Looking for the best offline games on PC? If you are disconnected from the Internet for a long time, you will need the best offline PC games to help you pass the time. However, not every game allows you to play offline.
While multiplayer games and MMO games require an Internet connection, there are still some things to think about when stocking up on the best offline PC games for your long commute or vacation. Some games require a license check before launch to protect against piracy - and while this doesn't take much time, it means you won't be able to access the game without an internet connection. Unless you play on GOG, there's often no easy way to find out if the game you've got your eye on will let you play offline. Online games are, of course, good, but there are situations when you just want to download the game and play it for fun.
Lucky for you, there's no shortage of exciting offline PC games, whether you're a fan of classic RPGs or the biggest open world games of today. We've got something for every taste and need, so read on if you're working on a computer but don't have an internet connection, or are traveling and need a game without complicated controls. While you will naturally need an internet connection to purchase and download games, you can play them completely offline.
Here are the best offline games on PC:
Slay the Spire
Card battlers and rogue-lite are some of the best offline games, especially if you play on a laptop or Steam Deck, and Slay the Spire represents the best of both worlds. You choose from multiple classes and fight through multiple stages to reach the top of the title spire. What keeps it feeling fresh over hundreds of climbing attempts is the range of cards and the potential synergies you can create in the course of a single run. It doesn't feel like there's one correct deck to win, in fact, there seem to be dozens of them.
And it doesn't end when you finally reach the top. There are daily quests and dozens of modifiers that combine to make Slay the Spire an eternal obsession if you give it a few tries to get through to you.
Return to Monkey Island
Few genres are as synonymous with offline gaming as classic point-and-click adventure games. While there are plenty of great adventure games that can be played offline, from the Broken Sword games to more recent brain hits like Gemini Rue, our top pick is Return to Monkey Island, the new sequel to one of LucasArts' best series of all time.
If you're unfamiliar with the series, you'll find gorgeous scenic scenery and characterful animation, quirky, witty dialogue, and some incredibly challenging puzzles.
Vampire Survivors
If you're playing offline games because you're at work or traveling, then you probably want a game that doesn't require a lot of mechanical effort. Vampire Survivors is a roguelike game where you don't have to fight. Instead, your goal is to survive against hordes of night creatures by choosing various upgrades and creating a super-powered character. Your attacks are fully automated, but you still have to move your character, which makes the game easier if you're not at your main desktop with a mouse and keyboard.
It's fun to slowly unravel hundreds of secrets and weapon evolutions that you can use to get stronger and progress through the game. It's ridiculously easy to play, it's a great cheap PC game, and you can spend hundreds of hours playing it without even noticing.
Elden Ring
Elden Ring, the latest and one of the best new games of the year from FromSoftware, is fully playable offline. However, the big trade-off in this case is that you won't be able to see messages from other players. But after you've died because a ladder said "try your finger but it's a hole," you'll realize that the offline mode is a bigger blessing than anything Airdtree has to offer.
Fromsoftware's first open-world game is equal parts beautiful and unforgiving, a set of poignant reflections on misguided faith, the desire for power, and the nature of life and death. Most importantly, it gives you enormous freedom to take on dozens of challenging Ring of Elden bosses, from using summon spirits and the best Ring of Elden weapons to the time-honored “tactical retreat.”
Hitman 3
Hitman 3 offers Agent 47 some of the most inventive missions of his career, from solving (read committing) a murder mystery in England to infiltrating a rave in Berlin to put pressure on his would-be assassins.
Hitman 3 features some of the most diverse and challenging environments, with a dizzying array of solutions to every problem, and a diabolical variety of problems to find, create, and avoid. Hitman and Hitman 2 owners have it even better, as you can import their levels and test them out with Hitman 3's excellent graphics engine.
Monster hunter rise
Monster Hunter Rise reimagines what Monster Hunter can be, simplifying its more complex elements and adding new ways to wield your favorite weapons. The result, as our Monster Hunter Rise review explains, is one of the most playable and enjoyable monster hunters out there, with adorable palamute companions, thoughtful Wirebug skills, and a great mix of classic and new monsters.
