The correct answer is video game steaming with a controller hooked up. Otherwise it's Minecraft..... And that's it.
this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2025
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I think no one mentioned these yet: My favorite tablet games are the ports of old BioWare classics like Baldur's Gate 1+2, Icewind Dale, ... Excellent ports imo, bur I did play them on a 10" tablet, I wouldn't try to play them on a phone. https://www.beamdog.com/games/
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
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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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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.
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.
Chess.
Hasn't gotten an update in awhile but the community is thriving.
And go for Lichess, it’s free.
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
Upvote for Slice and Dice
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.
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
Chess.com
Plenty of bots to get my buttons kicked in chess.
Any reason why you prefer bots when there's always a random human available?
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Steamworld Heist is so good on phones and tablets. Zero ads, dark patterns, or scummy behavior.
Some great suggestions in here, but I'd also like to mention This War of Mine. You can read all you like about how good and gut-wrenching it is, but I still always need to schedule some light downtime after playing it for a bit.
Mobile gaming is so good. There is a lot of chaff to sort through though.
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Balatro is amazing. Great to pass the time with, very playable even for people who aren't that into games.
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Slay the Spire is one of the greatest games ever made.
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Root is very good if you're into board games.
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Baba Is You if you want a mind-bending puzzle game.
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Marvel Snap if you like competitive card games, have way too much time on your hands, and hate yourself a little.
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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...)
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.
Endless Sky is wonderful, though the mobile version is a bit clunky (not even an "official" version afaik, but stitched on the ongoing-development FOSS game).
Slay the Spire
Dawncaster - a portrait mode rogue deckbuilder. It's gorgeous and fun and actively developed - all new card expansions are free and the release cycle alternate them with paid expansions that give you new possible harder bosses (or different card art etc). So far we have 2300 cards, extremely well received visual impairment support (honestly the only game I know of that have good blind support), and over 700k words of text (for story, events, mechanics etc).
Overall I find the price model very fair - kinda like Path of Exile model?
I downloaded this last night and came back to say thanks! Great so far and it looks like there's a lot more content to get through and fun builds to try
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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.