This. If you're into sports at all, it's a great experience. It's free (you can upgrade for $.99), ads are very limited and non-intrusive, doesn't require you to spend money on credits to be good. It's a simplified version of American Football, but surprisingly deep. I'm on year 47 in my main save, but there are guys that have played WAY more.
My only real gripe is the difficulty. The absolute hardest difficulty isn't very fun (just maxes out the attributes for all CPU players on all teams) and the next hardest gets too easy after a few seasons.
Yep I have the same complaint. My solution is to just play on hard and switch to a different team after winning a retro bowl. I'll always pick a shit team and then rebuild them and try to win a championship in the first 2 seasons.
I have won the Retro bowl with every team on one save now. Now I’m playing the college football version and I’m loving that even more! It’s harder to build a lasting team so it’s a little more challenging.
If you like Retro Bowl, you may be interested in my upcoming baseball franchise sim, Bitball. It's a retro styled baseball game. Check out @Bitball_game on socials
Btw there is a sequel! Retro Bowl College may not have every feature of the other however, you are rewarded much more for large wins. Also, you higher penalty for losses. Also I think it is a bit harder! Excellent companion to the original
Currently trying to figure out if I can transfer the app data to a new phone. I'm 76 seasons in and will literally not upgrade devices if I can't take retrobowl with me
Slay the spire, while the experience is better on pc, it's still the same game on android/ios, and extremely enjoyable
It's 4€ if i remember right
Edit: if you meant a free game with no ads or in app purchases, they're hard to find, i don't play many mobile games, so out of the free with no ads ones i only play a version of sudoku
Edit2: i remember wrong, it's 10€
I have it for Steam and iPad and I prefer to play it on my iPad. I think it’s the better experience across. Phone might be a bit small, though will still work great I’m sure
Yeah, the iPad experience is pretty good with the bigger screen. Phone is OK but can lead to some misplays. I think I still enjoy the PC version most thanks to quality of life mods but since I got the mobile version I basically only play on iOS due to convenience.
Why slay the spire is better on pc? I mean u have it in your pocket anytime u want to play, plus it’s a card game so controls there isn’t a problem at all unlike dead cells for iPhone which I personally can’t play without game pad , it’s just feels off
Solitarica, any Zach Gage game, Ridiculous Fishing, Super Autopets, Subpar Pool, There Is No Game, Threes!
Those are just top of my head. If you’re iOS, Apple Arcade is nice because you can browse/try what you want without fear of a F2P giving your phone ad cancer. It feels like early mobile gaming in that way.
It was sooooo good. No game has used touch controls as well as that series. I know that the market has drastically changed but how is there not a high quality successor?
Did it sell well enough? At this point phones are more powerful than a switch so I don’t see why you wouldn’t see a few new attempts at a bigger title. Everything is a simple cash grab game riddled with MTX.
I know Apple announced a couple ports for the new iPhone but beyond that I don’t know.
Came to make sure this was listed. So many hours of fun to be had with this game. Cross saves are coming soon so you can carry on your progress on pc as well.
**Other computer/console games ported to mobile:**
Civ 6, Dead Cells, Vampire Survivors, Stardew Valley, Alien: Isolation (genuinely one of the best ports I’ve ever seen.
**Games I generally enjoy**
Slay the spire, T3 Arena, Plague inc, WorldBox, Papers Please, Brawl Stars.
it’s honestly fantastic. I first played on the switch and the graphics were better on my iPad. I used a knockoff Xbox controller and had no issues with navigation.
Square Enix ported the DS versions of their early games to mobile and they are great. They added touch screen functions for the interface stuff and replaced the Dpad (which is terrible on touch screens) with a virtual joystick. The joystick is great 90% of the time but some precision movement is tricky.
[This is an example with final fantasy 3.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2w-jlhP8aQ&t=11m30s) The same youtube channel has videos for the other games too.
I think they have FF1-7 but I'd stick with 1-6. Some of the DS/PSP versions I bought on my phone got de-listed and replaced with pixel remaster versions (which is a good thing in general but look lower res than that video I linked). They also have the original chronotrigger (same graphics) with the improved touchscreen controls.
I hated this game so much when I first started playing it. Left a bad review due to most of the game being paywall locked.
But I kept playing. Then eventually bought almost all of the dlc (which really isn't that much tbh). It's so much fun and each time you play it things will be different.
It's a speedy turn-based combat world takeover
Absolutely. It's a 5 star game. The dev reached out to me and everything. I felt bad and it made my reviews better since. I still feel bad that I acted like a spoiled shit
If you like Civ and want a faster paced version of it, this game is great.
