It's interesting timing for Google to launch a US beta of its Play Store for Windows. You'll also have to turn on hardware virtualization in your BIOS settings and allow Google Play to enable specific Windows hypervisor settings. You'll need Windows 10 or 11, a solid-state drive with 10GB of space, at least an Intel UHD Graphics 630 or comparable graphics card, a processor with at least four cores, 8GB RAM, and a Windows administrator account. I wrote that Play Games was available for 'some' users up top because not just any system can get access to Google Play on Windows.

My secret? Clicking the mouse button to shoot things. I really crushed the first level of Zombeast. I played a couple levels, was notified that I would get a free golden revolver upgrade that would otherwise cost $1.99, then jumped out. You can't look with the mouse, you can barely move in any direction but forward, and you only use the primary button on the mouse. But it's jarring to play a shooter, even an on-rails shooter like this, on a PC and be so limited. Everything worked as expected, and the game played responsively. Knowing I was playing on Windows, Zombeast loaded with a tutorial for the keyboard controls. The game is what it says on the label you plod forward through linear walkways, moving left and right occasionally, clicking to shoot when your auto-target lands on the right zombie or strangely placed gas can. I don't have a Play game in my recent roster, so I picked out Zombeast: Zombie Shooter from the library and installed it for a test drive. If one of these games has already gotten its hooks into you, you can sync up your progress, achievements, friends, and other Google Play stats between your phone and Windows. The selection is likely to expand, but the nature of Android's free-to-play environment isn't due to change any time soon.

It's a mix of games that resemble or sound like better-known games, relaxed building/designing games, gacha bait, and then Genshin Impact. All of them are free downloads because they're the kind of games that make money on in-app purchases. Starting today, some US Windows users can try a beta of Google Play Games on their desktop.Īs of this writing, there were just over 60 games available to me in the Windows Play Games store, from a US location. First Microsoft and Amazon conspired to make Android on Windows happen, and now Google's staking its own claim.

Google play app for windows 10