Team Fortress 2 is now free, so everyone with a Steam account owns it. If you haven’t played before, it can be an intimidating, hat-riddled game. Previously we gave you a handle on the basics, items and classes, now we're going in depth on each class.

Previously we talked about the Heavy. Today the spotlight in on the Medic; a German Doctor of dubious medical ethics, and purveyor of the feared 'ubercharge'.




Getting Started

The Medic is the lynchpin of the Team Fortress 2 team. He is the healer, quarterback, scrum half, and mid-field genius. He should be just behind the front-lines, healing the wounded, uber-charging the most valuable players, and directing the team to victory. Even if the Medic isn’t an effective combat soldier compared to his peers, make no mistake: Medics win matches.

The medic’s main weapon is his medigun. Firing it at a friendly player, or enemy spy, will heal him or her to their maximum health over a period of time. The healing that the medigun isn’t on a linear scale; heavily damaged troops will heal faster than those that just need topping off. You can also ‘overheal’ - taking a friend or enemy spy to 150% of their normal maximum health. That’s great for the start of rounds while everyone hangs around, waiting for the gates to open, or when you’re not directly in combat.

All of the mediguns have an overcharge secondary ability. As you heal, you’ll fill a meter at the bottom of your screen. When that meter is full, you can deploy an ubercharge or a kritzkrieg (depending on which gun is equipped). An ubercharge gives you and your target a brief window of invulnerability. It’s perfect for breaking down a tough siege or turret nest, or for pushing back against a relentless team of attackers. During an ubercharge, you and your target won’t count towards capturing a point; you’ll only start to count once the Uber wears off. You can tell an ubercharged player by the bright red or blue metallic skin. And their fiery eyes.



The question is; who do you uber? When you’re ubering to break through a specific point, it’s best to plan ahead and pick a class that you know can take down a group of sentries. Heavies at close to medium range, Pyros at extreme close range, or Soldiers and a pure explosive Demoman at any range are all decent targets, but talk about it before you deploy, either on voice chat or text-chat. There’s nothing more embarrasing to leap out with an uber, only to discover that your soldier doesn’t understand the goal, or the Heavy has run out of ammo.

You soon learn that your ubercharge is an extremely powerful weapon in the game, and learning to build and preserve that charge is one of the most vital skills to learn. Keeping yourself alive needs to your number priority; a medic with an 80% charge could win the game if his charge reaches 100%, or lose it if he dies. Stay alive, and stay aware of your current charge.

The Kritzkrieg and Quick Fix are alternate healing weapons, and each have a distinct overpower ability. The Kritkrieg gives the target a brief period of crits, while the Quick Fix boosts your healing power for a few moments. Many non-Medic players prefer and expect medics to have the ubercharge and don’t really know how to play to take advantage of the alternate powers, but you’ll develop your own style of healing in time. Playing on a regular server or within a regular group of friends should help in finding your own style.



The most valuable alternate weapons for the Medic

The melee weapon for the Medic is a simple bonesaw. Upgrade it as soon as possible to the Ubersaw - it will recharge your uber meter on every hit.

The secondary slot weapon is a syringe gun. Upgrade it to the Blutsauger, and every shot that connects will heal you for a small amount of health. Just be aware that the Blutsauger slightly drains your health when you’re using it. But as long as you’re hitting something, you’ll get that health back with significant interest.

Medic Starter Pack: worth paying for?

Absolutely: the Medic starter pack contains the Ubersaw and the Kritzkrieg. The Ubersaw is essentially a straight upgrade to the Medic. And you get a hat with a point on it. Winnar.



How to help a Medic

Don’t get hit, and stand in front of him. If a medic is healing you, don’t run too far ahead, or you’ll be out of range of his beam. Be considerate around medkits. A Medic can heal you, but he can’t heal himself. If you take the medkit, but leave your friendly medic hanging, you might cost the team an uber-cycle. Don’t assume that just because the Medic is healing you, and has 100% uber, you’re the main target. Talk to him/her, and call for the charge when you’re in a good position. Finally, turn on reload at all times in the advanced settings menu - that means you’re not going to be stuck with an empty weapon just as he triggers an uber.

Also note that if the other team is smart, he’ll be their first target. He’ll be the prime target for any cloaked or disguised spies, too. Spycheck regularly, and if you see a supicious friendly player hanging around a medic, kill him good. Remember that if the medic feels like he’s not got the protection he needs, he’ll ragequit. So be nice, and look after him.



