Crawl from 1997. The game is open-source, community-driven, and features a unique mechanic in which players must gather three of fifteen runes to access the "Realm of Zot", where the player's goal - the Orb of Zot - is located.
3 Space Station 13
Although a game heavily based on Space Station 13 is "Coming Soon" to Steam at the time of writing (titled Unitystation), Space Station 13 has been available since 2003. Space Station 13 is a top-down multiplayer RPG that uses tile-based graphics and a top-down perspective. The game takes place primarily on the titular space station, and tasks players with helping (or hindering) other players in completing various tasks. Each task varies in complexity, and the game is packed with various mechanics and RPG elements that make it inaccessible but highly rewarding for players that stick with it.
To give each game a unique experience, and to give each player in the often highly populated servers a more streamlined purpose, the game features several specific roles, such as an engineer, chef, or doctor; it's these roles that give the game its distinctive and deep gameplay.
2 Tetr.io
This Tetris clone allows fans of versus Tetris (like Tetris 99) to play multiplayer Tetris against friends, or randoms through online matchmaking. The game also features a ranking system and an online leaderboard.
Tetr.io is a browser game that can be played via the titular website and is a guaranteed good time for enjoyers of Tetris. The game is completely free at the time of writing and has a solid and stable player base. What makes Tetr.io different from other Tetris games is the way it changes the combo system to reward Quads and T-Spins over the classic, heavily used four-wide; this is a system that emphasizes mastery and dynamic play.
1 Slice & Dice
Slice & Dice is a unique dice-based roguelike that is great for fans of tabletop dice games that are looking for a run-based experience that can be played on both PC and mobile. Slice & Dice features a free demo that allows players to get a feel for the game before making a purchase, but the full game itself sits at a very low price for the amount of content available.
Slice & Dice has players rolling and choosing dice to defeat various unique monsters and bosses. The game has a ridiculous amount of replayability, mostly thanks to its variety, with 100 hero classes, 61 monsters, 354 items, and even 18 different game modes. Furthermore, the game features difficulty modifiers (300 of them), achievements, and a leaderboard.