No ado. No pomp.
Just that sweet sweet game analysis of games 5,4,3,2, and then 1 HERE WE GO
oh no is this ado and pomp, have I become what I hate
#5 Multiplayer: Tigris & Euphrates The Dr. of board gaming, Reiner Knizia, surely deserves SOMETHING near the top of this list, and
Tigris and Euphrates is a completely worthy start to my top five multiplayer games. This is a civilization-building, tile-laying game where you are duking it out with your opponents for control of
different areas of the board that might or might not spit out points for you that you desperately need to, uh, win the game.
You lay tiles on your turn on a shared, central board, and maybe you start a fight with your opponent where you'll spend tiles from your hand to determine who reigns supreme over the little (or big) enclave that you've targeted with your action. You score points in four different colors over the course of the game based on how you're positioned on the board, and your final score is whatever color you have the FEWEST of at the end of the game (i.e., your final score is how many complete sets of cubes you have at the end of the game).
The game
is over 20 years old, and it hasn't aged a stinking day since it came out. It is reasonably lauded as a masterpiece of medium-weight gaming goodness, and for absolutely all the right reasons: the game has interesting and clever mechanisms, but it is simple, understandable, and oh so very agonizing to play. The game is NOTHING BUT a shared, continual conflict between everyone else, as you wonder who will come after you next and hope to shore up the right kinds of tiles to fortify your defenses, should everything come tumbling down.
I struggle to even come up with very many meaningful, substantive critiques of this game. It manages to expect lots of its players without demanding too much, it is harsh but not cruel, it allows for clever play but doesn't feel overwhelming for new players, it is manageable and understandable without being obvious, and it does all of this with little more than different-colored tiles that you're plopping around a board. If this was the only game that Reiner Knizia ever made, he'd still be a remarkable designer. The fact that he's churned out this and games of such quality as Ra, Modern Art, Samurai, Battle Line, Lost Cities, and much more, is positively stupefying. The man's magnum opus is a no-brainer Top Five game for me, and I won't argue with anyone who says this game is the GOAT.
Solo: Arkham Horror: The Card Game I played
Arkham Horror: The Card Game twice a few years ago when I was really getting into solo gaming in Seattle, and then I went through The Dunwich Legacy cycle with my gaming group this last year. That experience has made me fall in love with the Arkham Horror LCG system, although I know that I vastly prefer it solo to multiplayer.
In AH:TCG, you are controlling different
Lovecraftian adventurers who are trying to sneak around,
get clues, outrun monsters, and eventually get the right to punch Cthulhu in the face -- so, it's basically an FFG Arkham Files game. Woop-dee-doo. AND it's couched within the demanding LCG distribution model, wherein you have to spend oodles and then a second set of oodles of money to get the gated content that's being gradually parsed out to us poor peons who just want some new scenarios, pls
I essentially see the narrative underpinnings of these campaigns as an excuse for the game system to be riffed upon in interesting, unexpected ways -- I am a sucker to opening up a new box and saying, "oooohhhhh, I wonder how THAT will work?" with my games, and AH:TCG really delivers upon that promise quite well (with the relatively limited exposure I've had to the game so far, with only one full arc experienced outside of the core box set).
I love the card-spending/risk-management system that the game uses, too -- although there are plenty of little rules and exceptions that you will forget in your first few plays, the basic mechanisms of the game itself are pretty straightforward. It flows nicely, and it flows best with one, I think. The more a game cares about the story it's telling, the less I care about experiencing that story with other people.
This is the most hypothetical/uncertain of my uber-high ratings: I'm enamored by the promise of this game, based on how much I have enjoyed my experience with it so far. Yes, it is a spendy undertaking, but building up a big ol' set and coming back to it every few years sounds incredibly enticing to me right now. I've loved what I've seen so far, and I can't wait to see more, but this game will probably plummet out of the Top 20 or rise higher up in my Top 5 depending on how the next set or two goes. (I also really, really need to try out the Lord of the Rings LCG. If anyone has, you know, just a whole set of the game they want to sell... PM me.)
#4 Multiplayer: Twilight Struggle I know that I got
Twilight Struggle around 2012, when I was doing graduate school in New York and was really starting to get into board games. I remember getting my ass summarily handed to me over and over and over in Twilight Struggle by a good buddy of mine in school, and I remember loving every minute of it.
Twilight Struggle is a Cold War simulation-type-thing, a
card-driven two-player game where one person plays as the US and the other plays as the USSR. Both sides will work with the cards they've been given each era to try and eke out the best way to play those cards for their events, operations points, or contribution to the space race. It's a war game without the war, much like the Cold War was a war without the war; both sides are struggling to
create influence in different spheres of a global map without triggering civilization-ending thermonuclear war.
