Updated 03/30/24
I am a huge mobile game fan. I even have a (currently on hiatus) podcast called Fake Gamer Bro to talk about mobile games. I’ve made a few rec lists on Twitter and Discord, but now’s a good time to get them all in one place. I’ll try to remember to update this, but considering I still have a draft post on here from two years ago, no promises.
If things go into both portrait and landscape, I’m probably just going to file it under portrait mode. I’m also mostly just going to be grabbing descriptions from the games themselves.
Still updating! I just need to publish it sometime, and I think I have most of my big ones on here (judging from my rec lists and podcast episodes). If you like my suggestions, I recommend bookmarking this page and checking back — I’ll udpate with a date of latest additions!
- Portrait Mode – Android & iOS
- Portrait Mode – Android only
- Portrait Mode – iOS only
- Landscape Mode – Android & iOS
- Landscape Mode – Android only
- Landscape Mode – iOS only
Portrait Mode – Android & iOS
Alter Ego
Your interpretation begets your own story. See yourself in a new light as you take personality tests that affect the tale being told in the game.
Key Takeaways:
- Free with in app purchases
- I have Google Play Pass (a phrase you will be reading a lot) so I don’t have to deal with these, thus I can’t completely comment on them
- The App Store shows there are some one time purchases like getting rid of the optional ads, but also some microtransactions that are probably to get the in game currency
- Optional ads
- It’s an idle/clicker game combined with personality quizzes and a story that has 3 endings (two main and one you unlock after you do the two). It was basically tailor made for me
- As mentioned in the Aznana section, there is a reference to it in this game, which I think is fun
Aznana
Joined by Aznana the talking head, a boy earns money and aims to get out of town.
Key Takeaways:
- Free with in app purchases
- Two quality of life (get rid of ads, make things go faster?)
- Some that are in game currency from the looks of it
- Again, it’s partnered with Google Play Pass so I don’t have ads or anything
- Optional ads
- It’s idle/clicker while you’re traveling between areas
- In the shops, it’s all about selling the right things to the right people and using that money to buy from that shop to sell to other shops
- You unlock the story of the world and the talking head as you go
- There are two endings you can get off the bat and one you unlock after both of those
- It’s by the same people who made Alter Ego, so there’s a small Easter egg for that in here, and one for this in Alter Ego
The Burnable Garbage Day
By the way, that day was the burning garbage day…
Broken buildings, piles of debris and garbage…
What on earth happened on this planet?
Key Takeaways:
- Free with ads and an in app purchase to get rid of ads for $4.99
- I’m bad with genres, but you go around cleaning up trash, collecting items, completing quests for people, and slowly uncovering the story of what happened to the planet and what can be done now
- Multiple endings that lets you reset before the last choice to experience them
- The translations are a smidge wonky in some places, but overall good
Card Thief
In Card Thief you move through a deck of cards as a stealthy thief. Sneak in the shadows, extinguish torches, pickpocket guards and steal valuable treasures without getting caught. In your thief hideout you can use your stolen goods to unlock powerful equipment cards. Each heist you can use 3 equipment cards to become a skillful master thief.
Key Takeaways:
- Free with one time in app purchase
- No in app purchases with Google Play Pass. The App Store says the purchase is “Unlock Card Thief” so maybe that’s unlocking more of the game? I’m not sure. Either way, it’s $1.99 and worth it in my opinion
- No ads
- A card based stealth game where you have to pay attention to each move you make and get the treasure!
- Honestly the developer, Tiny Touch Tales, always has interesting stuff going on in their games
Cat Snack Bar
Dive into a world where your passion for food meets the delightful company of cats. “Cat Snack Bar” is not just any game; it’s a vibrant community where the joy of food preparation and cat companionship blend seamlessly, offering an engaging tycoon and simulator games experience.
Key Takeaways:
- Free with in app purchases
- Optional ads
- One of the in app purchases is to get rid of ads, but it’s like $20 which is buckwild
- Cute little shop sim. Reach the goals, upgrade from a lemonade stand to a coffee stand to a snack stand etc
A Dark Room
awake. head throbbing. vision blurry. the voices say to survive. A Dark Room is an innovative text-based adventure that harkens back to the magic of Zork, adding a modern spin on a classic genre and time in gaming.
