Torrenting games comes with a variety of benefits. Most of all, it means you can play a game without paying for it. Although this is many users’ motivation for heading to torrent websites, there are still other benefits that come from torrenting games. Even though getting anything for free is always welcome, it can end up harming gaming developers. We recommend that if you decide to torrent a game and end up enjoying it, then you can support the developers by heading to an official source to purchase the game.
Torrenting games is not only a great way to test out titles that you may otherwise miss out on, but it also enables you to play some online-only games without needing an internet connection. Additionally, due to geo-blocking, some games are unavailable in certain areas, meaning that users are unable to purchase and play them. With torrenting, there are no geo-restrictions, so you can download and play any game in the world, regardless of where you live. Want to start torrenting games but are unsure of which site to use? Keep reading to find out the best torrent websites for games in 2022!
The best torrent websites for games quick guide
- TorrentGames – Best overall choice
- ThePirateBay – Largest game database
- FitGirl Repacks – Smaller file sizes
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What to look for when choosing a torrent site for games
Before deciding on a torrent website to find and download video games, there are a few factors that need to be considered. Most importantly, the torrent site you use needs to be secure and trustworthy, so you can avoid nasty cyber threats. All torrent websites carry a risk as cybercriminals have been known to hide spyware, trojans, and other forms of malware in torrent files. If you download a file that has malware hidden in it, then you can infect your entire device, leading to damage, deleted files, and even stolen data.
To avoid this, you should ensure that a torrent website is reputable and has a system in place to prevent malware-ridden files from lurking in their database. Most popular torrent sites have moderators who verify all files and remove any that are malicious. Additionally, when searching for a game (or any other type of torrented media) be sure to check out the comments of any file you’re considering downloading. Many torrent sites include a comments section where users can leave reviews on each file, so you can take a look to see if there are any warnings about a specific torrent left by fellow torrenters.
Safety aside, a torrent website’s visitor count is another important factor to keep in mind. The more visitors a torrent site has, the more people there will likely be downloading and seeding various files, leading to a better ratio of seeders to leechers. If you’re not familiar with these terms, a seeder is a user who has downloaded an entire file and has opted to share (seed) it for other users to download. Leechers, on the other hand, are users who have downloaded a file but have not opted to share (or seed) it. The more seeders any torrent file has, the faster it will be to download, which is vital when it comes to torrenting games.
Unlike movies and music, video game files can be huge (up to over 100GB) and will take ages to download if there is not a significant amount of seeders. The majority of torrent sites will have a section on each file that shows its seeder-to-leecher ratio. Of course, you will want to keep other factors in mind to make sure you’re downloading the correct game file that you’re looking for (such as language, edition, version, and included DLCs), but opting for the file that has the most seeders (and a small amount of leechers) is usually your best bet.
You’ll also want to choose a torrent site that has a large database, so you have the best chances of finding the exact game file you’re looking for. Newer games may be much harder to find as they need to be ‘cracked’ before users can play them. Most games that are released have protection on them to help prevent them from being copied and distributed. When a game is ‘cracked’ it means users have been able to disable this protection, allowing the game to be downloaded and played by those who haven’t paid for it.
Finally, it’s important that your chosen torrent website is user-friendly and has an easy-to-navigate interface. This way, you can quickly search and download your desired games without facing any unnecessary hassle. Some torrent sites include categories that show the most popular or trending downloads, so you can browse files similar to when searching for a movie on Netflix. Overall, when torrenting video games, you need a torrent website that is secure, has a huge database, plenty of seeders, and a clean interface!
Our top recommended best torrent websites for games in 2022
We have considered all the above factors to find you the best three torrent websites for games. All of our choices are trustworthy, relatively secure, user-friendly, and have huge content databases. Furthermore, these sites have a ton of visitors, so any game file you’re after will likely have enough seeders to ensure that it will download quickly. So, let’s take a closer look at our top recommended best torrent sites for games in 2022 –
- TorrentGames
TorrentGames is a reputable and popular torrent website that mostly lists game titles, although you can find movies on this site now. This site has a huge database of games and is being regularly updated, so you can find indie games, Triple-A titles, and anything in between. There are also a variety of genres to search through including RPG, simulation, action, horror, race, fighting FPS, puzzles, and arcade.
