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
Chess/Lichess. Just a suggestion: There’s some apps and sites that have premium features, but: Lichess has all the features for free, no ads, is open-source and great UI. :)
I’ve heard of Lichess and have seen it recommended several times around here! I just downloaded it. I wish I was a better chess-player…I tend to do the same things over and over again and struggle with really “progressing” beyond basic moves/openers…I always end up getting crushed pretty early on.
There’s a puzzle mode that I would check out. Using that to practise helps you to improve your perception.
Chess is a lot about learning. I would recommend looking at some strong or unusual openings. You can also try to play against the AI at level 2-3. It can be relatively unforgiving, but also isn’t too hard and can get you a few moments of success and happiness. :)
Chess YouTubers like Eric Rosen and Chess vibes are nice. GothamChess is also popular.
Lastly, if you play online, create an account and use it. If you play anonymous you’ll likely meet a cheater and also your ELO won’t be adjusted. Playing in an ELO that suits you helps you to find opponents who aren’t gonna make for a one-sided game.
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
I havent played Genshin but from what i have heard, Star Rail(from the same developer) is even better(though very different gameplay). Tighter story telling, amazing music(timed with in game actions) and a lot of quality of life features that dont exist in Genshin.
Having played both, Star Rail is just different. It takes a “quality over quantity” approach, so the content it has is better, but there’s not much of it. There’s maybe 20-30h of game in there right now, if you do everything. Genshin’s more like 200h.
the only barrier of entry i see for genshin is needing a decently powerful phone (else you might have to use lowest quality with lag) and the storage space for the game. every patch the game gets bigger, and my phone gets hotter. otherwise, great game for f2p.
Shattered Pixel Dungeon is fun. And hard.
Old School RuneScape
The mobile app is definitely what turned me back onto OSRS. I wish I had more time, because the gameplay is like comfort food to me.
I just got back into OSRS. I played it like crazy when I was a kid and was looking for something to kill time at work. I don’t know what it is but it is satisfying to watch those numbers slowly go up!
Arknights (shout out to my kbin mag [email protected]). It’s a fun lil tower defense that you can easily pull out and grind some materials. Keep in mind that it is a gacha game, so there’s definitely aggressive monetization, but it’s definitely on the F2P-friendly side in terms of gacha.
Basically if i’m playing on my iPad it’s probably Slay the Spire. (Works on phone too, but i find it rather small).
Slay the Spire is so good. And translated extremely well to mobile devices! It is addicting and I need to play it more.
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.
I don’t think I’ve played anything but Marvel Snap since it came out. It’s a turn based Marvel card battler, that also scratches the Hearthstone itch I get. Highly recommend!
How much money do you spend in it to keep it interesting?
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.
The Apple Arcade program is nice. I recently download the TMNT game from there and it is pretty fun.
Shattered Pixel Dungeon, Slay the Spire and a bit of Nikke: Goddess of Victory on the side.
Does Apple Arcade count? If so I’ve been playing Agent Intercept
of course! Any recommendations there?
Grindstone is the best (and on Arcade (no in-app purchases)) - I finished all the levels long ago (but they may have added new ones) — just the daily competition (The Daily Grind) is a lot of mileage for a long time player. I spend easily an hour a day grinding - it’s the best!
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.
Old School Runescape. One of the best games ever made imo
