Games For The Modern Toaster

[snackcannon]

This post is dedicated to budget PC gaming.

What you'll find here are slightly older PC titles circa 2000s/2010s and newer ports of games from that era.

I've spent a lot of time on low and mid-end PCs. With that experience, I wanted to compile a list of games that run well on these types of systems, granted it has been at least a decade since some of these titles have been released.

I am aware that there are many games I will miss or simply not know about, but I think this is a start for anyone looking for games that aren't as demanding as they once were.

Obvious picks like Valve games, DOSBOX, or pre-2000s won't be mentioned.

Emulators are a different subject and probably warrant their own post.

Also, this isn't a tier/ranking list or anything like that. The games listed are in no particular order.

These are the system specs of the PC used to test these games.

As you can see, it's nothing fancy. A modified DELL SFF 7040.

If you have a system of similar strength or better, these games should run great for you.

Feel free to post your own system specs and share games you've tested! List will be updated over time.
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Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City & San Andreas (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Grand Theft Auto IV (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Grand Theft Auto V (720p HIGH Settings 60FPS)
Sonic Generations (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Resident Evil 5 (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Mass Effect w/ MEUITM & MERLIN GFX Mods (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Crysis Warhead (1080p "GAMER" Settings 60FPS)
Star Wars Battlefront I & II (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Batman Arkham Asylum & Arkham City (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion & V Skyrim (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Battlefield 3 (1080p HIGH Settings 60FPS)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (1080p HIGH Settings 60FPS)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1-3 (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Gears of War (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Bioshock 1 & 2 (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Devil May Cry 4 (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Assassin's Creed (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Dead Space 1 & 2 (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Far Cry 2 & 3 (1080p HIGH Settings 60FPS)
Dead Rising (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Saints Row III (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 HD (1080p 60FPS)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (720p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition & Dark Souls II (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Dragon Age: Origins (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Bayonetta (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
F.E.A.R. 1 & 2 (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Lost Planet (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Binary Domain (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Vanquish (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Ultra Street Fighter IV (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Street Fighter X Tekken (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Fallout 3 & New Vegas (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Borderlands 1 & 2 (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)
Ninja Gaiden Collection (1080p 60FPS)
PAYDAY 1 & 2 (1080p MAX Settings 60FPS)

 

[legsrjust4show]

Enjoy this extremely random list of games that I just happen to have installed that I know for a fact that should work just fine:

Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair
Psychonauts
Gundam Breaker 4 (I'm like 80% sure at least)
Granblue Fantasy Versus and it's sequel
Content Warning
Ys VIII: Lacrimose of DANA
Tales of Berseria
Mouthwashing
Star Wars Bounty Hunter
Selaco
NEO: The World Ends With You
Slave Zero X
Katamari Damacy REROLL

 

[snackcannon]

Enjoy this extremely random list of games that I just happen to have installed that I know for a fact that should work just fine:

Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair
Psychonauts
Gundam Breaker 4 (I'm like 80% sure at least)
Granblue Fantasy Versus and it's sequel
Content Warning
Ys VIII: Lacrimose of DANA
Tales of Berseria
Mouthwashing
Star Wars Bounty Hunter
Selaco
NEO: The World Ends With You
Slave Zero X
Katamari Damacy REROLL

Very nice! Always meant to try Tales of Berseria.

 

[legsrjust4show]

You should absolutely and actually just about run all of the Tales games (except for Arise which is barely a Tales game anyway). All of them should also work just fine on a toaster.

Tales of Graces f Remastered and Tales of Vesperia Remastered as well should be fine. Actually, these specs you posted are about as strong as the computer I used to use and should even be able to emulate the rest of the games. Just play Tales games.

 

[Skeleben]

I've found that anything 2D runs super smoothly on even the lowest end PC's. Off the top of my head,
Castle Crashers
Shovel Knight
Crypt of The Necrodancer
Stardew Valley
Undertale & Deltarune
BattleBlock Theatre
The Escapists

All of these will guaranteed run at basically full specs and framerate, they're very low impact.

Oh! I've also been playing the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R Trilogy. Haven't tried them on lower end hardware but they seem like they'd be fine. Very fun too, can highly recommend.

