Category: Buy-to-Play

Elite Dangerous

Elite Dangerous is a strategic sci-fi MMORPG that puts you in the cockpit of your own starship, letting you carve out a career through exploration, trading, and combat while your actions subtly feed into a larger, shared galaxy where factions rise, fall, and go to war.

Publisher: Frontier Developments
Playerbase: Medium
Type: Space Sim
Release Date: December 16, 2014
Pros: +Deep ship outfitting and loadout variety. +Huge galaxy that rewards wandering and discovery. +Economy and politics shaped by players over time.
Cons: -Steep onboarding and lots to learn. -Progression can feel grind-heavy when chasing upgrades. -Some systems feel thin compared to the scale of the universe.

7 Days to Die

7 Days to Die is a sandbox survival RPG built around scavenging, crafting, and fortifying a foothold in a harsh zombie apocalypse. It mixes open-ended exploration with a constant pressure to secure food, water, and shelter, then turns the tension up at night when the undead become far more dangerous. Whether you prefer improvising with whatever you can loot or planning a long-term base with layered defenses, the game is designed to make every day of preparation matter.

Publisher: The Fun Pimps
Playerbase: High
Type: Sandbox Survival RPG
Release Date: December 13, 2013
PvP: Persistent PvP World
Pros: +Day/night cycle meaningfully affects zombie behavior. +Deep crafting and scavenging loop. +Strong base building and fortification options.
Cons: -Visuals and textures show their age. -Difficulty can feel punishing, especially early on. -Melee and shooting can be stiff. -Long-term goals can run out once you are established.

Dino D-Day

Dino D-Day is a multiplayer first-person shooter set in a pulpy alternate take on World War II, where the Axis has dinosaurs in the trenches alongside soldiers. You can fight for either side, switching between human classes and prehistoric muscle while completing objectives across several classic FPS modes.

Publisher: Digital Ranch
Playerbase: Low
Type: FPS
Release Date: April 8, 2011
Pros: +Wild concept that lets you gun down dinosaurs or play as one. +Plenty of classes across humans and dinosaurs. +Multiple modes and objectives keep matches varied.
Cons: -Visuals show their age. -Balance can feel uneven across weapons and matchups. -No dedicated single-player campaign.

Riding Out

Riding Out is a horse-focused MMORPG where your main progression comes from building up a stable and raising mounts rather than chasing traditional fantasy combat. You spend your time training, feeding, breeding, riding for exploration or leisure, and competing in races and equestrian-style events, all while meeting other players in the shared world.

Publisher: UnexEvo
Playerbase: Low
Type: MMORPG
Release Date: December 24, 2015
Pros: +Own and raise a personal virtual horse from the ground up. +Breeding system encourages hunting for desirable traits. +Lets players design custom courses for riding events.
Cons: -Visuals feel dated compared to newer simulators. -English localization can be awkward and error-prone. -Technical issues and bugs can interrupt play.

Portal Knights

Portal Knights blends action combat, light RPG progression, and sandbox building in a world that has literally been split apart. You hop between floating islands through portals, gather materials, craft upgrades, and tackle bosses solo or with friends.

Publisher: 505 Games
Playerbase: Low
Type: Action Adventure Sandbox RPG
Release Date: February 25, 2016
Pros: +Satisfying boss fights and responsive combat. +Strong biome variety that keeps exploration interesting. +Supports up to 4 people in co-op.
Cons: -Bright visuals can feel flat due to limited texture contrast. -Narrative is fairly thin. -Progression can become grind-heavy.

Absolver

Absolver is a buy-to-play action-adventure fighter centered on precise, close-range duels in a sparse world inhabited by other masked combatants. You step into the role of a newly awakened Prospect, learning techniques, collecting gear, and shaping your journey through the people you choose to challenge, help, or avoid.

Publisher: Devolver Digital
Playerbase: High
Type: B2P Action Adventure Fighter
Release Date: August 29, 2017
Pros: +Distinctive, striking art direction. +Responsive, momentum-driven melee combat. +An intriguing setting with rewarding lore.
Cons: -Region locked. -Occasional server and network latency.

TASTEE: Lethal Tactics

TASTEE: Lethal Tactics is a tactical, turn-based strategy title built around “plot first, watch later” firefights. You queue up orders for a small squad during a planning phase, then hit confirm and see the results play out in a short burst of simultaneous action, including all the clever ideas and all the mistakes.

Publisher: SkyBox Labs
Playerbase: Low
Type: Strategy
Release Date: May 10, 2016
Pros: +Distinctive plan-and-resolve turns that feel fresh for the genre. +Recruitable mercenaries offer meaningful stat and ability differences. +Solid tactical depth once you learn the tempo.
Cons: -Map rules and boundaries are not always easy to read at a glance. -PvP matches can become very time-consuming. -Noticeable bugs can interrupt the experience.

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada brings Games Workshop’s Battlefleet Gothic tabletop battles into a real-time strategy format, trading dice and measuring sticks for cinematic broadsides and tactical positioning. It is a 3D sci-fi, dark fantasy MMORTS set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, featuring a lengthy single-player campaign alongside instanced PvP where fleets from four factions clash in brutal, ability-driven space engagements.

Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Playerbase: Low
Type: 3D MMORTS
Release Date: April 22, 2016
PvP: 1v1/2v2 Instanced Matches
Pros: +Striking comic-inspired presentation and strong 40K atmosphere. +Tense, tactical ship-to-ship battles. +Helpful, dedicated community for a niche RTS.
Cons: -Technical issues including bugs and occasional crashes. -Faction balance can feel uneven. -Battlefields lack variety. -Matches can start to feel samey over time.

Grim Dawn

Grim Dawn is a dark fantasy action RPG where humanity is on the brink of collapse. Fight through a ruined world solo or with up to four players, complete a huge range of quests, and hunt for piles of randomized loot while shaping your character with an extensive skill system.

Publisher: Crate Entertainment
Playerbase: Medium
Type: Action RPG
Release Date: February 25, 2016
Pros: +A faithful, old-school ARPG loop. +Co-op for up to four players. +Flexible dual-class build crafting. +Tons of randomized loot to chase. +Factions add meaningful choices and rewards.
Cons: -Story beats rarely grab you. -Areas often funnel you down straightforward routes. -Performance can be uneven on some setups.

Grimm: Dark Legacy

Grimm: Dark Legacy is a fantasy-themed survival title that draws inspiration from NBC’s Grimm. You play as a hunter tasked with keeping settlements safe, scavenging materials out in the wild, then turning those finds into tools, traps, and weapons to take down dangerous creatures.

Developer: GAMESCO
Playerbase: Low
Type: Top-Down Survival Game
Release Date: November 2, 2016
Pros: +Connected to the TV universe. +Distinct creature-tracking mechanics. +Quest-driven structure.
Cons: -Familiar survival loop. -Not much public detail. -Always-online requirement.