Games to Play While Working, Sorted by How Little They Ask
What are the best games to play while working?
For playing while you work, I would pick idle games, because they keep earning while you look away. Melvor Idle is the one I would install first. You pick a skill, close the game, and when you open it again it works out up to 24 hours of the training you missed. It also runs on a Mac. For a free pick, Farmer Against Potatoes Idle keeps counting for up to 10 days while it is closed. If you would rather keep something open in the corner of the screen, (the) Gnorp Apologue is the best of the seven.
Updated October 2026.
How did I sort these games?
Every game here is an idle game on Steam, and I sorted them by how much attention they take from the work in front of you. To find out what each one does while it is closed, I read its store page, its patch notes, its wiki and, for one game, what its players report:
- Close it, come back tomorrow. The main loop keeps going while the game is shut, and one check-in a day is enough.
- A decision every check-in. Progress carries on while you are away, but each visit asks you to choose something: a loadout, a target, a character, a job for your demons.
- Leave it open. The game does much or all of its work only while it is running, but it earns on its own while it does, so it costs you a window beside your work rather than your attention.
All seven are incremental games. An incremental game is a game built around numbers that grow faster than you can spend them: you buy something that makes more of the resource, which buys more of that thing, until the scale changes and new systems appear. Our explainer on incremental games covers how idle, clicker and incremental differ.
All seven are Steam installs; I left out browser games. Many workplaces have rules about games on work machines, so check yours first. These fit just as well on a personal laptop next to the work one.
Which of these games ask the least of you?
Melvor Idle and Farmer Against Potatoes Idle ask the least: both catch up on their own after you close them. NGU IDLE and Gnorp cost you a window rather than attention, because they only keep up their progress while they are running.
| Game | How much it asks | Keeps going while closed | Mac build | Minimum RAM | Price (as of October 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melvor Idle | Close it, come back tomorrow | Yes, up to 24 hours of the skill you were training | Yes, and Linux | 512 MB | $9.99 |
| Farmer Against Potatoes Idle | Close it, come back tomorrow | Yes, capped at 10 days | No | 1 GB | Free · In-App Purchases label |
| IdleOn - The Incremental MMO | A decision every check-in | Yes, your heroes keep fighting | No | 2 GB | Free · In-App Purchases label |
| Unnamed Space Idle | A decision every check-in | Yes, with an offline gains screen | No, but Linux | 4 GB | Free · In-App Purchases label |
| Wizard And Minion Idle | A decision every check-in | Partly: some systems need an unlock first | No | 1 GB | Free · In-App Purchases label |
| NGU IDLE | Leave it open | Partly: almost no loot drops while closed | No | 2 GB | Free · In-App Purchases label |
| (the) Gnorp Apologue | Leave it open | No, according to its players | No | 2 GB | $6.99 |
Minimum RAM is the figure on each game’s Steam system requirements, and it matters if the game has to share an old work laptop with everything else. Melvor Idle and Gnorp were both discounted on the check date, so the prices above are the regular ones.
| Game | Steam reviews (as of October 2026) | Positive | Steam Cloud label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melvor Idle | 16,278 | 90.0% | No, but its own cloud save works across platforms |
| Farmer Against Potatoes Idle | 8,197 | 94.7% | No |
| IdleOn - The Incremental MMO | 29,917 | 77.1% | No |
| Unnamed Space Idle | 4,494 | 92.5% | Yes |
| Wizard And Minion Idle | 820 | 89.9% | No |
| NGU IDLE | 12,997 | 95.6% | Yes |
| (the) Gnorp Apologue | 9,972 | 94.8% | Yes |
The review counts are Steam’s all-language totals, and the positive share is worked out from those totals (as of October 2026). The Steam Cloud label matters if you play on a work PC by day and a home PC at night: it is Steam’s sign that the save follows you.
Which games keep going after you close them?
Melvor Idle
Melvor Idle is the best game to play while working, because it asks for one decision, which skill to train, and then needs nothing from you for up to 24 hours. It is RuneScape’s skill grind without the walking: woodcutting, fishing, smithing, cooking and more, each trained with a click. The Melvor wiki’s offline progression page explains that the game remembers which skill you were training when you closed it and simulates up to 24 hours of it when you come back. Combat and Thieving only run offline after you turn on a setting, because your character can die while you are away. Its store page promises a cloud save that works across platforms, and it is the only game here with a Mac build. Two catches: it needs an internet connection to play, and it costs $9.99 (as of October 2026). Our games like Melvor Idle list goes further if the skill grind is what you want.
Farmer Against Potatoes Idle
Farmer Against Potatoes Idle has the longest offline cap I could find in writing for any game on this page. A farmer fights waves of mutated potatoes, and you spend potatoes and skulls on upgrades, then on talents, gear and classes. Its developer’s patch notes from April 2025 say offline time “has been limited to 10 days again”, so a long weekend away still counts. The one thing that pulls you back is a whack-a-potato mini-game for timed buffs, which the store page says you can play “on a regular basis”, and the fan wiki’s Soul Shop page lists an upgrade that triggers it automatically every 15 minutes, offline too, once you have bought Auto Whack.
