With the constant influx of new games releasing, PC gamers may find themselves increasingly pressed for storage as every application competes for their precious gigabytes.
Combine this with unreliable internet in certain parts of the world and trying to run games on low spec PCs, and it becomes clear why some players prefer compact-sized games.
In this list, we’ll help you expand your lightweight gaming options with the best compact PC games on Steam that require 1 GB or less available memory to install.
For more recommendations, check out our growing library of curated gaming lists, and comment below with your picks for excellent low storage PC games!
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Vampire Survivors
Storage Requirements: 250 MB
The first low storage game we’re highlighting is Vampire Survivors, a roguelike shoot ’em up with survival elements and a retro 2D pixel art look.
You’ll find gameplay centers on battling ceaseless waves of monsters for as long as possible using one of many paranormal-themed characters, weapons, and relics.
The longer players can stay alive, the more resources they’ll accumulate for unlocking fresh characters and gear to be used on their next run.
Dinkum
Storage Requirements: 1 GB
Next up is Dinkum, an indie adventure game created by James Bendon that sees your character ditching their tedious city life in favor of the exciting Australian outback.
Similar to games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, it focuses on building a town, managing a farm, getting to know your neighbors, and exploring the environment around you.
To this point, the game features an array of visually-impressive environments ranging from tropical forests to scorching deserts, damp caves, and other diverse terrains.
Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling
Storage Requirements: 300 MB
In Bug Fables: The Eternal Blossom, players follow three protagonists named Vi, Kabbu, and Leif, as they embark on a colossal RPG adventure to find The Everlasting Sapling.
This magical treasure is rumored to grant immortality to the user but to get it, the trio will have to face off against enemies in turn-based battles.
Each hero has distinct abilities that can be powered up via Action Commands and come in handy during vibrant platforming sections.
Peglin
Storage Requirements: 300 MB
Peglin is another turn-based RPG that incorporates pachinko roguelike gameplay wherein players battle enemies by collecting unique orbs.
These orbs are then used to pop pegs that deal damage to enemies based on how many were popped with consideration for any distinctive relics the player may have equipped.
Over time, players can upgrade their orbs and relics to defeat larger monsters and bosses while exploring procedurally generated maps.
Across the Obelisk
Storage Requirements: 1 GB
Reminiscent of games like Slay the Spire, Across the Obelisk is a tactical deck builder that throws collaborative play into the mix with support for 1-4 players.
Working together, your team will choose from 12 characters with specialized decks and game-changing abilities inspired by well-known fantasy tropes with a few smart twists here and there.
Players can synergize their heroes’ cards to create potent combos while completing quests on an ever-changing journey teeming with hidden places and mysteries.
Backpack Hero
Storage Requirements: 250 MB
Backpack Hero is an engaging low storage PC game that’s currently in Steam Early Access and puts a unique inventory management spin on the roguelike genre.
In it, you take on the role of a rucksack-donning animal with an affinity for collecting items with particular effects to use as weapons against enemies.
To be most effective, you’ll have to keep your bag organized and find the most suitable build to vanquishing enemies as you navigate dangerous dungeons.
WorldBox
Storage Requirements: 300 MB
While many god games are quite demanding in the storage department, WorldBox keeps itself compact by requiring only 300 MB of your computer’s storage.
In this game, you’re tasked with building and destroying entire civilizations using remarkable deity-like powers that impact your worshippers’ ability to travel, grow empires, and live their lives.
As a celestial ruler, you have the liberty to decide when or when not to intervene in mortal struggles, including wars between rival races, natural disasters, and attacks from enormous monsters.
ORX
Storage Required: 400 MB
Our next suggestion for lightweight PC games is ORX, a novel take on tower defense that blends deck building mechanics and tabletop games in one unique package.
Gameplay centers on constructing a fortress, expanding your territory, and standing your ground against hordes of green-skinned invaders known as ORX.
The promotion includes more than 300 cards to unlock and enhance your kingdom’s defense while exploring a visually impressive dark fantasy realm.
Barotrauma
Storage Requirements: 1 GB
Clocking in at 1 GB, Barotrauma is a compact PC game that makes up for it with challenging gameplay that sees you navigating dangerous oceans.
In this survival horror nightmare, 1-16 players collaborate to operate a space submarine as it inches its way through treacherous alien waters to deliver and salvage precious cargo.
Each crew member is assigned a specific role ranging from Captain to Medic to Engineer and must complete objectives while keeping an eye out for hazards, monsters, and concealed traitors.
Mini Motorways
Storage Requirements: 350 MB
Next up is Mini Motorways, a strategic simulation game that has you designing road maps for growing cities to ensure traffic runs smoothly.
The game has you establishing your own traffic networks one road at a time until it eventually grows into a flourishing metropolis with complex paths.