Key Takeaways:
- $1.99 on mobile, $6.99 on Steam, free on browser
- If you haven’t played A Dark Room by now, do it. It’s such a classic and holds up to the test of time, even against iterations on it (Kittens Game, Universal Paperclips, etc.)
- Gather resources, build buildings, assign workers, craft tools, explore
- As far as I know, Android does not have the greater plot that iOS and I think browser has. I have no idea about Steam, but I assume it does as well.
Death Palette
This game traps you in a gloomy studio for seven days, where you must contend with a cursed painting of a girl and use your wits to survive. Rely on notes from past victims and you may just manage to successfully paint her portrait. But be careful not to upset her, or you’ll quickly find yourself dead! An assortment of terminal tableaus awaits you. Will you be the one to finally finish her?
Key Takeaways:
- Free with in app purchases
- No in app purchases with Google Play Pass, which means I’m not quite sure what the in app purchases are
- Ads
- I’m assuming they’re optional and one of the in app purchases is to get rid of them, but again, I have Google Play Pass so I’m not quite sure
- Horror puzzle game with a story you slowly unravel during the in game week
- See how many deaths you can unlock!
Einstein’s Riddle Logic Puzzle (Android)/Real Logic Riddle Puzzle (iOS)
Einstein Challenge is a tick and cross logic puzzle game to challenge your brain.
Key Takeaways:
- Free
- No ads
- Multiple difficulties, daily puzzles and packs of puzzles
- Simple yet challenging on higher difficulties
- I feel like I often see ads for games like this that end up just being ad revenue generators, so it’s nice to have a logic puzzle like this actually work
- You can hide the clues once you’re done with them which is nice (as long as you don’t accidentally hide a clue you still needed lol)
Farm RPG
Farm RPG is a simple, menu-based farming role playing game / MMO. As you play, a lot of fun things unlock for you to do on a daily basis. There’s a world to explore with townsfolk to help and a community of players to work with and trade. Farm RPG is a game about choice and making money. There are many ways to invest and grow your farm to increase your profits. The community loves to help players in terms of how to play, best things to do first, and more.
Key Takeaways:
- Free with in app purchases, but it’s very easy to get a good amoung of premium in game currency through normal gameplay, and it mostly unlocks quality of life improvements/toggles
- You can sign up for the Patreon at various tiers to get premium in game currency, become a beta tester, or an alpha tester
- There are monthly bundles you can purchase for premium in game currency and special items (that you can get through playing the game each month)
- You can purchase the premium currency separately
- No ads
- Idle game + fishing game + crafting game + easter egg hunting (sometimes literal) + “steak market” + so much more
- Seasonal events that repeat every year
- Constantly expanding and improving (the dev and mods are very open to feedback)
- This includes accessibility! They warn if an optional feature could trigger epilepsy (like fire works you can set off around 4th of July), they’re improving things for screenreaders, etc
- Great community
- Cross-save between platforms
Harvest101
“Harvest101” is a single-player deck-building stategy game set in a medieval farm. Build your own diverse deck to gather food and experience countless events!
Key Takeaways:
- Free with in app purchases
- Getting in game premium currency and seasonal event packs
- Optional ads
- Open card packs, get in game currency a few times a day
- Each game you play you have a goal of having x amount of bread by the end of the week. Some games are only one week, some games are multiple weeks
- Lots of strategies to get bread, in the main playthrough usually dependent on the gimmick of the game (two stone turn to bread at the end of the day, as an example)
- The further along I got, the more it felt like I had to have a really specific deck I just couldn’t figure out how to put together for the gimmicks, but I’m also mid at deck builders
- Challenge mode lets you experiment with more decks without worrying about the gimmick
- Visually pleasing game that has a lot of mechanics and synergies to work with
Lifeline
Lifeline is a playable, branching story of survival against all odds. You will help Taylor make life or death decisions, and face the consequences together.
Key Takeaways:
- $2.99
- Lifeline + is available as part of Apple Arcade and includes and epilogue that bridges this game into the next one
- Compatible with the Apple Watch
- Interactive fiction
- Updates in real time
- Unlike with Mystic Messenger (see below), the game pauses until you respond
- So, if Taylor says it’s going to take 3 hours for him to do something, you’ll get a notification in 3 hours that the next section is ready, but it won’t move on without you
- Phenomenal way to tell a story
- If you like it, there are 3 other games in the series
Meow Tower
Build your very own tower for stray cats. Solve Nonogram (a.k.a Picross) puzzles to buy furniture and decorate your cats’ rooms. Expand the tower and meet more stray cats. If you become friends with the resident cats, they might tell you a secret story!