 

[legsrjust4show]

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games absolutely should be fine on this setup (or at least the first one for sure).

Also buy Deus Ex. They sell it for like a dollar whenever it's on sale. Everyone should have a copy or three of Deus Ex.

 

[nintara]

oof, you're telling me 24 gigabytes of ram is budget now? i only have 8 :[

oh well, there are still somewhat recent games i can run well:

armored core 6
psychonauts 2
nier automata
probably some other ones

and obviously the vast majority of indies

 

[JDCP]

If anyone wants a good multiplayer FPS game to play for free and that doesn't require a beefy PC there's Forgotten Hope 2, it's a standalone version of Battlefield 2 modded with WW2 stuff, you can download it for free and there's quite a big community around to play with. The gameplay is very good and hard as fuck too because of course your enemies are human players too, although you can play with bots too. There's a shit ton of guns, vehicles and maps for almost all sides of WW2highly recommended for some quick fun and it's very realistic too, so don't expect FPS quality of life stuff here. Get some friends start a local game and go have fun

 

[snackcannon]

oof, you're telling me 24 gigabytes of ram is budget now? i only have 8 :[

oh well, there are still somewhat recent games i can run well:

armored core 6
psychonauts 2
nier automata
probably some other ones

and obviously the vast majority of indies

The games listed shouldn't run any worse on 8-16GB of RAM. At least I wouldn't think so. I need to benchmark Nier Automata.

If anyone wants a good multiplayer FPS game to play for free and that doesn't require a beefy PC there's Forgotten Hope 2, it's a standalone version of Battlefield 2 modded with WW2 stuff, you can download it for free and there's quite a big community around to play with. The gameplay is very good and hard as fuck too because of course your enemies are human players too, although you can play with bots too. There's a shit ton of guns, vehicles and maps for almost all sides of WW2highly recommended for some quick fun and it's very realistic too, so don't expect FPS quality of life stuff here. Get some friends start a local game and go have fun

I've never heard of this. That's epic. I'm going to look into it since I do love some Battlefield.

 

[Opapete]

I have similar specs (8 GB RAM only on my end though), and for what it is, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown and also Yakuza 0 ran really well for me, also highly recommended would be Stepmania and all it's forks. (such as Etterna, Project Outfox or ITGmania)

 

[Blamhammer]

My gaming laptop is running a GTX 970m, and is able to run some pretty recent titles.
I'm going through Ys X on it at the moment. Works fine, no major problem. Set it to high at 900p.
ShadPS4 runs as well, Bloodborne is quite playable at 720p.

For lols I thought I try the latest Stalker game on it. 15fps.

 

[snackcannon]

My gaming laptop is running a GTX 970m, and is able to run some pretty recent titles.
I'm going through Ys X on it at the moment. Works fine, no major problem. Set it to high at 900p.
ShadPS4 runs as well, Bloodborne is quite playable at 720p.

For lols I thought I try the latest Stalker game on it. 15fps.

Hahaha, Stalker 2 would probably make my computer explode.

I have similar specs (8 GB RAM only on my end though), and for what it is, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown and also Yakuza 0 ran really well for me, also highly recommended would be Stepmania and all it's forks. (such as Etterna, Project Outfox or ITGmania)

Dude, I totally forgot about Stepmania. I have so much nostalgia for some of the song packs.

 

[Blamhammer]

Hahaha, Stalker 2 would probably make my computer explode.

Looking at your PC specs I noticed I have the mobile version of your CPU. You might be able to get 20fps from Stalker 2.
Might.

Will add Assetto Corsa to the list. Stock game is a 100% 60fps experience. The game has such a massive library of mods that you can change it into any type of driving game. Graphics mod such as SoL, Custom Shaders, or rain will require a bit of tweaking to maintain 60.

 

[JDCP]

Will add Assetto Corsa to the list. Stock game is a 100% 60fps experience. The game has such a massive library of mods that you can change it into any type of driving game. Graphics mod such as SoL, Custom Shaders, or rain will require a bit of tweaking to maintain 60.

I support this, but for the love of god get yourself a wheel and a shifter or the driving won't be enjoyable you will have more than a thousand cars to drive in hundreds of tracks, rally and city stuff included with traffic and shit.

You can even play online and have a race with friends or people who organize events.