The interface is initiative and streamlined, so you can either quickly find whatever you’re looking for, or simply browse through various categories. TorrentGames has an advanced search option to make it even easier to find your desired game. If you decide to register an account on this site, then you can discuss any titles with other TorrentGames users. Each game is uploaded with helpful information such as system requirements, genre, release date, publisher, platform, file size, language, and installation tips. You’ll also see a detailed description to summarise the game along with an official trailer and in-game screenshots.
To put it frankly, TorrentGames is just as safe as any other torrent site. The owner claims that this website is safe and regularly moderated to filter and remove any malicious files, so you should be fine as long as you have either some form of antivirus software or VPN. Thankfully, there are minimal ads on this torrent site, and no annoying pop-ups getting in the way, so you won’t have to worry about falling victim to malvertising and other ad-related cyber threats. Overall, TorrentGames is a great all-around torrent website packed with a high-quality file of any game you could ever want.
- ThePirateBay
Founded in 2003, ThePirateBay is one of the world’s best-known and notorious torrent sites. This website has still managed to come out on top despite numerous attempts to get it shut down. Now, ThePirateBay gets around 30 million visitors each month, leading to a massive database of high-quality content, including any video game you could possibly think of.
ThePirateBay is backed by an incredibly supportive community and has millions of users regularly contributing to the site by sharing and downloading media content. This has led to fantastic seeder-to-leecher ratios, so you can download even large games in record time. The interface is simple and clean making it easy for users to navigate. There are also several categories including a top 100 list of torrents, recent uploads, and files arranged by their media form. For games, you can narrow down your search by selecting your desired platform (PC, Mac, PS3. Xbox360, Wii, iOS, and Android).
Security-wise, ThePirateBay undoubtedly makes a great effort, so it’s a good choice for those who are concerned about cyber threats. To help promote high quality and safe uploads this site has a reputation system in place. Users who regularly upload safe and malware-free files are given a skull icon next to their username. The colour of the skulls indicates whether a user is trustworthy, so you know exactly which files are safest to download.
- FitGirl Repacks
As the name implies, FitGirl Repacks consists of repacked games, meaning the game files have been heavily compressed to significantly reduce download times and take up less storage. Although the owner of this site says they do not accept repack requests, there are still thousands of games available, with around 30 new uploaders each month.
Since there is only a single user who is uploading all repacks on this site, you can consider it a fairly safe torrent site. The user that goes by ‘FitGirl’ will not want their reputation negatively impacted, so they would not be inclined to upload malware-infected files. As of 2022, there have been no complaints of spam or malicious files in anything uploaded on FitGirl Repacks.
The FitGirl Repacks interface, although limited, is still clean and user-friendly. You can either search through all uploads/upcoming uploads, filter by month of upload, or simply use the search bar to find the game you’re looking for. You can even check out emulated repacks for Switch and PS3. Each upload shows useful information such as the game genre, developer/publisher, screenshots, available languages, original file size, repack size, and repack features. If you have a slower connection speed or limited storage space, then FitGirl Repacks is likely the best torrent website for you!
Protect yourself when torrenting video games
We’ve already highlighted the benefits of torrenting video games and other forms of media, however, there are risks involved that you should take precautions for. Cybercriminals hide malware, trackers, and other malicious entities in torrent files which, when downloaded, can spread to your device and cause irreversible damage.
Malware isn’t the only issue you should beware of, as whenever you participate in a P2P activity, your IP address, download history, and other sensitive information is exposed. This can lead to you being tracked online or, if your ISP detects that you’re torrenting, you could have your bandwidth throttled. This results in slowed down connection speeds which makes it much more time-consuming to download games.
To avoid these issues, we advise that you use a VPN when torrenting. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) makes you anonymous online by encrypting your traffic and rerouting it through a remote server. This ensures that cybercriminals cannot track you through your IP address as well as prevents your ISP from spying on your online activity and throttling your bandwidth.
To conclude, VPNs are the most efficient way to maintain your privacy and stay protected against cyber threats when torrenting video games. If you want to learn more about the advantages of using a VPN when torrenting, or if you want to find out the best VPN providers for the job, then check out our article that discusses the best VPNs for torrenting in 2022!