Which games want a decision every time you check in?
IdleOn - The Incremental MMO
IdleOn is the one for people who want a whole roster to manage on each visit. Its store page says your heroes “keep fighting while you’re gone”, and you “load up IdleOn the next day” to spend the AFK gains. You can build up to 11 characters, one of each class, so a morning check-in can mean going through all of them, which is why it sits in this tier rather than the first. The developer calls it “a long-term idler game, made for those seeking out a multi-year long experience”. Check its system requirements before putting it on an office laptop: the minimum lists “Hardware Accelerated Graphics with dedicated memory”. It is the lowest-rated game here, Mostly Positive at 77.1% from 29,917 reviews (as of October 2026).
Unnamed Space Idle
Unnamed Space Idle is the one for people who want to think a little between tasks. You fit a ship with weapons and defenses against waves of aliens, and its store page lists over 10 systems, from Compute, which raises your stats “in traditional Idle Game fashion”, to a reactor and a warp tree. The same page warns that the gap between good and bad choices “can significantly impact your progress”, which is why it sits in the middle tier. Progress carries on while it is closed, and a screen on your return lists what you gained: an August 2026 update added fleet artifact gains to that offline results info. It also suits a small window: a November 2024 update added a PC setting to lock the window size. It is in Early Access and runs on Windows and Linux.
Wizard And Minion Idle
Wizard And Minion Idle comes from Oni Gaming, the same developer as Farmer Against Potatoes Idle, and it asks more of you. Its store page calls it an “Idle/active hybrid game” and tells you to assign your demons “based on your current in-game needs; Power, gold, magic and more”, which is a choice to revisit each time you look in. Being away does not stop it, but some of it needs an unlock before it runs offline. The Wizard And Minion Idle wiki’s FAQ says gathering only runs offline once you have unlocked Auto Spirit, and Auto Boss fights bosses offline once you buy it. Adventure, the main fighting mode, has changed since that FAQ was written: a May 2021 update says offline time “should climb the Stage as well now”.
Which games are better left open in a corner of the screen?
NGU IDLE
NGU IDLE is the one to leave running in a window all day. Its store page promises “the joy of Numbers Going Up”, and sells “a mix of Idle and Active play” along with “hundreds of hours of content”. Some of it carries on while the game is closed: the NGU Idle wiki’s Adventure Mode page says automatic Titan kills still count, worked out when you relaunch. But the wiki’s Inventory page says “loot only drops while online”, with one perk-based exception, so most of the gear side stops when you close it. Its system requirements suit an old work laptop: graphics “Probably everything works, even integrated”. It has the highest positive share here, 95.6% from 12,997 reviews (as of October 2026). If the jokes are what you are after, it also leads our list of funny idle games.
(the) Gnorp Apologue
(the) Gnorp Apologue is the best game to keep open beside your work. You hit a rock, it throws off shards, and small creatures called gnorps collect them to pay for more gnorps and stranger machines. Its store page calls it “a strategic incremental”, made for people who like working out builds. Nothing moves while it is closed. That comes from players, not the developer: in a Steam discussion thread one writes “there is no progression while the game is closed”, and another says it uses few resources when minimized. For sound, a December 2023 hotfix added “Mute effects when minimized”, on by default.
Quick answers
Can these games run on an old work laptop? Yes, most of them. Melvor Idle asks for 512 MB of RAM and the two Oni Gaming games for 1 GB. Unnamed Space Idle is the heaviest at 4 GB, and IdleOn’s minimum lists “Hardware Accelerated Graphics with dedicated memory”.
Are there free games to play while working? Yes, five of the seven: IdleOn, Farmer Against Potatoes Idle, Unnamed Space Idle, Wizard And Minion Idle and NGU IDLE are free with in-app purchases (as of October 2026). For idle games that sell you nothing after the first purchase, see our list of idle games on Steam without microtransactions.
Which of these games run on a Mac? One: Melvor Idle. The other six have no Mac build on Steam. Unnamed Space Idle also runs on Linux, and the rest are Windows only. Our list of idle games for Mac has more choices for a MacBook.
How long do these games keep progressing while closed? Up to 10 days for Farmer Against Potatoes Idle and 24 hours for Melvor Idle, and (the) Gnorp Apologue not at all. IdleOn and Unnamed Space Idle progress offline, but neither store page states a cap. If what you want is a game you can stop at any moment rather than one that runs on its own, see games you can put down anytime.
Where our game fits
Our own game, Sam, We Talked About This, is an idle incremental game that sits beside this list rather than on it. You scrape data, train text, image and video models on it, let the models win subscribers, and turn the subscribers into cash for more disks, bigger machines and a bigger crew. The loop feeds itself and speeds up. Where IdleOn and NGU IDLE are built to keep going, Sam has an end: AGI is waiting at the end of the loop. It is unreleased and due on Steam in Q1 2027, so it has no price or reviews yet, and it is not in the table. Its Steam page lists Windows and macOS if you want to follow it.
