Gaming on your laptop didn’t used to be a serious option outside of very simple games. Newer laptops have a lot more power inside for gaming, but can’t quite keep up with the latest and greatest of games on PC and consoles. Plus, you typically are restricted to a keyboard and touchpad that makes more intensive games uncomfortable or too difficult to enjoy. Since you won’t always have access to a separate mouse or standard controller, you might need some games that still play great on your laptop without needing any accessories.
These are the best games you can either play with nothing but the keyboard or minimal mouse use to avoid any hand cramps.
Balatro
84%
Vampire Survivors
80%
Despite looking like a mobile ripoff of Castlevania, Vampire Survivors ended up being one of our favorite games of 2021. Since then, this cheap and content-packed game has only gotten larger and more engrossing. The best part is, of course, how easy it is to control. Every character has their own unique ability and attacks, plus you pick up a range of tools as you play, and yet you never need more than one hand on the keyboard to move your character around thanks to the auto-attack nature of the game. All you need to worry about is positioning and collecting all those gems and items to power yourself up. Even when the game gets completely flooded with enemies and particles, the simple pixel graphics make sure it won’t get too taxing even for your laptop.
The Binding of Isaac: Repentance
96%
This will be the last roguelike on the list, but we couldn’t leave off the final version of the game that reinvented the genre for the modern era. The Binding of Isaac: Repentance represents over a decade of iteration and support for not only one of the first roguelikes to hit it big but one of the first indies as well. Its first form was a flash game that controlled only using the keyboard, and that remains up into the latest version. All you need is your four directional movement and attack buttons, plus another few for abilities and items. Speaking of items and abilities, there are thousands of them in this version that all interact with each other to ensure no two runs are ever the same, though it can be a little frustrating not knowing if an item will end up being terrible until you pick it up and find out.
Shovel Knight
86%
Shovel Knight looks like a long-lost SNES game and plays just as good as you remember those classic games. It takes inspiration from Mega Man and DuckTales primarily, but if you grew up on the 16-bit console, you will find tons of callbacks and homages to other influential games of that generation. You take control of the unlikely shovel-based hero on a quest to save your lost partner Shield Knight by adventuring through multiple stages to topple the evil Order of No Quarter. This was already a fantastic game when it launched, but Yacht Club kept supporting it with entirely new campaigns where you play as new characters that make it more than a complete package. As a platformer, you don’t need anything but a keyboard to have a blast in this awesome adventure with a killer soundtrack.
The Typing of the Dead: Overkill
60%
Tetris Effect: Connected
93%