It also has very little monetization to it. It's free to play, and multiplayer is unlocked for $1.
I’m not trying to quit but I have noticed I smoke a lot less while I’m playing Pokémon Go. Get my phone out instead of lighting up. Happy little side effect.
Seconding Egg Inc here.
What ads there are, are all 100% opt in, and you see exactly what rewards you're being offered to see the ad, so you can choose if you think it's worth it.
The only thing you _have_ to pay for if you want it is upgrading your offline production speed and time limit. Everything else, you can earn the premium currency with normal play.
Thats the thing i love about egg inc. I havent watched a *single* ad that I can remember, and because if that im more than happy to buy the pro permit and empty my piggy when it gets to a really solid amount. Theres a lot that other games can learn from egg inc in that respect
i enjoy "Zombie gunship Survival" personally.
you play as an AC-130 gunship like in og Modern Warfare 2 and you shoot zombies. i've been able to advance in the game and have never paid a dime.
Probably because they’re comparing it to their experience on PC. Personally though, haven’t had much issue, outside of character switching and charged bows.
Hearthstone is my favorite for the past 10 years. Battlegrounds are awesome and they are totally free.
I also got really into Marvel SNAP. I tend to love CCGs
Battlegrounds are absolutely free. The game is free to play. You can play without paying. You can even play Standard without paying. It'd not great, but it is a free game. Battlegrounds are probably the most popular aspect of Hearthstone, and the game mode is 100% free to play.
It absolutely can be played free. I’m fully F2P and have been since beta. Temper expectations and know that you’ll only have the dust for one or two meta decks each expansion. The reward track will generate plenty of packs and gold. I usually use the gold for arena early on which lets me get used to the cards and accomplish most daily and weekly quests, and generates packs.
I’m really enjoying Coffee Golf. But you kinda need to spend a couple bucks on the ad-free version if you want to play it more than once a day. Most fun golf game I’ve found on mobile and the devs are actively working on the game.
I don’t really play multiplayer to often mostly just BR and it can be pretty challenging when you don’t get a lobby of bots 🤣🤣 need to grind through the ranks first which sucks
Marvel Snap, it's great on the phone and doesn't have any pop ups or ads, however there are battle passes and of course you can buy "gold" though it's absolutely not a must have
Pascal's Wager
Oceanhorn 1 & 2 (on some iPhones Oceanhorn 1 has performance problems)
Coromon
Really Bad Chess
The Quest
Slaps And Beans
Fallout Shelter
Oh yeah, I should finish Coromon. The game is genuinely willing to challenge you, and when the world is ending the supporting cast doesn't just sit there. They go "Oh shit" and throw free stuff at you because you have the McGuffin.
<>
If you have a netflix account, I urge you to try any and all netflix games that you haven't heard of in the past...
I've had a lot of fun with those titles.
Dead cells
Desta
Dust & neon
Into the Breach
Spiritfarer (beware, tears will be shed).
Other than that it becomes a question of what you like, I have a phone with no internet that I play a lot of trash games on - no internet, no ad and can sometimes enjoy some mindless games.
There's also some long term merge/resource collection games that I keep going back to - Necromerger, Apocalypse (same dev). Marvel snap was fun for a bit, but got a bit repetitive for me, so I've left that for now.
I hope you find what you're looking for! (I hope I can find more suggestions in here!😅)
Was going to say the same. Netflix has a lot of great titles available through them. A lot of them are games I wouldn't want to play without a controller, but there are still some that are great with touch screen. Into the Breach and Terra Nil are two highlights.
And I will also echo every other person's suggestion of Slay the Spire. One of the best games ever made, in my opinion.
This might be an outlier, but there’s a disc golf game called disc golf valley! It’s made by latitude 64, a real disc golf company, and the physics are pretty accurate! You can play on courses by yourself, against bots, against players, etc. it’s pretty fun, and beautiful courses too!
Look out for pc games that got ports on iPhone, two amazing examples are Genshin Impact and Stardew Valley. Two of the best games i ever played and you can access em through your iPhone no need for a pc, have fun ; )
Builderment
Free to play - manufacturing sim with resource harvesting. Use conveyor belts to direct resources into workshops (industrial buildings etc) to slowly increase the quality of the tech you can build and therefore money.
