Ask Lemmy

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.

Mobile gaming is so good. There is a lot of chaff to sort through though.

• Balatro is amazing. Great to pass the time with, very playable even for people who aren't that into games.

• Slay the Spire is one of the greatest games ever made.

• Root is very good if you're into board games.

• Baba Is You if you want a mind-bending puzzle game.

• Marvel Snap if you like competitive card games, have way too much time on your hands, and hate yourself a little.

Forkyz is a crossword app that is open source. I love it.

Chess.com

Plenty of bots to get my buttons kicked in chess.

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).

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.

Slay the Spire

The N64 and earlier emulate really well on mobile. It's a stretch to call those mobile games, but you can have like 1000 titles that take up a grand total of around 20gb.

Controls are pretty wonky in some games - it's hit and miss. Touch screen doesn't pair well with some, especially the N64 titles specifically, but it's usually good enough to be playable.

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'm a big fan of Shattered Pixel Dungeon!

Alto's Adventure. One of those simple is powerful games. Though it can get really frustrating as there definitely are situations where the game just decides that you're done.

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.

Most of the mobile games I play have been mentioned by others, but I'll give a shout to one I haven't seen in the thread: Dungeons of Dreadrock. A fun puzzle game with a good amount of content. Free with ads, or ad-free with a onetime purchase; no MTX. Doesn't offer the same replayability as something like Shattered Pixel Dungeon, but I was happy with what I got.

if you like factory builder type games, try out mindustry or shapez

I love Stardew Valley and Gameboy Color emulator

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.

• Balatro. Already mentioned here.

• Hades. Action roguelite. Might want a controller for this; I don't know how well this would translate to a touch interface.

• Terraria. I don't know how well this would work without a mouse.

• Bloons TD 6. I already mentioned this.

• 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.

• Vampire Survivors. I'd guess that this is probably playable with a touch interface, though probably best with a controller.

• Slay the Spire.

• Dead Cells. This might want a controller.

• Papers, Please

• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I would definitely want a controller for this.

• Spiritfarer. Didn't really click with me, but popular, and if you're looking for an adventure game...

• 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.

Magic Survival has been my main game for months; its such a simple game but really scratches that itch.

• Into the Breach (Netflix subscription)
• Shogun Showdown (Crunchyroll subscription)
• Balatro
• Slice & Dice

-endless sky is pretty good -hyperrogue is interesting game, also quite good -dungeon crawl stonesoup is good

though i'm not sure if there are any good pure mobile games, as those are for pc too.

Solomon's Keep and Solomon's Boneyard.

Keep is a traditional dungeon crawler and Boneyard is an endless wave survival game.

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 haven't seen it mentioned yet but I would add the mobile port of Wingspan.

Unnamed space idle

MDickie games are pretty fun.

Luanti

Auto TD https://f-droid.org/packages/ch.logixisland.anuto

If you like incremental games, the Kittens Game by bloodrizer is awesome. Free website, or like a 3 dollars one time payment for the app.