2024 has been a genuinely excellent year for video game releases, but most to date have been full price titles that drain your wallet and bank account. I don’t know about you, but even doing this job, I can’t afford every new release. It’s nice to download a new title, play it for tens or hundreds of hours, and not spend a dime. Well, that’s about to become much easier, as three upcoming free-to-play games are coming before the year’s end, and I’m sure they’ll dominate!
Upcoming Free-to-Play Games Coming Before 2024 Ends
Three high-profile free-to-play titles are launching in December, each within a different genre, and they’re all building momentum before release for various reasons. We have Delta Force, the upcoming “Battlefield killer,” Marvel Rivals, a hero shooter with team-based PvP, and Path of Exile 2, the positively monumental ARPG with its iconic passive skill tree and class roster.
Delta Force
- Title: Delta Force
- Developer: Team Jade
- Release Date: December 4
- Price: Free to Play
- Genre: First-Person Shooter
The free-to-play first-person shooter from developer Team Jade, which many consider the ultimate “Battlefield killer” (as if we haven’t had a thousand of those), has enjoyed immense success with its multiple beta test periods over the past few months. We here at Insider Gaming spent a lot of time with the Delta Force and even called it the “best Battlefield game played in years.”
It includes countless weapons and weapon customization opportunities, vehicle combat, multiple game modes, a single-player story-driven experience, an extraction game mode, and large-scale infantry combat encounters with sizeable maps that ensure every round feels unique and thrilling.
Marvel Rivals
- Title: Marvel Rivals
- Developer: NetEase Games
- Release Date: December 5
- Price: Free to Play
- Genre: Hero Shooter
While I’m personally exhausted by the hero shooter genre after playing a few rounds of Overwatch six years ago, I know it’s still a popular competitive scene with an entire subset of the gaming community champing at the bit for a hit to release. Marvel Rivals, from NetEase Games, may be that hit as a free-to-play third-person shooter that combines the classic arena-style combat of titles like Overwatch and Concord with Marvel’s roster of heroes and villains.
Marvel Rivals features 6v6 arena-based combat with evolving battlefields in which superheroes and supervillains utilize abilities and powers to dominate objectives and the enemy team. You can play as Rocket Raccoon, Hulk, Spider-Man, Thor, and countless others, dealing damage and stomping through the environment in unbeatable action!
Related: Here’s What You Need to Know About The Game Awards 2024
Path of Exile 2
- Title: Path of Exile 2
- Developer: Grinding Gear Games
- Release Date: December 6
- Price: Free to Play
- Genre: Action RPG
I genuinely cannot get enough of the ARPG genre. I grew up playing the likes of Champions of Norrath and the original Diablo titles alongside my stepfather, and the love for the grind stuck with me decades later. Now, you’ll often find me in either Diablo IV or Path of Exile, and like many of you, I’m eagerly awaiting the latter’s sequel. Well, it’s time. Path of Exile 2 launches in Early Access on December 6, featuring an expansive campaign, a six-player co-op, an enhanced passive skill tree, and more class and play style variety than ever before.
With six acts, more than 100 boss fights, over 600 unique enemies, 12 base classes, and 36 Ascendancies, Path of Exile 2 promises to be bigger, better, and more time-consuming than ever before. I welcome the challenge!
Which free-to-play game is going to eat up all of your free time? Let us know in the comments below, or start a thread on our community forum discussing your favorite of the three!
Along with these free-to-play titles, December is chock full of video game releases that should cater to everyone’s tastes and play styles!
