Do you know any mobile games that don't suck?
Do you know any mobile games that don't suck?
I just want to kill some time, I like simple arcade style games that aren't using scummy corporate sales tactics to get me to play every day
There is a curated list of "no-bullshit" mobile games, without microtransactions and all of that horrible stuff: https://nobsgames.stavros.io/
My favorites so far:
- Monument Valley 1+2
- Riptide GP: Renegade
- Badland
- Galaxy on Fire 2 HD
Games with roguelike metaprogression:
- Vampire Survivors: Practically an idle game. All you do in this is control your hero's movement around a sea of monsters and your hero automatically attacks them. Surprisingly fun and strategically deep. Battery killer
- Slay the Spire: card collecting strategy game
- Bloons TD 6 (requires Netflix): Pop Bloons with monkeys. Battery killer
- Into the Breach (requires Netflix): isometric strategy game from the same devs as FTL: Faster Than Light. Big emphasis on using near-perfect information to solve tactical fights like they are puzzles.
Puzzle games:
- Any of the variant Sudoku apps from "Studio Goya" on the Play store. These are the official apps of the Cracking the Cryptic YouTube channel. Handcrafted puzzles tend to have a very interesting solution path that requires you to develop logic skills.
- The Room. Play as Tommy Wiseau as he uncovers an Eldritch mystery by opening puzzle boxes. Very satisfying animations, neat story
- Cultist Simulator. Honestly idk what to call this one but "puzzle game" kind of fits. This is a really fun game but requires a while to get a hang of. In fact the fun of the game is learning the game mechanics, since nothing is explained except through cryptic hints and riddles. The writing is incredible but you will probably lose a lot as you get the hang of it.
Other stuff:
- Eternal Card Game: I'll be honest, I haven't played this in ages, but I remember it being a better MTG clone than MTG arena. The mechanics are almost the exact same feeling as MTG, but more adapted to the digital medium. Has some pay-to-win mechanics and microtransactions but honestly the pricing felt pretty fair to me and it's not super in-your-face with it.
- RCT Classic: Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 mobile port. It's not as good as OpenRCT, but it's still a lot of fun.
- OpenTTD: Transport tycoon deluxe mobile port.
- Papers Please: Glory to Arstotzka!
- Townscaper: not really a game as much as an arts and crafts kit. You get a tile-based map and wherever you click it fills in a tile. Depending on how you fill in those tiles, they look like different little buildings, gardens, etc. really cute game with no stakes.
- Mindustry: minimalist Factorio clone. Controls can be challenging on mobile but it's still fun
Monument valley is pretty good and has no ads or micro transactions
Hoplite is the one. No ads, great gameplay, no addictive pattern.
Probably not what you're looking for but this is my favorite time-waster.
https://abagames.github.io/crisp-game-lib-11-games/?pakupaku
Slice & Dice is the best game I've ever gotten on my phone, I bought it over Thanksgiving in 2021 and haven't stopped playing it since. It's similar to deck builders, but dice based.
It's $7 on mobile, but has a good free to try demo. So you can see if you like it for free. It's also available on Steam and itch.io
The game is still in active development, but the dev only releases updates every 1-1.5 years. The updates are absolutely massive though and add a ton of content.
Chess (on Lichess, either browser or app)
Got time? Practice openings or play online.
No time? Play 1 minute games online.
Inconsistent time (have to go any moment) or just casual? Practice puzzles.
supertuxkart SuperTuxKart (A 3D arcade racer with a variety of characters, tracks, and modes to play.
Bloons TD? I whike away time on it occasionally.
If you like twitchy reflex killers, two oldies-but-goodies from Terry Cavanaugh: Super Hexagon and VVVVVV.
Fun chiptune soundtracks, minimal graphics, and so much "I died already? Okay just ONE MORE try and then I really need to get some work done. ARGH - okay maybe ONE MORE try...." And when you finally succeed the dopamine is second to none.
Bloons:td6
If you're in to a bit of a challenge then "Flow". There's many copies but I always played "Flow Free" for killing time.
I enjoyed both Monument Valleys, the Room series, and Downwell.
With a little bit of know-how, you can get Balatro running on your phone, and Balatro is amazing.
To do it, buy the game then follow the instructions at https://github.com/blake502/balatro-mobile-maker
You Must Build a Boat and Triple Town are simple but excellent. Slay the Spire is incredible - can't recommend it enough.
I do chess puzzles on lichess
Slice & dice stole all of my free time for a while. I definitely recommend it.
AM2R a.k.a. Another Metroid 2 Remake It's a fan game of the 2nd Metroid game, and is considered one of the best of the series, even though it's not an official release. It's more like Super Metroid than the Gameboy title is. You'll have to search around a bit due to Nintendo's D&C, but it's not hard to find (the internet archive has recent versions).