Key Takeaways:
- Free with in app purchases
- One time purchase to get rid of ads
- Microtransactions for more in app currency including seasonal deals
- Earning the in game currency is easy enough on its own for regular game needs, mostly the purchasing is for aesthetics like changing backgrounds
- Ads
- It’s picross where you earn tuna to buy furniture for cats in an apartment complex. Need I say more?
- Cute and simple — my go-to picross game
Merge Mayor
Welcome to Merge Mayor match puzzles and town building, the relaxing yet challenging puzzle game where you are the new Mayor of a small town. With the help of your assistant Olivia, you’ll solve match puzzles and build, organize, restore, and upgrade your city into a thriving metropolis. Featuring fresh 3D graphics, new items regularly, and satisfying match and craft gameplay, you’ll enjoy discovering secret ways to upgrade the town and watch it evolve.
Key Takeaways
- Free with in app purchases
- Oh, the microtransactions. I think it’s fun to play without spending money, but I also can’t say I’ve never tossed a few bucks at it
- Optional ads
- You will never get an ad in your face you didn’t click on, but I usually click on them and then pay attention to something else while it’s doing its thing
- Board merge game (click to generate items, merge items to create advanced version of items (ie. strawberry + strawberry = apple)
- Customizable character
- Limited time events (that you can trigger and ones that are seasonal)
- Most interesting storage management when your main board gets full that I’ve seen in a merge game yet
Merge Meadow
Collect adorable animals by merging. The more you merge, the more you have. Enjoy two meadows with different critters – the sunny, verdant day meadow and the mystical, lush night meadow. As you keep merging new animals will appear. As you discover more critters you grow the meadows for more merging space. Merge, grow, and relax with the adorable animals of Merge Meadow.
Key Takeaways:
- Free with in app purchases
- Optional ads
- Board merge game
- But your board is a little piece of land with trees or castles and such (depending on day/night mode) and it’s super cute
- It’s been a while since I played so I don’t have much else to say except it’s super cute
Mystic Messenger
“Downloading an messenger app will lead to chatting with hot guys!?” A new type of female-oriented mobile game that you can experience a love story through an interactive messaging app. Receive phone calls and texts depending on how intimate you become with the game characters!
Key Takeaways:
- Free with in app purchases
- Some are quality of life stuff/one time purchases, but a lot are for the in game currency
- There are guides to grind the in game currency, but it’s a real headache. I think you can naturally get enough to unlock the main routes, but for seasonal stuff and hidden routes, it’s either grinding or forking over money
- Some are quality of life stuff/one time purchases, but a lot are for the in game currency
- One of the classic otome games
- It will ruin your sleep schedule if you try to catch every conversation since the chat client updates in real time (another way the in game currency gets you — it lets you get whole days at a time and unlock conversations you missed)
- Despite the negatives, I still absolutely love it and have played all of the main routes at least once
Ord.
Whether it is embarking on a quest to defeat an evil warlock or creating your own world as a god, Ord. tells stories that emphasise player choices and evocative fast-paced narratives.
Key Takeaways:
- $1.99 one time purchase
- Free with Google Play Pass
- Choose your own adventure
- Every prompt and response is a single word
- Fast paced, multiple endings, really engaging despite the one word prompts
Penrose
Penrose is a non-linear narrative by doublespeak games. Scroll forwards and backwards through an ever-changing story. Manipulate the environment, explore every possibility, and unravel the mystery at the heart of everything…
Key Takeaways:
- $0.99 on mobile, $4.99 on Steam, free on browser
- Seems a little wonky on browser
- Interactive fiction game where the interactions let you unlock the story, changing “locked” to “unlocked” so you can go back to a previous section and go through a door, as an example
- By the creator of A Dark Room
Solitairica
Solitairica takes RPG combat and challenging rogue-like progression to a fresh new place—the world of solitaire!
Key Takeaways:
- $3.99 on mobile, $9.99 on Steam
- In app purchase similar to DLC
- Simple and sweet Solitaire roguelike with a variety of powers and deck types
Portrait Mode – Android only
Magic Survival
Magic Survival is a mobile action title developed by LEME. The game is set in a world of magic where the lone subject, a Homuculus, must survive against ever-increasing hordes of mutant spirits.
