How do you find good single-player permanently-free games on Steam? [lvl3 mini train inside]

Thanks for the train. I appreciate the research you did on free gaming. I am sure people in the community will find it useful.

I came up with long and hard way. First you add everything from here https://steamdb.info/freepackages/ (might take a very long while). After that you can come here https://steamdb.info/sales/?displayOnly=OwnedGames and use various filters , which does not work for not owned games.

I haven't played many free games and I'm not actively looking for them, but I can throw these ones into the bucket

Indigo Park: Chapter 1 An exploration scary game inspired on Five Nights at Freddy's, they have released only first chapter and while it surely needs some polish it has great potential with the very charismatic trash panda character they put as mascot.

Hexceed, Coloring Pixels and Wooloop from ToastieLabs if you're into puzzles and relaxing games, however those are mostly DLC based similar to PPU where you only get a very limited free content

Nightmare House is a horror classic and they're releasing a remake? or remaster? sequel? don't know you can find it here and looks promising

Those are the ones I checked your account that you haven't played, sadly about where to find good free games information I don't know, good luck!

Wish I had an answer for you. You'd think there'd be a good curator out there that specializes in this subject.

While I appreciate good, free single player games, I don't actively look for them. I'll usually add them if I stumble upon one or if a friend recommends something to me. Case in point, I recently found Please, Touch the Artwork 2 and 20 Small Mazes while browsing the reviews for their paid sibling games. The Mr. Rabbit Magic Show was brought to my attention by a friend. Enjoyed all three, but they were completely passive discoveries.

I'm surprised you haven't played Cube Escape: Paradox. I'm guessing the simplistic, slightly absurd puzzle style of those games doesn't appeal to you.

I don’t have a particular place to look for games, but I did really enjoy Point of Mew and Pineapple on Pizza. They’re both fairly short games but they’re charming.

My reccomendations are Endless Sky and Mindustry (paid on steam but free elsewhere).

It's been years since I played endless sky but I did enjoy it back then. It's a space exploration sandbox game, start with a small ship and gradually build up a fleet of ships. There are some massive world-ships that you can capture in rare circumstances, though back when I played there was only one and from what I found you needed to savescum your way to winning the boarding rng.

Mindustry is a factory builder and a tower defence game. It's on a much smaller scale than larger factory games like factorio, each map is fairly small but you can transfer resources across maps and there's a bit of meta progression in tersm of unlocks as you go through the maps. It is paid on steam but only difference between are the steam integrations and the convniance that brings, I've got it since but I did originally play the release version from github. Since I've played they've added a whole new world with different logical challenges. So I do plan on playing it again at some point.

There are lists like this for other open source games, though most probably aren't on steam as well.

Thanks for the train.

IsThereAnyDeal uses SteamPeek for similar game suggestions. I like it better than Steam's suggestions and use it when I want something new to play or add to my wishlist.

For free games, I enter the name of a game to find something that is similar to it (it seems to pick similarity based on tags). I uncheck the box for Unreleased?, select Free to Play from the tags, and order by Recommendation.

I'll add tags to include and sometimes tags to exclude depending on how the first page or two of choices look like. Also, each result has circled arrow that can be opened to view games like that entry.

To find more niche stuff, you may be able to play around with the possibilities of SteamPeek's options and find something you like.

I never paid much attention to free games but to me the obvious solution would be to use Steam DB.
Like this: https://steamdb.info/stats/gameratings/?category=2&cc=us&max_price=0.01&min_reviews=500

All listed games should be single-player but not necessarily only for single-player. You can easily ban all games with multiplayer though, if you wish so.
For some reason it didn't allow me to set the price maximum of 0, so I used 0.01.
You can build upon this, like picking specific genres or tags. Or you can filter by release dates and only list the best games from the past year.

Treasure Adventure Game i can recommend.
played it a few years ago.
solid game
there used to be a remake called Treasure Adventure World but its not on steam anymore for whatever reason and somehow only the Soundtrack is left.

Hm, I don't think I am looking out specifically for free games. I am very restricting with what I add to my account, so I usually have enough with the few games I buy anyway.

But let me check my library and followed games list what we have here. The following should all be free of charge, although some of them costed money in the past when I acquired them. Also, I will give for most of them a SteamDB link since the store page is not available in my country and I started to get confused after the third "not available" page:

After Hours: A puzzle game where you have to unlock a file on a computer. Basically a puzzle game but with heavy ARG elements. Which means the solutions of the puzzles or the way to get to the solution are outside of the game. It is a good experience as long as you play without a guide. However, you may need it at some point because it is rather cryptic.

Shadow Puppeteer: A platformer where you have to manipulate light and shadow. I played it as co-op experience. Not sure if it can be played alone.

Shipwreck: I think this was a short zelda-like with 4 dungeons?

No More Room in Hell: A first person multiplayer zombie game with two modi. Quite difficult, quite punishing and when not familiar with the game need help of other people. Even when you are familiar, the game is not meant to be played alone. However, very good players can solo mission. Gets quite a bit easier if you use the unlimited ammo servers, the developers don't like.

You have to win the Game: A short platformer which can be finished in minutes. However, the first run will take a while.

Kraven Manor: A first person horror game with some minimal puzzle elements. The house swapping mechanic is interesting but is only a minor part. A bit clunky at parts.

