Unnamed space idle
this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2025
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Ask Lemmy
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Backpack Battles
Very fun strategic game, there are MTX in the game, but they're not necessary to play in the slightest.
I have bought a few things to support the Devs though.
Chess.com
Plenty of bots to get my buttons kicked in chess.
I prefer lichess.org
Stardew valley.
Shattered Pixel Dungeon
WorldBox
Mindustry
Unciv
Upvote for Shattered Pixel Dungeon! I unlocked the last two classes while on a plane.
Such a great game. I've actually run into the developer on Lemmy before.
He is pretty active in the PD com. Posts about about updates, answers questions. Its really cool
NO
Balatro and peglin
didn't realize peglin is on mobile! cool!
+1 for Balatro. I didn't think it'd be as much of a time sink as it has become for me though.
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Shattered Pixel Dungeon.
Infinitely replayable procedurally generated roguelike that is hard but fun to master, and a blast to play. It’s been on my phone for five years now and I still go back to it.
Totally offline, totally ad free, and still receiving active updates from the single developer.
It’s also got a pretty robust community.
By the way, it's completely open source (GPL-3.0)
Oh yeah! And a lot of spins because of that, if you use android or computer.
CrossMe is great, simple mechanic and hundreds of puzzles to solve.
Amazing brick
Free, ad-free, open source phone games
Unciv: Civilization V clone that runs on a potato; a grand 4x strategy game. It seems pretty mechanically complete and has a lot of content. Easily modded. (Graphics may not be to everyone's taste)
Simon Tatham's portable puzzle collection: Mathematically inspired Puzzle games with a lot of customization and reasonable interface. This includes classics like untangle (graph planarity) and solo (sudoku, but generalized). I personally really enjoy Tower, and hadn't seen it elsewhere (and like 15 more games besides).
Chip defense: computer science themed tower defense. By the power of Turing, Noether, and Knuth you can strike down malicious packets attempting to corrupt your CPU. Good content, fun towers and educational bonus material, and I think it looks rather good. (Minor gripe/warning: early levels are optimally played with a lot of tapping that is not very ergonomic; this drops off after the first few levels.)
Honorable mentions (not FOSS, but still free, MTX free, and no ads beyond fishing for a rating). Higgster's game compendium: collection of games in a consistent and pleasing artstyle. Includes things like solitaire, wordle, binaro, and mastermind (20+ games total, several more have been added in the last year). This is really very well done, give it a look!
Flocks: Sliding puzzle game with excellent graphics and animations. Lots of levels, introduces new mechanics regularly, and easy to pickup or put down. I quite enjoy everything Robert has made, recommended!
Outside of emulators and other similar apps, there are some games that have decent mobile ports. Some of the good ones I know of are:
Lego Star wars: the Complete Saga, which as far as I can tell, seems mostly identical to at least most of the other versions but it lacks all of the co-op/multiplayer components. I did also see some minor graphical glitches but they didn't effect gameplay.
The 3D remake of Final fantasy 3. It seems identical to the PSP version but it's obviously running at a higher resolution and possibly a higher frame rate as well.
Bloons TD 5, other users have mentioned 6 but 5 is also good too.
HamSandwich, which is not available through the Google Play Store, so you may soon be stuck with the browser version when Google's changes to side loading take effect. Also, I recommend using either a keyboard or a controller, as the touchscreen controls are not that good.
The Enchanted Cave 2, the first one is also pretty good too but 2 has a lot more content and is a much better game all around.
I know that a lot of people have issues with games that have MTX, but I will defend these games if they are actually good and I can play them without feeling like I'm being force to put money in. Here are some of the games I can remember:
Honkai Impact 3rd, I haven't completed the story yet but I've played up to the end of chapter 28 of part 1 and I haven't had to put a single cent into the game. My only issue with this game is that, while the game does have keyboard support and the keyboard controls are decent, it doesn't have controller support for some reason.
Bloons Monkey City, this game is basically just Bloons TD 5 but with a city building mechanic and some online components.
The Walking Zombie 2: Shooter. This ones a bit weird but I've been playing this occasionally. It's a pretty decent FPS that takes at least some inspiration from the Fallout games. It's not a masterpiece by any means but it still seems worth mentioning. I just wish it had keyboard and mouse support.
Balatro. Be warned though, it’s digital crack. One time payment though, no mtx
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.
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There are actual AAA full games, Feral Games is releasing a lot of their games on Mobile now (Android as example), like Alien: Isolation, XCOM 2, GRID Legends, Several Total War Entries and Tropico.
Hitman Absolution launches now in October 16th.
There are also some from other devs, like Focus' Mudrunner and Square Enix's Life Is Strange.
