Best 2D Games on Steam

Unlike generic lists, our strategy game recommendations use a rigorous analysis of Steam user reviews to identify and feature only the best, community-validated 2d games. For those who prefer not to search, check out lists of the most played, top deals and best free to play 2D games on Steam.

Filters & Lists
Braid This is the original version of Braid from 2009, which may not work well on newer systems. For an updated version of the game with nicer graphics, more levels and a large amount of developer commentary, see Braid, Anniversary Edition.

Price -66% 5.23€
Rating 9.1
Release 10 Apr 2009
And Yet It Moves And Yet It Moves is a puzzle-platformer, set in a unique world, made of ripped paper. Within the paper-collage you can jump, run and last but certainly not least: rotate the world. Learn how to apply the physical consequences of rotation to master the many tricky situations you may encounter.

Price -91% 0.95€
Rating 6.8
Release 02 Apr 2009
Larva Mortus Larva Mortus is a fast-paced hack and slash top-down shooter. As an agent specializing in exorcism, you are tasked to hunt monsters of the supernatural in a dark, ominous, and randomly generated atmosphere full of undead, terrifying and demonic nightmares.

Price -60% 2.00€
Rating 7.2
Release 19 Mar 2009
Spectromancer A turn-based online fantasy card game. No character leveling, no grinding, no deck building - just 100% skill-based and fast-paced card battles!

Price 6.89€
Rating 8.1
Release 11 Feb 2009
Eschalon: Book I Eschalon: Book I is an old-school role-playing game that will take you across massive outdoor environments and deep into dozens of sprawling dungeons as you seek to uncover the mystery of who you are. It features a tile-built, turn-based game world where the result of absolutely every action is rolled, calculated or statistically...

Price Free to play
Rating 8.0
Release 10 Feb 2009
Aquaria Aquaria is an award-winning action-adventure game set in a massive underwater world teeming with life and filled with ancient secrets. Join Naija, a lone underwater adventurer, as she travels from hidden caves shrouded in darkness, to beautiful, sunlit oases in search of her past.

Price -90% 1.01€
Rating 8.4
Release 15 Dec 2008
Peggle™ Nights Join the Peggle Masters on a dreamtime adventure of alter egos and peg-tastic action. Stay up late to aim, shoot and clear orange pegs, and bask in Extreme Fever glory under the silver moon.

Price 4.99€
Rating 9.2
Release 15 Oct 2008
World of Goo World of Goo is a multiple award winning physics based puzzle / construction game made entirely by two guys.

Price -76% 3.07€
Rating 9.1
Release 13 Oct 2008
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus® Abe's peaceful retirement was shattered when visited by a vision from the Mudokon Spirit Guides. Abe™ learned the Magog Cartel was mining Necrum, the sacred Mudokon city of the dead, to collect bones to make super-addictive SoulStorm Brew.

Price 2.99€
Rating 9.0
Release 28 Aug 2008
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee® Selected by the fickle finger of fate, Abe™, floor-waxer first class for RuptureFarms, was catapulted into a life of adventure when he overheard plans by his boss, Molluck the Glukkon™, to turn Abe and his fellow Mudokons into Tasty Treats as part of a last-ditch effort to rescue Molluck's failing meat-packing empire.

Price 2.99€
Rating 8.3
Release 28 Aug 2008
Telltale Texas Hold ‘Em Join poker's most outspoken players for a hand of Telltale Texas Hold'em, the card game stacked high with personality. Quips will fly, chips will fall, and you may just end up rolling in the aisles.This is your chance to play in a poker tournament against four characters of such lethal absurdity, you'll either die laughing or die trying.

Price 0.99€
Rating 6.3
Release 17 Jun 2008
PuzzleQuest: Challenge of the Warlords PuzzleQuest: Challenge of the Warlords delivers, for the first time ever, classic puzzle-game action backed with an epic story of good vs. evil. Challenge your match 3 skills as you battle against computer opponents to save the Kingdom of Etheria from the evil Lord Bane.