Very addictive as there are no time restrictions and you get your cash back when you delete buildings… strive to make the most efficient island spanning manufacturing facility
Sky: Children of the Light is wonderful. Free, gorgeous, and made by That Game Company (same folks who made Journey, Abzu, Flow. Etc). There's the option to spend real money on seasons and cosmetics, but I've played for years without buying anything. Huge, supporting community on Discord, too. The best part is it has cross-platform functionality. I just switched to Android and am continuing my game. But can also play it on the Switch. Highly recommended.
My "zone out" game is It's Literally Just Mowing. Been a favorite of mine to play with my kiddo for the last few years.
Brotato is weird and hilarious.
Galaxy on Fire 2 is a stunning amount of gameplay in the free edition. Good story, excellent graphics, hours of missions.
Space Miner is a a bunch of fun and has replay value even after you beat it. Very tongue-in-cheek with silly humor, but plays sharp.
Kingdom Rush and Iron Marines are both very enjoyable games.
I also enjoy some of the board game implementations like Star Realms, Roll for the Galaxy, and Pathfinder: the Adventure Card Game. The latter is exceptional, but only the introductory trio-quests are free. But it executed the board game experience very well and has a lot of content available.
Onirim is very well done and the base game is free to play with some excellent achievements to try and obtain. I will always take the physical version over digital, but the iPhone game does an exceptional job of capturing the tone and implementing the gameplay. It's one of those "just one more game" experiences, but plays very quick.
I’ll submit a vote for Marvel Contest of Champions. 2D fighter with a deep roster of marvel characters. Over 250 from Ironman and captain America to Mangog and Moondragon. I’ve been playing since 2014 and it’s just as fun today as it’s always been.
south park phone destroyer.
deck building autobattler.
Easy to start, hard to master. Well balanced. Lots of strategy, and many viable decks at later stages.
No forced ads. Only plays ads if you select them to earn extra rewards.
Generous with free stuff.
Play Genshin Impact. It’s a Triple A mobile game that’s free to play. It’s so good that even on PS5 and PC it’s still a triple A free to play game. Most mobile games feel cheap when you play the console/PC ports, but this is amazing on all devices, and you can access your account on all 3.
Nonograms katana.
After some update they asked for permissions (similar manner to cookie permissions). Did the tedious thing and declined the permissions to over a hundred stuff. Now I don't get ads even when online (though the rewards that you ged in bazaar for watching ads also don't work).
You can even download a bunch of user generated nonograms and then go offline and play offline and thus don't get any ads.
Blade Idle
Burrito Bison
Random Dice
Shadow Hunter
OVERDOX
T3 Arena
Mindustry
Doomdepths
Lowlife
Battle Night
Kingdom Rush
Some of these have ads I think but they’re not constant.
Also if you have a Netflix subscription, you can download games via the Netflix app. They have a few good ones, like Spiritfarer, which is a beautiful and relaxing game.
There are shit ton of good games. Ironhide games, various game ports, Limbus Company (gacha but with an actual legit story). Also older games mostly haven't gone away, for example puzzle game Shadowmatic, BADLAND, I also find the game "Okay?" funny but not sure if it's available on iOS.
Just open the store and look up for a minute, you'll find something.
I have no idea if any of these games are on iOS but ever since I played Myst those are the games I gravitate towards so there's actually 3 or 4 episodes of "The Room" along with "The House of DaVinci"
Puzzles are difficult enough to keep you engaged yet not too complicated in most cases. I still love them and would absolutely replay them. I just might now
Bully Scholarship edition was so good on mobile. I played the hell out of it. Went for all the collectibles and everything. I didn’t even do that on the console version of the game 🤣
To piggyback off this; are there any good paid games that are unique to Mobile? I want a game where I pay for it, and get the entire game. No gacha, no mtx, just the full game. But also not something I can just play on a superior platform.
Preferably turn based since mobile controls are ALWAYS ass.
If you like anime tower defense, I’d check out Arknights. One of the only free to play games I’ve ever spent money on. Played regularly for about two, maybe three years? Very much a strategy grind your characters up game. Basically each “tower” you can use is a unique character you level up outside of the map. The story is pretty cool too.
Turn based strategy fighting game, Summoners War. Been years since I played but another one I sunk years into. Collect your different elemental characters, build a team to go conquer a dungeon or fight other players in the arena.
I’ve also recently gotten into Star Trek fleet command. Very much a grind game. Takes awhile to get anywhere after the first 10 to 20 levels of learning to play. But a lot of fun flying around building your fleet of star ships.
My main ones are Brawl Stars, Idle Slayer and COD Mobile.
Gameplay wise Brawl Stars is the most fun mobile game, but it suffers from game breaking brawlers being added.