How to fight a medic

In any situation, your first target is the Medic. Unless he’s dead, any damage you do can be quickly healed away. He’s actually pretty fragile and goes down quite quickly. Classes that can should splash damage from their rockets and grenades to whittle down their health, even if they can’t be sure of a direct kill.

If you see an ubered Medic paired with an offensive class charging forward, some classes can use skills and items to separate them. The medic will remain invincible, but their target will be open to attack. Pyros can airblast them apart using the alternate fire on the Flamethrower. Soldiers and Demomen can use rockets and explosives to blast them apart. Scouts with some of their alternate shotguns can push them back, while the Sandman can stun an ubered character. If you don’t have one of these abilities, hide.

Stay tuned for more guides for the rest of the TF2 classes!

Team Fortress 2 is now free, so everyone with a Steam account owns it. If you haven’t played before, it can be an intimidating, hat-riddled game. Previously we gave you a handle on the basics, items and classes, now we're going in depth on each class.

Today the spotlight in on the Heavy, the giant Russian bear of a man with a great big gun, a great big grin and some of the best lines in the game.



Getting Started

The Heavy is the brute. He’s the player who should be in the midst of the fight, his mini-gun firing solidly, cutting down multiple enemies in a single life. He has some of the highest damage output, the highest health, and his gun decimates enemies at medium to short range. His big fat health pool means that he can survive for a long, long time - and with a few community drops, he can hide behind cover and heal by eating a sandwich or chocolate bar.

A Heavy’s weakness is his slow-speed and big fat head. His minigun takes a few seconds to spin-up and deal damage. When he’s firing, a heavy walks even slower than usual. And his big fat head, fat back, and slow speed mean he’s extremely vulnerable to sniper headshots (which, when fully charged, kill instantly) and back-stabs from the Spy (which, again, will kill him instantly.

A Heavy can spool his mini-gun without firing by holding down the right-mouse button. He’ll walk a little bit slower. It’s useful if you’re defending a capture point and know that enemies will soon be coming into your field of view.



Medics love Heavys. They have a nice big fat health pool, so they’re easier to keep alive. When uber-charged, the Heavy’s minigun is a frightening beast - the Heavy can afford to run in close and let rip from a very, very short range, killing everything in sight.

If you’re attacking, a heavy should be near the front of the action, using an engineer’s teleports to quickly enter the fray. A Heavy should never fight alone - a lone heavy is vulnerable to being overwhelmed. Instead, Heavy should wait until they two or three team-mates to make any push. Team-up with a medic and charge forward - you’ll carve a giant hole through the enemy ranks that the rest of your team can easily flow through. On payload maps, attacking heavies should be stood right by the little Kart, PUSHING.

If you’re defending, a Heavy is best teamed with an Engineer or Medic. An engineer’s dispenser can both heal the heavy, and refill their minigun, meaning a Heavy need never stop firing.



Recommended Items

The Sandvich is a replacement for the Heavy’s shotgun, which lets him heal himself to full over four seconds. While you’re snacking, you’re unable to move or shoot, so enormously vulnerable. And the other team will hear you “Om Nom Noming your way through the snack,” so try and eat out of the line of fire. Once you’ve got the Sandvich, you’re unlikely to use your shotgun again. The sandvich can also be dropped by right-clicking - letting you heal a friendly medic, for instance.

The Brass Beast is a mini-gun that does increased damage, but requires a longer spool-up time, and you’ll much slower when firing. It’s a riskier prospect, because you’re far more vulnerable to surprises. But it’s extraordinary how much extra damage you’ll see yourself do.

The Heavy’s bare fists aren’t particularly useful - the damage they do isn’t great. The Gloves of Running Urgently let you move a little bit quicker when equipped (like the knife in Counter-Strike) while the Killing Gloves of Boxing will give you a brief window of extra-crits if you land a killing blow with them. Aim for the Gloves of Running first. The Fists of Steel let you close to melee distance while taking less damage, but they’re too specialised for normal use.

The Heavy Starter pack gets you Natasha; a mini-gun that does reduced damage but slows down your target, and the Sandvich, alongside a Football Helmet. It costs peanuts. If you like the Heavy, and have just started playing, go for it.



How to help a Heavy

If you’re stood next to a heavy, watch his back. He’s going to die by backstab, or by sniper-shot. So stop shooting at the scout that’s waving a fish in his face and start shooting at the snipers at far range, or check that the suspicious looking sniper isn’t actually a spy by shooting at him.

