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Ask HN: How do you find high quality mobile games?

113 points by zeroxfe ↗ HN
How does one find high quality games on mobile? There's so much crap out there on the Play store, it's really hard to pick games. I don't care much about the genre or the price, I just want to play some high quality, low bullshit (no ads, spam, loot boxes, etc.) games.

Is there a website that curates games? What games do HN readers like?

116 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 174 ms ] thread
NickC25
I don't really play mobile games. The one exception I have is chess. LiChess is a fantastic free app that has standard chess and a half a dozen different variations. Even has an offline mode where you can play the computer or play against someone locally on the same device.

The problem with mobile gaming today is that it's such a cash cow that everyone has jumped on the lootboxes/microtransactions bandwagon.

If you want no ads and high quality but want to play games on the go, buy a Switch.

capableweb
> If you want no ads and high quality but want to play games on the go, buy a Switch.

Hardly comparable to a device you already own and also most likely always have with you. It's not a solution for many to carry a dedicated gaming device with them always, just in case they have 15 minutes they wanna play a small game.

muzani
Switch is a bit too much commitment. Mobile is too casual and becomes pay to win. I wish there was a middle ground, somewhere that PC games reside. It might just be the Steam Deck.

I want to play games for maybe 3-13 hours. There's a sweet spot with say, Kairosoft games, but mobile has long left this zone.

WASDx
Emulators can be used to play old console games.
Kelteseth
Pokemon red is still the best mobile game
kibwen
Pokemon Showdown also works great in a mobile browser, it's a free, open source, highly popular PVP battle simulator and team builder: https://pokemonshowdown.com/
usbakimbo
This is the correct answer honestly

There's a handful of games that are good on mobile - Bloons Tower Defense 6 comes to mind (does have micro transactions but they can be easily avoided to be honest)

But the fact that you can get Retro Arch and play any game from like the PS2 and older is amazing

If you get a controller like the Razer Kishi for example you can have a Switch-like experience

I've yet to try it, but I was gonna play Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask using my phone and Retro Arch

Should work well

Apreche
Pay for Apple Arcade. Games in there are guaranteed not to have ads, spam, or microtransactions.
tonmoy
I loved the collection on apple arcade, but since I play maybe 1 game for 3-4 months casually, I couldn't justify the recurring cost.
qsort
I get Apple Arcade through my Apple One subscription. I am an happy customer, but also to be honest not much of a gamer. You won't get AAA titles on it (or even a large selection of titles).

If you're like me then Apple Arcade is a great service, but YMMV.

laserdancepony
Oftentimes the games are just cleaned up versions of their microtransaction-ridden originators, bearing the same incentivisation mechanics just without having to pay money. So that's pointless then.
masteranza
Usually luck. Try Alien Isolation on iOS.
coolgoose
Battle for wesnoth :)
qsort
Is it still being played? Back in the day it was one of the few good Linux games.
coolgoose
Playing it on Android VS bots or doing a campaign is still pretty nice. It's still being developed so can't complain :)
IceDane
Frankly, I've just given up. It's just heaps upon heaps of utter trash. Every time something just slightly nice is made, it is quickly drowned out by the 1000s of clones are almost always much worse and full of ads and microtransactions.
emehex
Curious: what monetization strategies do you find most inoffensive?
Jabrov
Paying for the game
lylejantzi3rd
How much? Mobile games aren't any less expensive to develop than desktop or console games, but I doubt you'd be willing to pay $50 for one.
add-sub-mul-div
> Mobile games aren't any less expensive to develop than desktop or console games

What accounts for that? Even discounting AAA desktop/console games, mobile games are generally expected to have less content and they're written in higher level languages.

freedomben
> Mobile games aren't any less expensive to develop than desktop or console games,

This is not consistent with my experience. I suspect it's the overly broad nature that is wrong. Mobile games are usually much shorter and much simpler gameplay than desktop/console, which aboslutely are cheaper to make. If what you meant was "the same game on desktop and mobile is similar expense to make" then I agree, but you should specify those constraints as those are important qualifiers.

dillydogg
I just play Super Auto Pets. But I honestly can't even say where I found it, someone must have recommended it to me.
eatonphil
DS and Game Boy Advance emulators so I can play pokemon games.
dddrh
It’s a bit old but still running: Touch Arcade^ has a good mix of deep dives and “out this week” with a pretty active forum for new mobile (iOS and android) and switch games.

