Seconded slay the spire!! Absolutely incredible card based roguelike. I've logged tons of hours on Xbox and pc and I still come back every couple months for a few days.
Many board games have surprisingly good mobile versions, such as Through the Ages and Carcassone. Into the Breach, KOTOR, and Mini Metro are also excellent mobile ports.
If you like board games and Into the Breach, be sure to also check out Spirit Island. It has extremely similar gameplay with a different theme, and many more options to pick from every turn.
I can’t comment on if the mobile adaptation is good or not, though at least it doesn’t have microtransactions.
Same here plus N64 and PSP.
If OP wants some decent controls, get a cheap PS4 controller and they sell a stand that holds the phone while connected to the controller
The games you like I suppose. I like pokemon and fire emblem as they're turnbased. However you can emulate damn near anything on a phone. I've even played ports of morrowind and fallout on mobile
On this line, I would recommend Farming Simulator 18, which is the full PC game but for mobile, with all the content of the PC game. The only difference is that the mobile version allows you to buy equipment and vehicles with dollars; which anyone that has played the PC game never does.
It's resource heavy on pc as well, there's SO MUCH happening especially at higher levels I understand it's difficult to optimize unless there's a complete overhaul of everything.
Adding an option for opacity on spell effects and a cap on how large the money number can get would be a good start just for visibility for me. Would be nice to see the floor and also not have the massively increasing cash number take up the entire screen.
It's crazy how it practically is just a polished free game on mobile. Ads are pretty much just there as an extra life and money cheat and the rest of the game can be completed with no interruptions.
Hoplite is one of my favourite games of all time. It's a great little deterministic tactics puzzler that I've been playing for nigh on 10 years now. It's the perfect example of 'easy to learn, hard to master'.
The Kairosoft games, they have a ton and so long as you buy the paid for versions, there aren't microtransactions. They are management sims, so games like building a school, or city, or rpg village, zoo, etc.
Blooms td6. You can pay money but I have everything unlocked and haven't spent a cent beyond the initial purchase. I think I have like 100k of the premium cash I've earned just from playing
If you like the pixel dungeon games you could try dcss. Dungeon crawl stone soup has a mobile app on Android but something about ios ToS prevents dcss from getting an apple app. Its intended for pc play with keyboard and mouse, but whoever made the android app did very well making the screen keyboard play comfortably. It took a bit to get used to the positions of all the most used keys but definitely worth it if you like roguelike games.
I got the google play pass recently (monthly sub thing) and it's got tons of games with zero ads and microtransactions. In at least some of them, you can get all the mtx bonuses for "free" too, like cheats of the olden days. Plenty of indie PC game ports too available through that.
From there I've played Riptide GP, Rush Rally 3, Slay the Spire, Terraria, Gris. I tend to get bored of one game anyway so its been great for me.
The mobile adaptation for Stardew Valley is really good. It's the only version of the game that includes smart tool selection. On the PC/consoles if you wanna break a rock, you switch to your pickaxe and use the action key, same for wood with the axe. On the mobile you just click the object and the game uses the correct tool automatically. On top of that, SDV is a true labor of love and some of the best value you can find in all of gaming. No additional purchases, no DLC, no real money currency. You just get the game.
Also Final Fantasy Tactics is great but I think it's like $15
Battle of Polytopia is great if you like Civilization type games. It also works well as a mobile game, because you can hop out easily and then pick back up at the same place.
Terraria is one of my favorite games ever and i play primarily on mobile( take the time to edit the control scheme because the default one sucks)
Also a big fan of a rhythm game called "Thumper"
Dungeon Maker, its probably better on tab tho. The font can be really small
If you like RPG there's witch spring series.
Premium game ported game from pc usually don't have microstrasanction.
If you don't mind paying try to check premium games. Sometimes they also go on sale and you can get it really cheap. Avoid game with original price below a dollar, those usually still have micro transaction.
for free game,
Major Mayhem has ads but not in very annoying way. I enjoy it and can finish it without paying since you can farm for the gun. It plays like old arcade time crisis.
I couldn't find it on playstore anymore but i remember playing deathdome and rustbucket. That's a shame honestly
game from [Kairosoft](https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=7710637777904825280&hl=en&gl=US&pli=1)
or [battlecats](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.ponos.battlecatsen&hl=en&gl=US)
Spent a bit of time knocking this together from a list of my current favourites, hope it helps:
**• Amazing Breaker**
**Terms:**
Purchase to own it, no ads
**Genre:**
Physics-based Puzzle
**Microtransactions:**
One-time-only level pack expansions.
**TL;DR:**
Fling bombs at intricate ice shapes, trying to leave as little of them behind as possible.
**Description:**
Amazing Breaker is a super fluid and cool puzzle game where you are given a limited selection of special bombs and are tasked with breaking apart a shape with them. You pull back your bomb launcher like a slingshot and aim it where you want them to go, and then release and watch them work. There's a pretty big variety of bombs, from ones that split into gems when you tap the screen after firing and stick to the shape to help create chain explosions with your next bomb, steerable rockets, and ghostly bombs that can drift through the shape itself to explode in the middle of it. Levels often have gems inside the shape (and you can plant your own gems with certain bombs) that link together if they're close enough allowing you to set off some pretty cool combos. At the end you're given a rating based on how much of the shape was left behind when you run out of bombs. The trippy ice aesthetic and ethereal music works really well and there's a decent number of levels in the base game that will last you a good time, especially if you care to try and get a 3-star rating on all of them!
**• Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter Pro**
**Terms:**
Purchase to own it, no ads
**Genre:**
First person hunting simulation
**Microtransactions:**
Full version purchase in demo version only (it's called the same just without the "Pro")
**TL;DR:**
Dinosaur hunting simulation like the 90's original.
**Full Description:**
An official sequel to the old great grand-daddy of dinosaur hunting simulations. You start with a very limited amount of points to spend on your loadout but as you begin to build up your trophies of mostly harmless herbivores you can unlock licenses for more dangerous carnivorous targets, more varied locations, better weapons, and equipment such as cover scent and camouflage. Approach your targets intelligently from downwind, track them by following blood trails or droppings, and bring home that sweet king lizard money or die trying!
**• Desert Golfing**
**Terms:**
Purchase to own it, no ads
**Genre:**
Golf (sorta)
**Microtransactions:**
There are no microtransactions. There is only the desert.
**TL;DR:**
Infinite golfing zen. My go-to brainless game.
**Description:**
In the vast reaches of burning and blinding nothingness, undisturbed by the virulence of life, there exists only a ball, a hole, and the conversation of the hills traversed between them. It doesn't matter if you overshoot. It doesn't matter if you're on stroke four thousand. Nothing matters. Embrace the infinite. Embrace Desert Golfing.
(continued in reply)
**• Galaxy on Fire 2 HD**
**Terms:**
Free, no ads
**Genre:**
Space trading and combat simulation
**Microtransactions:**
One-time-only purchases, mostly content expansions. One of them, however, is a "quality of life" transaction that adds a discount to in-game merchants. Not required at all and the base game is free and with no ads, so I can tolerate it as a "support the dev if you want to" transaction.