Remember that if your engineers have put teleporters up, you are always faster than a heavy, so let him get on it first.



How to fight a Heavy

It’s entirely pointless to go one-on-one with a heavy from the front at short and medium range. They just have too great a hit-pool, they do too much damage, and they’re probably being healed by a medic. Instead, back off, and find a way around, hitting them from the side or back. When a heavy is in a firing rage, the player will often be so focused on what’s right at the point of his cross-hair that he won’t notice what’s hitting him from behind.

If he is being healed, kill the medic first. Always kill the medic first.

Stay tuned for more guides for the rest of the TF2 classes!

Team Fortress 2 servers have been overflowing with new players since the game went free to play recently. In the midst of all the chaos players have started receiving Refreshing Summer Coolers as random item drops. Unlike normal Mann Co. Supply Crates, these coolers can't be opened with a crate key. Their contents will remain a mystery until shortly before the crate expires at 11 PM July 11, when a mysterious summer something will happen, but what?

What could lie inside the Refreshing Summer Cooler, a refreshing summer beverage, perhaps? Could we see more buff potions similar to Scout Bonk drink? July 11 is a Monday. Will Valve throw another TF2 weekend event just before the coolers expire? It seems likely. Will special items be needed to unlock the coolers, and will they cost money? If so, how much? There are almost too many questions. What do you think will happen? You'll find the official description for the new item below.

Tim, Rich, Craig and Tom Francis amass for episode 58 of the PC Gamer UK Podcast. Topics include Hitman Absolution, Bioshock Infinite and Valve's recent Team Fortress 2 announcement. Of course, we answer a stack of your Twitter questions too.

Download the MP3, subscribe, or find our older podcasts here. Thanks for listening, and don't forget to let us know what you think in the comments.

To free, or not to free? Does a game by any other price play as sweet? On this week's podcast (a few days late, due to crows), we break down the significance of Team Fortress 2 being a $0 game, and decide which class "won" the Über Update. Also talked: Arma 2: Free, L.A. Noire's arrival on PC this Fall, and Evan sings the praises of his favorite community-made L4D2 content, Questionable Ethics and Let's Build A Rocket.

PC Gamer US Podcast 277: Free'd

Have a question, comment, complaint or observation? Leave a voicemail: 1-877-404-1337 ext 724 or email the mp3 to pcgamerpodcast@gmail.com.

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A quiet week for free PC games - pretty much all I could find was something called an ArmA 2 and some sort of war-themed hat simulator. Team Fortress 2 mean anything to you? Apparently that's free now. Luckily, the lineup is bolstered by some gorgeous indie gems.

Team Fortress 2

Valve. Get it on Steam.



So they actually did it. After all the rumours and speculation, Valve have announced that Team Fortress 2 will be free forever. If you haven't bought it and you never buy an in-game item, you still get all the maps, classes and game modes paying customers do. The only limitations are that certain rare items aren't available to find or craft, and you have less inventory space to store the ones you do find. But spend even £0.29 on the cheapest item, and you're treated as a paying customer and those few restrictions are removed.

Team Fortress 2 added an in-game item shop late last year, letting players pay real money for the many unlockable weapons and hats for each class. This switch to free-to-play comes with a huge new update adding even more of these items for almost every class. But if you're new to TF2, you won't care about that: you've got enough to learn without any extra items to think about.

A good way to learn the ropes is to play the King of the Hill mode - choose it when you look for a match, or if you're using the server browser, look for maps starting with koth_. It's nice and simple, just one control point to capture, so you can learn how the classes work in a controlled environment. The Medic is a good class to start with, since you're always appreciated and you can pay attention to what your team mates are doing rather than shooting people. Just keep the healy beam on the big man.

Arma 2: Free

Bohemia Interactive. Get it from the Arma 2 website.



Arma 2 is a hyper-realistic military sim with an extraordinary sense of scale and accuracy, but the single-player campaign that never quite hit the heights provided by multiplayer. Which makes Arma 2: Free an exciting prospect. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Operation Flashpoint, Bohemia have taken the best bits of Arma 2 and lobbed them online for you to grab without paying a penny.

All you miss out on is the campaign, the highest quality graphics settings, and the ability to use mods. What you can do is create your own campaigns in the excellent editor, or play those other people have created. The community is huge and creative, and you can find lots of the campaigns they've made over at Armaholic.

It's a huge and often scary game, simulating real war mercilessly. Group up with some friends, lay some explosives, and lie in a bush together for an hour while you wait for the enemy tank convoy to roll over them.