Attack of the Labyrinth: Top-down shooter where you have to go down a labyrinth. I think each run has a maximum of 10 levels and has randomized layout (doesnt change much in terms of gameplay)., Some nice secrets and "hidden" levels. Depending on run, it can be pretty easy or hard. Can be played in multiplayer but is a lot harder in co-op.

Confess my Love: A visual novel? Don't know. You are in a classroom with a girl and depending on the actions you take, you get a different ending. Runs are below five minutes I think. So, it is basically and trial&error to get all endings unlocked.

And now games I follow but haven't activated in my library (yet) but might in the future:

Outcore: No idea .... looks strange but sounds interesting.
Sheepy: A platfomer
Answer Knot: A walking simulator

The most obvious ones for me would be Gwent: The Witcher Card Game (deck building) and Fallout Shelter (base management). The original Emily is Away (message based) was a nice story driven one as well.

not sure but bump

I recommend this list: comprehensive list of Free Games you could play

Rusty Lake has good free games if you're into puzzles.

https://store.steampowered.com/franchise/rustylake

ADDED EVERY SINGLE FREE GAME AND SORTED THE TRASH
used a script to add them all, DONT DO IT!!!
took ages to sort and one day POOF steam put all the game into my library mix vs before you found them from the store page
this was back when greenlight was a thing and i owned 7 paid games for a few years

If we are talking about free singleplayer games it would be hard for me not to mention Waterworks!. A gem of a small game, with a slight educational focus not impairing the gameplay, though it's pretty short and probably interesting just for one play. Sadly, it's not on Steam, but it's accessible even without account on itch.io.

Here's some I played and enjoyed :)

0.5 hrs long: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2512820/BOOMEROAD/
0.7 hrs long: https://store.steampowered.com/app/361630/404Sight/
0.7 hrs long: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1116960/UNDEFEATED/
1.5 hrs long: https://store.steampowered.com/app/513450/Drop_Alive/
1.0 hrs long: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3533730/Warhammer_40000_Boltgun__Words_of_Vengeance/
1.6 hrs long: https://store.steampowered.com/app/223710/Cry_of_Fear/
1.7 hrs long: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2795000/The_WereCleaner/
1.5 hrs long: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1506510/The_Ramp/

There are also a bunch of "mods" that are basically standalone games with their own achievements on Steam.
But you need to own the base game to play those.
I think it's mostly Portal, Half-Life, Oblivion, and Skyrim that have these instances, however.

I really like Adventure Escape Mysteries. As far as I have played, it can be free. It does encourage some microtransactions to purchase the unlock the next story chapter faster--instead of waiting for the unlock bar to refill every so many hours, but I'm usually ready for bed after i finish the freely unlocked chapters.

I didn't read all the replies to see if someone has already recommended this, but if not:

Overwhelmingly Free Curator

I also really like following some smaller Youtube channels focused on indie games. 'nocaps' for instance brought me to Poco, which is one of the best short free games out there

EDIT - My brain just froze when I read your OP, and I thought you were asking for ways to find new free games. Well, the suggestions are still valid, although a bit vaguer hahaha the Overwhelmingly Free Curator is still a treasure trove thou, most stuff I found there were well worth my time. Notable mentions:

• Swallow The Sea
• Doronko Wanko
• Circles
• Sheepy
• Evil Egg
• The Big Catch: Tacklebox (it's a demo but there's still a lot of content)
• FALLSTRUKTUR
• Batography
• Beetle Ninja
• DOGWALK
• Princess Remedy
• Lunacid
• Shipwreck
• ENA: DREAM BBQ

Very good guide, thank you for taking the time to write it up.

have you tried steam interactive recommendations?
in store, next to browse there's "recommendations", hover over it and on the right there's "interactive Recommender"
choose that option. then just add tag filters " free to play" and play with scales popular/niche ; older/newer

bumpo!

these are games that i already played that haven't been recommended by others
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2324650/The_Murder_of_Sonic_the_Hedgehog/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1241700/There_Is_No_Game_Jam_Edition_2015/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1762480/Karisvale/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/476460/Picross_Touch/

if you enjoy rpg maker games these are also good:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2325150/Luxaren_Allure/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/461820/Legionwood_1_Tale_of_the_Two_Swords/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/377330/Close_Your_Eyes_Old_Version/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/497090/Amihailu_in_Dreamland/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/351640/Eternal_Senia/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/976940/_The_Shell_of_Permafrost/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/429470/Space_Pilgrim_Episode_I_Alpha_Centauri/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/526430/Project_Fire/

also free coloring game with constant updates (they have paid dlc but you don't need them to 100%):
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3071670/Pixel_Cross_Stitch_Color_by_Number/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3366710/ColorACube/

also, Toge Productions also have some free experimental games. if the games get popular enough, they usually make a fleshed-out full game. since they are a game studio, the games should have some quality in them:
https://store.steampowered.com/search?maxprice=free&category1=998&supportedlang=english&publisher=Toge+Productions&ndl=1

Here Steamdb with a little better tags. I can't filter out removed games, as I don't like the free-to-play tag because it is not precise. But do the work. You can filter out genres that you don't prefer. It is still much faster than going to a review site.

I haven't seen anyone mention High Entropy: Challenges - I'm somewhere in the middle of it, and I've enjoyed it a lot. Somehow it slipped off my active play circuit, I should get back in there!