4d ago

Any good Android games that aren't roguelikes?

I've played most popular roguelikes like Balatro, Slay the Spire, Dead Cells, etc. So are there any good Android games that aren't roguelikes?

35 comments

I recently tried Star Traders: Frontiers and have been enjoying it. It's a space RPG with turn based combat and a focus on ship management.
Mindustry has a version that runs on android. You can also play CDDA and Dwarf Fortress over SSH. I would suggest using screen so that you can easily reconnect to your session if you are disconnected. Played both over the covid lockdowns as I was staying with my partner and I would SSH to my PC to play. Used an external keyboard as my phone screen was pretty small, better on a tablet.
Stardew Valley is on Android.
I really like Unciv: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.unciv.app
Some of my favorites:
Bloons TD 6 (paid)
Levelhead (paid)
Fancy Pants Adventures
EDGE Extended (paid)
Mindustry
Data Wing
Streets of Rage 4 (paid)
Epic Battle Fantasy 5
I had a bigger list around somewhere but I can't find it... These games are all pretty darn good though.
- I forgot about the EBF games. So much fun
Balatro is rogue like? Maybe I don't understand the genre as much as I thought.
- No, it's rogue-lite. Not -like. Rogue-lite games have randomized runs, permadeath, and (often tons of) meta-progression involving spending stat points, or unlocking new skills or weapons. In many games, the difficulty decreases by unlocking new skills and adding stats. Sometimes the games increase their enemy difficulty as you earn victories in order to balance the difficulty with all the new choices and skills you have. And sometimes entire game mechanics get added to more you play: new zones and new things to do.
  Example rogue-lite games: Binding of Isaac, Undermine, Enter the Gungeon. Even games that have a real sense of story and progression might have tight gameplay loops that can cause people to call them rogue-lites, or say they have "rogue-lite mechanics". Example: Dave the Diver.
  Rogue-likes, on the other hand, are turn-based dungeon crawlers that have very little or no meta progression. They may have training wheels like being forced to start with a simple class and unlocking additional ones doing simple things in-game. They do this to avoid overwhelming new players with character choices, and not to make the game easier as you play. You get better by learning the game, and not by unlocking more things or adding to stats.
  Examples: Shattered Pixel Dungeon, Brogue, Caves of Qud.
- These days when people say roguelike they just mean a game that divides its gameplay into short, disconnected runs instead of one long, continuous save. It unfortunately has nothing to do with whether a game is anything like Rogue.
  
  Yes, the term is often misapplied, but Balatro has the other key part of actually being a roguelike which is leveling up your build periodically from a randomly selected set of options. The bosses are also randomly selected. It very much is a roguelike
- The definition of roguelike has been stretched to the point of near-uselessness, lol. Nowadays, any game with permadeath and "runs" is classified as a roguelike.
  Personally, I'd prefer it if we stuck a little closer to the Berlin Interpretation definition.
Mini Metro is great.
Baba is you is one of the best puzzle games I've ever played
Shapez is a great factory/automation game. Maybe better on a computer, but still good on the phone.
There are also a lot of good boardgames with android apps: Star Realms, Dominon (expensive), Splendor, etc.
Free Android Games (incl. FOSS ✅️) - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha: https://infosec.pub/post/31044526
My favorite PAID games on the Play Store (+ user recommendations 💬): https://infosec.pub/post/31044866
Not my links, came across them a little while ago. Haven't gone through full lists, just skimmed them, but they look good.
https://nobsgames.stavros.io/android/?name=&genre=&rating__gt=&price=free
This is a list of some interesting games, you can filter by genre, price and rating.
I love Duet by Kumobius. A real nice timekiller, in a similar vein to subway surfers in a way.
- Great call-out, I love this game. Fun to just get in the flow and twist.
My first purchase when I get a job will be Baba is You. Looks really good and has great reviews.
Stardew valley is on mobile.
Antimatter Dimensions is the best idle game ive ever played. Top 3 at the very least. While not much of a "game" I still want to plug it.
Kingdom New Lands
Rush Rally 3
Pocket City
Traffix
Bad North
Chuchel
if u like quiet and alt things, https://muziriyaolili.itch.io/wheredowegocommander , may i recommend mine?
I really like The Quest for being a simple first person, dungeon crawler RPG. There's an overworld and towns and a story, so it's not just straight dungeon crawling. Nothing mold-breaking, but for a mobile game that I just want to fill some time when I have nothing else in my pockets, it absolutely does the trick.
The original, Magic Survival!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vkslrzm.Zombie&hl=en_US
Free and fun to play. Minimal ads with a purchase to remove. Just got a huge new update. Inspiration of Vampire Survivors (also a great game!) and many others.
Star wars: KOTOR 1 and 2 are excellent rpgs.
I use Mini Review for most of my android game finding. I find that if they give an overall score of 8 and above, I almost always like the game.
I'm currently enjoying the idle clicker Magic Research 2 It doesn't feel like most idlers. There's monsters to fight that need some strategy and a pretty good plot where I actually read everything! Most games have plot that is so boring and rehashed that it's not worth reading, but Magic Research 2 was a lot of fun. I played the demo a bit and bought the full version before running into whatever limits were in the demo.
Angry birds
I listed some decent Android games I know of in a past thread.
The real secret is to look for board game adaptations and stuff you'd normally find on Steam.
I also have expanded my list for when I have the Play credit and desire for more mobile games:
Golf Peaks, Pup Champs, and Railbound — more puzzle games by Afterburn, the same developers as inbento
Digital board game adaptations by Dire Wolf Digital, like Root, Everdell, Clank!, and the Fox in the Forest
Coromon and Cassette Beasts for your creature-collecting needs
Exiled Kingdoms is a great old-school RPG. Paid but worth it.
I'm working hard on a mobile first rpg, plans for a small demo in two months if things go well!
Planscape torment is in there if you want some old school crpg.
ScummVM is an old point and click adventure game engine with a ton of classics (Sam and max, day of the tentacle, Indiana Jones, etc).
lichess.org for free chess, puzzles and matches for different modes
Alphacross is pretty good for crosswords but it looks like they don't let you add your own sources which is a bummer and a couple sources have circled letters in puzzles that don't show up that can make it a little janky
And there's always DOOM
I'm not sure what kind of games you are looking for but I've been playing Honkai Impact 3rd. The android version doesn't have controller or mouse support but it has keyboard support and it's fine. I think every action is mapped to the keyboard but the game doesn't always tell you what everything is, the only one I'm not sure of is specifically the swiping QTE but QTEs are not used very often, so I never really had an issue with just using the touch screen for those. I would also imagine that Mihoyo's other games are good too but I haven't played them yet.
Another game I can suggest is Lego Star Wars the Complete Saga, if you like that kind of game. As far as I can tell, it's mostly identical to the PC version but with the one difference being that the multiplayer has been removed.
I enjoy necromerger for a merge game. Very minimal ADs. Has a fun story and events.
Recently finished Hobo: Tough Life. It was a fun play though
Also u can try pixel dungeon mindustry they are also good and old games (not mine!
- oh PD is rogue

35 comments