I still find myself at least considering the weekly features or looking at what they curate for “out this week”.

^ https://toucharcade.com/

redmerchant2
You’d have to pay money. Monetization heavily favors mictrotransactions and are built around the most abusive Skinner box concepts. The Asian market is well known to spend high rates on IAP letting terrible games earn 100s of millions.

Subreddits like r/iosgaming should be a good starting point.

chomp
Agree with all of this except /r/iosgaming, have seen more than a few requests for quality games get drowned out with “there’s nothing wrong with mtx, just don’t buy it”

People get weirdly defensive when you mention that you don’t even want the option for mtx in the games you play.

barbariangrunge
The impossibility of finding good mobile games is why I develop desktop and console games. I have no idea how to get discovered in the soup of the mobile app stores and I don't want to build the kind of skinner's box it would take to compete alongside most of those games.

There are great mobile games out there, but I have no idea to find them except by accident.

It's so bad that something like 0.01% of mobile apps make back their investment costs[1]. This is, amazingly, far worse than the rate for indie games on desktop and consoles.

See: 80 days, Sorcery! (really, anything by Inkle), Universal Paperclips, VVVVVV (better on desktop though), and certain visual novels

[1] https://www.startupgrind.com/blog/9999-in-10000-mobile-apps-...

moritonal
I looked up Sorcerry! and it says I can't play it because my phone is too new. This is absurd that the game is already considered out of date, and kind of highlights your point about the difficult market.
jkmcf
IIRC, this is part of the 32bit to 64bit switch. It needs to be recompiled.

I have an iPhone 4 I keep around to play one essential word game that helps me fall asleep.

yyyk
I'd like 80 days except for one impossibly annoying thing (on desktop at least): It doesn't let me skip the overly long opening intro/credits/animation which plays on every game start.
pbronez
Do you think that could be addressed by certification or curation? For example, an org that reviews mobile games and gives them a stamp if they’re not exploitative.

Maybe somebody will start a “real games” App Store on the other side of all this anti trust stuff.

antifa
> I have no idea how to get discovered in the soup of the mobile app stores

If a mobile version isn't too much work, some fans or prospective fans may stumble upon your desktop game and check if there is an android/iOS version.

pipes
What games have you developed? Genuinely interested!
andsoitis
Metacritic does iOS games reviews: https://www.metacritic.com/game/ios

Not sure why they don't do anything for Android (you mentioned "the Play store"). But perhaps the answer to that question also answers your question.

loganc2342
Ah, mobile gaming. The only place that Scrabble can get a 94 on Metacritic.
darkstar999
Look for app versions of board games. boardgamegeek.com
brucethemoose2
- Look for open source games, via FDroid or GitHub.

- Look for games that also exist on PC/Console.

- Use app curation apps and reputable 3rd party game reviewers.

I hate to drop the later two recommendations without examples, but I am kinda out of the the Android gaming scene, and I can't find the services I used before (IIRC Apptopia and some Steam/Android cross reference website).

enragedcacti
On Android it is kind of fragmented (big surprise) but here are some strategies to filter a lot of the mobile monetization:

1) Play Pass - 1000+ Games/Apps with no ads or in-app purchases for $5/month or $2.50/month when bought yearly.

2) In the Play Store, Filter by Top Paid. Most Gacha games are free to play to get you in the door so immediately the Top Paid section has some great games like Minecraft, Bloons TD 6, Stardew Valley, Don't Starve, etc.

3) Open the "Play Games" app and scroll to the very bottom of the Home page where there should be a "Dive deeper" section. That section has a number of filters, notably including "Premium", "No Ads" and "No in-app Purchases". It only shows title cards before tapping so browsing it kind of sucks but at least you know you've gotten rid of the stuff you definitely don't want. It also has a "Trending" filter so you can see newer stuff as it comes out.

antifa
> Filter by Top Paid

Most people are asking because that list is annoying almost the same year to year of games nobody needed help finding because they're already extraordinarily old or popular.

jurassic
Nearly all mobile games are designed to get you addicted and then monetize you via micro transactions. IMO it’s better to just not participate in that form of gaming. I deleted all mobile games about 10 years ago after I found myself unable to regulate how much time I was spending on objectively stupid games like Pocket Frogs (basically you vs an RNG trying to breed and catch them all). I knew it was a low quality way to spend time, but still I would find myself there again multiple times per day because they baked time delays into the gameplay (unless you pay up, of course). I hope it’s the closest I’ll ever get to experiencing a gambling addiction, but it was so odd feeling like I had no control over it after a while. I had to delete everything and go cold turkey to get back control. I still enjoy a good console game now and then but it’s giving too much of my time and attention away to game developers letting that stupid stuff on my phone.
Al-Khwarizmi
I have also pretty much left mobile gaming for several reasons.

