Do you know any mobile games that don't suck?

grandma@sh.itjust.works to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 222 points –

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

173

Shattered Pixel Dungeon. If you like Roguelikes.

Steepest learning curve of any game I've played. So damn rewarding though.

Knights of the old Republic has been on there for a while.

Emulators.

Slay the Spire.

I've never bothered to set up an emulator on my phone but it's a great idea, any recommendations in particular?

GameBoy Advance games work really well IMO, they're designed for small screens and lengthening aspect ratios leave tons of space for virtual buttons.

FF Tactics Advance is one I return to fairly often.

Gameboy advance games also make great games to play on a TV for the same reasons!

Basically anything really well rated should be fine!

I don't think I've mobile gamed without emulators for like 4 or 5 gens of phones now. I was a young man back in those days...

SLAY THE SPIRE!

Yeah this is my goto time killer on the phone or tablet if I’m traveling. No need for an Internet connection so great on a plane.

Best value for money if you like deckbuilders and rogue likes. Fantastic game. The second one is coming out next year!

shattered pixel dungeom

This ! No ads, no in app purchase, only fun !

I have played it on and off for years. Once I get into a run, i play it out, but otherwise it's easy to put down, forget about for a while. Great entertainment without the addiction

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

Slay The Spire alone can give you hundreds of hours, even thousands.

Great list but idk why you put "Requires Netflix." None of these require Netflix.

Maybe it's not the case anymore. Bloons and Into the Breach were ported through Netflix's game publishing thing. Maybe they opened it up at some point.

I don't know about Into the Breach but I have BTD6 with no Netflix account

Bloons may have been ported to netflix, but the Bloons games release native on tons of platforms.

Last I checked, I thought you could still purchase BTD6 without needing netfl*x through the play store. Has that changed?

Also, glory to glorious Arstotzka.

Slice and Dice is a good rogue-like dice builder with no bullshit.

No ads. No DLC - there's a demo game and full version. And the mechanics are solid with no grindy bits.

Absolutly love this game, great replayability.

I have just discovered Card quest which is taking up a lot of my spare time at the moment.

Decidedly not arcade, but I absolutely love Shattered Pixel Dungeon as a phone timekiller.

This and solitaire are the only games I would install on my phone.

Monument valley

One (well, two) of my all-time favorites. Both in terms of gameplay/puzzle design, and minimalist graphics that are still interesting to look at.

* Starts shootin corrupting wand *
Shattered Pixel Dungeon gang rise up!

Slay the Spire.

Geoguessr.

Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic.

Can't talk for the two others but Slay the spire will kill you allot of time!

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.

If you're into Pokemon and have access to the GBA/DS ROMs, PokeMMO is a great emulator that adds online MMO features to the first 5 generations of Pokemon. You can take one character across all 5 regions, and there's tons of QoL features.

That sounds awesome. I always wished to be able to visit other regions in my pokemon games. It's one of the reasons why I enjoyed soulsilver so much

Bloons TD? I whike away time on it occasionally.

If you like roguelike card builders, Dawncaster is great

Dawncaster is excellent. I was amazed at how deep the game is for a mobile deck builder.

It also uses an expansion based monetization rather than micro transactions and the expansions absolutely aren't necessary to get a lot of enjoyment out of the game.

I really liked Dawncaster but then I didn't play it for awhile and when I came back it had changed significantly and all the builds that I used to win with consistently no longer worked out. Honestly it's probably more balanced now than before but I haven't spent enough time with it to get good again.

Honestly I’m just bad at it so I rarely finish a run regardless. But it’s fun at least, and I bought the expansions mostly to encourage the business model.

The older Pokemon gameboy games (using emulator).

The Room series - puzzle/mystery style.

Even NDS games should be pretty playable on a phone. Give Heart Gold/Soul Silver a try if you've missed it, they're the best Pokémon games.

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.

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.

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.

Dead Cells and Peglin

Dead Cells seems like it would be absolute ass on a touch screen, I've got 300 hours on it on PC but no thank you

You folks that like to sync a controller to your phone might enjoy it though

You Must Build a Boat and Triple Town are simple but excellent. Slay the Spire is incredible - can't recommend it enough.

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.).

Slice & dice stole all of my free time for a while. I definitely recommend it.

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

I just tried this, holy shit it works perfectly. This is real bad for my productivity.

Fair warning, the battery consumption is pretty high - plan accordingly.

This is a feature, not a bug. If my battery lasted longer I may never actually get off the toilet 😅

I enjoyed both Monument Valleys, the Room series, and Downwell.

Sky Children of Light

Rusted Warfare

Endless Sky

Sky Force and Kittens Game are the only two mobile games I ever played and still have installed on every phone

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.

Alto - very calming and engaging game where you go down a mountain on your snowboard trying to catch llamas and do aerial tricks. Excellent vibes, no bothersome ads or micro transactions i think.

Board game adaptations tend to be good. Everdell and bottom of the ninth for preference.

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.

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).

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.

Dunno if anyone mentioned Badland yet.

Looks difficult to play but is so well designed that it isn't

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.

Everyone in here sleeping on pocket city 1 and 2. 1 is free w/ads or 2.99 and 2 is 4.99

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

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.'.

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!

Super Auto Pets is one I like

There are plenty of puzzle-style ones like Sagadoku/Blockudoku, Minesweeper, etc.

Just passing by to say that with a little fiddling, you can get Morrowind running on your phone, touch screen controls and all if you don't have a gamepad.

For some ungodly reason CA also ported Rome and Medieval 2 Total War - these are certainly not the best UIs ever, but it's pretty hilarious to see how far you can push the hardware.

You could get some minigame type games from fdroid. I have a tetris game and a 2048 game from fdroid. There's also Super Tux Kart if you want something 3D

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.

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.

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!

Honor of Kings is pretty good. Just ignore all the contests. You always start at the same ability as everyone else.

Kingdom Rush has been fun and not needy. (The first one?)

Ive tried the second and it's good too. Pretty fun tower defense and no need to buy anything or watch ads.

I just want to kill some time

Pokemon sleep and take a nap

Retro Bowl - 1980s style american football game

Le Parker is my favorite side scrolling platformer on mobile that no one knows about.

Not on the App Store in the US but thank you for sharing. Hopefully android masterrace can enjoy it.

My favorite mobile games are

Don't starve

Dead Cells

Emulating old RPG games through Delta or Lemuroid

  • 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.

Super auto pets is incredibly based

here is some variety:

Brawlhalla is legit, Shell Shockers is funny, agar.io is simple but dope

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.

Geometry Dash

Just installed it. 25 attempts in to level 1. This isn't for me. I get it, but its so annoying. Uninstalled, no regrets.

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.

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.

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.

Hill Clim Racer has been a long time favorite. Still works great in airplane mode and well.

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

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.

Wordscapes dont know if anyone said it

From their own description -

Try this addicting word puzzle game

Um, no thanks 🧐

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

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.)

damn i miss the old mario party for N64, i been meaning to find a good alternative free version

Balatro, when it finally gets ported to mobile. It's probably right up your alley.