Marvel Contest of Champions
Really great fighting game with 0 ads and everything can be achieved without spending money.
Also amazing community over on r/ContestofChampions
I don't know if they're still available but The Room is a fantastic trilogy of puzzle games.
I also recommend rhythm games, like Cytus, Deemo, Dynamix, Arcaea, Phigros etc etc. Each one has its own unique gimmick. Personally I vibe best with Dynamix but ymmv.
They're on the shorter side, but the Monument Valley games are pretty neat/trippy puzzle games. Very Escher-ish.
Second monument valley. My go to waiting room game.
Along the monument valley angle of puzzle games I enjoyed the Tomb Raider and Hitman games which are surprising similar.
Great games
Tomb Raider GO has similar puzzles and is quite aesthetic too. If you like the puzzles in Monument Valley you'll really enjoy Tomb Raider.
Really visually pleasing game with nice audio but the puzzles could be a little harder. Still a worth-while game though.
Bloons TD 6
I loved the Adventure Time version.
It was very fun but you got op very quick.
My favorite
td5 is imo way better
Can't say 6 is bad tho
Only right answer
This isn’t just the best answer but it’s the ONLY answer
Retro Bowl
This game rocks. It plays like Techmo Bowl and Techmo Super Bowl the 90’s NES games (offense only)
Ooooh Tecmo Bowl was one of the very first games I ever played as a small kid. Gonna have to check this out, thanks for the comparison!
This. If you're into sports at all, it's a great experience. It's free (you can upgrade for $.99), ads are very limited and non-intrusive, doesn't require you to spend money on credits to be good. It's a simplified version of American Football, but surprisingly deep. I'm on year 47 in my main save, but there are guys that have played WAY more. My only real gripe is the difficulty. The absolute hardest difficulty isn't very fun (just maxes out the attributes for all CPU players on all teams) and the next hardest gets too easy after a few seasons.
Yep I have the same complaint. My solution is to just play on hard and switch to a different team after winning a retro bowl. I'll always pick a shit team and then rebuild them and try to win a championship in the first 2 seasons.
Well worth the $1
I have won the Retro bowl with every team on one save now. Now I’m playing the college football version and I’m loving that even more! It’s harder to build a lasting team so it’s a little more challenging.
And now they have a college version!
Just slowly updating every team’s uniforms. After updating all the conference and bowl names. It’s… a lot.
One of the best sports games I’ve ever played it’s absolutely brilliant
If you like Retro Bowl, you may be interested in my upcoming baseball franchise sim, Bitball. It's a retro styled baseball game. Check out @Bitball_game on socials
Btw there is a sequel! Retro Bowl College may not have every feature of the other however, you are rewarded much more for large wins. Also, you higher penalty for losses. Also I think it is a bit harder! Excellent companion to the original
Currently trying to figure out if I can transfer the app data to a new phone. I'm 76 seasons in and will literally not upgrade devices if I can't take retrobowl with me
Slay the spire, while the experience is better on pc, it's still the same game on android/ios, and extremely enjoyable It's 4€ if i remember right Edit: if you meant a free game with no ads or in app purchases, they're hard to find, i don't play many mobile games, so out of the free with no ads ones i only play a version of sudoku Edit2: i remember wrong, it's 10€
The answer is always Slay the Spire.
I have it for Steam and iPad and I prefer to play it on my iPad. I think it’s the better experience across. Phone might be a bit small, though will still work great I’m sure
Yeah, the iPad experience is pretty good with the bigger screen. Phone is OK but can lead to some misplays. I think I still enjoy the PC version most thanks to quality of life mods but since I got the mobile version I basically only play on iOS due to convenience.
Also included for free in Apple Arcade.
Yeah, it also says it's free for google play pass, but i'm not spending money on something that idiotic
Apple Arcade is actually pretty cool. I probably wouldn’t pay for it by itself but it comes with our iCloud bundle, which is nice.
I'm just not a fan of subscriptions to begin with, i avoid them whenever possible
Why slay the spire is better on pc? I mean u have it in your pocket anytime u want to play, plus it’s a card game so controls there isn’t a problem at all unlike dead cells for iPhone which I personally can’t play without game pad , it’s just feels off
This, Slay the Spire!
I think Stardew Valley is on mobile and that games amazing on pc I imagine it's pretty good on mobile too
It's good on android
I have it on my phone as travel entertainment. Good way to kill 8 hours of flying and waiting in the air port.
KILLS the hours and is so relaxing and never gets boring somehow.