This is showing off three of the various levels you can play on, each with their own hazards
Key Takeaways:
- Free with in app purchases
- A few microtransactions that I really don’t feel are necessary to enjoy the game. I’ve only ever bought the option to get rid of ads
- Optional ads
- One of the in app purchases is to get rid of the optional ads and play as though you had them (revive after you die once)
- This is the gameplay that inspired Vampire Survivors. Need I say more?
- It’s not as involved as some of the other games in this emerging genre, but that’s a perk for me. I like to be able to play mostly with one hand while watching TV, especially during the early parts of a run
- Still being updated with new and reworked powers
- Multiple characters with different powers, multiple classes that start you off with and boost certain powers, ability to upgrade passives like attack, health recovery, etc.
- At one point the developer said they want to get it to iOS, but they’re just one person, so who knows if/when that will be able to happen
Rogue Adventure
Enter the world of Rogue Adventure, an incredible fusion of turn-based deck-builder card game, RPG and rogue-like, with an old style game pixel graphic. Build your deck, explore dangerous worlds and fight deadly enemies. Defeat the final boss, or die trying.
Key Takeaways:
- Free with in app purchases
- Another case of it has no ads or in app purchases with Google Play Pass so I can’t tell you exactly what all there is. I’m assuming paying to unlock all the classes (instead of unlocking as you play) and getting rid of ads?
- Roguelike deckbuilder similar to Slay the Spire
- It’s simple, it’s cute, there are some classes I love and some classes I avoid, but they’re all at least worth one playthrough
Portrait Mode – iOS only
Japanese Rural Life Adventure
Live in the Japanese countryside surrounded by nature. Fix up an old house, make the yard nice, grow your own crops, and become self-sufficient.
Key Takeaways:
- Available through the Apple Arcade
- Like Stardew Valley but in a rural Japanese area
- As such it expects you to be familiar with the customs and holidays and when they fall, which means I missed some things as I was playing. The point is to play for multiple years, but unfortunately my use of an iPhone was temporary, so I wasn’t able to complete a year
- It’s a really relaxing game that’s fairly intuitive. It’s nice to see the nearby town improve as you work
Super Quest – Spare Time RPG
You can go on an adventure with just one finger in your spare time. Explore dungeons to slay monsters, level up, go to towns & buy equipments, then defeat boss!!
Key Takeaways:
- Free
- Optional ads
- Extremely simple but addictive RPG — the description says it all
- Can be a smidge grindy at times, but you also don’t have to pay too much attention to it while you’re grinding
- Great to play while you’re doing something else like watching TV
Landscape Mode – Android & iOS
Breach Wanderers
Blending together RPG’s, CCG’s and Roguelike Deck builders, Breach Wanderers is a single player, card-based game that gives players countless strategies to play with! Choose your hero, create your deck and get ready to embark in a cyber-fantasy adventure!
Key Takeaways:
- Free on mobile with in app purchases
- Looks like it has microtransactions for in game currency, but I don’t think you really need those. I say “looks like” because I was a beta tester before it was released, so I never had to pay for anything, and I don’t remember any in app purchases. Honestly, you shouldn’t feel pressured to do any of it just by playing the game normally.
- No ads
- Deckbuilding roguelike in the vein of Slay the Spire
- Cross-save between platforms
- Build your own deck and unlock new cards
- Quests and unlockable challenges
- Unlockable characters whose appearances you can customize
Super Auto Pets
In Super Auto Pets you build a team from a lovable cast of animals who will fight for you. They each have unique abilities, so choose wisely who will join your team!
Key Takeaways:
- Free with in app purchases
- The purchases are to unlock new packs of animals or aesthetic
- Autobattler “deckbuilder” setting you up against other players each round
- Since it’s an autobattler, you don’t have to wait on anyone to make a move, your team just butts heads and you see it play out
- You choose the pack of animals you’re playing with and will only be up against people playing with the same selection of animals
- Feed the animals food to give them abilities
- Merge animals to level them up
- Supremely addictive
- Cross-save between platforms
- Browser
- Google Play
- App Store
- Steam
Landscape Mode – Android only
Under Construction
Landscape Mode – iOS only
Under Construction
Felixe Fixates 