25 Great Games That You Can Play Right Now For Free

It's the holidays, which means a lot of gamers are going to be getting new tablets, smartphones, game consoles, and computers. But it also means that you just had to buy a bunch of presents, and you're probably low on cash. So where are you going to get games for those shiny new systems?

Well, you can't complain about free, and free games have never been better. Check out these 25 great free games on a variety of platforms and you're guaranteed to find something that grabs you.

Happy holidays!

Before free-to-play games took over mobile there were free games all over your browser. Coma is one of them, a stylish adventure on armorgames.com.

Samorost is the predecessor to Amanita's other games, like Machinarium and Botanicula. As such it's incredibly weird, but endlessly charming as well. For a short adventure game it will definitely stick with you.

You can't go wrong with Valve's Team Fortress 2. Its enduring popularity can't be beat, and the community on Steam is surprisingly friendly to new players. If you ask the right questions and can shoot straight, that is.

World of Tanks only just launched in the U.S., but it already has a massive global following. If you like blowing shit up with thanks and not having to pay for it then give it a "shot." Ha!

League of Legends is one of the most popular games on the planet—if not the most popular, period. There's got to be a reason for that. What's all this "lane-pushing" about anyway? If you find out, let us know.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is not the blockbuster success story that EA and BioWare were hoping for, but it's certainly an MMO worth playing—especially since it went free-to-play. Just watch out for bounty hunters and bantha shit.

What Mechwarrior Online should have been? Maybe. What's certain is that if you like mech combat you need to play Hawken now. The free price tag certainly isn't hurting it.

Badland was just judged game of the year by none other than Apple itself. It's true! Check the App Store yourself! The real question is: why pay money for it on iOS when it's available for free on Android?

Dumb Ways to Die is simultaneously as morbid as its title and as adorable as this picture suggests. The joke is it started out as a public service announcement campaign by an Australian metro train authority. Just goes to show: don't do dumb shit around trains!

Strata is a gorgeous but simplistic puzzle game about folding paper. It exists on iOS as well, but only Android has a free version. It's worth spending $2.99 on, but why not try it out first?

It's a little rough around the edges, but if you've got an Android device and you're into the roguelike thing than you can hardly go wrong with the free Pixel Dungeon. By the way, "roguelike" means you have to start over every time you die. So how much pain do you enjoy?

Galaxy on Fire 2 is a beast of a game. "Open-space exploration" is like open-world exploration, except in all of space instead of just a city or the wild west. The controls are tight and the graphics are great, and it's free on mobiles.

There's a reason why The Simpsons is one of the longest-running shows ever. Tapped Out is no Simpsons: Hit and Run, a wonderful Grand Theft Auto clone of days gone past, but it's a fun game in its own right. And it has plenty of inside jokes and lore for hardcore Simpsons fans.

Dead Trigger 2 controls surprisingly well for a first-person shooter on mobile platforms. And its in-app purchases are surprisingly non-intrusive. If you're into Left 4 Dead or other zombie shooters, give it a whirl.

Black Mesa is the long-awaited fan-made port of the original Half-Life to the engine of Half-Life 2. Now that it's finally been released (well, mostly released) you can experience the awesomness of the game that put Valve on the map with graphics that don't make your eyes bleed.

Is the free-to-play version of FIFA 14 the same game you'll be getting on your next-gen Xbox One or PS4, or even the Xbox 360 or PS3? Well, no. But can you take those with you to your family's house for the holidays? Ha! Also, it's free.

Asphalt 8 is the latest entry in the long-running Asphalt series of arcadey driving games. How long? Well, there are eight of them. And now that they're free-to-play you can enjoy them all you want.

Do you like Mario Kart? Are you too cheap to buy a Wii U in anticipation of Mario Kart 8? Have we got a game for you! Angry Birds Go! is like Mario Kart, only with birds, and it's free. And it doesn't have multiplayer—yet! That's coming soon in an update.

Sony promised to support free-to-play games on PlayStation 4, and they've delivered so far with games like Warframe. Anyway, it has ninjas. If you have a PS4 you're probably already playing this.

Robotek is a strategic blast on iOS and Android, but it also has the distinguished honor of being one of the few truly great games in the Windows 8 app store. So if you have a Windows tablet like the Surface or Lumia 2520, you can't pass it up.

Clumsy Ninja is essentally a Tickle-Me-Elmo, but with a virtual Ninja. He responds to your touches and inputs, training, sleeping and doing more. Why it's so popular is as mysterious to us as a ninja's inner thoughts, but it is undeniably popular—so it's probably worth a look.

Everybody likes to rate and rank things, from bands to popes and beers—and everything else. Proust lets you rank things in groups of five, then see how your answers compare to your friends'. Be warned, though: when you find out how much your buddies love that thing you hate it can ruin lives.

Tic Tactics is a clever re-imagining of the classic game of tic tac toe in which you play on nine boards at once. The local pass-and-play multiplayer is essential, and though it's quite complicated you'll get the gist of it after only a few turns.

Planetside 2 is kicking ass on PC. Each match has hundreds of players (or more), who all fight to control points on massive sci-fi battlefields. And once the game launches on PS4 next year—also for free—it's really going to take off.

Earlier this year Plants vs. Zombies 2 wasn't as easy to recommend. Thanks to its free-to-play business model, the in-game economy was all but broken, making it far too difficult to progress. But in a recent patch things got much better, and now PvZ 2 is more comparable to the original. Meaning it's excellent.