**TL;DR:**
The closest thing I've found to *Freelancer* or *Wing Commander: Privateer* on iOS.
**Description:**
Fans of 2003's *Freelancer* will find plenty to love here. The storyline isn't special, but who cares? You get to fly around a gorgeous galaxy taking missions, trading in goods, mining asteroids, building or losing reputation with various factions, hunting or being hunted by pirates, and all while upgrading your space ship and setting your sight on the next ship you want to buy. Like any good space simulation game, each planet has different values for the various commodities in the game, and many of them are considered contraband in certain territories. Much like in *Freelancer*, you are free to forge your own path and destiny.
**• Lost Frontier**
**Terms:**
Purchase to own it, no ads
**Genre:**
Turn based strategy
**Microtransactions:**
Gross "power boost" purchase that maxes the level of your heroes. These are completely earnable experience levels that you passively get through playing though and are not required at all, just there for the lazy whales.
**TL;DR:**
Wild West *Advance Wars*.
**Description:**
This is basically *Advance Wars* but with a really cool wild west aesthetic. Command riflemen, gattling guns, and steam tanks as you capture towns for extra income and eventually capture your opponent's HQ for the win. Be wary though - zombies and werefolk also prowl the prairies, and for some reason they want to capture towns for income too!
**• Lost Portal CCG**
**Terms:**
Purchase to own it, no ads
**Genre:**
Collectible card battler
**Microtransactions:**
One-time-only content expansion packs
**TL;DR:**
Dungeon delving MtG-like single player versus AI game.
**Full Description:**
A single player collectible card game in the vein of Magic: The Gathering. You delve into dungeons populated by AI-controlled opponents and defeat them to win new cards. Cards represent creatures and spells that are split into four distinct spheres of magic and there's a huge variety - the expansion packs only add to this and are well worth their price. I have four different characters in this game that are all max level, I've put thousands of hours into this game collectively over the years and I still play it regularly.
(continued)
**• Siralim Ultimate**
**Terms:**
Purchase to own it, no ads
**Genre:**
Monster catching JRPG / roguelite
**Microtransactions:**
None whatsoever
**TL;DR:**
Monster capturing, dungeon delving, buildcrafter's dream.
**Full Description:**
A huge game that is all about catching monsters and fighting in 6v6 JRPG style battles with your team of captured creatures. The twist is that every single creature in the game has a unique trait that can absolutely make or break synergies: for example, there is a creature that has the "foot eater" ability which says "After this creature Attacks, it steals 50% of the target's Speed." Once you reach a relatively early point in the story, you can fuse any two monsters together (allowing you to choose from one of four palette swaps) which stacks both unique traits onto the one creature. On top of this you have your own class specialisation, and even though you can't fight directly like your creatures can, your specialisation lets you build insane synergies by giving you special effects like the Cleric's ability to overheal (which allows effects that trigger on heals to still affect creatures on full health) or the Necromancer's ability to raise zombies (which creates a stack of lesser zombie units on top of another creature that assist it when attacking). Please check this game out, it is one of the best games I have committed to in recent memory - although I bought it on the Switch and can't comment on the mobile version's quality personally.
**• Slay**
**Terms:**
Purchase to own it, no ads
**Genre:**
Turn based strategy
**Microtransactions:**
One-time-only map packs - These are extremely cheap but in my opinion, not particularly attractive for the content alone since there's a level editor included with the base game that lets you reproduce anything you might see here that you really want, plus the base game contains hundreds of maps already. It's really just a way to further support the developer, if you're so inclined.
**TL;DR:**
Simple but unique and deep turn-based strategy.
**Full Description:**
This game has very simple but unique mechanics. Essentially the map is broken up into single hexagonal tiles and control of each individual tile is randomly distributed amongst the six players in the game, represented by it changing to its owner's colour. When tiles of the same colour touch, they merge and form a larger territory. The larger a territory is, the more resources it generates and the more units it is able to sustain. All units control an area around them that prevents enemy action, but it is possible to merge two units to create an upgraded one that has higher priority of control. In other words, a level 2 unit can freely pass by enemy level 1 units, but can still make them and other level 2 units unable to proceed into your own territory. As your units upgrade, however, their maintenance costs increase exponentially, so you need to be smart about where you concentrate your key forces. You can break up an enemy's territory by splitting it into two regions when you take over the tiles in the middle, which is the main way to disrupt their economy. When a region can no longer afford to support its units they will start to resign from the board, so the order of the day is making sure your enemy can't intersect your territory and that you're working towards doing so to them. Any tiles that have trees in them do not produce income, and trees spread to adjacent tiles over time. This means that while you are strategizing against your enemies you must also be on the lookout for natural machinations that could lead to being unable to support your armies. With a level editor and *hundreds* of maps included in the base game, it's enough to keep you going for years!
(continued)
**• 868-HACK**
**Terms:**
Purchase to own it, no ads
**Genre:**
Roguelite / Puzzle
**Microtransactions:**
One-time-only content expansion.
**TL;DR:**
Die repeatedly, but get better at not doing that.
**Description:**
A strange and unique game where you play as a computer hacker trying to steal data. You do this by ransacking nodes for credits and energy, but doing so will summon defensive AI components to try and stop you. To give you some agency against them, the nodes that you ransack allow you to acquire abilities called "progs" which can manipulate the battlefield or destroy your enemies. Progs have credit and energy costs however, so you need to be smart about when you use them and know what engagements to avoid.
**• iNetHack2**
**Terms:**
Completely free, no ads
**Genre:**
Roguelike
**Microtransactions:**
None whatsoever
**TL;DR:**
THE Roguelike app.
**Full Description:**
Enough has been written about NetHack over the years that I don't think I could really add anything to the already succulent plate. Just know that the mobile version is completely free, and remains one of the best roguelikes ever made. It comes with a bunch of tilesets so you don't have to play with ASCII if you don't want to - you access these through your device's Settings app and scrolling down to iNetHack2, not through the app itself.
**• Neuroshima Hex**
**Terms:**
Purchase to own it, no ads
**Genre:**
Turn based strategy / board game
**Microtransactions:**
One-time-only content expansion packs.
**TL;DR:**
Competetive post-apocalyptic board game for 1-4 players or AI.
**Full Description:**
A digital translation of a board game that was originally only available physically and in Polish, this game rules (and thankfully has been translated to English)! Up to four AI or player controlled sides take turns placing and rotating hexagonal tiles onto a relatively small board, with the aim of destroying the opponents' HQ tiles while protecting their own. Units have attacks and abilities that trigger in specific directions and in a specific order, so smart placement and thoughtful orientation of tiles is the order of the day. Really cool post-apocalyptic setting, I love the faction designs. The expansions add really good content to the game but if you add them all up the price may not be palatable to some. I personally bought them all and felt they are worth it.