Where to start with the praises here? Every decision that you make in the game is meaningful, and you always wonder what your opponent has up his/her sleeve to foil your best-laid plans. It's something like a knife-fight in a phonebooth, except that sometimes you close your eyes to stab, and then you open your eyes to see that your opponents has run out of the phone booth and is conducting game-altering coups in Iran.
The game works best when the two sides are equally-matched, but that feels more like an acknowledgment of one of the game's features more than it is a diagnosis of a shortcoming. There is skill and nuance to doing well in this game; the more I've come to learn about this game and how it works, the more I've come to love it.
I came across this game at a time when hearing "It's the #1 game on BGG" was enough for me to be automatically interested. There's nothing wrong with that driving game interest at all, but I think I have a firmer foundation for what I do and don't want out of a game these days. It turns out I lucked out with my interest in Twilight Struggle -- I don't particularly love long two-player games, but the Best of the Best in that category deserves recognition for the true, genuine masterpiece of game design that it is.
Solo: Mage Knight: The Board Game Hello, old friend.
This is a Top Ten multiplayer game, but it's a Top Five solo game. I spoke in my last post about the
intricacies of the game system and the difficulty of even getting this game to the table in the first place, but let's meditate on this game, the
recently-dethroned GOAT solo game, a bit more.
The sense of progression and development that you get from Mage Knight is so dag-nabbed satisfying. I've seen people talk about this on this very subreddit before, but it bears repeating again: you start off the game worried about being able to defeat a simple orc, and by the end of the game, you're flying around the board, vanquishing dragons in one fell swoop with the help of companions and spells and artifacts that make you damn-near god-like.
The Lost Legion expansion is also a must for the game: it adds a robust and entirely satisfying boss for you to play against, and I'll never play without that solo. Sure, I have to re-read the rules in its entirety when I want to play this
every year or so, but it's honestly a joy for me to re-remember the little bits of the game that are hilariously minute and completely understandable.
The higher rating for Mage Knight as a solo game really is a function of the length of turns: every person you add to the game increases the certainty of analysis paralysis, of someone having to undo a series of actions and listen to everyone else groan that their 10-minute turn is STILL GOING, and of having to navigate all those rules with other people. I just think the game shines as a solo experience. It's the best fantasy adventure game I've ever played, and it manages to be incredibly thematic and engaging while still feeling like every decision you're making has been carefully accounted for in the design and playtesting process.
One quick story to finish out the Mage Knight love: I used to teach English 101 as a graduate assistant at a local university, and I would have my students read board game manuals to familiarize them with the concept of genres in writing -- predictable, recurring tropes in writing that coalesce over time to address a particular problem. One of the questions we'd work through as a class was something along the lines of, "Who is the audience of the manual you're reading?" One student, after reading the Mage Knight rulebook, said, "Probably the nerdiest person you know."
That's, honestly, a fair answer. Harsh, but fair.
#3 Multiplayer: Gloomhaven This is, in all likelihood, my most-played game in terms of sheer hours sunk into the game. I have 27 logged plays of this on BGG, and if the game is 2-4 hours in general... that's a lot of Gloomin' around.
If you're not familiar with the game, Gloomhaven is a
cooperative fantasy dungeon-crawler that comes in a box that
literally weighs 20 pounds. It comes with lots of little boxes and envelopes that you get to open as you progress through the game, retiring old characters and using new ones as you go through 50+ scenarios across a sprawling campaign. The game uses no dice at all, but it does rely on a modifier deck that you can increasingly modify that functions like your own, precious, special die that will still inevitably let you down when you just need to NOT get a miss against the boss to avoid dying.
There are lots of things that make Gloomhaven special. You'll play two cards from your hand each turn, and you'll trigger the top half of one card and the bottom half of the other. Some cards are "lost" when you play them, and others are discarded, and you lose cards through various game effects on top of that -- when you've lost all of your cards or have no more HP, you're out of the scenario. The decision for what cards to choose, what initiative order to select based on what you need to do, how to combo together your actions with your teammates... it's all endlessly satisfying. Add, on top of that, how vastly different the classes are from each other and how robustly the game supports all of the different scenarios and playstyles and decisions you'll make, and how much fun it is to level up your character and get new cards tailored JUST FOR YOU... this game manages to be gaudy and finely-tuned at the same time.
I praised Middara's obscene customizability in an earlier post, but the leveling up and progression in Gloomhaven is a bit more satisfying for me: I love the power that Middara gives me to author my own character, but I prefer Isaac Childress' steady hand guiding me over the sheer sandbox-iness of Middara.
