I don’t care much about mobile gaming, and when I play something to kill time on it, it’s often Minesweeper, Sudoku, Dominoes… back when I first got an smartphone (2019) I tried out several games, mindnumbing idlers, big-IP gacha-crap, they all look pretty much the same and looking at the store today I can’t find anything that looks remotely interesting… I mean, I just saw this one Tomb of the Mask but then at the reviews you see people saying this game used to be good but now it has aggressive monetization on everything.

I remember having some good time with Autochess, an Elder Scrolls card game and some Warhammer 40k games, another fun game I played for a bit was Magic Rampage, and I also really liked Stranger Things: The Game (I just saw it was renamed to Stranger Things 1984), but it has been some years since I last played so I don’t know if they became an Ad hell as well.
Back then, I bought two games: Solitairica - which I recently reinstalled and it’s still great. And Rebel Inc. - which I also recently reinstalled but they released several packs of premium content so everywhere you tap they are trying to sell you something… and since I last played they also added a new difficulty setting that is looking very p2w and it’s quite sad. Night of the Full Moon is another game I liked a lot, I tried to buy the full game back then but I was getting an error in the store and gave up, I might buy it now.

  • wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    15·
    23 days ago

    FOSS (no ads, available on FDroid):

    Puzzle games:

    • Simon Tatham’s Puzzle Collection
    • Gurgle (Offline, infinite Wordle Dupe)

    Strategy games:

    • Mindustry,
    • Tanks of Freedom
    • Unciv (It’s Civilisation V, but free)

    Mindless games:

    • Ricochlime

    Emulator:

    • RetroArch (just need the ROMs)

    Free (no ads): Seedship (by John Ayliff)

    Paid (no ads): Beyond the Chiron Gate (also by John Ayliff)

  • Dogiedog64@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    23 days ago

    Shattered Pixel Dungeon is a great one, Balatro is exceptional in every way, and Slay The Spire is crazy good.

  • lapping6596@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    23 days ago

    I love Bloons TD 6. I think it’s fully worth the asking price given they still consistently release updates and content

    • PiraHxCx@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      2·
      23 days ago

      I’ve played all the previous Bloons TD on Kongregate when that site was fire, however seeing it so promoted on Play Store makes me afraid of aggressive monetization, as everything on Play Store seems to be just an ad simulator.

      • lapping6596@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        23 days ago

        Actually, the devs seem to respect the players. I’ve only once spent more money than the initial purchase and it was to add a rogue like campaign feature. There are micro transactions, but it is actually feasible to just play and earn everything. I have all of the heroes unlocked and most of the skill tree.

        Edit: to add, I have the game via steam as well and the cloud saves go between both. Only needed to buy the rogue like mechanic once but base game each time as the rogue like is attached to the cloud account on their servers.

    • Bonesince1997@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      23 days ago

      There used to be some more but they aren’t compatible with modern phones. Even just older smartphone games. The Airport Mania series comes to mind.

  • The3represents@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    23 days ago

    Right now I’m playing Umamusume (I’ve been playing since the summer), which is a Japanese anime girl horse racing game. It’s a gacha game, but they are pretty generous with the stuff they give out, there really isn’t a need to go beyond free to play mode.

  • Coriza@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    23 days ago

    Underhand Is a card game that I really liked, you have like a cult and you have to awake an old god. I liked the humor and the story and the cards.

    Stranger Things: 1984 As others mentioned, it is a really solid old-school adventure “RPG”, kinda vibe of A Link to the Past. Really felt like a SNES game. But as others mentioned it changed name and it seems that now you need a Netflix account to play it, before it had not restriction.

    This is just a honorable mention because it is not available anymore on the play store, but The Witch’s Isle was really nice, one of this point and click adventures, nice graphics and all. Not sure why it is not available, and it was free years ago, But it is on steam at least if you are curious.

    I wish I had other games to recommend, but I also struggled to find good games and specially ones that are in portrait which I think would be better for casual gaming on the go.

      • Coriza@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        5 days ago

        I also was really bad, at some point the strategy clicked for me. Sometimes it is not that obvious. Like, I don’t remember exactly, but not going over the number of cards on hand at the end of the turn was a must, so aways plan to have some space. Also because each turn the “enemy” cards reshuffle but are the same you can play ahead to pay stuff that you will need to pay on the next turn.

        • RebekahWSD@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          5 days ago

          I put it down for a moment, I was annoyed at myself for not understanding how to summon anything but jungle second thing, haha! I’ll have to try more later!

  • Sanctus@anarchist.nexusEnglish
    12·
    23 days ago

    Good open source (F-Droid):
    Endless Sky
    Unciv
    Pixel Dungeon

    Good Play Store:
    Knights of Pen and Paper
    Swords and Sandals
    Sky: Children of the Light

    Theres also a new mobile Kingdom Hearts game in development thats multiplayer and action combat, honestly looks sweet.

  • Echolynx@lemmy.zipEnglish
    1·
    16 days ago

    I’m not much of a mobile gamer, but my favorite is Lifeline. One if the few instances where it really makes use of the medium it is in.

    And it’s a pretty fun scifi/action/mystery story!