24 Famous PC and Console Games You Can Play in a Browser

Twenty-four famous PC and console games genuinely run in a browser tab, and none of them need the original console switched on. Some are the original games running in an emulator, some are source ports with a browser build, and a few are fan engines rebuilt for the web.

Each entry below says what the game is, how it runs, and links to its page on this site, where you can check the current host and press Play.

How to read this list

There are three kinds of entry, and the difference matters:

• Original, emulated. The actual game, running inside a browser-based emulator. Doom and Fallout are like this.
• Source port. A rebuilt engine that runs the game and usually asks for files from your own copy. Half-Life and Skate 3 are like this.
• Remake or fan engine. New code that recreates the game. 2004Scape and Prince of Persia are like this.

If a game asks for a file from a copy you own, that is normal for ports. If a site asks for a password or a card, close it.

Shooters

Doom is id Software's 1993 Mars base shooter, running as the original DOS release rather than a remake. Shotgun, imps, and a soundtrack that still works.

Quake III Arena is id's 1999 arena shooter: rocket jumps, railguns and fast online matches, playable without installing anything.

Half-Life is Valve's 1998 shooter on the Xash3D FWGS engine, compiled for the browser. You load the game from a zip of your own Half-Life files, so bring the game you own.

Counter-Strike 1.6 is the version that filled internet cafes: terrorists against counter-terrorists, round after round, running on Xash3D with bots or other players. It works on mobile too.

Halo: Combat Evolved is Bungie's 2001 Xbox shooter, built from the fans' decompilation of the game, with online multiplayer and controller support. The site does not host it: you load a disc image made from your own Xbox copy.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies is Treyarch's 2010 round-based zombies mode, with the Black Ops 1 map set, solo play and co-op through a fan extension. It is the closest thing here to a full modern shooter in a tab.

Strategy

Age of Empires II is the 1999 real-time strategy classic: lead a civilization from the Dark Age to the Imperial Age, one villager at a time.

Warcraft III is Blizzard's 2002 real-time strategy game, playable online with melee maps and custom maps like tower defense.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert is the 1996 alternate-history RTS where the Soviet Union fights the Allies. EA has given it away for free since 2008, which is part of why it is easy to find.

Heroes of Might and Magic II is 1996 turn-based fantasy strategy: recruit armies, explore the map, take castles. The touch controls work on phones, which makes it a rare strategy game you can play on a bus.

Worms Armageddon is Team17's turn-based artillery game, with bazookas, exploding sheep, the Holy Hand Grenade and maps you can blow apart.

RPG

Diablo is Blizzard's 1996 action RPG, as a fan port that plays the free shareware demo or the full game if you load the data file from your own copy.

Diablo II is the 2000 sequel: pick a hero, fight through dark dungeons, chase better loot. The whole loop survives the trip to a browser.

Fallout is the 1997 post-nuclear RPG with turn-based fights and choices that change the story, running as the original release.

2004Scape is a fan remake of RuneScape as it was in 2004: the same world, skills and quests. It is not made by Jagex, and it is one of the few entries here that is a full online game rather than a single-player classic.

Racing and sports

The Need for Speed is EA's 1995 racing game that started the series: exotic cars on long open roads, with the original feel intact.

Skate 3 is EA Black Box's 2010 skateboarding game, running on a fan-made Rust engine with WebGPU rendering. The project says you bring a converted copy of the game, and the browser build is still missing the three big city districts.

Classics and oddities

Prince of Persia is an HTML5 remake of the 1989 platformer: run, jump and sword-fight your way out of the dungeon before the hour runs out.

Tomb Raider is Lara Croft's 1996 debut: climb, jump and solve puzzles through ancient tombs.

Resident Evil is Capcom's 1996 survival horror game that named the genre: explore the Spencer Mansion and survive what lives in it.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy puts every fighter from the first three Mortal Kombat games in one roster, fatalities included.

Theme Hospital is Bullfrog's 1997 management game: build a hospital, hire staff, cure Bloaty Head and other silly illnesses.

Minecraft Classic is the original 2009 version of Minecraft, re-released by Mojang to play free in the browser. Build alone or invite friends with a link.

The Simpsons: Hit & Run is the 2003 game where you drive around Springfield as Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge and Apu, as a WebAssembly port that streams the game's data.

What to check before you click

• Where it runs. Every page on this site names the host, so you know which site opens when you press Play. This site does not host any of the games.
• What it needs. A port may ask for a file from your own copy. An emulated game usually starts straight away. A remake usually needs nothing.
• Whether the link is alive. Fan projects get taken down, and dead domains get reused for ads. The game pages show when the link was last checked.

If you only try three, make them Doom, Half-Life and Skate 3. Between them they cover the three routes a game takes to a browser tab: emulation, a source port, and a full engine rewrite.