Gloomhaven gets the multiplayer nod because of how much of a chore it is to
physically get out and put away the pieces with each play. If I had a Gamer Basement with a Gloomhaven Table, this would probably be a high-up solo game for me, too. I enjoy it solo, no doubt, but it's a stunning feat of game design that I, generally, prefer as a multiplayer experience. And by "prefer," I mean "freaking, endlessly love."
Solo: At the Gates of Loyang My BGG review can be found
here Goodness. As an absolutely staunch Uwe Rosenberg fan, my 20/20 list is painfully lacking in Uwe representation: Fields of Arle is the only game on either of my lists, coming in at #17 on the Solo list.
And, in some ways, that is representative of my Uwe tastes: many of his games are multiplayer-solitaire-ish enough that I'd probably just generally prefer to play them solo if I'm going to play them at all.
At the Gates of Loyang is my favorite Uwe experience, but A Feast for Odin, Nusfjord, and Glass Road are all excellent solo games, and I'm particularly fond of Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small (Uwe's two-player reimagination of Agricola), too.
At the Gates of Loyang is one of his
lesser-known games, especially outside of the solo community, I imagine. There is actually no worker placement in this game: it's something of a card drafting, set collection, resources management game. You'll be planting
different crops on different fields, and then you'll try to strategically harvest those resources and buy others so that you can meet the demands of your regular and one-time customers, using the aid of helper cards to advance up a
victory point track with a fascinating progression: the first step you move up each round costs one dollar, and each subsequent step that round costs the face value of the step you're moving up. This means that you ALWAYS want to do at least a little each round, and you want to be raking in the cash by the end of the game.
The solo game also provides a pretty different feel from the multiplayer experience: you lay out
a grid of cards and have to pay some money to get most of them, and then the one-cost row cards all go away at the end of each round. This leads to some fascinating dynamics: you know what cards will go away, but in a game where all resources are precious, it can be hard to justify getting all the things you want and need. Moreover, the free cards tend to get clogged up and sit around, since you're incentivized to pay some for the cards you know are going away now.
This is my favorite medium-weight Euro experience across all player counts: every decision matters, the combinations that emerge through multiple plays are fascinating and unexpected, and it is HARD to do well in this game. You have a real sense of accomplishment when you get a new high score, because you don't luck into that high score: you have to SWEAT and MUTTER to make it happen. I'm not always too in the mood for a "puzzly" solitaire experience, but when I am, there's not much better than At the Gates of Loyang.
#2 Multiplayer: Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 Just like Pandemic: Fall of Rome was a stand-in for Pandemic as a solo gaming experience at #15 on that list,
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 stands in for Pandemic Writ Large as a multiplayer experience.
There are two things to parse here: my deep, profound love for Pandemic as a gaming system, and how remarkably fun and outstanding I think that Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 is.
Let's start with
Pandemic as a whole. It was this game that really launched my deep, abiding love for cooperative games and board gaming more generally. I love that I can play this with my parents, or with people at work, or with my regular gaming group, and still have a delightful time with all of those disparate gaming tastes. I love that the game is simple enough to be accessible but deep enough and robust enough (oof, I've said robust a lot this post) to really flex its muscles with hardcore gamers, too. I love that the game has invited so many iterations and riffs on the base system, and that most of those systems work quite well on their own. I love the moment of teaching people that you shuffle the bad cards and put them back ON TOP OF THE DECK OH NO. I love the arc and tension that most games have, and the unique logic that you have to learn how to operate within to be successful. I love the collaboration the game fosters.
So it's no small thing to note that
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 is my undisputed Great Pandemic Experience of All Time. In Pandemic Legacy: Season 1, you're working through a short campaign that alters the base experience of Pandemic more and more over time: you put stickers on the board, rip up cards,
open up boxes with new, fancy components, and go through a short story that will leave you with a fundamentally different game than what you started with. (You're not really meant to play the game after you've gone through the whole campaign, but I absolutely couldn't care less. I'm in the middle of my second playthrough of Season 1, and the experience holds up just as well as the first time, even without the excitement of knowing what comes next.)
I love medium-to-heavy cooperative games. I love campaigns. I love seeing how games can be stretched to their limits to accommodate new design challenges. So it's no surprise that Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 has sat atop my Favorite Games of All Time list at one time or another, and that it's settled happily at #2 for now.
Solo: Onirim From the industry-defining Pandemic Legacy to a small,
unassuming solitaire card game designed by an opera singer: in Onirim, you're working through a
deck of cards to unlock a series of doors to make it out of a dreamscape labyrinth or something. You are limited in how you play your cards - you can't play the same symbol twice in a row, and you can discard cards for special powers that will let you react better to the bad stuff that is cropping up in the deck.