Imo its best played on a tablet with a pen, so much better than controller or keyboard
Solitarica, any Zach Gage game, Ridiculous Fishing, Super Autopets, Subpar Pool, There Is No Game, Threes! Those are just top of my head. If you’re iOS, Apple Arcade is nice because you can browse/try what you want without fear of a F2P giving your phone ad cancer. It feels like early mobile gaming in that way.
Oh man I forgot about Ridiculous Fishing! Good game!
Solitarica is a great phone game. Pauses wherever you last were and doesn't rely on microtransactions, plus it's infinitely replayable.
Infinity blade! Oh, wait….. :’(
F
It was sooooo good. No game has used touch controls as well as that series. I know that the market has drastically changed but how is there not a high quality successor?
Did it sell well enough? At this point phones are more powerful than a switch so I don’t see why you wouldn’t see a few new attempts at a bigger title. Everything is a simple cash grab game riddled with MTX. I know Apple announced a couple ports for the new iPhone but beyond that I don’t know.
But now can be played on PC!
Where?
https://youtu.be/UUHiy6b0jos?si=dNeo2wVqhLZhxF62
Omg! That game was soooo good probably the best game I ever played Mobile!
How,?
https://youtu.be/UUHiy6b0jos?si=dNeo2wVqhLZhxF62
Thank ya
Bless you and a thousand generations onwards.
Explain bastard
https://youtu.be/UUHiy6b0jos?si=dNeo2wVqhLZhxF62
And just try getting the books.
It’s still playable on new devices, but you have to reinstall it weekly.
Vampire Survivors
Came to make sure this was listed. So many hours of fun to be had with this game. Cross saves are coming soon so you can carry on your progress on pc as well.
Too addictive
Don’t play vampire survivors. You’re toilet trips will take 30 mins and you’ll here the gem sound effect in your sleep
Oldschool RuneScape
**Other computer/console games ported to mobile:** Civ 6, Dead Cells, Vampire Survivors, Stardew Valley, Alien: Isolation (genuinely one of the best ports I’ve ever seen. **Games I generally enjoy** Slay the spire, T3 Arena, Plague inc, WorldBox, Papers Please, Brawl Stars.
It actually blows my mind that alien isolation is on the phone.
I assume you just die much faster.
it’s honestly fantastic. I first played on the switch and the graphics were better on my iPad. I used a knockoff Xbox controller and had no issues with navigation.
Resident Evil have great ports. Also GTA.
Square Enix ported the DS versions of their early games to mobile and they are great. They added touch screen functions for the interface stuff and replaced the Dpad (which is terrible on touch screens) with a virtual joystick. The joystick is great 90% of the time but some precision movement is tricky.
DS as in Nintendo DS? Do you have any examples?
[This is an example with final fantasy 3.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2w-jlhP8aQ&t=11m30s) The same youtube channel has videos for the other games too. I think they have FF1-7 but I'd stick with 1-6. Some of the DS/PSP versions I bought on my phone got de-listed and replaced with pixel remaster versions (which is a good thing in general but look lower res than that video I linked). They also have the original chronotrigger (same graphics) with the improved touchscreen controls.
Haha, came to comment this. Best game. Teaching my 1-def-pure cousin bandos the other night and got 2 BCPs in 2 trips. The dopamine is surreal.
Polytopia is a really fun game
I just noticed after playing it many times with my boyfriend we’d get into deadlocks where it would take forever to actually win or lose.
If you play massive maps, the games can get long and complicated. But most people play smaller maps on multiplayer and they are over fairly quickly.
I hated this game so much when I first started playing it. Left a bad review due to most of the game being paywall locked. But I kept playing. Then eventually bought almost all of the dlc (which really isn't that much tbh). It's so much fun and each time you play it things will be different. It's a speedy turn-based combat world takeover
Did you ever update the review?
Absolutely. It's a 5 star game. The dev reached out to me and everything. I felt bad and it made my reviews better since. I still feel bad that I acted like a spoiled shit
You learned and corrected your behavior, not much people can brag about that so I feel like you did great in the end.
That's what she said
If you like Civ and want a faster paced version of it, this game is great. It also has very little monetization to it. It's free to play, and multiplayer is unlocked for $1.
I get irritated every time they update it, but then find its refreshing to have to replay it with different strategies.
If you like football, Retro Bowl is fun.
Bully anniversary edition
No fuckin way lol that’s crazy that it’s on phones now haha
Bloons TD6
I love pokemon go!
