10 Best Browser Games to Play in 2024

Looking for the best browser games to try out in 2024? Our team selected the ten best on the web to get you started. You don’t need a fancy console or gaming PC to play some great games. Many browser-based games are still around and they’re perfect for free, casual play. Here are the top ten in 2024. 

1. Wordle

Wordle is arguably the most popular browser-based game in the world today. The rules of the game are simple: figure out a secret five letter word as quickly as possible. You get a maximum of six chances, but score higher if you guess the word in fewer tries. 

Wordle is free and easy to play, which is part of its huge success over the past couple of years. You can play it in your browser or on the New York Times Crossword app on mobile devices. 

2. Chess

If you’re looking for the best browser games to try out this year, why not go for a classic? You can’t go wrong with Chess. In fact, the best place to play it today is in your browser. The free website Chess.com is the world’s most popular chess platform, where you can find online matches, play solo, learn how to play and even try chess puzzles to improve your strategy. 

Chess is one of the few games that can run great in your browser without Adobe Flash. It’s fairly easy to learn if you’ve never played before and convenient to play in browser format. Chess.com even has a mobile app so you can continue games on your phone or tablet. 

3. Chrome Dino Runner

If you’ve tried to use Chrome without an internet connection, you’ve probably encountered one of the best browser games by accident. Google Chrome has a semi-secret game built into it that you can play for free. When you go offline, a little pixel dinosaur will appear in your browser window. If you click it, you can play a running platformer game. 

The Chrome Dino runner game is simple but incredibly fun. It plays like an old arcade game. All you have to do is jump over obstacles for as long as you can while the game gradually gets faster and faster. You don’t need to be offline to play it either – fans have recreated the hidden game for online play in any web browser, even allowing you to save your high score. 

4. Forge of Empires

If you’re a fan of city builders or the Civilization games, try Forge of Empires. This is one of the best browser games today and one of the more sophisticated ones. The goal is to build and expand a city as it evolves through the ages of history. There are multiplayer modes with “neighborhoods” of cities that can make the game even more fun. 

If you want a fantasy twist, you can also try Forges of Empires’ sister game, Elvenar. This game works much like Forge of Empires, but focuses on building a high fantasy city mainly populated by elves. Elvenar also has battle and troop management mechanics if you’re looking for a more strategy-oriented game. Both games are a lot of fun and run great in web browsers. They each also have mobile apps. 

5. Catan Universe

If you want to try out the popular board game Settlers of Catan but don’t have anyone to play with, try the Catan Universe browser game. 

Catan is a strategy game where players place tiles on a map to expand their settlements and trade resources. Unlike many other city builder games, battle isn’t a huge focus, although there are expansions for it. Catan is all about trade and collaboration, forcing players to think about their expansion strategy in new ways that don’t involve combat. 

6. Fallen London

Fallen London is a uniquely text-based game. It’s a gothic fantasy RPG with a spooky story. You explore the alternate history version of London by making choices, trading, and collecting secrets and clues to unravel the game’s story. 

Fallen London plays a bit like a browser-based tabletop roleplay game. Your individual character and choices really drive the game. If you’re looking for the best browser games but want something more story focused, Fallen London is definitely the way to go. 

7. GeoGuessr

GeoGuessr is one of the best browser games in the world today. It became an overnight hit when people started streaming it on Twitch en masse a few years ago. This free-to-play game is simple: you’re dropped into a random spot from Google Street View and have to guess where you are. 

Players can guess by looking at pavement markings, street signs, foliage and more. Rounds are super quick, making GeoGuessr an easy game to play whenever you just have a few minutes free. It’s also a great game for playing online with friends, like a remote party game. 

8. Bloons Tower Defense 3

One of the best browser games is an old classic some people may remember playing online as kids: Bloons Tower Defense 3. Today, this series lives on as a mobile game. However, the original versions are still free to play on Cool Math Games (where you can find a boatload of other fun browser games, most of which don’t have a thing to do with math). 

Bloons Tower Defense is a casual strategy game where you place turrets around a map to protect your tower. It’s a really creative game and can actually get quite challenging at the higher levels. The third installment in the series doesn’t require Flash Player, either. 

9. Celeste Classic

The indie hit Celeste started out as a humble browser game you can still play for free. It’s a pixel graphic platformer where you attempt to climb a mountain while overcoming incredible obstacles. 

Celeste Classic has all the charm and addictive gameplay of the newer version, albeit with more low-res graphics. Celeste has a great story, as well, with themes of overcoming anxiety and depression. You can play it for free on itch.io, where you can also find thousands of other indie browser games. 

10. Isleward

Isleward is an immersive indie pixel graphic game you can play for free in your browser. It blends features of roguelikes and strategy games with a low-res pixel map that feels reminiscent of Dwarf Fortress. While it may look simple, the world is surprisingly expansive with cities, caves, sewers, temples and more to explore. And, of course, there are plenty of monsters to slay. 

Interestingly, this game is an open-source MMO. So, you play online with other people and everyone has the capability to make mods for the game using the actual code. Plus, there’s crossplay, so you can play on a browser with friends playing the mobile version and be in the same game. 

Why Aren’t There More Browser Games?

If you’re looking for the best browser games in 2024, it may be because you had fun with this type of game growing up. Today, browser games seem to have faded away, leaving many people wondering what happened to them. You may even find that a lot of old browser games you once enjoyed are no longer available. 

There are a few reasons for this. The biggest one is that Adobe discontinued Flash in 2020, which many websites used to run browser-based games. Flash was the core of browser gaming for decades. Without it, a lot of games and even entire websites have shut down. 

Additionally, mobile gaming has largely replaced the casual gaming niche that browser games once dominated. Smartphones and tablets can often run more powerful, modern games that browsers simply can’t handle, especially without Flash. So, many former browser game developers have moved to mobile platforms. 

The Best Browser Games in 2024

If you’re looking for some fun games that don’t require any fancy hardware, check out these top browser-based games you can play for free. From city builders to platformers, there are still some great browser games around today. Alternatively, it’s also worth checking out mobile gaming, where you can find even more free-to-play titles.