What makes the game remarkably fun is a hallmark of the Oniverse games (the other games in the series -- Aerion was #11 on my Solo list earlier): there are multiple "
expansions" that come with the game that are essentially modular rules and cards that you can introduce to switch up the way the game plays. The base game of Onirim isn't particularly special, but it's an excellent foundation to introduce lots and lots of different ways to play the game. And almost all of those expansions work quite well, AND they can be combined together in whatever way you want.
The primary downside of this game is that you have to shuffle a
non-trivial amount of cards over and over and over and over and over and over when you play the game. I don't mind the shuffling, but I get why people wouldn't enjoy that. I understand why there are people who would prefer to play the app version of the game (that does all the shuffling for you), but the physical version of the game is endlessly alluring: solo gaming represents a main way for me to unwind and get away from a screen, and I'd be perfectly content if I only ever had the physical version of the game to play.
There are times that I want solo gaming to burn my brain out, but there are times when I want to be pleasantly challenged without killing myself to navigate the rules, make the right choice, or even get the game out in the first place. I think that's why I love Onirim and so many of the Oniverse games. It's a flash to get out and playing, it's not too taxing (but still engaging), and it does an outstanding job of
threading the needle between Obvious Choices Abound and I Have No Clue What to Do. It accomplishes what it sets out to do almost flawlessly, and what it sets out to do is very much what I want out of solo gaming much of the time.
#1 Multiplayer: Spirit Island My #1 Multiplayer and Solo games have already appeared earlier on my lists: Spirit Island was #16 in my Solo list, and it's pretty comfortably atop my Multiplayer list.
I just love agonizing through the game with other people -- probably two or three players is the sweet spot. I adore playing again and again and seeing how the
different spirits, the
different kingdoms, the
different scenarios, the
different board sides, all interact with each other. The game shines a bit more when you can utilize several different spirits (since not ALL spirits work outstandingly in solo play and the game shines under the interplay of these fascinating, gorgeous spirits), and it shines when you can fully give your attention to
your little piece of the island while also begging others around you for help, and it shines when you can work with other people to suss out some really clever moves in the game space that you (read: I) could never have done on your (read: my) own.
Learning how to leverage the strengths of your spirit while coordinating with your fellow spirits and deciding what cards to acquire, what
spaces of the board to romp around across, and what fires to put out, is the perfect combination of smooth, crunchy, tense, and fun. Everything you do in the game matters, and the game inserts enough complexity that it obfuscates the Quarterbacking Problem endemic to lots of cooperative games by making it basically impossible for any one person to really "know" the "right" move for everyone else to make because there are so many fires to put out, and so many different tools provided to the players to put those fires out.
The last gush I'll gush about this game is the arc of progression and power: early in the game, new players will almost always say, "Oh, no, how OH HOW can we even make it ONE MORE TURN?" By the end of the game, players are pulling off obscene combos that are wiping out massives swaths of villagers who had the temerity to step FOOT on their sacred island.
I get that the game can have something of a dull climax; there is no stand-up moment where people hope that the die falls their way, and good players can math out the last few turns and know they'll win (especially on the game's lower difficulties). But Spirit Island gives you so many dials and knobs to turn, so many ways to customize your experience, so much to sift through and such constantly engaging decisions that cascade out from you to the other players, that I, quite frankly, don't care. It's a small blemish on a game that I'll never, ever get rid of.
Solo: Race for the Galaxy My BGG review can be found
here (ew, this review is so old and I hate it)
My favorite solo game, Race for the Galaxy, was also #13 on my Multiplayer list.
I think that there is SO, SO, SO much that is clever, neat, cool, well-done, and genius about
Race for the Galaxy. I love the way your hand is your own economy, how you have to pay attention to what other people are doing with their tableaus to learn how to sneak in and get a few side-benefits for yourself off of what you anticipate they'll be selecting on their next turn, and how remarkably deep the game is for what's just, really, a deck of cards.
My only real gripe with the multiplayer experience is that the game doesn't really have the kind of player interaction that I am increasingly drawn to: looking at my top five Multiplayer games, for example, reveals that I love either VERY in-your-face competitive games or heavier cooperative games. I find the gameplay of Race for the Galaxy to be sufficiently engaging and satisfying to allow me to overlook Race's lack of upfront player confrontation to an extent, but it does keep the game from soaring to the upper echelons of gaming esteem.
I guess this is because I want my multiplayer gaming experiences to be something other than individual races of player optimization; I want to not just feel like I've outwitted a game system that other people happen to be around, but I want to feel like I've gotten in the way of people, that I've dodged their jabs and given my all to both raise my station and push others down. I don't want Take That in my games, but I do want to feel like the sphere of gaming extends beyond just the general agreement to sit down and understand a shared ruleset.