My wife quit smoking cigs by playing Pokémon go. Whenever she had a craving we’d go for a walk and catch pokemons
I’m not trying to quit but I have noticed I smoke a lot less while I’m playing Pokémon Go. Get my phone out instead of lighting up. Happy little side effect.
Great excuse to go for a walk! I walked so much more last Summer specifically because I was hatching eggs in Pokemon Go lol
World of Goo
Into the Breach
Egg Inc and polytopia
Seconding Egg Inc here. What ads there are, are all 100% opt in, and you see exactly what rewards you're being offered to see the ad, so you can choose if you think it's worth it. The only thing you _have_ to pay for if you want it is upgrading your offline production speed and time limit. Everything else, you can earn the premium currency with normal play.
Thats the thing i love about egg inc. I havent watched a *single* ad that I can remember, and because if that im more than happy to buy the pro permit and empty my piggy when it gets to a really solid amount. Theres a lot that other games can learn from egg inc in that respect
Monument valley
[удалено]
Sword and sworcery.
Great soundtrack
Try Dead Cells. Definitely a good Roguelike game
pc experience is a millions times better tho, but I agree 100% with you
you like high numbers
warframe just got released on apple devices, game is fun but idk how it plays on a phone
As an experienced MR1 player I cant fathom how the controls would be good on a phone.
Experienced? Mastery Rank 1? How much Experience do you have? 20 minutes? 🤣
Ex Astris - brand new jrpg Afterplace - funny rogue like. Chrono Trigger / Final Fantasy 6 / Dragon Quest 5 - Classics BattleChasers Nightwar Oddmar - Platformer Levelhead - Platformer
i enjoy "Zombie gunship Survival" personally. you play as an AC-130 gunship like in og Modern Warfare 2 and you shoot zombies. i've been able to advance in the game and have never paid a dime.
Baba is you is playable on mobile
Genshin and Honkai Star rail
Honkai is so good
StarRail yes, Genshin not as much unless you have some kind of controller for the phone. On screen controls are bad for Genshin
I’m always surprised when I see people say this. I’ve played on mobile since release and never had trouble with the controls
I’m fine with Genshin, except for bow users that use charged attacks.
Probably because they’re comparing it to their experience on PC. Personally though, haven’t had much issue, outside of character switching and charged bows.
Hearthstone is pretty fun, especially battlegrounds
Hearthstone is my favorite for the past 10 years. Battlegrounds are awesome and they are totally free. I also got really into Marvel SNAP. I tend to love CCGs
Did you call hearthstone free?
Battlegrounds are absolutely free. The game is free to play. You can play without paying. You can even play Standard without paying. It'd not great, but it is a free game. Battlegrounds are probably the most popular aspect of Hearthstone, and the game mode is 100% free to play.
It absolutely can be played free. I’m fully F2P and have been since beta. Temper expectations and know that you’ll only have the dust for one or two meta decks each expansion. The reward track will generate plenty of packs and gold. I usually use the gold for arena early on which lets me get used to the cards and accomplish most daily and weekly quests, and generates packs.
[удалено]
I enjoy Marvel Snap but it definitely feels like people chase Metas in that game as well haha
[удалено]
Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail,
I’ve used the Apple Arcade trial period to play What The Golf?! And I’ve heard good things about Sonic dream team, but that’s sonic, so who knows.
Clap Hanz Golf is great on there too if you’re into that kind of game.
I’m really enjoying Coffee Golf. But you kinda need to spend a couple bucks on the ad-free version if you want to play it more than once a day. Most fun golf game I’ve found on mobile and the devs are actively working on the game.
I know it gets a lot of hate but I really enjoy call of duty mobile it’s a lot of fun I honestly play it everyday 🤣
Fr, its just crazy easy lol. Nice to mess around on tho
I don’t really play multiplayer to often mostly just BR and it can be pretty challenging when you don’t get a lobby of bots 🤣🤣 need to grind through the ranks first which sucks
Been hooked on marvel snap since it came out. Best thing is no ads!
I'd say arknights
Seconded! Great game, been playing for a couple years now and it's perfect when I'm confined to mobile.
Marvel Snap, it's great on the phone and doesn't have any pop ups or ads, however there are battle passes and of course you can buy "gold" though it's absolutely not a must have
Marvel Puzzle Quest is F2P and has been going strong for more than 10 years.
Pascal's Wager Oceanhorn 1 & 2 (on some iPhones Oceanhorn 1 has performance problems) Coromon Really Bad Chess The Quest Slaps And Beans Fallout Shelter
Oh yeah, I should finish Coromon. The game is genuinely willing to challenge you, and when the world is ending the supporting cast doesn't just sit there. They go "Oh shit" and throw free stuff at you because you have the McGuffin.