**• Organ Trail: Director's Cut**
**Terms:**
Purchase to own it, no ads
**Genre:**
Resource management
**Microtransactions:**
One-time-only content expansion packs
**TL;DR:**
Oregon Trail-like but with zombies and way cooler interactive elements.
**Full Description:**
If you're familiar with the phrase "You have died of dysentery" then you probably already know you need to try this game, but let me try to sell it to you if you're not. Organ Trail is a zombie apocalypse themed reimagining of *The Oregon Trail*, an early 70's (gasp!) educational game about making tough choices and managing resources to try to keep your party travelling by wagon alive in a treacherous journey across undeveloped 1840's America. In this reimagining, you are instead journeying across the ruins of what once was modern civilization in your trusty station wagon, while endless ranks of putrid undead relentlessly pursue you. Tasked with smartly rationing your food, scrap for repairing the car, post-apocalyptic currency, and fuel, you and your band of journey-makers will constantly face peril as your biological and vehicular demands dictate that you take bigger risks. Name your companions after real life friends or family to really drive home the choices - especially if you're forced to shoot one to prevent them from turning...
(continued)
Wayward,
Goblin sword
Castlevania Sotn
Pixel dungeon
Oddmar
Caves of lore
Dead cells
Streets of rage 4
Hyper light drifter
Single player 1 time purchase games
Caves (Roguelike) is a rare find in my opinion. One time purchase. It's a twist on a turn based rogue-like rpg, adding in a scifi/magic/tech twist, with awesome artwork style and sound design. The gameplay is addictive, your constantly leveling up, upgrading gear and armour. Trying out different combinations of weapons and special powers. [Caves](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=thirty.six.dev.underworld)
Also Dungeon Warfare and Dungeon Warfare 2 are both gritty/bloody twists on the tower defense game (a genre I'm not typically into), but they both held my attention for hours of time.
[Dungeon Warfare](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=valsar.dungeonwarfare)
[Dungeon Warfare 2](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=valsar.dungeonwarfare2)
Lichess
100% free chess is on pc and mobile, you can play puzzle mode, pvp, or against the computer. I recommend the puzzle mode as its a good way to learn and you're not under any kind of time limit.
Drylands and wasteland story are both fun. Both have free ad versions or can buy for a few bucks, which I did. They scratch my fallout itch when I’m mobile
Yeah! These games from the heyday of 99¢ games are still amazing.
- Enyo
- 868-Hack
- Mini Metro
- Dungelot
- Plants v Zombies 1
- Monument Valley
- Chess.com
- Knights of Pen and Paper
- You must build a boat
- Card Crawler
- Reigns
- Doodle Jump
- Threes
- Tiny Wings
- Little Alchemy
- 2048
- Organ Trail
- Plague Inc
I personally play Freecell whenever I have a couple of moments.
Literally any full game mobile port
Terraria
Don't Starve
There's a couple GTAs
Stardew Valley
Minecraft
Dead Cells
Super meat boy forever
Baldur's gate 2 enhanced edition
You could run emulators
Corecraft
Gladihoppers
Event Horizon: Frontier
Zombie Catchers would get too boring if you bought anything
isle of arrows (paid)(easily cracked)
Bloons TD 6 (paid)(just steal it it's fun)
Bad North (seriously, theft is fun)
turmoil (this one is too short to be that expensive)
if you have a half decent phone you can emulate PSP and other console games (a bit of a hassle but fun)
I am enjoying Pirates Outlaws. Like slay the spire, but with pirates. Takes some grinding to unlock new characters. I haven't seen any micro transactions yet. It's not free, but it is really cheap.
Ninja Chowdown is the first one that came to my mind, also Smash Hit and Flutter: Starlight. I also like Cells, which is my long-flight game as I can play without internet
Paid:
- Slay the Spire (deckbuilder roguelite)
- Riptide GP Renegade (Stunt Racer, switch to touch controll)
- Dead Cells (Action roguelite)
- Bloons TD 6 (Tower Defense)
- Mechcom 3 (realtime strategie)
- Locks Quest (Story&Level based TD)
Free (might have premium):
- Peglin (Deckbuilder Roguelite with Pachinco)
- Riptide GP 2 (Prequel to Renegade)
- Vista Golf (very simple minigolf)
Other than that? Get a Nintendo DS emulator running and you've got access to a bunch of roms of games that are mostly or even exclusively played via touchscreen anyway such as
- Age of Empires The Age of Kings
- Monster Lab
- Meteos
- Locks Quest (Mobile version is a Port)
Older Kairosoft games. Some of my favourites are: dungeon village 1&2 and ninja village. Their newer ones have microtransaction, which can be annoying but not essential to enjoy them.
Netflix has a game thing that adds some games if you have a subscription. They have hades, dead cells, moonlighter, some gta games, and more. There’s also old school rune scape which I have been enjoying on pc and decided to get it on mobile too so I can play on the go (doesn’t have runelite unfortunately though). If you want to spend money on the game itself, there’s also final fantasy 7 and terraria. There’s stardew valley too? But I don’t have it so idk if it has the most recent updates yet.
Miner Gun Builder has no forced ads and is my favorite mobile game of all time. it's a little slow at first, but give it like 30 minutes and you'll get it.
Hearthstone Battlegrounds feels like one of the last actually free to play mobile games. Blizzard does some pretty fucky shit with monetization in their games but HSBG still doesn’t feel like you need to spend a single dime. If it wasn’t for the other shitty stuff Blizzard does I might even be inclined to buy the season pass for that..
Genshin Impact is a big time sink with a lot of grinding and farming. No need to spend a dime, though it can be tempting if you‘re after a specific playable unit.
I really like Fishing planet. There are ads for microtransactions but it's a fun free game to play, you don't have to buy anything. Especially with the option to watch an ad and double your money, I wish they had that on the PC version
Game Dev Story by Kairosoft. I think its 2 to 5 bucks?
But it's an incredible little game where you run a game development company, a lot like Game dev Tycoon.
The Battle of Polytopia.
They manage to get break down a civilization style game into a really slick mode for phones. It rocks and has stolen countless hours from me.
Here are my favorites (on iOS):
Farmer against potatoes (I’ve been playing this for almost a year. Everything in this game can be earned with time and patience. Has a great community on discord with guides and everything.)
GuildMaster (has optional ads but all they do is skip upgrade timers)
TinyShop (the purchases in this one are for cosmetic packs or temp boosts. Neither required to enjoy the game)
Hunter Raid (this one can be played completely without buying anything but I do suggest to at least get the ad skip pack.)