But. That very same feeling, that deep desire for crunchy, tense, outwit-everyone-around-you-ness -- it dissipates pretty quickly when I'm doing solo games, for what I'd think are relatively obvious reasons. And that opens up a whole new genre of gaming experiences, a whole new realm of exploring more "solitaire" game systems.
Race for the Galaxy's
robust solo system, introduced in its first expansion (The Gathering Storm), mimics the logic of playing against another person while removing the formality of actually, you know, playing against another person. It allows me the opportunity to marvel at just how good, how tight, how fun, how clever
Race for the Galaxy is, and I don't even have to dwell on that small voice in the back of my head that wishes there was more player interaction,
because there aren't any players around the table except for me.
It does take a
non-trivial amount of work to learn how to navigate the solo system, but it's not cumbersome and becomes quite easy after several plays. And, like I've talked about some before, this amount of "work" is right in the sweet spot of what I want from solo gaming: I get why people like the app implementation of the game, because it allows an app to mimic the experience of playing against another player, but the
work of running the physical AI is a huge part of the
appeal of Race's solo game for me. It's not something to put up with; it's a
defining part of the fun, learning the rules and being engaged at literally every part of the game and understanding why every little thing is happening in the way it is.
If I only had Race for the Galaxy and Spirit Island in my collection, I'd still have decades of good games ahead of me.
| Multiplayer | Solo |
| #20: Russian Railroads | #20: Spell Smashers |
| #19: Innovation | #19: Nemo's War: Second Edition |
| #18: Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar | #18: Dawn of the Zeds: Third Edition |
| #17: Blood Rage | #17: Fields of Arle |
| #16: Gaia Project | #16: Spirit Island |
| #15: Ra | #15: Pandemic: Fall of Rome |
| #14: Glen More | #14: Helionox: The Last Sunset |
| #13: Race for the Galaxy | #13: Ghost Stories |
| #12: Ghost Stories | #12: Space Hulk: Death Angel |
| #11: Bora Bora | #11: Aerion |
| #10: Too Many Bones | #10: Shadowrun: Crossfire: Prime Runner Edition |
| #9: Food Chain Magnate | #9: Renegade |
| #8: Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King | #8: Middara: Unintentional Malum - Act One |
| #7: Mage Knight: The Board Game | #7: Aeon's End: The New Age |
| #6: Keyflower | #6: Sprawlopolis |
| #5: Tigris & Euphrates | #5: Arkham Horror: The Card Game |
| #4: Twilight Struggle | #4: Mage Knight: The Board Game |
| #3: Gloomhaven | #3: At the Gates of Loyang |
| #2: Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 | #2: Onirim |
| #1: Spirit Island | #1: Race for the Galaxy |
Thanks to the poor souls who stuck it out through these posts! It's been an absolute blast writing about the games that I love -- it's easy to churn through new stuff when running a review series and forget about the really special games, and it's been really great to reflect on some of my personal favorites like this. :-) Happy 2020 (and beyond) of gaming to everyone!
Hello, everyone! About a year ago, I made a
huge list of Android games that I personally recommend. Now, I'm going to expand and improve upon the list! Here's my ultimate recommendations list, version 2!
- Note: games on this list aren't numbered. I love them all equally.
Leap Day is a one-touch platformer with a new procedurally generated level every single day. Before you roll your eyes and say "oh boy another one touch platformer", do trust me when I say this game is absolutely fantastic. The platforming is very skill based, the randomly generated levels are surprisingly varied, and the game in general is extremely well polished. Without a doubt, Nitrome's best game to date. Even if you don't like the concept, don't miss out on this game!
If you're a flash games fan like I am, then you probably heard of this game series before. This game on Android is a port of the flash game "infectonator: world dominator". Basically, this is a retro game where you try to dominate cities by infecting people. At first, you'll fail big time. With every attempt you'll gain more money and buy upgrades, special zombies, and much more. This game is tons of fun and can keep you occupied for days!
If you're into programming and/or puzzle games, you've probably already played this game. If you're still sane though, chances are you probably never finished it. Spacechem isn't really a game about chemistry, it's a game about extreme logic and puzzle solving, and it is one of the HARDEST ones to ever exist. I'm talking "I spent hours to create a solution for one puzzle" type of hard. I hate it, but I love it so much. The game is extremely well designed and its core concepts are very simple. You have an input, and you want to change around elements to create an output. Later levels add new mechanics like multiple generators, and so on. It's one of the most compelling puzzle games on Android. Highly recommended.