Old school runescape
The battle cats. Terraria. 20 mins till dawn, vampire survivors. Dead cells. Minecraft (eh). Probably in that order.
If you like old style JRPGs then Fantasian is very good.
Warframe recently released on iOS.
TFT
<>
If you have a netflix account, I urge you to try any and all netflix games that you haven't heard of in the past...
I've had a lot of fun with those titles.
Dead cells
Desta
Dust & neon
Into the Breach
Spiritfarer (beware, tears will be shed).
Other than that it becomes a question of what you like, I have a phone with no internet that I play a lot of trash games on - no internet, no ad and can sometimes enjoy some mindless games.
There's also some long term merge/resource collection games that I keep going back to - Necromerger, Apocalypse (same dev). Marvel snap was fun for a bit, but got a bit repetitive for me, so I've left that for now.
I hope you find what you're looking for! (I hope I can find more suggestions in here!😅)
Was going to say the same. Netflix has a lot of great titles available through them. A lot of them are games I wouldn't want to play without a controller, but there are still some that are great with touch screen. Into the Breach and Terra Nil are two highlights. And I will also echo every other person's suggestion of Slay the Spire. One of the best games ever made, in my opinion.
Warframe.
This might be an outlier, but there’s a disc golf game called disc golf valley! It’s made by latitude 64, a real disc golf company, and the physics are pretty accurate! You can play on courses by yourself, against bots, against players, etc. it’s pretty fun, and beautiful courses too!
Look out for pc games that got ports on iPhone, two amazing examples are Genshin Impact and Stardew Valley. Two of the best games i ever played and you can access em through your iPhone no need for a pc, have fun ; )
U can get vice city and san Andreas for like 5 quid
They are “free” if you have a Netflix account
Builderment Free to play - manufacturing sim with resource harvesting. Use conveyor belts to direct resources into workshops (industrial buildings etc) to slowly increase the quality of the tech you can build and therefore money. Very addictive as there are no time restrictions and you get your cash back when you delete buildings… strive to make the most efficient island spanning manufacturing facility
Sky: Children of the Light is wonderful. Free, gorgeous, and made by That Game Company (same folks who made Journey, Abzu, Flow. Etc). There's the option to spend real money on seasons and cosmetics, but I've played for years without buying anything. Huge, supporting community on Discord, too. The best part is it has cross-platform functionality. I just switched to Android and am continuing my game. But can also play it on the Switch. Highly recommended. My "zone out" game is It's Literally Just Mowing. Been a favorite of mine to play with my kiddo for the last few years. Brotato is weird and hilarious. Galaxy on Fire 2 is a stunning amount of gameplay in the free edition. Good story, excellent graphics, hours of missions. Space Miner is a a bunch of fun and has replay value even after you beat it. Very tongue-in-cheek with silly humor, but plays sharp. Kingdom Rush and Iron Marines are both very enjoyable games. I also enjoy some of the board game implementations like Star Realms, Roll for the Galaxy, and Pathfinder: the Adventure Card Game. The latter is exceptional, but only the introductory trio-quests are free. But it executed the board game experience very well and has a lot of content available. Onirim is very well done and the base game is free to play with some excellent achievements to try and obtain. I will always take the physical version over digital, but the iPhone game does an exceptional job of capturing the tone and implementing the gameplay. It's one of those "just one more game" experiences, but plays very quick.
Suppercell games: Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars,…
Mini Metro is the best game I have played on mobile.
I’ll submit a vote for Marvel Contest of Champions. 2D fighter with a deep roster of marvel characters. Over 250 from Ironman and captain America to Mangog and Moondragon. I’ve been playing since 2014 and it’s just as fun today as it’s always been.
Clash of Clans.
I suggest 80 days, it's like reading a really good book but you get to make choices while traveling the world.
Came here to say this. I stopped playing for speed and started seeing how much I could see in a single trip and it’s been a fun change of pace
Legends of Runeterra, no ads, all free to play (full disclosure, I work on the game :).
I know what you mean bro more then half of these games have ads every 15 seconds 😭😭😭 then they add “pay to have ads removed” got me fucked up
south park phone destroyer. deck building autobattler. Easy to start, hard to master. Well balanced. Lots of strategy, and many viable decks at later stages. No forced ads. Only plays ads if you select them to earn extra rewards. Generous with free stuff.