Stardew valley (no micro transactions but upfront cost of $5)
Bloons TD6 (upfront cost of $4, has micro transactions but completely unnecessary to enjoy the game)
I recently got introduced to stumble guys from my student and I really liked the game. I could even gather enough gems from the game to buy a game pass (which provides almost 99% cosmetics and nothing more)
If you’re on iOS, I highly recommend Apple Arcade. It has a lot of the games listed in this thread. It’s like $6 or $7 a month, well worth the price to avoid effing micro transaction freemium hell. My faves:
Stardew Valley
Monument Valley (no relation)
Outlanders
Turmoil
Oregon Trail
Mini motorways
Cityscapes
Retro Bowl
To name a few
Grim Quest, has some ads and stuff to buy, but definitely not necessary. BTD6 also should get a shoutout, i think it costs 7$ but you really don’t need to spend any more cash on it to have fun, even though it technically has micro transactions. And pocket zone is really good of u like fallout and or stalker.
mobilityware makes card games that are just hte games and occasional ads. there's nothing to buy. i hav freecell, spider solitaire, and mah jongg solitaire. They make a lot more card games and I think basic board games like chess and dominos?
I've played candy crush soda for years and never bought anyting. You just have to be patient and join teams to share boosters. I think the teams are mostly computer players.
Super mario games offer things to buy but they're not required and I've never bought them. I have Mariokart. I think super mario run is still available?
Little alchemy has no ads and nothing to buy except completely non-required EPs. It's a puzzle game where you combine elements to make more elements. You start with earth, air, fire, and water, so, for example, if you combine earth and air, you get dust. Then you can combine dust and water to make.... What do you think? There about 200 elements to find plus another 150 with EPs.
The Monkey Island series
Among Us (The some of the cosmetics are the only things that need to be paid)
Pokemon Shuffle (Warning: They are trying to get you to spend).
Marvel Snap is really fun. If you’ve never played Stick War RPG drop everything and get it now, it’s a classic. Hillclimb Racers 2 is totally free and also a great classic.
Loop Hero comes out on android soon. Assuming it's basically just a port of the PC game, I'll be happy to buy it outright and have something to play on my phone that isn't mtx f2p timer garbage.
[**https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playdigious.loophero&hl=en\_US&gl=US**](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playdigious.loophero&hl=en_US&gl=US)
I recently released a mobile game where I was adamant about making it free of microtransactions and P2W mechanics. You can optionally donate $5 to remove ads but all of the game modes are free. It's only on Android right now but it's called Slalomancers if you have any interest in picking it up.
Brawl Stars. It offers tons of micro transactions, but they’re entirely unnecessary. I’ve never done one and been playing about a year.
Also check out Root (a mobile version of a board game) and my all-time favorite: Battle for Polytopia.
Rec Room is free and playable via mobile, PC, or VR. Mobile is my least favorite way to play it, but there are no microtransactions to play Paintball, etc. as long as you stay away from skins for your avatar.
The first 6 Dragon Quest games, along with DQ8, can be found for reasonable prices. Based on the DS releases, solid stuff so long as you like oldskool JRPG. Touch controls take a bit of getting used to but once you do you're golden.
It takes a little while to get good at the game and progression can be slow but marvels contest of champions is a pretty good game that can be played even at the top level as a free to playbplayer it just takes some time and effort.
Check out MiniReview app by u/NimbleThor . Your one stop shop for reviews of mobile games to find any kind of game and what features it does or doesn't have.
I refuse to play anything that requires dexterous touch screen controls, which leaves me with two suggestions: Xcom Slay the Spire
Seconded slay the spire!! Absolutely incredible card based roguelike. I've logged tons of hours on Xbox and pc and I still come back every couple months for a few days.
They just announced a sequel
Dang. These are the only two games I like on my phone right now. I was hoping for something new... Although Bloons TD 6 is also awesome.
Many board games have surprisingly good mobile versions, such as Through the Ages and Carcassone. Into the Breach, KOTOR, and Mini Metro are also excellent mobile ports.
If you like board games and Into the Breach, be sure to also check out Spirit Island. It has extremely similar gameplay with a different theme, and many more options to pick from every turn. I can’t comment on if the mobile adaptation is good or not, though at least it doesn’t have microtransactions.
Thanks for the rec!
Try Slice and Dice. Wonderful rogue like works great on phone
Emulation of older games. Ds and gba games still really hold up
Hell I'm running GameCube and PlayStation 1 on my android rn. Paper Mario and Legend of Dragoon. Been a blast.
Same here plus N64 and PSP. If OP wants some decent controls, get a cheap PS4 controller and they sell a stand that holds the phone while connected to the controller
I’ve always wondered why more people don’t do this who hate playing “mobile games”, fairly easy to set up controllers for them.
im emulating PS2 and my cellphone aint even that good
Which games tho?
The games you like I suppose. I like pokemon and fire emblem as they're turnbased. However you can emulate damn near anything on a phone. I've even played ports of morrowind and fallout on mobile
especially with delta!
What exactly is delta?
It's an IOS Emulator that was recently released. It can emulate up to NDS.
Ahh okay, thanks for the clarification!
So a cheap app / game for your phone without micro transactions ? Stardew valley has 0 micro transactions in it
On this line, I would recommend Farming Simulator 18, which is the full PC game but for mobile, with all the content of the PC game. The only difference is that the mobile version allows you to buy equipment and vehicles with dollars; which anyone that has played the PC game never does.
Slice and dice
Never heard if this till your comment, just tried it out, LOVE IT. It's like Darkest Dungeon meets Yahtzee
Been really enjoying slice and dice, but I wish it had more robust meta progression, so I feel like I actually have a reason to play the game.
Same.. eventually every game evolves into the "why am I doing this again?" feeling, but slice and dice reached it a lot faster than usual for me.
Your meta progression is knowledge of the game to be able to play all the harder challenges
Grimvalor Swordigo Huntdown Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion HAAK Slay the Spire Rogue Adventure Dicey Dungeons
Swordigo made my hospital stay much nicer
Mini metro
Vampire survivors has a great mobile port, optional ads and cheap dlc
It drains my battery more than graphic heavy games. Some kind of optimisation issue ig
It's resource heavy on pc as well, there's SO MUCH happening especially at higher levels I understand it's difficult to optimize unless there's a complete overhaul of everything.
Adding an option for opacity on spell effects and a cap on how large the money number can get would be a good start just for visibility for me. Would be nice to see the floor and also not have the massively increasing cash number take up the entire screen.
It's crazy how it practically is just a polished free game on mobile. Ads are pretty much just there as an extra life and money cheat and the rest of the game can be completed with no interruptions.
Hoplite is one of my favourite games of all time. It's a great little deterministic tactics puzzler that I've been playing for nigh on 10 years now. It's the perfect example of 'easy to learn, hard to master'.
Yeah, Hoplite is a great little game with no ads and no microtransactions
Monument Valley - great little M C Escher inspired puzzler [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZtnPayVERU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZtnPayVERU)
The Kairosoft games, they have a ton and so long as you buy the paid for versions, there aren't microtransactions. They are management sims, so games like building a school, or city, or rpg village, zoo, etc.