Skinny

Atmos Games. Play it on Newgrounds.



I haven't seen a game so quietly beautiful in a long time. This 2D, silhouetted platformer has such an extraordinary sense of style that it's captivating within seconds - and that's before the game itself has even had a chance to get going.

When it does, it's a pleasantly floaty platformer about a robot. You'll jump, grapple and smash your way around the immaculately designed world as you first embark on a quest to recover your son's lost marbles, then find yourself involved in something a whole load bigger.

You gain new abilities as you work your way through the game, and the surprisingly strong and heartfelt storytelling keeps Skinny engaging throughout. I haven't enjoyed a browser game this much in ages. A very strong recommendation.

'Dillo Hills

fexLab. Play it on Kongregate.



If you're familiar with the iPhone game Tiny Wings, you'll be at home with this armadillo-based equivalent. If not: you hold a button to roll down slopes, then release it to let the momentum carry you uphill and into the air. You can also, er, 'soar' by clicking the upper half of the screen to delay your descent, smashing through birds mid-air for no ethically sound reason. Gems on certain slopes give you an incentive to come down sooner or soar a little longer.

The game's (re)created very well, with some pleasant aesthetic touches giving 'Dillo Hills a much needed dash of its own character. It's peaceful, and pleasant, and a great way to spend a rainy half hour.

Team Fortress 2 is now free, so everyone with a Steam account owns it. If you haven't played before, it can be an intimidating, hat-riddled game. So we're hastily putting together a guide for absolute beginners.

Yesterday we talked about how to get weapons and hats, and on Friday we took you through which classes to start with and how all the modes work. Today we'll go through the basics of all the nine classes, and how to find out more about their weirder variations.



How do all the classes work?
 
This has changed a bit over time, and it depends on which items they're using, but it can be handy to have a basic guide to the vanilla versions to get you started.

Scout: The fastest class, and you can capture objectives twice as quickly. But combat is a risky business: your weapons are best up close, but you don't have enough health to get shot much at point blank range. You can double-jump and take alternate routes to get to places enemies aren't expecting. Attack them when they're focusing on someone else.

Main thing to worry about: the Engineer's sentry guns. They'll shred you and there's almost nothing you can do against them. For this reason, you're actually better at defending your team than invading an entrenched enemy position.

Soldier: Tougher than most, slower than most, and armed with a rocket launcher. Reload any time you're not firing, aim at your enemies' feet so you'll catch them with splash damage if you miss, and retreat when you're low on health. You're tough enough to escape most dangerous situations, and if you keep doing damage and staying alive, you'll notice you start to score more critical hits. Critical hits with a rocket launcher are a hell of a thing.

Main things to worry about: Heavies at close range out-damage you, and Snipers at long range can headshot you and dodge your rockets.



Pyro: Harassment class - you are amazingly annoying. Your flamethrower sets people alight, which is usually enough to make them run for a health kit or water. Spray some attackers then get out of the way: you'll often stop their assault and survive.

Most importantly, the secondary fire on your flamethrower lets you bounce rockets, sticky bombs and grenades back, so you're great at defending your team. You can also use it to put out allies who are on fire, or shunt enemies away. Engineers love having you around to defend their Sentries and check for Spies - there's no friendly fire, so torch team-mates indiscriminately.

Main thing to worry about: Heavies kill you so fast that it's hard to get away in time.

Demoman: Ambush class. Your grenade launcher is a good way to make a corridor a bad place for enemies, but the Sticky Bomb launcher is even more devastating. Shoot stickies on corners or above doorways, then right click to detonate them when enemies come through. You can also pile them up near sentry guns to take them out in one fatal blast.

Main thing to worry about: Soldiers and Heavies will kill you in straight combat.

Heavy: The slowest class, but the absolute deadliest in a straight fight at anything from medium range to point blank. Your gun takes a while to spin up, and you can barely move while it's firing, but everyone immediately in front of it will die or run away.

Main things to worry about: Snipers at long range, Spies behind you.



Engineer: Can build turrets that attack enemies automatically, dispensers that refill allies' health and ammo, and teleporters to get people from the spawn point to the front line. These all cost metal, which you get by picking up ammo and weapons on the field.

Because you need so much metal to build, upgrade and repair your stuff, it's good to get a dispenser up somewhere safe where you can sit near it, and build your Sentry gun right there. Once it's up and upgraded, it's the most powerful defensive weapon in the game.

Main things to worry about: Demomen piling stickies up on your stuff, Spies sapping your equipment and backstabbing you.



