Fight real-time battles with a deck of cards in free Nethercard Kingdom

Deckbuilding and real-time battery collide in the lovely Nethercard Kingdom, a free browser game where you fight fantasy battles by drawing cards from a deck. Succeed at each medieval scuffle and you'll earn additional cards, which you can either slot into your deck as is, or mash together—in the style of Shin Megami Tensei's demon fusion—to upgrade them.

Even if you've had your fill of deckbuilding games (and there are plenty out there vying for your attention), there's much to appreciate about Nethercard's streamlined, but satisfying take on card collecting. There aren't too many different cards to keep track of, and new ones are introduced gradually. Moreover, it's enjoyable using each of them in each battle. Three at a time are selected randomly, and you expend (recharging) energy to place them on the battlefield, at which point their AI will take over, causing the little warrior or archer or catapult to advance upon the enemy.

Special ability cards can be utilised to heal your own troops, or to fling devastating magic at the opposing side, and there's some nice visual and aural feedback as you do so. It's simple, but that's a strength here, in this tactile, attractive action game that will likely consume more of your day than you were expecting.

For more great free experiences, check out our roundup of the best free PC games.

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.