10 Games Free-To-Play Games You May Have Forgotten That Are Taking Part In Steam’s PvP Fest

It’s time for another “Fest” on Steam. It seems a bit like we have one of those every month or so these days, but they’re a great way to introduce players to games they may have missed, and offer some deals too. This time, developers are taking part in the PvPFest, which kicked off today. I’m not even going to bother trying to count the number of games involved in this event, but it’s quite a few. Of course, the usual suspects are taking part…Overwatch, Marvel Rivals, and the like. And of course, a large portion of the games listed are buy-to-play.

But we’re here to talk about free-to-play games. So I decided to take a peek at the free-to-play listings. Luckily, Steam was kind enough to make a separate tab featuring games in the F2P category. So, I used that in the making of this list, which means anyone interested can just hit up the same tab on the event’s page.

Once perusing the F2P section, I narrowed things down by looking for games with a smaller number of but fairly positive reviews. I then cross-checked them against the Steam DB to make sure they’re not completely dead and just have a small audience. Some of these offerings I recognize from having written about them before – although it’s likely been a while. Others are new to me. Either way, if you’re looking for something a bit different to play, you might give some of them a go. As I’ve pointed out before. F2P games only cost you the download time and HD space to try out.

Strinova

Strinova is an anime-style third-person shooter that came out in 2024 and features a mechanic that allows players to switch between three-dimensional and two-dimensional forms to move around the map. This allows players to do things like squeeze between cracks in walls and maneuver through otherwise inaccessible spaces.

I don’t recall the game’s launch being all that big. And it certainly doesn’t have the number of reviews or players of other games. But based on SteamDB, the playerbase is fairly consistent, and the reviews on Steam are mostly positive.

Town of Salem 2

This cartoon-style social deduction game, designed for 7 to 15 players, is set in the town of Salem. You know…the one with the witches. The game features more than 50 playable roles, each with its own abilities and objectives.

Review-wise, Town of Salem 2 isn’t doing badly. That said, its player count isn’t all that high. It peaked at a little under 4,000 players around launch and now manages somewhere between 300 and 500 players on average. That’s not necessarily a sign the game is bad. It could just be that it came out around the same time as a lot of other social deduction games did. It’s still being supported and recently had a backend update.

Century: Age of Ashes

Co-op dragon battles and racing. That’s the game. Actually, it’s more than just that. Century: Age of Ashes features five different modes (4 PvP and 1 PvE). It also offers players their choice of class and the ability to customize their dragons.

Currently, the game is in its third season, which introduced the new rider class: “Rimeblood”, as well as a new map and story content, among other things

Admittedly, the problem with this game is player numbers. As of this writing, SteamDB states that there are 31 players in-game. Perhaps that will go up during PvP Fest.

Hades’ Star

We’ve gone from dragons to space and from team combat to strategy. Hades’ Star is a space strategy game in which players build their own empire in space. Players have an entire, evolving galaxy to work with: establishing a presence, planning out their economy, colonizing planets – all the things you do when you’re building an empire in space.

As far as PvP goes, the system features different types of stars that dictate gameplay. Blue Stars are stars that last for five minutes, during which time five players can send a battleship to take part in a short burst of combat and see who’s left standing.

This is another game with exceedingly low count numbers. But as it’s a strategy game mostly made up of solo-play, that’s probably not the worst thing. PvP only requires five players and last for a short time, so unless everyone’s just busy with the empire building portion of the game, it could easily work out.

Skillshot City

Skillshot City is another game with solid reviews and low player numbers. The PvP Roguelite (also described in the same blurb as a GTA-style battle royale with no queues or downtime) has been around since 2017. It’s still kicking, and there was even an update in January.

Unfortunately, the most consecutive players it’s seen in the last year was right around 60 about a week ago. That said, the game seems to offer some fun features and could be a good time for a bit for players looking for something different.

War Selection

As single-player RTS games with online PvP go, War Selection seems to be faring well enough. It boasts Very Positive reviews, and the concurrent players are somewhere between 300 and 1,000 on a regular basis. Considering the game’s all-time peak was around 2,000 players, it’s probably suffered the least as far as player loss goes.

Granted, RTS games typically appeal to a specific type of player. Interestingly, while the game is single-player, it seems the devs devoted more time to PvP content than a lot of other games in the same genre. The game features several modes, including survival, match, ranked battle, team match, tug of war, and more. Some of the modes are both single-player and PvP.

Unfortunate Spacemen

Look, I made a choice putting this one here. Unfortunate Spacemen isn’t exactly excelling right now. As I’m looking at SteamDB, there are only 8 players in game, and the 24-hour peak is 28. The thing is that the space-based deception game has a good rating, and even among the negative reviews, there wasn’t a lot to work with. One complaint is simply that no one is playing, and that, apparently, when there were a lot of players, people were toxic.

But, well, this post is about games you may have forgotten about. So, obviously, I make no guarantees as to quality.

Onmyoji

How about some turn-based fantasy strategy with PvP as an option? Honestly, looking at the game, I kind of imagine many who play Onmyoji just sticking to the PvE. That said, the game offers players the ability to engage in “semi-real-time battles” with each other by building a team and sending it into battle. Players also have the option to invite their friends to duels.

Blood of Steel

Blood of Steel is built for those players who are big into historical figures. Players take on the role of various generals and lead massive armies into combat. That said, there is a good bit of direct combat between the players’ characters as well. So everyone gets in on the mayhem.

Unfortunately, it may be hard to find players to compete against – unless you bring friends. At the moment, SteamDB is reporting 10 players online with a 156-person 24-hour peak.

Wheelchair Wizards

It seems that the moral of Wheelchair Wizards is that everyone is equal when armed with Wizard Powers. The 2-D platform battle game features 3 maps with 17+ levels, plenty of spells, and upgrades. This game is also the smallest game in the list, taking up 200 MB of space. So, it’ll be an easy one to try out with some friends.