- Note: this game is made for tablets only. Sadly, the GUI in this game is so small that it's basically unplayable on smaller screens.
Infinity loop is a puzzle game where you have to connect all the pieces together to complete a level. The concept is surprisingly simple, and the game is pretty easy, but it's amazingly polished gameplay and simplicity turns it into a mesmerizing experience. I really do mean that. You'll finish a level, and finish some more, and before you know it you'll reach level 500 and wonder what you're doing with your life. This game perfect in keeping you occupied for a while. If you need to wait a few minutes for anything, just pull your mobile out and start playing this. What makes this game so good at it is that it's so easy to pick up and put down. There is no pausing or timer or limited moves, it's all about relaxation, and is a must play if you're bored.
BAIKOH is a word based game where you make words out of letters falling from the top of the screen in a tetris-like way. The objective is to constantly get rid of letters before they reach the top of the screen. The game is very polished and constantly surprises you with new mechanics and twists like freezing blocks where you have to use the letter twice to destroy it before it spreads. The game is clever, and has a good, dark sense of humor. It's a blast to play.
You've played it, I've played it, we've all played it, so I'll just keep it short. Bloons TD 5 is THE best tower defense game on Android. Everything in this game, from the design, to the sheer amount of content put into it is just perfect. It's enough to keep you occupied for MONTHS. In case you're the 1% that hasn't had the honor of playing this game... Buy. It. Now.
To say that BTD6 is better than its predecessor isn't entirely true, it's just
different, but in a good way! I'll go in-depth maybe in a seperate post in the future, but to put it simply, BTD6 is a more complex version of 5. There are 3 different skill trees for each tower instead of 2, new bloon types, new mechanics such as line of sight (A sniper won't be able to see or shoot through objects, for example), new "hero" monkeys, and shiny new graphics! While there isn't
that much content in the game currently (only around 20 maps, no co-op multiplayer, some missing towers from the last game), the devs are really active and super cool! They push a patch every month or so with bug fixes, balance fixes, and new content!
- Note: The game needs way higher specs than BTD5. My Moto X Play has some serious framerate dips, most of my playtime was on PC using bluestacks.
To put it simply, The Battle of Polytopia is an extremely simplified version of the hit PC strategy series, Civilization. While this game is simple and easy to pick up, it's insane fun. You start as a small town and grow to multiple cities, each with their own bonuses and production rates, connect trade routes, wage war against other countries, and basically, accumulate as much score as you can before the 30th turn (which is when the game ends). Games are just the right length, taking you about 20-40 minutes to finish. Replay value is really high for this game, and for any strategy fans out there, it's a blast. Did I also mention that the game is extremely well polished for being a free game? Because it really is.
In case the title didn't tip you off, Puzzlerama is a puzzle game. Thing is, Puzzlerama isn't exactly a unique game at all. In fact, it's literally just a collection of 9 different puzzle games, featuring flow, tangram, pipes, unblock, shikaku, unroll, bridges, and a secret game that you unlock once you reach rank 50. So... What's the point? Just having a collection of games in one convenient app? Luckily, that's not the only reason I love this game. Other than the obvious polish and sweet graphics, this game also has good design. For example, there is no "3 star" system. When you finish the level, that's it. The game doesn't constantly scold you for not finishing the level under 30 seconds, using the minimal amount of possible moves, and jumping through 15 flaming hoops over a family of hungry lions on a motorcycle without touching the ground. Remember the original flow game? I accidentally let my finger go every now and then and the game would count that as a move, and I would have to restart the level all over again to get it perfect. I could ignore it, yes, but it's infuriating. If you're a casual puzzle fan (and I do mean casual, since there isn't much challenge in this game), you'd love this one.
Data Wing is a 2D top-down racing game with a surprisingly interesting story and wonderful aesthetic. The game constantly keeps things fresh by introducing new mechanics every few levels, like gravity and no-power zones. The game is easy to pick up but
really hard to master, especially since the main mechanic of the game is that you need to 'grind' along walls to speed up, without hitting said wall. Data Wing is a complete, cohesive experience that's
completely free. You aren't going to lose anything by downloading it now and giving it a shot!
Knights of Pen and Paper is old but gold. It's a simple turn based RPG where you play as a group of nerds playing some sort of roleplaying tabletop game. The combat is simple, the story is simple, the graphics are simple, but there's just this sense of charm you get from playing this game. Grinding and finishing quests is really fun, levelling up your characters and unlocking permanent upgrades that carry onto even later runs is really, really fun. And that's what this game does really well that other turn based games lack, it has good pacing. You level up quickly and the game never really becomes tedious like the others. It's probably just my personal taste in games, but most turn based RPGs are just soooo ssslloooowww... Which is why I really love this one! If you enjoy RPGs in general, this one is really great and easy to pick up.