Minecraft It's a good port, but probably best played with a gamepad &| tablet.
Portal Knights A minecraft-like voxel game with more satisfying progression and combat, but less creative freedom. Plays well on newish devices, epsecially with lower-quality settings.
Terraria It's a great game all-around, but harder to play on mobile than PC.
Emulation This goes without saying if you like retro gaming. The best emulators I've found are the .emu apps by Robert Broglia. They can be bought from the play store, or obtained for free at his Github page. If you like original Playstation games, get the Duckstation emulator (produced by another dev.).
Sky Children of Light
Rusted Warfare
Endless Sky
Machinarium
Night of the Full Moon is incredible.
Auralux 2
If you have a rooted phone, an older android version, or the ability to access the android/data folder to move files around, I hear some pvz2 mods are pretty good. Only ones I can personally say are good are Refloureshed and Eclise, though it's been a long time since I've played Eclise. Both are harder versions of vanilla.
good ol' tetris
Death road to Canada
- Coffee Golf
- mineswifter.com
- Tomb of the Mask
- Downwell
- High Rise by smpl
- Vampire Survivor
Sky Force and Kittens Game are the only two mobile games I ever played and still have installed on every phone
If you like puzzles, horror and all things weird, definitely try some of the games by Rusty Lake.
The entire Cube Escape series is available for free (a sort of excape the room puzzle).
Board game adaptations tend to be good. Everdell and bottom of the ninth for preference.
Reigns is quite fun
Minesweeper on fdroid
- Monument Valley is an amazing mobile game although not arcade style
- Alto's Adventure/Odyssey are pretty solid
- Duet is a great arcade style game
- HyperRogue is a neat non-Euclidean roguelike https://roguetemple.com/z/hyper/
Everyone in here sleeping on pocket city 1 and 2. 1 is free w/ads or 2.99 and 2 is 4.99
Slay the Spire. Join us.
Monument Valley 1 and 2.
Haven't found anything that isn't microtransaction and ad-riddled trash or a port of an older game since.
There's an app I really like called Minireview, focused on finding and reviewing mobile games.
I Love Hue and I Love Hue Too. Also, My Friend Pedro. That one's pretty short though.
Atomas is pretty fun, it's super simple and looks really good
Ignoring the arcade style preference: i like Cats are Liquid: A Better Place and Cats are Liquid: a Light in the Shadows
They are 2 platformers with abstract graphics, abilities and a sad(extremly confusing) story
Card crawl
Dunno if anyone mentioned Badland yet.
Looks difficult to play but is so well designed that it isn't
I just want to kill some time
Pokemon sleep and take a nap
Retro Bowl - 1980s style american football game
My favorite is Time Surfer. The core mechanic is basically the same as Tiny Wings, but the theme, artwork, levels, etc are all very different. I especially enjoy the chiptunes!
I've been playing half life using xash3D for this very reason. People are on multiplayer all the time, counter strike has players too. I'm really hoping to find people playing team fortress sometime.
I’m on iOS and actually pay for Apple Arcade. It’s been worth it. I don’t bother looking anywhere else for mobile games anymore.
Try 'A dark room'. It's a bit different, but it had depth and your can get into it. I also still love 'Plague inc.'.
Super Auto Pets is one I like
There are plenty of puzzle-style ones like Sagadoku/Blockudoku, Minesweeper, etc.
- Another vote for "Slay the Spire", have bought it for all platforms and wasted too much of my time
- Horizon Chase Turbo is a very good arcade racer
- Danmaku Unlimited 2 and Danmaku Unlimited 3 for bullet hell shmups
Not arcade style, but Final Fantasy I-VI pixel remasters are IMHO great on phones.
My favorite mobile games are
Don't starve
Dead Cells
Emulating old RPG games through Delta or Lemuroid
Puzzler / slight programming vibe: BaBa is you
Le Parker is my favorite side scrolling platformer on mobile that no one knows about.
Super auto pets is incredibly based
I Love Hue, both 1 and 2
Peglin is super fun. It's wood-described as a peggle rouglike
Fancade is also great. It's an open engine for little arcade games, so there's always something new to play. There's different modes like an adventure mode and a battle mode. There are IAP's but they're purely optional and very unnecessary.
All games I'm going to mention aren't sending me any notifications.
Square on top is a bit like jump king, and let's you disable 'unwanted' Ads. You're still able to watch ads for your own gain, but dont have to.
Divineko is a fun shape drawing/reaction game that has very fair ad placements IMO.
Xeonjia is an ice puzzle game (you walk in one direction until you hit a rock) that reminds me a bit of Pokémon with its art style. I dont think it has any ads.
Those three are my go to's currently.