If you want awesome casual ones, there's Balatro, Isle of Arrows, Keep on Mining (non-slop incremental), Dungeon Clawler, Siege Up! and All Aboard! of the top of my head.
Look for old games, that were released a long time ago before the “predation” was so required.
Osmos and World of Goo come to mind. Monument Valley 1 was a more popular, recent one in that vein.
Other than that, the FOSS and emulation recommendations here are great.
Steamworld Heist is so good on phones and tablets. Zero ads, dark patterns, or scummy behavior.
Walkscape is a step counter and an RPG, it's pretty cool but not exactly a game you spend a lot of time on. You mostly just walk and then check your progress and make a few decisions for your next walk (inventory, equipment, tasks, travels...)
Chess.
Hasn't gotten an update in awhile but the community is thriving.
And go for Lichess, it’s free.
Puzzles by Simon whatshisface
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=name.boyle.chris.sgtpuzzles
Bunch of puzzle games, no monetisation
Hey, a little respect for the developer of PuTTY. (yes, it's the same guy)
Wow I didn’t know that, super cool.
A while ago, I came across a curated list of no-BS games for Android and iOS.
BS consists of ads or barriers to progress that can't be removed with a one-time payment. It has user ratings, and the highly-rated games are nearly certain to be good examples of their category.
Stardew Valley, Shattered Pixel Dungeon, Luanti with VoxelLibre, Mojo Launcher, Unciv, Lemuroid to play console games like Crash Bandicoot or Super Mario Bros, Geometry Dash (not the Lite version, that has ads), 2048, Vector Pinball, 1010! Klooni
Shattered is fantastic, but I'd hate it on any phone that you don't have a stylus for.
Mindustry: an automation tower defense game
Shattered pixel dungeon: a classic Roguelike dungeon crawler
Slay the spire: a deck builder Roguelike. Probably one of the most popular in the whole Roguelike genre
Peglin: a lot like slay the spire, but plinko instead of cards
The mobile version of Papers Please is exquisite. I highly recommend reading the developer's documentary of it: https://dukope.com/devlogs/papers-please/mobile/
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Ace Attorney I believe had a very good mobile port.
One I’ve been addicted to, and have spent no money on, is Zenless Zone Zero. Gacha game with action-style combat using dodges, parries, and flashy effects. In some ways a cool demonstration of what phones can render now. Very much depends on what your gacha/FOMO resistance is.
I'm a big fan of Shattered Pixel Dungeon!
Night of the Full Moon Clickpocalypse Atomas Rusted Warfare Luck be a Landlord Magnet Balls 2
People have done a good job of mentioning the free open-source games that I'd call notable already.
I don't play most mobile games, because most are commercial, and I'm not willing to get a Google account and associate it with my phone. I think that Google has enough information about me.
However, there are a number of commercial games that exist for both the PC and for Android, stuff like Bloons TD 6. Unless you have a PC, I'd probably take a glance there, since if a game is good-enough, unless it's deeply tied to a touch interface, I'd expect it to have a PC port.
goes to find a list of Steam games with mobile ports
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44803552-Mobile-Ports/
Some games on there that I know and think are good
though I haven't played the mobile versions, and can't speak as to port quality:
- Stardew Valley. I'm not a huge fan of this type of game
lots of drudge tasks
but I think that it was well-made, and lots of people like it.
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Balatro. Already mentioned here.
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Hades. Action roguelite. Might want a controller for this; I don't know how well this would translate to a touch interface.
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Terraria. I don't know how well this would work without a mouse.
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Bloons TD 6. I already mentioned this.
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Subnautica. Dunno how well this translates to not having a mouse, and the game is 3D-heavy, so I dunno what tradeoffs someone is gonna make to get it running on a phone, but it's pretty neat.
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Vampire Survivors. I'd guess that this is probably playable with a touch interface, though probably best with a controller.
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Slay the Spire.
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Dead Cells. This might want a controller.
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Papers, Please
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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I would definitely want a controller for this.
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Spiritfarer. Didn't really click with me, but popular, and if you're looking for an adventure game...
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Little Inferno. Older puzzle game that I enjoyed, and I don't usually do puzzle games.
I'd also mention:
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead (if you want Android; there isn't a current iOS version) is a good free and open-source game on the PC with an extremely steep learning curve. It is a very deep open-world roguelike. However, it is seriously tied to a keyboard interface. I have played the Android version, and while I think that the porter did do a better job than I expected making it playable on Android, it's clearly not optimized for a touch interface, and it is very CPU-hungry, so can run slower than the original does on PC.
Hoplite
Pixel Dungeon
Tiny Folk
Unciv
Battle for Polytopia
micRogue
Doom & Dentiny
the mobile port of Chrono Trigger
and I strongly recommend the GBA and GameBoy emulators MyBoy! and MyOldboy! for playing those entire libraries on the go
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