I jumped out of my seat as soon as I heard this released on the Play Store. The Fancy Pants series is one of - if not the - best platforming flash games ever created, and it really shows in this iteration. This, surprisingly, is not a port of the flash games. Instead, it’s the port of the premium console-exclusive version that also includes the levels of the flash games as a bonus. The controls are as smooth as ever and are surprisingly good on a touch screen but still require a little getting used to. What really surprised me though is that this is free! For a campaign that’s about 6 hours, not to mention the extra levels, challenges, and secrets, it’s insane that they’re giving all of that for free. I’ve had my eyes glued to the screen with this game and finished the campaign in just 2 days. As of writing this I’m still working on 100%ing it.
The levels are all really varied, from deserts, to forests, to dark caves, it truly feels like a complete and satisfying adventure. The platforming feels buttery smooth and it controls really well. I’ve been a fan of the series ever since the first flash game in 2006, and I really, really, cannot express how good this is. As a matter of fact, I don’t even need to tell you how good this is on android, because I’ve bought this version of the game on my PS3 a few years ago. It’s a premium game given to you for free with hours upon hours of extremely polished content, and I’m not just saying that because of my nostalgia. Get it now!!!
- Note: This game also has controller support in case you don’t enjoy platforming on a touch screen
“What? Solitaire? Really?” is what you’re probably thinking right now. But yes, I am completely serious. Solitaire: Decked Out is a game that for some reason wasn’t made earlier. An ad-free, polished solitaire game that includes unlockable loot like different themes and winning ceremonies. I’m surprised at how many hours I’ve sunk into this game while bored or waiting for something. Not much else to say about it other than, it’s solitaire, and it’s pretty great.
Hexiq is a puzzle game similar to 2048, but in my opinion, better in every single way. Hexiq is a game about combining numbers on a hexagonal grid as much as you can before you're out of space. The gameplay flows smoothly, and depends less on RNG. Managing your space and picking just the right spots to carefully plan your next combo is extremely satisfying, and something you'd never find with similar games in the genre. Even if you're not a big puzzle games fan, Hexiq's simple but clever gameplay loop will keep you hooked for quite a while.
Yes, it's actually real! Sonic really needs no introduction, it's one of the greatest retro platformers of its time, and guess what, it's STILL great! This is a surprisingly good port of Sonic 2, with surprisingly good touch screen controls and a buttery smooth framerate. Going fast, finding secrets, and getting lost in its
many sidepaths each level is still as good as it was 2 decades ago. If you have never played a Sonic game, this is a great place to start. By the way, it's completely free!
Technically, this game isn't out yet, but I have been playing the beta that's only limited to a few countries unless you have a membership. Old School Runescape is a mobile port of the classic MMORPG that just about everyone played on their school computers back in 2007. The graphics haven't aged that well, but literally everything else has. Runescape is a
joy to play, and is the first and only proper MMO on Android. You have so much freedom to do whatever you want, level up all sorts of skills, and just explore the MASSIVE world around you.
The game
is very grindy, yes, but no game even comes close to the amount of things you can do in this game. You can fish, you can cook, you can chop down trees and light wood to make a bonfire, you can mine, you can smith, and of course you can kill monsters and animals for loot. It's just a joy to play once you get into it, and the mobile port is nothing short of fantastic. Do yourself a favor and play it as soon as it releases on October 30th!
Scribblenauts Unlimited is probably one of the most ambitious games ever created. The idea is simple, but it’s almost staggering how well they made it work. This game is a 2D platformer in which you have a notebook that creates anything you write in it. If you write “wolf”, it’ll spawn a wolf. You can also use adjectives and try being a little more creative, like writing “red giant wolf”, it will actually work, and spawn a giant red-colored wolf. You use the notebook to solve puzzles and help people by spawning things that would benefit them.
To be honest, this game has pretty mixed reviews since it’s a little too easy and sometimes a little too stupid as it doesn’t recognize some obvious solutions, but that really doesn’t stop me for enjoying the game for what it is. Yes, you can literally just apply immortality on yourself. Yes, you can just give yourself wings and make yourself twice as fast as you should be, but that’s what makes it all so exciting! There aren’t much boundries for your creativity as reviewers act like there is. Overall, I think it’s an awesome puzzle game that everyone should try out at some point, especially the younger audience.
There certainly isn't a shortage of dungeon crawler roguelikes in the play store, but this one definitely takes the cake. The Enchanted Cave is a very straightforward game where it has a very simple, addictive game loop: Go in the cave, get loot and become stronger, and then get out. Unlike most roguelikes, this game actually has permanent progress. When you level up, for example, you get to keep that level forever, which means you're going to be stronger every single run.
