Ask Lemmy

Swordigo!

baba is you is pretty good.

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.

I honestly think Hayday is one of the best free farm games, It does have paid currency but it's not forced on you. You can watch optional Ads for a few daily random items but these are not forced, you're the one who has to click the ticket near the mail box.

Supercell make some of the best games that aren't fully scummy.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp went paid about a year ago and there are no MTX or ads anymore. You can also take a look at Epic, they offer a mobile app with giveaways of paid games just like they do on PC.

Puzzle Heros rpg - this is a turn based match 3 game with diagonals and a time limit to match as many tiles as you can, this powers up your colour coded heros and you use them to defeat/harvest food based enemies to stock your food stalls. Stalls make money, money levels up heros, etc.

It's a 'reskin', albeit a very minorly changed one, of Match Quest, and the art/design is all really well done in an old school 8bit pixel style, with some really beautifully done layered scenery.

It gets a bit grindy and will take forever if you want to win every hero and level them all up to max, but as a casual game to dip into a few times a day to collect profits and loot old levels, and then spend twenty minutes or so playing levels, it's very fun.

I also recommend Flappy Dragon. It's a resin of the bird game, I think, idk I never played that one. The physics is fun and well thought out for each dragon and the dragons all have really nice designs.

Oh and it's probably been mentioned a ton on this thread already but Simon Tatham's Puzzles is a fantastic app full of puzzles that can be played offline.

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.

I found Gorogoa pretty interesting.

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

MDickie games are pretty fun.

If you're into deck building give "Dominion" a go. The base game is free (which is absolutely playable) and a good way to get into the swing of the game. The AI is a cheating bastard through, so either play it on "easy" or play with some friends. It's SERIOUSLY addictive.

https://sudoku.coach/ is installable as a progressive web app and is probably the best sudoku app I’ve encountered. Extremely customizable and good for learning new solving techniques

Infinitode - a tower defense game with a lot of meta progression

Chess.com

Plenty of bots to get my buttons kicked in chess.

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.

Vampire Survivors is great!

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/

Recently I really enjoyed Acecraft which is a gatcha bullet hell with cuphead art style. Its really charming and very much skill based to a point. The only negative is this constant clicking on shit to collect all of the coin garbage which eventually made me quit it but it was fun for a while.

Mecharashi has had me kinda hooked lately. It's a mech builder with turn based squad tactics combat. It's got gacha elements but I haven't felt the need to spend any money. Free rewards have been plenty to get the pilots and mechs I want. It's also a noticeably crash free game. I often swap between apps, changing podcasts and whatnot. This makes many games I play crash or return to the login screen, but not this one. Highly recommend.

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.

Swordigo

Most games on Apple Arcade is proper games.

Lichtspeer is a nice time waster, Roundguard is a Peggle-Roguelike. For on the go I can recommend Krumit's Tale, Meteorfall, You must build a Boat, Hoplite, Shattered Pixel Dungeon , Reigns, Slay the Spire. I can also recommend Cryings Suns, Stardew Valley (of course) and Yes, your Grace.

Most are paid, but if you want to try a lot, get yourself a month of Play pass where most are included.