But it's ridiculous and a real shame: I have a pocket computer that I'm already carrying 100% of the time, and whose capabilities would be a dream compared to what we had when I grew up with console and PC games in the 80s-90s... and I don't use it for gaming. I'd rather sit in front of a PC or Steam Deck... often to play an 80s or 90s game (although I also play newer stuff).

By the way, some of the few games that are worth it on mobile (as mentioned in other comments in the thread) are ports from other platforms or emulated games. But it feels silly to me to play those on mobile as it's clearly not the best platform for the job.

TillE
There are a handful of mobile ports of desktop games which are fine, like Hearthstone if you're into that. It plays ok on a phone.

But mostly they don't exist. And I'm convinced the root cause is that a tiny touchscreen is an awful medium for nontrivial games. You can make a tiny screen work with a controller, and you can make other types of games with a big touchscreen where you can present lots of information, but the combination is so restrictive that it's just not worth the trouble of competing with the heaps of F2P garbage.

throw9away6
It’s not the screen there were plenty of great games for the gba gbc and DS all had tiny screens
toast0
All of those systems have buttons. The DS etc touch screen is different because you (often) use a stylus and there's less of the effect where your finger obscures the thing you're pointing at.

The Xperia Play would probably be ok for gaming, although I didn't own one. I think the N-Gage was too much of a compromise, but I didn't own one of those either.

BoppreH
Netflix Games[1] have higher quality than usual and no ads, no in-app purchases, and no predatory tactics (in the games I tried). Bonus points for being all free if you already have a Netflix account.

I can vouch for Poinpy[2], Laya's Horizon[3], Lucky Luna[4], and Skies of Chaos[5]. I haven't tried the mobile ports, but the desktop versions were very good: Into the Breach[6], World of Good[7], and Kentucky Route Zero[8].

The downside is that some Netflix'ied games seem to be buggy, and it requires online connection on startup to check your account status.

[1]: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/121442

[2]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

[3]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

[4]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

[5]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

[6]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

[7]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

[8]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

moritonal
Whilst true, you askari HAVE to have a Netflix account. You cannot just buy the game.
julienfr112
World of goo is excellent. My daughters play it sometime, and I hope it may led them to be structure engineer...
nop_slide
Into the Breach is also amazing. Can’t believe they offer it as part of your subscription, I have it for switch too.
freedomben
I haved loved Netflix games. Stranger Things original game was absolutely amazing!

Unfortunately they've made them require a netflix subscription, and to enforce that they require online play. I play a lot when I'm on airplanes or in the mountains and don't have service, so this is a major downside to me.

If anything from netflix games is reading, please figure out a way to do like a "re-check every 30 days" kind of thing.

LasEspuelas
I found these by searching and exploring and in my opinion they are good games for mobile (Android):

* Retro Bowl and others by the same dev * Rusted Warfare for an RTS. * Spent many hours on Andors Trail before reaching the current end * Euclidea is fun if you are geometrically inclined

All these found through browsing and searching.

[deleted]
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scarface_74
On iOS - subscribe to Apple Arcade.

Those are the only games guaranteed not to have in-app purchases nonsense.

Aside from that, there are very few where you pay once and play forever without ads.

ilamont
Other people, especially my teen son. Would never have discovered Polytopia were it not for him.
jslakro
Interesting, I bought this game some months ago and it's not usual I pay for a mobile game. I still enjoy navigating random games on google play until finding some gem but any kind of curation like in steam would be useful for many
atlasunshrugged
I don't have a great resource but I can recommend Polytopia and Rebel Inc, two games that are fun on mobile and don't have the predatory skinner box practices that so many games seem to have.
user32489318
+1 for the Polytopia. You may like freeways, reigns, strategery, cardinal quest 2, subterfuge, final outpost. No or with very minimal micro transactions.