I haven’t had a lot of time to do much console gaming lately but I still would love to have a “go to” mobile game that I can whip out and progress a few levels or grind a few items or knock out a battle or match or two.
Interested to know what games have grabbed you and held your attention lately?
I can’t recommend Stardew Valley enough. It’s $5, but so absolutely worth it. Especially since there are no mtx, and is still getting updates, albeit a bit behind the PC version. One of the best uses of $5 on the app store imo
Mindustry is my go-to when I need to kill time offline. Cross compatible with pc android and iPhone on LAN I think, I haven’t played multi-player in a long time. You could transfer save files as well. Originally a lite Factorio, last I played they added a new planet with different mechanics.
I put about 20+ hours into Monster Train on the PC/Steam Deck late last year and ended up picking it up again on iOS. It has me hooked all over again.
If you’ve enjoyed games like Slay the Spire in the past for deckbuilding rougelikes, it’s perfect to hammer out a battle pretty quickly. The main difference is each level is like playing three battles of Slay The Spire since there are three “lanes” that the enemies move through. It has enough depth and replayability that you can go for quite some time before burning out.
Plus, you can add googly eyes to every character/minion in the game and I can’t not play with that option turned on.
Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rails.
Genshin Impact successfully had my attention for over five hundred days. It’s a regularly updated game that can be played entirely F2P, and I love that concept. Anyone who claims that you have to whale to get good at the game is wrong. You just have to play the game and ignore that some Youtubers and Twitch Streamers seem to believe that fake big numbers are the only way to improve in that game. In reality, I’ve watched streamers ignore that, and instead opt to play with their favorite romantic pairing or favorite character because they just enjoy the game more that way.
Honkai Star Rails seems to be a similar concept, however it faces a dilemma where it is a turn-based game and as a result the battle mechanics, so far, have to be more carefully considered. For example, I run a defense-healer-single attack-AOE attack team. So far, I tend to die if I don’t do that. The gameplay is more simplistic than Genshin Impact, but the battles are stronger and tend to take longer. Bright side: because it was recently launched you get a bunch of free pulls! Yeah!
Honestly I found Genshin to be a very refreshing open world rpg. It’s pretty easy, low stress, and if you don’t buy into the streamer hype, very accessible cheap game.
The music is fantastic, and the world is beautiful. Cross platform also makes it a breeze to switch between my phone and ps5
Shattered Pixel Dungeon, Slay the Spire and a bit of Nikke: Goddess of Victory on the side.
I’m enjoying Diablo Immortal when I’m not at my PC to play Diablo IV. Interloper is also good if you like space combat. Terraria can be fun, too. Vampire: The Masquerade - Night Road is also a good one if you like text-based RPGs.
How much money do you typically spend in Diablo, and how far did you get?
I’ve spent nothing on Immortal (Diablo IV was expensive enough), but I’m still in the campaign. I don’t plan to play it seriously or dive too deep into the endgame. I just wanted a good ARPG on my phone and Immortal, despite the monetization disaster, is a good game at its core.
Was playing Arknights and Marvel Snap for awhile. Might be up your alley based on your description?
Letterpress, since the launch of the iPhone, is still the best word game around if you ask me.
So simple, and yet so complex. A little bit of stratego in terms of holding real estate, but a vocabulary challenge at it’s core.
For word games I really like the digital implementations of Paperback. Originally a boadgame but the app versions is great, epsecially for those who like both deckbuilders as well as word games.
I like the followup Hardback even more but haven’t played the app version of that yet.
Old School Runescape. One of the best games ever made imo
I’m a huge HTYD fan so I’ve been regularly playing Rise of Berk everyday.
Diablo impartial was fun for a few hours before you realised you needed to have a whale sized wallet to actually participate in any real content.
I do not play a lot of mobile games, but when i do, it is Marvel Snap.
I also do not usually play card games, but this one is very very easy to learn and pick up, and quite addictive once the flow starts going.
exactly the same for me and some of those variant arts are on fire.
I just downloaded Tightrope Theatre - and it is pretty awesome rn. A classic platformer challenge, it has a hundred levels and is enjoyable
I‘m playing „Rumble Heroes“ for some time now and I like it. It has mtx but they are truly optional. There is some grind to it after reaching about level 30 or so, but I like to do that in boring situations. Can recommend.
I really like the musical puzzle game “Okay?”. Its one of the old classic app games to me, and has basically a million levels.
