The best games of 2025 that you can get for under $20

If rising hardware prices and $80 software aren’t proof enough that gaming is getting more expensive, the price tags for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Mario Kart World should seal it.

But you don’t need a high-end console or premium release to have fun. Dive into the indie scene and you’ll find a stack of great games that cost next to nothing.

Every title here costs $20 or less, and many of them drop even lower during the sale. Better yet, they run on just about anything; some barely need a GPU, and those that do only require hardware from almost a decade ago.

Editor’s note: All games on this list are traditional ‘Web2’ games with no crypto or blockchain integrations. But you might enjoy it anyway!

Ball x Pit

($15 on Steam, PS5, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox)

Ball x Pit is a peanut-butter-in-my-chocolate type situation, combining two flavors that we never thought could work so well together: Vampire Survivors and Arkanoid.

In this game you select one of a number of characters (there are quite a few) to enter the titular pit to gather resources and defeat bosses.

Your character takes the place of the paddle that normally bounces balls and instead launches those balls at the wall of enemies.

There are a number of different enchantments you can score, and you can fuse two enchantments into something bigger, or evolve them into some pretty wild final forms.

You then take the resources back to your town at the top of the pit and add new buildings to give you improvements and unlock new characters.

Hollow Knight: Silk Song

($20 on Steam, PS5, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox)

Hollow Knight doesn’t need much introduction. Silksong was released in September and immediately started gathering game of the year buzz, despite a lengthy seven-year wait that often left impatient fans looking elsewhere for their kicks.

Silksong, at its most basic, is more Hollow Knight. As Hornet you traverse caves, unlock skills and defeat bosses.

But you’ll do it with top-notch background and character art, excellent music, and great level and boss design.

Despelote

($15 on Steam, PS5, PS4, Xbox)

While the first two games on this list are addictive pastimes, Despelote only wants a few hours of your time to tell you a memorable story.

In 2001, Ecuador had qualified for the World Cup for the first time, and football (or soccer, if you prefer) took the country by storm.

In Despelote you are Julian, an eight-year-old boy, who kicks his ball and explores your city from his young perspective through a semi-autobiographical story from the game’s developer.

Luto

($20 on Steam, PS5, Xbox)

In this psychological horror game you are trapped in your own house, and the more you explore it, the less it looks like your house.

Luto takes the reins from Hideo Kojima’s PT demo and does his own thing with it, exploring themes of loss and depression in strange, beautiful and terrifying environments.

Megabonk

($10 on Steam)

Megabonk is a survival game, but the conceit here is that it’s fully 3D, which literally adds a new dimension to the gameplay.

Visually, the aesthetic feels like a late 90s MMO. It’s a Survivors game, complete with self-firing weapons, but height is constantly a factor, both in terms of weapons and buffs.

It’s a fresh approach to this emerging genre, and it’s worth checking out, especially at this price.

No, I’m not human

($15 on Steam)

In a post-apocalyptic world where going outside while the sun is shining will burn you, staying indoors is the only solution. You are surviving. But as a survivor, people come to your house, asking for help, asking to be let in.

Some of them are actually other survivors; others are visitors. No, I’m Not a Human is a horror version of how Papers works. Please keep your eyes peeled for details before you decide to let anyone in.

Letting the wrong person in can be fatal. The paranoia of this constant vigilance, along with the incredible, disturbing art of the game, makes this a horror game worth checking out.

Nubby’s Number Factory

($5 on Steam)

One look at Nubby’s Number Factory and you’ll immediately know whether it’s for you or not.

It reminds me of the mini-game packs you could buy for Windows 95 and 98 back in the day: the look is crisp and clear, and it’s all in a grid.

You and Nubby work at the number factory and you have to meet your quota or the sun will rise.

To meet your quota, you fire gray balls at a grid of numbers, and those numbers will explode, combining to form larger and larger numbers. It’s fun and there’s a demo.

Peak

($5 on Steam)

Who knew that the best climbing game yet would come in the form of a goofy, janky game like Peak?

Nothing about Peak is realistic: you’re a bunch of colorful, round little boys in increasingly wacky costumes trying to climb a mountain made of nonsensically connected biomes to get to the top so you can be rescued.

You start on the beach, but you can also go to a jungle or an ancient forest, and then to a desert or an icy cliff.

Along the way, you’ll avoid exploding spores that send you down the mountain, fungal zombies, tornadoes, and many other obstacles. And yet it is the most realistic climbing game that captures the unpredictability of the entire undertaking.

Climbing is dangerous, and a good climb can be fatal in a gust of wind or a sudden storm. Peak recreates all that without sacrificing the humor of being thrown off a mountain by a geyser or the excitement of reaching the top after a harrowing journey.

The Blake Manor seance

($20 on Steam)

It’s been a good few years for investigation games with titles like Case of the Golden Idol and The Roottrees are Dead, giving us plenty of ways to unravel mysteries.

The latest is The Séance of Blake Manor. Set in 1897 Ireland, you play as a detective investigating the disappearance of a woman just days before the titular séance is due to take place.

You explore the mansion while keeping an eye on the ticking clock, trying to capture people at the right time and place to get the information you need, and solving other mysteries along the way.