Free Browser Strategy Games: Our Picks, and the Free-to-Play Traps to Spot

There are two ways to say “free browser game”. The first: the game is free, full stop. The second: getting in is free, and the rest is negotiable. The difference does not show on the home page; it shows after a week, when your neighbour on the map is building twice as fast as you.

This selection focuses on strategy (other genres are in our article on the best browser games) and answers, for each game, the question other lists dodge: what do you pay for?

Two families of strategy games in the browser

Before choosing, you need to know what pace you want, because it also shapes the business model.

Persistent worlds. Travian, OGame, Forge of Empires, Tribal Wars: the game runs non-stop. Your cities produce and your troops march even when you are logged out. These are games of patience and diplomacy, played over weeks.

Games that end. Freeciv-web, Advance Wars By Web, Solwaris, chess: a game has a beginning and an end. You can win or lose it tonight, and start again tomorrow on an equal footing.

This is no detail: in a persistent world, time is a resource, and time is precisely what sells most easily. In a game that ends, there is almost nothing to sell that would not break fairness.

Persistent worlds: free, with a shop

Travian: Legends

Travian Games’ classic, online since 2004: you develop villages, form alliances, conquer. Getting in is free. The shop sells gold, which lets you, among other things:

• activate production bonuses: 5 gold for +25% production of one resource;
• instantly finish a building or a research;
• trade your resources instantly with a merchant;
• activate Travian Plus, a comfort account (construction queue, larger map, attack alerts).

In a game where you fight other players over the same land, boosted production is not comfort: it is an advantage.

Forge of Empires

InnoGames’ game (2012) takes a city through the ages, from the Stone Age to the future, with turn-based battles. Its premium currency, diamonds, is bought with real money and is used almost everywhere: premium buildings, faster construction and research, goods, expansions. You also earn some by playing, but rarely. The publisher says so itself: you do not need to buy any to play. You simply have to accept moving more slowly than those who do.

OGame and Tribal Wars

Two more veterans of the genre: OGame (Gameforge, 2002), a space empire planet by planet; Tribal Wars (InnoGames, 2003), medieval villages and alliances. Both are free-to-play with optional purchases. Same logic as Travian: before you invest your time, look at what the shop speeds up.

Games that end: free, with nothing that affects play

Freeciv-web

The browser version of Freeciv, the open-source Civilization clone. You found a civilization and lead it turn after turn, alone or in multiplayer on freecivweb.com. Open source and free: there is simply nothing to buy.

Advance Wars By Web

Old-school tactical war, 1v1, in teams or with up to 16 players, on a fan site born in 2004 and run by volunteers. Free. Games are played asynchronously, one turn whenever each player has time, or live.

Generals.io

The exception on this list: it is real-time strategy. You grow your territory and hunt for the enemy general, in free-for-alls of up to eight players or in ranked 1v1. Free, in the browser and on iOS.

Solwaris

Solwaris is a turn-based tactical duel in 3D, free and with no sign-up: 12 action points and 6 movement points per turn, 6 classes, ranked duels with an Elo rating per class. The whole game (the classes, the leagues, Training against the AI, the spectator mode) can be played without paying. The Shop sells skins, weapons and auras, and the Battle Pass has a paid premium track: none of these items change damage, ranges or action points. Two players of the same class have exactly the same spells and the same numbers in combat, whatever they have bought. The details of what you can pay for are public, in the economy guide. The honest limit: the game is young and its community small; at off-peak hours the queue can stay empty, and Training against the AI (a separate mode, outside the leagues) fills the wait.

The free-to-play traps, and how to spot them

Free-to-play is not a flaw in itself: it is what allows games to exist without an entry price. The problem is when money buys what decides the game. Here are the mechanisms to watch for.

A simple method, in three questions, before you invest in a free game:

1. What does the shop sell? Read it before you play, not after.
2. Does it count against other players? Looks, no. Production, speed or stats, yes.
3. Can I get the same thing by playing? If so, how fast? An item “earnable” in six months is not really earnable.

Which game is for you?

• You like to build over time and negotiate: Travian or Forge of Empires, knowing the rules of their economic game.
• You want a 4X without paying anything: Freeciv-web.
• You want pure tactics, on equal terms: Advance Wars By Web, Lichess, or a Solwaris duel.
• You have five minutes: Generals.io or a tactical duel.

To play with others, see also our guide to multiplayer browser games to play with friends, and for the history of the genre, our article on turn-based strategy games.