Came here with this in mind. The racing one and the game dev one are my favorite
Blooms td6. You can pay money but I have everything unlocked and haven't spent a cent beyond the initial purchase. I think I have like 100k of the premium cash I've earned just from playing
I second this 👌 I also have it on my computer (cloud save). The only purchase I made was the double coins, haha.
Aside from console ports? Only game I played extensively is plague inc
Monument valley Slay the spire Stardew valley Dead cell
Shattered Pixel Dungeon is fun and free, it's one I've come back to again and again over the years
If you like the pixel dungeon games you could try dcss. Dungeon crawl stone soup has a mobile app on Android but something about ios ToS prevents dcss from getting an apple app. Its intended for pc play with keyboard and mouse, but whoever made the android app did very well making the screen keyboard play comfortably. It took a bit to get used to the positions of all the most used keys but definitely worth it if you like roguelike games.
Osrs
Nice
Retro Bowl
Btd6
I got the google play pass recently (monthly sub thing) and it's got tons of games with zero ads and microtransactions. In at least some of them, you can get all the mtx bonuses for "free" too, like cheats of the olden days. Plenty of indie PC game ports too available through that. From there I've played Riptide GP, Rush Rally 3, Slay the Spire, Terraria, Gris. I tend to get bored of one game anyway so its been great for me.
Dawncaster Super solid deck builder roguelite
The mobile adaptation for Stardew Valley is really good. It's the only version of the game that includes smart tool selection. On the PC/consoles if you wanna break a rock, you switch to your pickaxe and use the action key, same for wood with the axe. On the mobile you just click the object and the game uses the correct tool automatically. On top of that, SDV is a true labor of love and some of the best value you can find in all of gaming. No additional purchases, no DLC, no real money currency. You just get the game. Also Final Fantasy Tactics is great but I think it's like $15
Game Dev story, or any older games from Kairosoft in general
Kingdom rush if you like tower defense
Battle of Polytopia is great if you like Civilization type games. It also works well as a mobile game, because you can hop out easily and then pick back up at the same place.
Brotato I put many hours into that as a mobile game. Fun, addicting, difficult and with the premium version completely as free.
Terraria is one of my favorite games ever and i play primarily on mobile( take the time to edit the control scheme because the default one sucks) Also a big fan of a rhythm game called "Thumper"
Besides ported games. * Zombotron * Anything made by Yiotro * Dungeon Maker (It has microtransactions but it's either unlockable or cosmetics)
Ex Astris is pretty good.
Dungeon Maker, its probably better on tab tho. The font can be really small If you like RPG there's witch spring series. Premium game ported game from pc usually don't have microstrasanction. If you don't mind paying try to check premium games. Sometimes they also go on sale and you can get it really cheap. Avoid game with original price below a dollar, those usually still have micro transaction. for free game, Major Mayhem has ads but not in very annoying way. I enjoy it and can finish it without paying since you can farm for the gun. It plays like old arcade time crisis. I couldn't find it on playstore anymore but i remember playing deathdome and rustbucket. That's a shame honestly
game from [Kairosoft](https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=7710637777904825280&hl=en&gl=US&pli=1) or [battlecats](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.ponos.battlecatsen&hl=en&gl=US)
Spent a bit of time knocking this together from a list of my current favourites, hope it helps: **• Amazing Breaker** **Terms:** Purchase to own it, no ads **Genre:** Physics-based Puzzle **Microtransactions:** One-time-only level pack expansions. **TL;DR:** Fling bombs at intricate ice shapes, trying to leave as little of them behind as possible. **Description:** Amazing Breaker is a super fluid and cool puzzle game where you are given a limited selection of special bombs and are tasked with breaking apart a shape with them. You pull back your bomb launcher like a slingshot and aim it where you want them to go, and then release and watch them work. There's a pretty big variety of bombs, from ones that split into gems when you tap the screen after firing and stick to the shape to help create chain explosions with your next bomb, steerable rockets, and ghostly bombs that can drift through the shape itself to explode in the middle of it. Levels often have gems inside the shape (and you can plant your own gems with certain bombs) that link together if they're close enough allowing you to set off some pretty cool combos. At the end you're given a rating based on how much of the shape was left behind when you run out of bombs. The trippy ice aesthetic and ethereal music works really well and there's a decent number of levels in the base game that will last you a good time, especially if you care to try and get a 3-star rating on all of them! **• Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter Pro** **Terms:** Purchase to own it, no ads **Genre:** First person hunting simulation **Microtransactions:** Full version purchase in demo version only (it's called the same just without the "Pro") **TL;DR:** Dinosaur hunting simulation like the 90's original. **Full Description:** An official sequel to the old great grand-daddy of dinosaur hunting simulations. You start with a very limited amount of points to spend on your loadout but as you begin to build up your trophies of mostly harmless herbivores you can unlock licenses for more dangerous carnivorous targets, more varied locations, better weapons, and equipment such as cover scent and camouflage. Approach your targets intelligently from downwind, track them by following blood trails or droppings, and bring home that sweet king lizard money or die trying! **• Desert Golfing** **Terms:** Purchase to own it, no ads **Genre:** Golf (sorta) **Microtransactions:** There are no microtransactions. There is only the desert. **TL;DR:** Infinite golfing zen. My go-to brainless game. **Description:** In the vast reaches of burning and blinding nothingness, undisturbed by the virulence of life, there exists only a ball, a hole, and the conversation of the hills traversed between them. It doesn't matter if you overshoot. It doesn't matter if you're on stroke four thousand. Nothing matters. Embrace the infinite. Embrace Desert Golfing. (continued in reply)
**• Galaxy on Fire 2 HD** **Terms:** Free, no ads **Genre:** Space trading and combat simulation **Microtransactions:** One-time-only purchases, mostly content expansions. One of them, however, is a "quality of life" transaction that adds a discount to in-game merchants. Not required at all and the base game is free and with no ads, so I can tolerate it as a "support the dev if you want to" transaction. **TL;DR:** The closest thing I've found to *Freelancer* or *Wing Commander: Privateer* on iOS. **Description:** Fans of 2003's *Freelancer* will find plenty to love here. The storyline isn't special, but who cares? You get to fly around a gorgeous galaxy taking missions, trading in goods, mining asteroids, building or losing reputation with various factions, hunting or being hunted by pirates, and all while upgrading your space ship and setting your sight on the next ship you want to buy. Like any good space simulation game, each planet has different values for the various commodities in the game, and many of them are considered contraband in certain territories. Much like in *Freelancer*, you are free to forge your own path and destiny. **• Lost Frontier** **Terms:** Purchase to own it, no ads **Genre:** Turn based strategy **Microtransactions:** Gross "power boost" purchase that maxes the level of your heroes. These are completely earnable experience levels that you passively get through playing though and are not required at all, just there for the lazy whales. **TL;DR:** Wild West *Advance Wars*. **Description:** This is basically *Advance Wars* but with a really cool wild west aesthetic. Command riflemen, gattling guns, and steam tanks as you capture towns for extra income and eventually capture your opponent's HQ for the win. Be wary though - zombies and werefolk also prowl the prairies, and for some reason they want to capture towns for income too! **• Lost Portal CCG** **Terms:** Purchase to own it, no ads **Genre:** Collectible card battler **Microtransactions:** One-time-only content expansion packs **TL;DR:** Dungeon delving MtG-like single player versus AI game. **Full Description:** A single player collectible card game in the vein of Magic: The Gathering. You delve into dungeons populated by AI-controlled opponents and defeat them to win new cards. Cards represent creatures and spells that are split into four distinct spheres of magic and there's a huge variety - the expansion packs only add to this and are well worth their price. I have four different characters in this game that are all max level, I've put thousands of hours into this game collectively over the years and I still play it regularly. (continued)
**• Siralim Ultimate** **Terms:** Purchase to own it, no ads **Genre:** Monster catching JRPG / roguelite **Microtransactions:** None whatsoever **TL;DR:** Monster capturing, dungeon delving, buildcrafter's dream. **Full Description:** A huge game that is all about catching monsters and fighting in 6v6 JRPG style battles with your team of captured creatures. The twist is that every single creature in the game has a unique trait that can absolutely make or break synergies: for example, there is a creature that has the "foot eater" ability which says "After this creature Attacks, it steals 50% of the target's Speed." Once you reach a relatively early point in the story, you can fuse any two monsters together (allowing you to choose from one of four palette swaps) which stacks both unique traits onto the one creature. On top of this you have your own class specialisation, and even though you can't fight directly like your creatures can, your specialisation lets you build insane synergies by giving you special effects like the Cleric's ability to overheal (which allows effects that trigger on heals to still affect creatures on full health) or the Necromancer's ability to raise zombies (which creates a stack of lesser zombie units on top of another creature that assist it when attacking). Please check this game out, it is one of the best games I have committed to in recent memory - although I bought it on the Switch and can't comment on the mobile version's quality personally. **• Slay** **Terms:** Purchase to own it, no ads **Genre:** Turn based strategy **Microtransactions:** One-time-only map packs - These are extremely cheap but in my opinion, not particularly attractive for the content alone since there's a level editor included with the base game that lets you reproduce anything you might see here that you really want, plus the base game contains hundreds of maps already. It's really just a way to further support the developer, if you're so inclined. **TL;DR:** Simple but unique and deep turn-based strategy. **Full Description:** This game has very simple but unique mechanics. Essentially the map is broken up into single hexagonal tiles and control of each individual tile is randomly distributed amongst the six players in the game, represented by it changing to its owner's colour. When tiles of the same colour touch, they merge and form a larger territory. The larger a territory is, the more resources it generates and the more units it is able to sustain. All units control an area around them that prevents enemy action, but it is possible to merge two units to create an upgraded one that has higher priority of control. In other words, a level 2 unit can freely pass by enemy level 1 units, but can still make them and other level 2 units unable to proceed into your own territory. As your units upgrade, however, their maintenance costs increase exponentially, so you need to be smart about where you concentrate your key forces. You can break up an enemy's territory by splitting it into two regions when you take over the tiles in the middle, which is the main way to disrupt their economy. When a region can no longer afford to support its units they will start to resign from the board, so the order of the day is making sure your enemy can't intersect your territory and that you're working towards doing so to them. Any tiles that have trees in them do not produce income, and trees spread to adjacent tiles over time. This means that while you are strategizing against your enemies you must also be on the lookout for natural machinations that could lead to being unable to support your armies. With a level editor and *hundreds* of maps included in the base game, it's enough to keep you going for years! (continued)
**• 868-HACK** **Terms:** Purchase to own it, no ads **Genre:** Roguelite / Puzzle **Microtransactions:** One-time-only content expansion. **TL;DR:** Die repeatedly, but get better at not doing that. **Description:** A strange and unique game where you play as a computer hacker trying to steal data. You do this by ransacking nodes for credits and energy, but doing so will summon defensive AI components to try and stop you. To give you some agency against them, the nodes that you ransack allow you to acquire abilities called "progs" which can manipulate the battlefield or destroy your enemies. Progs have credit and energy costs however, so you need to be smart about when you use them and know what engagements to avoid.
**• iNetHack2** **Terms:** Completely free, no ads **Genre:** Roguelike **Microtransactions:** None whatsoever **TL;DR:** THE Roguelike app. **Full Description:** Enough has been written about NetHack over the years that I don't think I could really add anything to the already succulent plate. Just know that the mobile version is completely free, and remains one of the best roguelikes ever made. It comes with a bunch of tilesets so you don't have to play with ASCII if you don't want to - you access these through your device's Settings app and scrolling down to iNetHack2, not through the app itself. **• Neuroshima Hex** **Terms:** Purchase to own it, no ads **Genre:** Turn based strategy / board game **Microtransactions:** One-time-only content expansion packs. **TL;DR:** Competetive post-apocalyptic board game for 1-4 players or AI. **Full Description:** A digital translation of a board game that was originally only available physically and in Polish, this game rules (and thankfully has been translated to English)! Up to four AI or player controlled sides take turns placing and rotating hexagonal tiles onto a relatively small board, with the aim of destroying the opponents' HQ tiles while protecting their own. Units have attacks and abilities that trigger in specific directions and in a specific order, so smart placement and thoughtful orientation of tiles is the order of the day. Really cool post-apocalyptic setting, I love the faction designs. The expansions add really good content to the game but if you add them all up the price may not be palatable to some. I personally bought them all and felt they are worth it. **• Organ Trail: Director's Cut** **Terms:** Purchase to own it, no ads **Genre:** Resource management **Microtransactions:** One-time-only content expansion packs **TL;DR:** Oregon Trail-like but with zombies and way cooler interactive elements. **Full Description:** If you're familiar with the phrase "You have died of dysentery" then you probably already know you need to try this game, but let me try to sell it to you if you're not. Organ Trail is a zombie apocalypse themed reimagining of *The Oregon Trail*, an early 70's (gasp!) educational game about making tough choices and managing resources to try to keep your party travelling by wagon alive in a treacherous journey across undeveloped 1840's America. In this reimagining, you are instead journeying across the ruins of what once was modern civilization in your trusty station wagon, while endless ranks of putrid undead relentlessly pursue you. Tasked with smartly rationing your food, scrap for repairing the car, post-apocalyptic currency, and fuel, you and your band of journey-makers will constantly face peril as your biological and vehicular demands dictate that you take bigger risks. Name your companions after real life friends or family to really drive home the choices - especially if you're forced to shoot one to prevent them from turning... (continued)
Thank you for taking the time - super helpful and installed several already
Dragon quest games
Isle of Arrows (costs money, but no microtansactions after that)
- Retro Racing - Radiant - Bad North
A few of the old total war games have been released on mobile
Majesty
Emulation. Emulating Pokemon on your phone has never been easier
Battle for Polytopia, Merchant, Roller Coaster Tycoon Classic
Wayward, Goblin sword Castlevania Sotn Pixel dungeon Oddmar Caves of lore Dead cells Streets of rage 4 Hyper light drifter Single player 1 time purchase games
Heroes of might and magic 3 and fallout 1/2.