Medic: Fire your healing beam at anyone who's injured, then at Heavies and Soldiers who are in combat. Always stay behind your patient: smart enemies will try to take you out first, because you're what really makes the team hard to kill.

Main things to worry about: Snipers, Soldiers and Pyros targeting you - don't be afraid to run for a healthkit if you need one, you're the only person you can't heal.

Sniper: Find a quiet spot with a long line of sight to an objective, wait for your shot to charge up a little, then click on peoples' heads. You have to be scoped for your shot to charge up. Target Medics first, if you can.

Main things to worry about: Spies creeping up behind you, other Snipers being better at headshots.

Spy: Switch to your disguise kit and use the number keys to dress as an enemy of that class. Engineer or Sniper is often a good choice, since it's not suspicious to see those guys out of combat. Right click to cloak, and get behind enemy lines before decloaking. Your knife kills anyone instantly if you stab them from behind, but is almost useless if you don't. It also breaks your disguise, and you can't fire or attack while cloaked.

Main things to worry about: bumping into people - it reveals you if cloaked, and tips the enemy off if you're disguised. And steer clear of Pyros entirely: their flame only has to touch you once to reveal you as a Spy.



Tom, I've been playing for a few hours and I'm still pretty goddamn confused. What does slapping someone with a fish do? How does that guy have a guitar? Why am I covered in milk?
 
Yeah. There are a lot of weapons in this game, and not all of them make a hell of a lot of sense. The game tries to tell you what killed you, but when that thing is a golden statue of someone called Saxton Hale, it sometimes raises more questions than it answers.

Luckily, there's an awesome official wiki where you can look up anything you don't understand. Bookmark this, because for some reason it's still not the top result for 'tf2 wiki' on Google. It should be, so allow me to SEO it up a notch: tf2 wiki.

Look up the class you like to play, and look up the class that kills you most. You'll find all the info on the various weapons they can have, how to get them, and what they're good for.

In our last few guides we talked about where to start with classes and game modes, and how to get new items. You can always find our latest Team Fortress 2 guides and browse them all here.

Team Fortress 2 is now free, so everyone with a Steam account owns it. If you haven't played before, it can be an intimidating, hat-riddled game. So we're hastily putting together a guide for absolute beginners.

Yesterday we took you through which classes to start with and how all the modes work. Today we'll tell you why that man has an octopus on his head and how you too can unlock a sandwich.



How do I get items?
 
As you play, you'll randomly be awarded new weapons every few hours - it happens more often on busy servers.

Every class also has a set of weapons that can be unlocked by earning a certain number of achievements, and these are the quickest way to get something specific for a class you like. You can see what the achievements are by clicking the rosette icon at the bottom of the main menu: there's a dropdown list that'll let you browse by class. Doesn't matter which ones you go for, these items just unlock when you have a certain number: usually 10, 15, or so.

Eventually you'll start finding items you already have, or that you don't want. You can reduce these to scrap metal by crafting them together, and then use that - and other weapons - to craft ones you don't have yet. There are hundreds of recipes for this stuff, the best place to browse them is over on TF2Items.com.



You can just pony up and buy them for real money. Almost everything is available to buy in the Mann-Co store accessed from the main menu. You'll have to put some money in your Steam Wallet to do so, but you can do that when you check out. The cheapest items are only £0.29 or $0.49c, but be aware that the minimum you can add to your Steam Wallet is £4.

As soon as you buy anything, however cheap, you become a Team Fortress 2 premium player, and you'll be able to find and craft rarer items. If you care about items at all, it's worth putting that first £4 on. Buy a £0.29p gun, then spend the rest on a cheapo indie game if you don't want to buy any more in-game stuff.

Once you are a premium player, you can trade items with others by going to the main menu, clicking Items, then Trading. You can trade with anyone on your friends list when you're both online, or anyone in your current game.



No, I mean how do I get hats?
 
Oh. Well, you can't unlock most hats with achievements, but once you're a premium player, all the other methods apply. They're just much, much rarer to find, much, much harder to craft, and much, much more expensive to buy.

The easiest ones to get are rewards for buying other games or achieving something in those. There's a full list of all the promotional items and how you get them over on the official wiki.

Tomorrow: How do all the classes work? What the hell is going on?

Team Fortress 2 is now free, so everyone with a Steam account owns it. If you haven't played before, it can be an intimidating, hat-riddled game. We thought it'd be useful for us to tell you what you need to know to start having fun. But we thought that at 5pm on a Friday, so we've only got the very basics ready so far. We'll add to this over the weekend, but here's how the game modes work, and which classes you should play first.

