Mobile games usually get a bad rep as they’re usually asset flips and/or MTX-ridden and/or ad-filled, etc., and I’m sure this is actually the case for most games on the app/play store. But are there any ones that are actually good, maybe just something to pass the time with?
In my experience the play store is awful to use if you’re looking for anything that’s not full of ads and/or extremely monetized. I recommend only using it when you know exactly which app you’re looking for.
Generally I find games through itch.io and recommendations from others. Also there are foss game emulators on GitHub and similar sites.
Netflix recently started offering mobile games as well.
Ages ago humble bundle did android games but that’s all in the past now.
I’ve been enjoying worldbox and lichess. I used to have a bunch more but the latest Android version made most of my collection stop working.
There were, back in the day.
Tap tap revenge and Paper toss were great.
Now everything is just shit for morons.
Slay the Spire: it’s the same game as on PC or any other medium. Fantastic game. Obviously costs the same as other places (about $10), but well worth it!
Pokemon TCG Pocket. I started early with this, so I have had no problem with being F2P, but I’m sure that late adopters would need to pay some amount to become competitive. Still should be playable F2P, though. Anyways, it’s amazingly unintrusive when it comes to real money transactions. No interrupting ads and you basically have to search for the in-game shop to find the microtransactions.
Roller Coaster Tycoon Classic. This one might have changed since I got it ~8 years ago. It’s a pretty good mobile version of the original game. I’ve spent a lot of time with this game.
I mean… not sure if it counts as mobile but the entire history of console gaming up to few years ago works on emulators, so that’s a VAST choice. Sure you might dislike 99.99% but if there is even 0.01% you enjoy, that’s hundreds of games if not more!
Check https://search.f-droid.org/?q=emulator and consider a BT controller.
Not all of them are enjoyable when played on a small touchscreen, so the question is still relevant: which ones actually work well for the form factor?
Fair enough, hence why I mentioned the BT controller but OK so might want something more compact, say if you are walking around or in the subway for 1 stop.
That’s not my situation so naively I’d suggest stuff like https://hexgl.bkcore.com/ or (and sadly I can’t put my hand on it right now) those who rely on accelerometer, this way you don’t even tap on your screen.
That being said I think there are also now Web based emulators that do have controller overlay. This way you use your entire screen real estate but also use the device it as a controller. There is no haptic feedback but works relatively well, I used that for WebXR on mobile.
Edit: it wasn’t any of these but still gives the idea https://forums.libretro.com/t/rgpad-a-universal-gamepad-overlay/41134 https://github.com/ShawnHymel/phaser-plugin-virtual-gamepad/
can’t forget about NetherSX2. It’s a little bit of a pain to set up but it gives you all the PS2 options.
Out of curiosity why is it not on F-droid?
I don’t mind installing myself the
.apkviaadbbut the more I learned about how positively strict the process to publish to it is (via https://github.com/Mentra-Community/MentraOS/issues/1168 ) then I also take absence from F-droid as potentially warning side a project isn’t truly open or rely on proprietary parts or anti-pattern.Good question, I think it might have something to do with it being useless until you download a region iso or something. I can’t really speak to it though.
I really like the polybridge series of games. Bridge puzzle game worh great mechanics.
Lots of good PC ports. The Kotor series and Baldurs gate 1 and 2 and icewind dale ports are good.
Autochess is fun. Lots of opportunities to spend money but none are important, just cosmetic.
Balatro is good (if you like that game as i do)
And also a series of games called “doors” are fun to pass the time. Like a puzzle box where solving one element opens another until the door is opened.
It is 99% crap on the stores though. I tend to get ports and emulators for most of my mobile gaming.
I’ve been playing old electron engine game like icewind Dale & Baldur’s gate. Even Neverwinter nights runs & plays great.
Emulated? Ported?
Fully ported, mod & module compatible! There is potentially infinite playtime in Neverwinter nights cause of it.
Dayum. Sold.
They are the enhanced edition ports i would imagine. Ive played through icewind dale fully on my foldy information rectangle. Played through most of bg1 and going to play the err midqual? Between bg1 and bg2 called siege of dragonspear before i go on to bg2. Characters can be imported between all three.
Shattered Pixel Dungeon is quite a timekiller on the phone
Slice and dice, infinitnode
I lost a full day to that free demo
I really like Robotek by Hexage. It’s free and you can play offline.
Balatro, all the other rougelites, monster train, slay the spire, etc.
Balatro is great but eats my battery for some reason
You can try lowering or outright disabling some of the special graphical effects like the simulated CRT scanlines.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp went paid about a year ago and there are no MTX or ads anymore. You can also take a look at Epic, they offer a mobile app with giveaways of paid games just like they do on PC.
Balatro. Be warned though, it’s digital crack. One time payment though, no mtx
I couldn’t agree more. I bought it, on a whim, just to see what everyone was talking about…and now I’m hooked!
I haven’t gotten this for a very unusual and stupid reason. I’d want it on my phone, and on my pc\steam deck; but don’t want to pay for it twice, out of spite.
I refuse to but it on mobile because I already bought it on steam.
Because when I get into balatro I get hooked hard, and the last thing I need is immediate access to fucking crack every where I am.
In that same category, Merge Maestro. Very fun and addictive game where no two runs go the same way.
Edit: Free to try, full game is a single $2 purchase.
Just played my first Merge Maestro game and won. Fun so far at a super good price at $2. I have a feeling that my work will be cut out for me chasing down exploits to take advantage of. I see it becoming almost overly hard to keep track of everything.
It isn’t hard exactly, you get a feel for synergies and they usually happen organically. Sometimes something triggers that you weren’t even expecting and next thing you know you have 1,000 attack with 200 multi strike.
Yeah. I can definitely see that happening. My first go I was able to spam hotels that were doing like 15 damage a piece at the end of each turn. Boss only had like 45 HP
Nice! It’s always fun to get a good passive setup running
Unciv
Scrolled the entire page. Just to not see hill climb racing, and slither.io
Slay the spire, balatro, Ascension, melvor, plague inc, terraforming Mars, unciv, shapez…
Vampire survivor is good too