Twenty is my go-to. Blockus clones are fun too, and there are a lot of game modes.
This Ars article turned me on to it. Maybe click through some of his other suggestions-
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/05/why-twenty-is-my-latest-mobile-gaming-obsession/
Download TIC-80 is a fantasy console that also has an android app.
Inside it you'll have access to tons of games made for that console.
I've been some weeks playing "Shadow over the twelve lands" on android TIC-80 and it has been a great experience.
It's all open source too!
Clash of clans (if you can be patient) games from f-droid
Sky Wings is pretty fun. It's super arcadey, has different ships with different abilities and shooting styles, different modes and difficulties. I've put in quite a few hours over the years.
The Flow Free puzzle games are pretty fun imo. I have most of the different ones installed on my phone, and some years back I actually bought a bunch of the expansions for the base version so I have a ton of puzzles to go through.
Honor of Kings is pretty good. Just ignore all the contests. You always start at the same ability as everyone else.
The Way Home
AAAAXY is an incredibly trippy puzzle platformer available on F-Droid.
I've been playing Shattered Pixel Dungeon, which is an actual roguelike game.
Egg Inc is angrowth game that's silly and fun. Squad Alpha is a great casual shooter, and all ads are voluntary. (Note, this is NOT Alpha Squad.)
Jetski.
So far, „sky“ is pretty nice
I got really hooked on Armory and Machine, there is an A&M2 but I've never played it.
Its the kind of game that only has a mobile version, it rewards you for coming back to it like any bad mobile game, but there are no ads, nothing to buy, and I don't think there is any data shared.
The premis is you are work on a machine, making it faster, better stronger, more automated, and more able to produce things. Things can be in turn, turned into items that let you travel and fight critters. The loot from the critters can be used to make your machine faster. Its all a vicious factorio-like loop, and show how fun these mobile mechanics can be when there is no company taking advantage of you.
dungeon cards, shattered pixel dungeon, or just read manga
As far as puzzle games, SevenBloks is my most played game by FAR. I play on Toughness mode, and the games are pretty quick. It’s a combination of equal parts strategy and luck.
For sports games, Retro Bowl & Retro Bowl College (American football) are the best $1 per game I’ve ever spent. I’ve lost track of the number of seasons I’ve played on both.
damn i miss the old mario party for N64, i been meaning to find a good alternative free version
Lapse and Lapse 2 - clones of the Reigns game
Plague inc
Tyrian. 90's scrolling shooter ported over and mostly functional.
Bomb Club on iOS (was on Android at one point)
Balatro, when it finally gets ported to mobile. It's probably right up your alley.
Tetris. Pac-Man 256. Brick Breaker Quest. for Tetris at least you'll want to make sure that you've got an adblock DNS set up because it's full of ads otherwise
Hill Clim Racer has been a long time favorite. Still works great in airplane mode and well.
Spirit Island and Star Traders
here is some variety:
Brawlhalla is legit, Shell Shockers is funny, agar.io is simple but dope
Did you try qr コード 読み取り for more?
Lichess :P
Shattered Pixel Dungeon Loop Hero Pirates Outlaws
I install a few others every now and again to try new things, but it's usually ad-driven / endless predatory MTX bullshit.
Little Inferno
It's not an arcade-style game by any means, but I can't recommend "Sky: Children of the Light" enough! My partner and I have been playing it daily for over 4 years and still can't get enough of it. It's hard to give it a proper description. It has a beautiful storyline with new seasonal stories that come out every 3 months or so. You play as a child of light whose mission is to banish darkness and shepherd spirits from a post-apocalyptic land into the stars. However, the real core of the game is the social aspect. It's mmo-adjacent (typical server sizes are 8 players) with other players showing up as other children of light. You slowly make friendships using in-game currency and gifting each other friendship levels. You cannot chat with others at first and must communicate through a variety of emotes until you unlock chat in the friendship tree. The way communication and friendship is handled in the game makes it one of the most friendly and least toxic communities that I've found on the Internet. It's also cross-play and cross-save between Android, iOS, Switch, PlayStation, and Steam. That Sky Game
Other's have suggested emulating Pokémon. However, if you want a native RPG, the first six Final Fantasy games were remastered for mobile. That's five whole good games! They all have very frequent auto saving, so they're pretty easy to just pick up and put down.
These aren't arcade-y, though. Others have already suggested the best. I like Super Hexagon the most of the suggestions due to its simplicity. Geometry Dash is also great, but sometimes, it just isn't sightreadable.
Survivor.io is actually amazing and doesn't panhandle your for money
Bloons TD6 is great and will melt your life away
Pawnbarian is a good twist on chess
You didn’t say what OS you were running, but if you’re running an iPhone, the original Sonic is in the App Store and is pretty playable on a phone. I also really liked Temple Run.