Price 8.19€
Rating 8.3
Release 29 Jan 2008
Peggle Extreme Peggle Extreme delivers fast-paced puzzle action that combines elements of pinball and pachinko to create a truly unique game experience. Take your best shot with energizing arcade fun, now exclusively themed with art and sounds from Half-Life: Episode 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2.

Price Free to play
Rating 9.0
Release 11 Sep 2007
Commander Keen Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons: Episode 1: Marooned on Mars (Dec. 14th 1990) Episode 2: The Earth Explodes (1991) Episode 3: Keen Must Die! (1991) Commander Keen's very first adventure, and the debut of id's groundbreaking side-scrolling technology.

Price -60% 1.99€
Rating 8.9
Release 03 Aug 2007
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved is a old school style shooter, but remixed for the 21st century with next generation graphics and deep, modern gameplay. Playing is simple: you are a geometric "ship" trapped in a grid world, facing off against waves of deadly wanderers, snakes, and repulsars.

Price -50% 1.99€
Rating 8.6
Release 18 Jun 2007
Runaway, A Road Adventure New York, 2000......Without knowing how or why, Brian, a student on the verge of graduating from college, is attacked by Mafia gangsters. During his desperate getaway, in the company of a mysterious striptease dancer, he ends up meeting a wide range of unusual characters.

Price -76% 1.20€
Rating 7.3
Release 14 Mar 2007
Peggle Deluxe Take your best shot with energizing arcade fun! Aim, shoot, clear the orange pegs, then sit back and cheer as 10 whimsical teachers guide you to Peggle greatness.

Price 4.99€
Rating 9.5
Release 06 Mar 2007
DEFCON Inspired by the 1983 cult classic film, Wargames, DEFCON superbly evokes the tension, paranoia and suspicion of the Cold War era, playing on the fascinating aspects of psychological gameplay that occur during strategic nuclear warfare.

Price -91% 1.16€
Rating 8.4
Release 29 Sep 2006
Heavy Weapon Deluxe It's shoot-'em-up arcade action at its best! Use an incredible assortment of heavy artillery to blast away enemy tanks and planes, and fight your way to victory. What are you waiting for? Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get into the action!

Price 4.99€
Rating 8.0
Release 30 Aug 2006
Feeding Frenzy 2 Deluxe The feeding frenzy begins again! Swim and swerve through underwater worlds, chow down on smaller fish, and chomp your way to ocean supremacy. But watch out: boatloads of pesky predators are looking to make lunch out of you.

Price 4.99€
Rating 9.3
Release 30 Aug 2006
Zuma Deluxe Deep in the jungle lie hidden temples bursting with traps and trickery, and it's up to you to uncover their treasures. Fire magical balls from your stone frog idol to make matches of three or more and clear the deadly chain before it reaches the golden skull.

Price 4.99€
Rating 9.2
Release 30 Aug 2006
Uplink Uplink lets you play as a freelance hacker tackling risky contracts for corporations. Break into systems, steal data, sabotage rivals, and upgrade your gear. Support factions or go rogue in this immersive, strategy-driven hacking simulation game where your choices shape the outcome.

Price -92% 1.03€
Rating 8.7
Release 23 Aug 2006
Saira Saira is a puzzle platformer with non-linear gameplay and a whole universe for you to explore. The game is heavily influenced by classic puzzle adventure games and uses a new unique graphical style combining high resolution photography into a lush and mysterious world.

Price Free to play
Rating 7.5
Release -
Mark of the Ninja In Mark of the Ninja, you'll know what it is to truly be a ninja. You must be silent, agile and clever to outwit your opponents in a world of gorgeous scenery and flowing animation. Marked with cursed tattoos giving you heightened senses, every situation presents you with options.

Price -95% 5.92€
Rating 9.4
Release -