Over time, new upgrades are introduced to meet shifting demands that require you to think quickly to ensure roadways stay effective.
Carrion
Storage Requirements: 500 MB
From the horrors of city-planning to bio-engineered monsters, Carrion is a 2D action-platformer that casts you as a tentacled creature on a quest to kill its captors and escape containment.
This is done using various skills that rely on the monster either increasing or shedding its mass to squeeze through narrow areas, activate levers, or move objects.
To this point, the game functions as a Metroidvania wherein sections of the map only become accessible once you’ve unlocked a specific ability.
Forager
Storage Requirements: 200 MB
For a lightweight crafting and survival PC game that requires only 200 MB of available storage, we recommend checking out Forager by HopFrog and Humble Games.
In it, you establish a modest base that can be upgraded by visiting different desert, graveyard, and volcano biomes to solve puzzles, raid dungeons, and uncover mysteries.
The game is remarkably open-ended, allowing you to set individual objectives in areas like farming, shopkeeping, building, and combat, with a total of 64 distinct skills to master.
RimWorld
Storage Requirements: 1 GB
A well-known sandbox sim that takes up just 1 GB of storage, RimWorld is the type of game you can play for innumerable hours and keep discovering new stuff.
This is due to its remarkable AI storyteller that’s capable of generating infinitely varied scenarios for raising a colony of diverse NPCs on an alien planet.
Each character has randomly-generated attributes that will frequently clash with other colonists, leading to acts of violence, betrayal, and factionalism amongst communities.
Mighty Goose
Storage Requirements: 500 MB
Moving right along, we recommend any run and gun fans pick up Mighty Goose for some vintage-inspired entertainment that calls for only 500 MB of storage.
In it, you take on the role of the titular Mighty Goose hero, a mech-donning fowl and bounty hunter on a mission to catch the toughest criminals in the galaxy.
Doing so takes you across the expanses of space to distant planets and 2D levels with mobs of enemies, awesome weapon power-ups, and overpowered death-dealing vehicles.
Dicey Dungeons
Storage Requirements: 1 GB
Dicey Dungeons is another concise indie deck builder that puts an amusing dice-based twist on the genre.
Instead of cards, players use an assortment of dice to determine their actions, including both turn order and damage dealt during combat.
This is further complemented by game-show-inspired storytelling and a varied roster of characters with distinct abilities, skills, and motives that add to the game’s stakes.
Clustertruck
Storage Requirements: 500 MB
Continuing on, our next recommendation is Clustertruck, a first-person platformer that comes in at just 500 MB and has you playing as a fast-moving truck.
The game features a series of obstacle courses where the goal is to make it to the end by navigating rows of perpetually moving trucks while dodging lasers, blades, and other hazards.
Players can build momentum by accelerating in order to clear enormous gaps at the cost of risking plummeting to their demise and having to start over.
Maximum Action
Storage Requirements: 1 GB
Inspired by classic Hong Kong action flicks, Maximum Action is a physics-based FPS with rewarding slow-mo combat that requires only 1 GB of storage.
In it, players are given dozens of weapons to unleash their fury on waves of enemies ranging from knives and katanas to pistols, shotguns, machine guns, and even bazookas.
Movement is just as varied as players can freely jump, slide, dive, kick, and punch their way across vibrant warehouses, rooftops, and back alleys while manipulating time.
Ion Fury
Storage Requirements: 100 MB
Ion Fury is another vintage-style FPS whose small install size stems from it being developed using the Build engine, the software behind classic gems like Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior.
The story focuses on a tough-as-nails future cop named Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison as she sets out to take down a cybernetic cult and its evil leader Dr. Jadus Heskel.
Throughout the game, Shelly wields a huge assortment of firearms and vehicles against sprite-rendered foes all while spewing out witty one-liners.
Unpacking
Storage Requirements: 1 GB
For a more serene puzzle game experience that demands just 1 GB of your machine’s valuable storage, consider picking up Unpacking by Witch Beam and Humble Games.
Designed to simulate the experience of organizing personal possessions after moving into a fresh space, the game features multiple chapters tied to different points in the protagonist’s life.
Each one sees you unpacking familiar objects and meditatively arranging them in designated areas with some flexibility to decorate spaces as you see fit.
Baba Is You
Storage Requirements: 200 MB
Finally, Baba Is You is a minimalist puzzle game whose logic-based design comes with a compact install size of just 200 MB.
While its premise is straightforward, it can be challenging to wrap your head around the idea at first; essentially, you’re solving puzzles by creating rules for various objects in the environment.
This can be as uncomplicated as removing a wall blocking your path by altering the phrase “Wall Is Stop,” to possessing inanimate objects by changing “Babe Is You” to “Baba Is Rock.”