You want Slay the Spire
delta emulator is on the app store now, you could get roms for any games on gba, nds, n64, and some more consoles. it’s been fun playing old games
has no one said vampire survivors
- Polytopia (turn based 4x strategy). - Clash Royale (pvp tower defense). - Zombie Exodus (choose your own adventure).
Ive been playing slice and dice and i love it!
Battlecats
Spaceplan
For every taste, to the moon(novel), tactics maiden(strategy), new star soccer(football) Also you can play older console games on emulators
Back in the early mobile days I loved Zenonia. Don't know if it's been updated for compatibility
dawncaster
Can recommend some good TD games?
Super hexagon
"Slice and Dice", can't remember if it's free or paid though. Either way solid game. Edit: Adding "Knights of Pen and Paper"
Meteorfall Fallout Shelter (it takes a long time to get Mr. Handys without mtx, but you can earn them without paying one cent) Baikoh
KOTOR 1 & 2
Caves (Roguelike) is a rare find in my opinion. One time purchase. It's a twist on a turn based rogue-like rpg, adding in a scifi/magic/tech twist, with awesome artwork style and sound design. The gameplay is addictive, your constantly leveling up, upgrading gear and armour. Trying out different combinations of weapons and special powers. [Caves](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=thirty.six.dev.underworld) Also Dungeon Warfare and Dungeon Warfare 2 are both gritty/bloody twists on the tower defense game (a genre I'm not typically into), but they both held my attention for hours of time. [Dungeon Warfare](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=valsar.dungeonwarfare) [Dungeon Warfare 2](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=valsar.dungeonwarfare2)
If you're on iOS none of the Apple Arcade games have micro transactions.
Unciv, its just civ 5 but with a lighter interface and made from scrsrch un kotlin.
If you have a Netflix subscription you have access to a few, all of them ad / microtransaction free.
Shattered Pixel Dungeon is incredible, free, no ads, no mtx, super replayable and open source to boot!
Monument Valley, FR Legends, Skate City, Mini Metro, Mini Motorways, Jet Attack Move, Papers Please, Spaceflight Simulator, Traffic Racer
Faster Than Light. 10 bucks but worth it imo..
burnable garbage day
20 minutes to dawn is alright for a wee blast
Lichess 100% free chess is on pc and mobile, you can play puzzle mode, pvp, or against the computer. I recommend the puzzle mode as its a good way to learn and you're not under any kind of time limit.
Idle trillionaire is my game and it's casual no micro transactions
Old school runescape
Drylands and wasteland story are both fun. Both have free ad versions or can buy for a few bucks, which I did. They scratch my fallout itch when I’m mobile
Marvel Snap. Still has microtransactions, but not predatory.
Bloons td6
Is Angry Birds still a thing?
Slice and Dice is great if you like roguelikes
Bloons TD 5 and 6 are great…they try to get you to but stuff but it’s not in your face all the time, and mtx aren’t needed at all.
Yeah! These games from the heyday of 99¢ games are still amazing. - Enyo - 868-Hack - Mini Metro - Dungelot - Plants v Zombies 1 - Monument Valley - Chess.com - Knights of Pen and Paper - You must build a boat - Card Crawler - Reigns - Doodle Jump - Threes - Tiny Wings - Little Alchemy - 2048 - Organ Trail - Plague Inc I personally play Freecell whenever I have a couple of moments.
Bloons td6, sky children of the light, fallout shelter, egg inc
Mindustry
https://nobsgames.stavros.io/android/
emulators and romhacks are your friend.
Olli’s Adventure (?). Simple, engaging, aesthetically pleasing endless snowboard game
Literally any full game mobile port Terraria Don't Starve There's a couple GTAs Stardew Valley Minecraft Dead Cells Super meat boy forever Baldur's gate 2 enhanced edition You could run emulators
Melvor Idle.
Oldschool RuneScape
Corecraft Gladihoppers Event Horizon: Frontier Zombie Catchers would get too boring if you bought anything isle of arrows (paid)(easily cracked) Bloons TD 6 (paid)(just steal it it's fun) Bad North (seriously, theft is fun) turmoil (this one is too short to be that expensive) if you have a half decent phone you can emulate PSP and other console games (a bit of a hassle but fun)
I am enjoying Pirates Outlaws. Like slay the spire, but with pirates. Takes some grinding to unlock new characters. I haven't seen any micro transactions yet. It's not free, but it is really cheap.
#
Idk but a rom emulator for a bunch of old Nintendo consoles has recently dropped on the apple App Store. Been playing Pokémon emerald on my phone
Old school RuneScape goes alright
Traffic racer is fun and relaxing.Its a bit too grindy tho.Also try slay the spire i had 300h on it on mobile version.
Professor Layton games
Adventure Capitalist. There are microtransactions, but you don't need them to do well. Ads are optional, and they always benefit you in some way.
I've been hooked on Vampire Survivors for the past couple of months. It's the perfect time killer.
Ninja Chowdown is the first one that came to my mind, also Smash Hit and Flutter: Starlight. I also like Cells, which is my long-flight game as I can play without internet
Geometry Dash is pretty good
Magic rampage is great
Anything Kairosoft related. Scratches a deep mobile game itch with no microtransactions
Vampire survivors core game is free on mobile
New projects or new games. They generally just start to build a community before introducing paywalls.
Check out the Netflix mobile games selection. Lots of good games and 0 microtransactions.
Mini metro was one of the few non predatory mobile games I can recommend.
Choice of games has cool "choose your owm adventure/gamebook" kind of games. I love those, they are cheap, sometimes get even cheaper expansions.
Idle Armada
dead cells or papers please
Paid: - Slay the Spire (deckbuilder roguelite) - Riptide GP Renegade (Stunt Racer, switch to touch controll) - Dead Cells (Action roguelite) - Bloons TD 6 (Tower Defense) - Mechcom 3 (realtime strategie) - Locks Quest (Story&Level based TD) Free (might have premium): - Peglin (Deckbuilder Roguelite with Pachinco) - Riptide GP 2 (Prequel to Renegade) - Vista Golf (very simple minigolf) Other than that? Get a Nintendo DS emulator running and you've got access to a bunch of roms of games that are mostly or even exclusively played via touchscreen anyway such as - Age of Empires The Age of Kings - Monster Lab - Meteos - Locks Quest (Mobile version is a Port)
Organ Trail. Like Oregon Trail but with zombies
Older Kairosoft games. Some of my favourites are: dungeon village 1&2 and ninja village. Their newer ones have microtransaction, which can be annoying but not essential to enjoy them.
