Our Best Budget Games to Play in 2025 – Spotlight Report

Being a gamer in 2025 has a number of benefits. Every year, developers are releasing incredible games that take us to far galaxies, breathtaking fantasy worlds, and immersive periods of history. But that’s not to say it’s all perfect.

One of the downsides of being a gamer today, for instance, is the price you have to pay to get new releases. To give an example, the latest Star Wars: Outlaws was one of the most talked about games of 2024, but the price upon launch was $69.99.

And that was just the standard edition. If gamers wanted the Gold Edition, which included a Season Pass with two story expansions and two cosmetic bundles, they had to pay $109.99. Considering the latest Sony and Microsoft consoles are $699 and $599, respectively, that’s a lot of money gamers have to hand over if they want to stay in tune with the current gaming-verse.

Having said that, playing games on a console is not the only way you can do this. On the contrary, one of the most popular gaming devices in 2025 is the smartphone, and this brings us neatly back to the benefits of being a gamer in the modern age. While, at one point, the best we could get out of our phones were games like Angry Birds, today, smartphones have evolved into powerful gaming devices in their own right.

Thanks to advancements in mobile hardware and software, games that were once reserved for consoles and PCs are now playable on our phones at a lower price. Numerous other quality budget games are also available in the traditional gaming and iGaming markets. With this in mind, we wanted to take a moment to list our best budget games to play in 2025 and explain what makes them so good!

Among Us

There’s nothing better for a gamer’s bank account than a great game that also happens to be free! Among Us is one of those games, being free to download with optional in-app purchases.

As a social deduction game, it would be an understatement to say that it’s done pretty well since its launch in 2018. Still, in 2025, it continues to take the mobile gaming world by storm, with a number of updates and new features to keep us all engaged.

Genshin Impact

Another free game is Genshin Impact, which is an action-packed RPG that has been praised for its stunning graphics, deep combat mechanics, and expansive open world. Perhaps one of the main reasons for its popularity, however, is its Gacha system, which allows players to collect new characters and weapons through randomized ‘pulls.’

While the game is free to download, this system encourages players to spend money on in-game currency in the hopes of unlocking something new, but when we say ‘spend money’, we’re talking around $1 for approximately 60 ‘Primogems’ – not quite the $69 that modern console games are asking for!

With frequent updates from the developer, miHoYo, this is a game that seemingly never gets old, enticing new players every year to delve into the story and explore the many quests that the game has to offer.

Mega Moolah

If you’re into the casino landscape, there are plenty of budget games – and budget casinos, for that matter – to choose from. The platform Casino.org finds 1 dollar deposits for a range of casinos, many of which have a huge selection of both table games and reels to pull in new players, and this is exactly what we used to find our first entry: Mega Moolah.

Existing at the Royal Vegas casino, Mega Moolah is probably one of the most popular slots right now, renowned for its massive progressive jackpots, which have made headlines for record-breaking payouts. Featuring a vibrant African safari theme – complete with wild animals and a lively soundtrack – it’s well worth a try if you’re looking for a budget-friendly game – a minimum bet can be as low as $0.01 per spin! – with the potential for a big win.

Alto’s Odyssey

Perhaps one of the most popular games last year was Alto’s Odyssey, and in our opinion, it should be the most popular of 2025, too! Coming in at $4.99, this is a visually stunning endless runner, where players control Alto as he snowboards through beautiful landscapes.

It has simple controls – unlike certain other snowboarding games, ahem, we’re looking at you Riders Republic – and it’s a great option if you’re into a game with a meditative atmosphere and yet still entertaining enough to keep your attention.

You don’t even have to like snowboarding! One of the best things about the game is that it offers an experience that’s accessible to players of all types, whether you’re a snowboarder, a skier, or just a gamer – who has never stepped foot on a mountain in their life – simply looking to unwind with something easy to pick up.

Be warned, though. Alto’s Odyssey features procedurally generated levels, with daily challenges and unlockable characters, so the endless replayability can be a double-edged sword. You can just keep playing, and playing, and playing! But then again, we’re all gamers. That’s what we do!