Update: part two is now up, covering how you get new items.

Which mode should I play?
 
First of all, have a play around with the offline training mode - it's good for the very, very basics. When you're ready to go online, click Start Playing - you'll have to choose a game mode. The default is Payload, but it's a little complex. Click the arrow on the right and pick King of the Hill. It's a mode where there's only one control point to fight over, and whoever holds it longest wins. It's Team Fortress 2 in its absolute simplest form, so it's a great place to learn how all the classes work.

If Start Playing fails to find you a game, go back to the main menu and click Browse Servers. This is a big scary list, but once it's finished loading, look for one that has a number less than 100 in the Latency tab. If they're all jumbled up, click the Latency tab to sort by that.

You can make this list easier to browse by setting a few filters at the bottom: you don't want full servers, empty servers, or password-protected servers.



Which class should I choose?
 
Once you're in game, pick either team. You usually can't join the one with the most players. Then you'll have to pick a class.

A good starting choice is the Medic: you heal people on your team by firing a beam at them, and that's immediately useful and appreciated by your team mates. At the basic level, it's all you need to do. And that gives you time to watch how your team mates play, see who beats whom, and learn a bit about what the weapons do.

When you fancy a change, switch to Heavy. You're slow, and your gun takes a while to spin up, but once you start firing someone's usually dead by the time you stop. You're also the first person Medics will think to heal, and since you just played Medic yourself, you know how to be a good patient and keep them protected. It's a really satisfying relationship.

After that, it's mostly personal preference. Soldier's the best all-rounder, so another good early choice. Don't stick with any of them for too long until you've played all nine: each new one you try helps you understand the role of the others better too. Spy is probably the hardest to be effective with when you're a beginner, but he's worth playing just so you understand roughly how they work.

Some classes, particularly Spy and Demoman, work very differently once they unlock certain items. To describe all the differences would be long and pointless. But if a black Scottish cyclops charges at you with a giant sword, get out of the way. And if a you hear an electronic crackle shortly after a Spy appeared to die, he's alive, and he's behind you.



Bored of King of the Hill now, how do the other modes work?
 
Payload: the attacking team must escort a cart along some railtracks to an objective. The more of then stay near the cart, the faster it moves. The defenders can stop it by killing them, or standing near the cart themselves.

Payload Race: same as Payload, except both teams have a cart. Up to you whether to focus on escorting your own cart, or stopping the enemy escorting theirs. First cart to the finish line wins.

Control Point: much like King of the Hill, but with five control points. You fight over the central point at first, then whoever gets that can try to take the next point along on the enemy's side. You can't capture a point if you don't own one next to it, and you lose the game if the enemy team captures all your points.

Attack/Defend: just like Control Point, except the red team owns all the points at the start. Only the blue team can capture: once they take a point, it's theirs forever. Red wins if they can hold out for a certain time.

Capture the Flag: each team has a briefcase in their base. They have to capture the enemy briefcase, and bring it back to their base. If their own briefcase has also been stolen, they can't score a point until it's returned. First team to a certain number of captures wins.

Next: How do I get items? How do I get hats?

For the first time in as long as we can remember, Counter-Strike has been knocked off the top spot on the Steam most-played list. Team Fortress 2 has stolen the crown. That means that overnight, TF2 has leapt from a top ten position to the very top, gaining tens of thousands of players in the process

It's a resounding indication of the success of TF2's move to free-to-play. Counter-Strike is routinely the most played game on Steam, often boasting twice the number of players of its nearest rivals. For a four-year-old online shooter to suddenly leapfrog the Counter-Strike is a big deal.

Team Fortress 2 already had a big player-base before it went free-to-play, and it might have been fair to assume that everyone who wanted to play the game already owned it, especially given the incredibly low prices it's been sold for in some of Valve's Steam sales, and the regular free weekends that were thrown after every major update. In practice, removing the barrier of entry completely has had an impressive effect.

Does this mean Valve will be making more of their catalogue free? Speaking to Develop, Team Fortress 2 lead Robin Walker said "with just the data from a single product, it seems dangerous to assume that it would be true for all our products."

"The data we got back from the Mann-conomy Update leads us to believe that TF2 would be more successful as a completely free product," he said. "Either way, we'll know a heck of a lot more in a couple of months, and that's the kind of thing that gets us excited around the office."