We love all you folks, and we know some of you want to be avid PC gamers but don't have the means to pick up the latest and greatest PCs, so we gathered 15 of the best low spec games to play on your old or outdated machine or laptop. You don't need a beefy, top-of-the-line PC to run any of these titles.
We even included the minimum specs to run each of these games, which we can assure you are totally good games and not at all junk like you might expect. Many of these titles are either older, or are incredibly well optimized to run on older or underpowered computers.
Without further ado, here are the best low specs games for old PCs and laptops.
15. Age of Empires 2 HD
This classic strategy game will engage you for hundreds of hours.
- OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8 Pro+
- Processor: 1.2GHZ CPU
- Memory: 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: Direct X 9.0c Capable GPU
- Hard Drive: 2 GB HD space
14. Max Payne 2
Considered to be one of the best third-person shooters of all time, this game runs incredibly well on older hardware.
- OS: Microsoft Windows 2000/XP
- Processor: 1Ghz PIII/Athlon or 1.2Ghz Celeron/Duron processor
- Memory: 256MB RAM
- Graphics: 32MB AGP graphics card with hardware transform & lighting support
- Hard Drive: 1.5 GB hard drive space
13. Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition
A remastered version of BioWare's classic RPG. Runs well on PCs both new and old.
- OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8
- Processor: 1 GHZ
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 compatible
- Hard Drive: 2.17 GB HD space
12. Portal
One of the first FPS games to break the mold.
- OS: Windows 7 (32/64-bit)/Vista/XP
- Processor: 1.7 GHz Processor or better
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Graphics: DirectX 8 compatible video card (NVIDIA GeForce3+ / ATI Radeon 8500+)
- Hard Drive: 5 GB available space
11. Civilization 4
This classic strategy game will have you hooked.
- OS: Windows 2000/XP
- Processor: 1.2GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent
- Memory: 256MB RAM
- Graphics: 64 MB Video Card w/ Hardware T&L (GeForce 2/Radeon 7500 or better)
- Hard Drive: 1.7 GB available space
10. Team Fortress 2
Fun with both friends and strangers, this game will have you collecting virtual hats before you know it.
- OS: Windows 7 (32/64-bit)/Vista/XP
- Processor: 1.7 GHz Processor or better
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Graphics: DirectX 8 compatible video card (NVIDIA GeForce3+ / ATI Radeon 8500+)
- Hard Drive: 15 GB available space
9. The Binding of Isaac
A classic top-down action roguelike that's darkly humorous and challenging, to boot.
- OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7
- Processor: 2.5 GHz
- Memory: 1GB
- Graphics: Direct X9.0c Compatible Card
- Hard Disk Space: 50MB
8. Hotline Miami
Do you enjoy violence and/or really challenging twitch-based gameplay? This one's for you.
- OS: Windows XP / Vista / 7
- Processor: 1.2GHz processor
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Graphics:DirectX 8-compatible graphics card with at least 32MB of video memory
- Hard Drive:250 MB HD space
7. Condemned: Criminal Origins
One of the scarier offerings on this list.
- OS: Windows XP
- Processor:2.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon equivalent (2.4 GHz recommended)
- Memory:512 MB RAM
- Graphics:DirectX 9.0 compatible video card with at least 128 MB video RAM
- Hard Drive:8 GB HD space
6. Far Cry
One of the first open-world sandbox shooters. Doesn't feel dated, even to this day.
- Supported OS: Windows 2000/XP (only)
- Processor: AMD Athlon 1 GHz or Pentium III 1 GHz
- Memory: 256 MB
- Graphics: 64 MB DirectX 9.0b-compliant graphics card
- Hard Disk Space: 4 GB
5. Just Cause
An open-world action game that's seeing its third game this year.
- OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7
- Processor: 1.4 GHz (Pentium 4) or Athlon XP 1700+
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Graphics: 100% Direct X9.0c Compatible Card
- Hard Disk Space: 5.8 GB
4. Rollercoaster Tycoon 3
A classic tycoon game and theme park management simulator.
- OS: Windows XP or Windows Vista
- Processor: Pentium III 733 MHz or compatible
- Memory: 128 MB RAM; 256 MB for XP (256 MB; 384 MB for XP recommended)
- Graphics: video card with 32MB and hardware
- Hard Drive: 600 MB
3. Resident Evil 4
Capcom's masterpiece and one of the best horror games to date.
- OS: Windows XP/ Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8
- Processor: 1.4 GHz Pentium III or AMD Athlon (or better)
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Graphics: 128 MB Direct3D compatible video card and DirectX 9.0 compatible driver
- Hard Drive: 1.2 GB available space
2. Half-Life 2
The game everyone wishes Valve would make a sequel for.
- OS: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
- Processor: 1.7+ GHz or better
- Memory: 512 MB
- Graphics: DirectX 8.1 level Graphics Card
- Hard Drive: 4.5 GB
1. Oblivion
This open-world RPG runs great even on older systems.
- OS: Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows XP 64-Bit
- Processor: 2 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent
- Memory: 512 MB
- Graphics: 128 MB Direct3D compatible video card and DirectX 9.0 compatible driver
- Hard Drive: 4.6 GB