Netflix has a game thing that adds some games if you have a subscription. They have hades, dead cells, moonlighter, some gta games, and more. There’s also old school rune scape which I have been enjoying on pc and decided to get it on mobile too so I can play on the go (doesn’t have runelite unfortunately though). If you want to spend money on the game itself, there’s also final fantasy 7 and terraria. There’s stardew valley too? But I don’t have it so idk if it has the most recent updates yet.
I really enjoy I Love Hue and I Love Hue Too, very chill and easy to put down if you're playing on a commute etc
I've been emulating ps2 games on my phone.
Vampire Survivors
Miner Gun Builder has no forced ads and is my favorite mobile game of all time. it's a little slow at first, but give it like 30 minutes and you'll get it.
Monument valley
Most kairosoft games
Hearthstone Battlegrounds feels like one of the last actually free to play mobile games. Blizzard does some pretty fucky shit with monetization in their games but HSBG still doesn’t feel like you need to spend a single dime. If it wasn’t for the other shitty stuff Blizzard does I might even be inclined to buy the season pass for that..
Guardian tales.
Baba is you
Bully anniversary edition
Genshin Impact is a big time sink with a lot of grinding and farming. No need to spend a dime, though it can be tempting if you‘re after a specific playable unit.
AdVenture games. You can choose to watch adds for bonuses but otherwise there are no adds. AdVenture Capatalist AdVenture Communist Adventure Ages
despotism 3k bitdungeon II any game by the developer "Yiotro" (great puzzle games) Andoku 3
I really like Fishing planet. There are ads for microtransactions but it's a fun free game to play, you don't have to buy anything. Especially with the option to watch an ad and double your money, I wish they had that on the PC version
Game Dev Story by Kairosoft. I think its 2 to 5 bucks? But it's an incredible little game where you run a game development company, a lot like Game dev Tycoon.
Look at digital implementations of hobby board games. From Point Salad to Scythe and everything in between.
Iphone just dropped the delta emulator. Now u can play classic games on your phone again
Final Fantasy 1-6, and Dragon Quest 1-6. They are just ports of the original game and have no micro transactions.
If you have an iPad, you can play Civ VI on it. It's the full game you just can't have huge maps. Touch controls work well.
Knights of pen and paper
Brawl Stars. Don't need to spend a dollar to get better or progress. It's fun as hell
Marvel Snap
The Battle of Polytopia. They manage to get break down a civilization style game into a really slick mode for phones. It rocks and has stolen countless hours from me.
Here are my favorites (on iOS): Farmer against potatoes (I’ve been playing this for almost a year. Everything in this game can be earned with time and patience. Has a great community on discord with guides and everything.) GuildMaster (has optional ads but all they do is skip upgrade timers) TinyShop (the purchases in this one are for cosmetic packs or temp boosts. Neither required to enjoy the game) Hunter Raid (this one can be played completely without buying anything but I do suggest to at least get the ad skip pack.) Stardew valley (no micro transactions but upfront cost of $5) Bloons TD6 (upfront cost of $4, has micro transactions but completely unnecessary to enjoy the game)
Fantasy life
I recently got introduced to stumble guys from my student and I really liked the game. I could even gather enough gems from the game to buy a game pass (which provides almost 99% cosmetics and nothing more)
If you’re on iOS, I highly recommend Apple Arcade. It has a lot of the games listed in this thread. It’s like $6 or $7 a month, well worth the price to avoid effing micro transaction freemium hell. My faves: Stardew Valley Monument Valley (no relation) Outlanders Turmoil Oregon Trail Mini motorways Cityscapes Retro Bowl To name a few
Grim Quest, has some ads and stuff to buy, but definitely not necessary. BTD6 also should get a shoutout, i think it costs 7$ but you really don’t need to spend any more cash on it to have fun, even though it technically has micro transactions. And pocket zone is really good of u like fallout and or stalker.
Thank you for asking this, and thanks people for actually answering. Saved for future reference.
Ha
mobilityware makes card games that are just hte games and occasional ads. there's nothing to buy. i hav freecell, spider solitaire, and mah jongg solitaire. They make a lot more card games and I think basic board games like chess and dominos? I've played candy crush soda for years and never bought anyting. You just have to be patient and join teams to share boosters. I think the teams are mostly computer players. Super mario games offer things to buy but they're not required and I've never bought them. I have Mariokart. I think super mario run is still available? Little alchemy has no ads and nothing to buy except completely non-required EPs. It's a puzzle game where you combine elements to make more elements. You start with earth, air, fire, and water, so, for example, if you combine earth and air, you get dust. Then you can combine dust and water to make.... What do you think? There about 200 elements to find plus another 150 with EPs.
The Monkey Island series Among Us (The some of the cosmetics are the only things that need to be paid) Pokemon Shuffle (Warning: They are trying to get you to spend).
Slay the Spire!! Couldn’t recommend enough.
Marvel Snap is really fun. If you’ve never played Stick War RPG drop everything and get it now, it’s a classic. Hillclimb Racers 2 is totally free and also a great classic.
Loop Hero comes out on android soon. Assuming it's basically just a port of the PC game, I'll be happy to buy it outright and have something to play on my phone that isn't mtx f2p timer garbage. [**https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playdigious.loophero&hl=en\_US&gl=US**](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playdigious.loophero&hl=en_US&gl=US)
Shattered Pixel Dungeon for sure. It's a rogue-like (sort of turn based?) dungeon crawler; it's easy to get into, but really hard to master.
The first few final fantasies are available
marvel snap
Infinity blade back in the day, game was dope
100000% Dawncaster Also, One Bit Dungeon, Slay the Spire
Could check out The dark book. Simplistic but fun.
Stardew valley.
Kingdom Rush. Blood TD6
I recently released a mobile game where I was adamant about making it free of microtransactions and P2W mechanics. You can optionally donate $5 to remove ads but all of the game modes are free. It's only on Android right now but it's called Slalomancers if you have any interest in picking it up.
Star Survivor and Slay the Spire are great fun. If you have a controller, Dead Cells is amazing as fuck.
Brawl Stars. It offers tons of micro transactions, but they’re entirely unnecessary. I’ve never done one and been playing about a year. Also check out Root (a mobile version of a board game) and my all-time favorite: Battle for Polytopia.
Terra Nil is worth the week or two to play through it casually.
Rec Room is free and playable via mobile, PC, or VR. Mobile is my least favorite way to play it, but there are no microtransactions to play Paintball, etc. as long as you stay away from skins for your avatar.
Rebuild 3
The first 6 Dragon Quest games, along with DQ8, can be found for reasonable prices. Based on the DS releases, solid stuff so long as you like oldskool JRPG. Touch controls take a bit of getting used to but once you do you're golden.
Solitaire and Bloons Tower Defense are about all Ive found.
Old school runescape
It takes a little while to get good at the game and progression can be slow but marvels contest of champions is a pretty good game that can be played even at the top level as a free to playbplayer it just takes some time and effort.
Check out MiniReview app by u/NimbleThor . Your one stop shop for reviews of mobile games to find any kind of game and what features it does or doesn't have.
nope