Sunbreak, Monster Hunter Rise's first major expansion, is also out, adding ferocious monsters, new areas, armor, and lore, all set against what looks suspiciously like the setting from Monster Hunter World. However, unlike World, you don't have to worry about always going there with your friends. Rise is also balanced; you can complete even the most difficult tasks alone in offline mode.
Divinity: Original Sin 2
If you like tabletop RPGs, then Divinity: Original Sin 2 is for you. From a distance, it's a massive tale of high fantasy, religion, and politics, with fantastical enemies and a deep combat system that rewards creative thinkers (and those with a penchant for setting things on fire).
However, the moment-to-moment action is far more personal as you weave a twisted tale of hope, revenge, ambition and tragedy for your chosen character and everyone they come into contact with. Think carefully before making your choice. You never know whose life one seemingly random comment could ruin. This game is definitely one of the best games in the list of the best offline games on PC.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
Nihon Falcom's classic RPG will soon be 20 years old, but it hasn't lost anything of what makes it special. Trails in the Sky is part family story and part political realism, set in a pacifist kingdom where peace reigns fragile. Internal unrest threatens to escalate into civil war when the country's former military leader - your father - disappears under mysterious circumstances.
Aside from a carefully crafted story, brilliant character development, and a unique combination of tactics and traditional turn-based RPG combat, what makes Trails in the Sky stand out is its rich world. The people you meet along the way have their own stories that parallel and sometimes intertwine with yours.
Crusader Kings 3
In Crusader Kings 3, you have dads and princes at your disposal, as well as pretty much everyone else. Nothing can stand in the way of your ambitions for world domination - except perhaps yourself and those rather undesirable traits you have endowed your poor ruler with.
Whether you're manipulating your dynasty to achieve notoriety through deals and espionage, or letting your marriage bed do the diplomacy for you, the paths to success are virtually endless and always unpredictable, thanks to the detailed personalities of everyone you encounter. Moreover, in the latest update, Paradox has finally added more options for same-sex relationships.
Elysium disk
Disco Elysium is one of the best RPGs on PC for a reason. At first, it's a dark tale of emotional upheaval as a downtrodden investigator solves a mysterious crime and encounters people even more miserable than he is. Beneath the bleakness is a much more thoughtful and measured story about the hardships people face in everyday life.
Your choices could result in you helping set an abandoned child on a new path, treating the locals to an (admittedly unwelcome) spontaneous poetry reading - with mixed results - or even getting killed by opening a letterbox. There's a dark humor to almost everything in Disco Elysium, which is just part of what makes the game's writing one of the best on our list of the best offline games on PC.
Psychonauts 2
Double Fine's sequel to the original Psychonauts may have been a long time coming, but it was worth the wait. Raz's adventures continue in exciting fashion as he tracks down a mole in Psychonauts and works to reconcile with his less than tolerant family - or he would have done all of this if Psychonauts hadn't made him a low-level intern. Modern technology allows Double Fine to go wild in scene design.
One minute you're racing through a hospital-turned-casino, the next you're helping an ex-psychonaut cope with his emotions at a brutal cooking show hosted by goat dolls. Beneath the funniness lies a deeper, more thoughtful message about mental health and acceptance.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Nearly five years after its original release, the sequel to Rockstar's Wild West game remains as fun and masterfully designed as ever. The slow disintegration of outcast Dutch's family against the backdrop of Gilded Age America is one of the most poignant stories and settings in gaming, but if you're only interested in train robberies and shootouts, there's plenty of that here too.
There's a lot to do in Red Dead Redemption 2, and while it doesn't break the mold of the open world, its quests and activities are way more rewarding than most.
Tales of Arise
If you're looking for a brighter, more modern JRPG, take a look at Tales of Arise. Bandai revived the long-running Tales of... series in Arise, nearly perfecting the combat system and doubling down on the game's storytelling with a more serious and poignant storyline.
Tales of Arise may look great, but underneath the shiny surface lies a dark heart of oppression and prejudice, and Bandai explores its themes with a surprising level of balance and sensitivity. As Jason Coles wrote in our review, "Tales of Arise takes the fundamentals that underpinned the series, but tweaks them so that everything feels better than before."
This concludes our list of the best offline games on PC - if you invited a friend while you are not connected, check out our tops in other categories.
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