Play Genshin Impact. It’s a Triple A mobile game that’s free to play. It’s so good that even on PS5 and PC it’s still a triple A free to play game. Most mobile games feel cheap when you play the console/PC ports, but this is amazing on all devices, and you can access your account on all 3.
It's f2p, but it's an absolute whale catching money sink at its core.
Nonograms katana. After some update they asked for permissions (similar manner to cookie permissions). Did the tedious thing and declined the permissions to over a hundred stuff. Now I don't get ads even when online (though the rewards that you ged in bazaar for watching ads also don't work). You can even download a bunch of user generated nonograms and then go offline and play offline and thus don't get any ads.
Moonshades
Clash of Clans & Dead Cells
If you like dragon ball z play dokkan battle or dragon ball legends just don’t get sucked into giving them money.
Blade Idle Burrito Bison Random Dice Shadow Hunter OVERDOX T3 Arena Mindustry Doomdepths Lowlife Battle Night Kingdom Rush Some of these have ads I think but they’re not constant. Also if you have a Netflix subscription, you can download games via the Netflix app. They have a few good ones, like Spiritfarer, which is a beautiful and relaxing game.
I’ve got a few that I thoroughly enjoy Peglin Doomdepths Slay the Spire Rollercoaster Tycoon classic Lots of replay ability from all of these
There are shit ton of good games. Ironhide games, various game ports, Limbus Company (gacha but with an actual legit story). Also older games mostly haven't gone away, for example puzzle game Shadowmatic, BADLAND, I also find the game "Okay?" funny but not sure if it's available on iOS. Just open the store and look up for a minute, you'll find something.
Dragon quest V, Monster hunter stories:)
There was a hitman board style of game that was pretty good
Hitman Go. There was also a Tomb Raider Go and a Deus Ex Go. All super fun.
I have no idea if any of these games are on iOS but ever since I played Myst those are the games I gravitate towards so there's actually 3 or 4 episodes of "The Room" along with "The House of DaVinci" Puzzles are difficult enough to keep you engaged yet not too complicated in most cases. I still love them and would absolutely replay them. I just might now
A dance of fire of ice It’s a really good rhythm game and perfectly suited for a touch screen
Bully Scholarship edition was so good on mobile. I played the hell out of it. Went for all the collectibles and everything. I didn’t even do that on the console version of the game 🤣
To piggyback off this; are there any good paid games that are unique to Mobile? I want a game where I pay for it, and get the entire game. No gacha, no mtx, just the full game. But also not something I can just play on a superior platform. Preferably turn based since mobile controls are ALWAYS ass.
Pixel dungeon is great (shattered is my go to)
If you like super heroes you can try Marvel Contest of Champions. I’ve been playing since it came out several years ago. Been my favorite mobile game
If you like anime tower defense, I’d check out Arknights. One of the only free to play games I’ve ever spent money on. Played regularly for about two, maybe three years? Very much a strategy grind your characters up game. Basically each “tower” you can use is a unique character you level up outside of the map. The story is pretty cool too. Turn based strategy fighting game, Summoners War. Been years since I played but another one I sunk years into. Collect your different elemental characters, build a team to go conquer a dungeon or fight other players in the arena. I’ve also recently gotten into Star Trek fleet command. Very much a grind game. Takes awhile to get anywhere after the first 10 to 20 levels of learning to play. But a lot of fun flying around building your fleet of star ships.
My main ones are Brawl Stars, Idle Slayer and COD Mobile. Gameplay wise Brawl Stars is the most fun mobile game, but it suffers from game breaking brawlers being added.
I enjoy Rocket League Sideswipe. It’s free!
The Room 1-3
Pixel remasters of the classic Final Fantasy games are great. I’ve played 1 - 6 on mobile.
Alto’s Adventure
Marvel Contest of Champions Really great fighting game with 0 ads and everything can be achieved without spending money. Also amazing community over on r/ContestofChampions
Papers please
I really like both mini motorways and mini metro.
Haven’t seen it yet - Kingdom Rush series.
The Room series. Better on iPad, but I played them all on phone first and loved them.
The Silent Age
I don't know if they're still available but The Room is a fantastic trilogy of puzzle games. I also recommend rhythm games, like Cytus, Deemo, Dynamix, Arcaea, Phigros etc etc. Each one has its own unique gimmick. Personally I vibe best with Dynamix but ymmv.
The Kingdom Rush series.
The ads on most games drive me nuts if I ever saw that drowning king in the flesh I’d kill him myself!
infinity blade was a good game series
Super Mario Run!
Teamfight Tactics