Sometimes yous'll detect yourself out of the house, with cypher but a laptop and a whole lot of time. And while laptops are getting more and more powerful, most are still low-spec machines when it comes to gaming.

But only because you're living out of home with an integrated GPU doesn't mean y'all take to be bored. Here'south thirteen games you tin can play on the potato-powered productivity device that is your laptop.

Risk of Rain

Office of the trouble with gaming on the laptop, however, is that sometimes that's all you have. No mouse, no separate controller, and sometimes no room for either anyway.

Risk of Rain is perfect in those scenarios, since information technology'due south purely a keyboard-only game. An action platformer that gets harder every 5 minutes, Take a chance of Pelting is all virtually balancing the hazard/reward mechanic of hanging around a level long enough to gain XP and money before the crazier enemies show up. The 8-bit graphics are designed to run on just virtually annihilation likewise, and so you won't feel handicapped past your option of hardware.

Civilization 5

As long as you have an Intel Core i3 or better CPU, you'll have enough grunt in your low-end laptop to run Civilization 5. And if you're looking for a game that yous tin carry on your hard bulldoze until the day it dies, it'due south difficult to ignore Civ 5.

There'due south plenty of depth with the expansions and the mods available in the Steam Workshop, although chances are the Complete Edition volition accept plenty content to keep you going through those lonely nights in hotels. It also plays only fine with the touchpad, which tin be a lifesaver sometimes if you don't accept a spare mouse around.

Owlboy

But if you're after something a little more vibrant, a little faster and something a tad fresher, the side-scrolling platformer Owlboy will exist correct upward your alley. Apart from the fact that Nathan found information technology was a surprisingly clever and quite modern despite the await, the game will basically run on anything. There's no requirement for a detached GPU and you only demand 600MB of space, which is always a plus if you're gaming on your work laptop.

Warhammer xl,000: Infinite Marine

But sometimes you just desire to open up up your laptop for a bit of virtual catharsis. So for that moment, I give y'all the all-time Ork Slaying Simulator effectually: Relic'due south Warhammer 40,000 Infinite Marine.

It gets repetitive at points, but Space Marine is basically an unhinged, non-cease slaughter of Orks from start to finish. It's also quite an old game past today'due south standards, and should have no trouble maintaining a perfectly playable framerate on laptops with the 6th or 7th generation Intel CPUs. (Here's how the game runs on an Intel HD Graphics 4600 if yous want a reference.)

Stardew Valley

Unsurprisingly, if you were decorated farming up a storm at dwelling house you can do information technology on the road as well. Stardew Valley has bugger all hardware requirements save for 2GB of RAM and a GPU with 256mb of video memory, which pretty much any laptop from the last few years volition be able to manage with no problems at all. Y'all can besides play quite happily using the keyboard, although taking a controller with you isn't a bad thought.

The Binding of Isaac

Another game that runs on a potato, The Binding of Isaac deserves a special mention here considering it's perfectly playable with keyboard controls. The arrow keys decide the management y'all shoot and yous just rely on SPACE for items, WASD for motion and SHIFT (or E) to place bombs. Piece of cake.

Oh and in that location's the small part that The Binding of Isaac is an excellent game with loads of depth. There'due south a reason information technology has a competitive scene.

Endless Legend

If you lot like the idea of playing a thoughtful 4X on the become, but want more of a fantasy aptitude to the experience, Aamplitude'south Endless Legend is an excellent alternative. You'll want to turn the graphics downward all the manner, but the game will run. Which is nice, since information technology gives you a reason to discover why this game gives Civ a run for its coin.

Dungeon Keeper 2

Only if you lot demand some strategy with a ill sense of sense of humor to go along you lot distracted while you're away from domicile, there'south peradventure naught better than Bullfrog'due south bizarre classic, Dungeon Keeper 2. The original is arguably a purer feel - well, as pure as commanding a bunch of minions from Hell trying to belt the snot out of wandering adventurers - only the sequel stands up a lot better in this day and age.

Information technology'south something I would recommend having a separate mouse for, however, although you lot tin can control the first-person elements with the keyboard easily enough. And don't worry about the system requirements - DK2 released in 1999, although the Expert Old Games version plays nicely with Windows 7, Windows viii.1 and Windows x.

FTL

Released in 2022 and one of the most successful early uses of the Kickstarter platform, Faster Than Light should be on most people's PCs already (if not their tablets). At that place's plenty of content and difficulty thanks to the expansion and the modding scene, and FTL as well has a small footprint on your hard drive (which is a lifesaver if yous're running off a 128GB SSD).

Darkest Dungeon

Another contempo game with minimal hardware requirements is the grim globe of Darkest Dungeon. A RPG with rogue like elements, Darkest Dungeon needs nothing more than a few GBs of RAM and an OpenGL iii.2+ compliant GPU - which is basically everything from the last five years.

On the practical side of things, the game'south plough-based nature ways you won't accept any issues merely playing information technology with the trackpad if that's the only selection available to you lot. The developers do recommend having a 1080p screen as a minimum, only with 1440p and even 4K laptop screens increasingly becoming standard that shouldn't exist much of a stumbling block.

Oh and just in case you needed it: Darkest Dungeon is pretty damn skillful, if a tad punishing.

Sleeping Dogs

Sometimes you but want to lose yourself in an open up world. And what better world to explore than the vicious streets of Hong Kong. Sleeping Dogs was already incredibly well optimised on PC, only information technology runs just fine on laptops as well. I'd recommend packing a controller in your travel case for this, and it's not the kind of game you want to download on airport Wi-Fi.

But whatsoever integrated graphics from the Hard disk drive 2500 series and up can run Sleeping Dogs, albeit at reduced settings. And besides, sometimes when yous're miles away from home it's just good to grab a bike and punch a few blokes in the face. (The story is likewise uncannily good, if you like the surreptitious cop shtick.)

Euro Truck Simulator 2

You might miss having your full trucking rig from domicile, but any laptop with an Intel Hard disk 4000 or ameliorate GPU will be able to run SLS's cathartic trucking simulation. Euro Truck Simulator ii'due south relaxing nature already makes it a strong candidate for existence on your laptop, but the added benefit is that the game has a full suite of keyboard controls. You'll still take to use the trackpad to plow the game's camera around, only since left and right is mapped to A/D you can manage that on a laptop pretty easily.

Duelyst

Rounding out this listing is Duelyst, the free-to-play collectable card game that draws from the earth of JRPGs as much as it does Hearthstone. Everyone besides knows by this stage that you can play Hearthstone on anything, phones included, so why not go for something a bit unlike?

The fun of Duelyst is in the positioning. Matches accept place on a battle filigree where each thespian is responsible for the deployment and movement of their units, which are drawn from a deck of cards. Fans of Hearthstone will recognise near of the mechanics, but the pixel art and the added tactical layer are a huge bonus. And another plus is the fact that Duelyst doesn't demand to run through Steam or another third-political party service, which is a huge help if your only available internet is blocking connections to Steam/Battle.cyberspace.