And that’s where the addiction comes in. The gameplay loop grabs you and never lets you go, leaving you say “just one more run” before turning it off every single time. I don’t know how long this game is, but after putting over 5 hours and counting, I can tell you it’s a pretty deep cave. If you enjoy addictive dungeon crawlers, definitely buy this game.
- Note: This game was originally a flash game. If you’re unsure, just look it up online and try it on your PC. Don’t get too attached though, as the flash version has less content than the premium one!
Reigns is a very interesting game where you are a king and you control your country by swiping cards left and right. Basically, you control your country by simply saying yes or no to prompts to manage your 4 resources without depleting or filling any of them. For example, a noble might ask you for your approval of a new trade route. If you say yes, you will get more money. But tread carefully, that isn’t necessarily a good thing, because if you have maximum money, the nobles and rich will take over the country and you will lose. If your army gets very weak, you will lose. If your army gets really strong, they’ll start a coup against you and you will lose.
Which leads to a very interesting and surprisingly simple strategy game. Random events every year makes the game feel very exciting and fresh every single run. In one run, you could raise a spoiled child that ends up killing you and taking over the throne! In another, the executioner resigns and the doctor proposes to use poison to execute people, which leads to a plague spreading, causing you and your entire population to die! There’s a kind of joy whenever you discover a new absurd way to die or new events that cause unexpected things to happen, all because of a simple yes/no option. You could spend days discovering all the neat secrets and new surprises in this game. No wonder this game got the most innovative game award in 2016. It’s a fresh new idea that’s never been done before, one you should definitely consider trying.
The room series is a bunch of puzzle games in which you attempt to crack some sort of safe containing the secrets of some weird symbol and the meaning of life, apparently (The story is incredibly vague). This game is the most innovative puzzle game I’ve played on android. Whenever you solve a puzzle, the safe opens new gizmos and unfolds into something entirely else. While most puzzles are usually on a flat surface of some kind, the puzzles here are entire 3D areas just begging to be explored on every level. The graphics and general polish of the series is beyond amazing. It might actually be the most immersive game on Android. The game has a very creepy atmosphere and even some scenes that made me jump because I didn’t expect something to move.
Sadly, each one of these games can be completed in about 2-3 hours, which is understandable and honestly pretty fair. I’d take quality over quantity any day. If you enjoy intricate and very interesting puzzles, absolutely buy this game.
Delight Games’ full library is a collection of every single text based adventure they’ve made over the years. According to them, that means over one million words! That’s a lot of content written and given to you for free. Featuring 37 different titles, Delight Games’ stories are a delight to read (pun intended). Even if you don’t really enjoy reading like me, their adventures are interesting and making decisions actually matters, while making wrong decisions will actually lead to your death and force you to be more careful with your actions. Whether it’s some sort of sci-fi comedy, or a dark gritty mystery, or a medieval fantasy, you’ll find all sorts of adventures to get lost in with this great collection.
After about 2 years of searching, I've finally decided that Two Eyes is the best Picross (AKA Nonogram) game out on Android. If you don't know what Picross is, it's my favorite form of simple puzzles (think Sudoku, minesweeper) and I really do think this game should be on the list! The graphics are gorgeous, the controls are perfect, the 2 different campaigns is interesting, and the puzzles are actually quite good! If you like picross, or even if you've never heard of it, give it a shot! It might be your favorite puzzle type as well!
EDGE Extended is a remake of the popular classic mobile game, EDGE, which was created almost a decade ago! EDGE is a game in which you control a sort of cube that you roll over to the end of the level. Seems simple, right? Levels get progressively harder and you learn more techniques as you go. The game is surprisingly fun and interesting, traversing through the isometric levels is a real joy and surprisingly has more depth than you’d think. If you enjoy arcade games, definitely try this one.
Monument Valley is a really breathtaking mind-bending puzzle game that's going to challenge your perception by messing with perspectives, somewhat similar to a game called Fez. The idea is that you're supposed to get from one place to the other by manipulating perspective (it's harder to explain than it is to show) until you reach the end of the level. With a BEAUTIFUL art style, great ambiance, and levels that expand and unfold ala The Room, it's an experience like no other.
But here's the thing, the key word here being 'experience'. I was torn on whether to add this to the list or not because for $4, it's a pretty short game (you can finish it in roughly 90 minutes, if not less), and the puzzles aren't really puzzles. They aren't difficult, just relaxing. For some people, that's a deal breaker, but I just can't deny how much I loved this game playing through it. Its masterfully crafted levels and visuals are quite possibly the best I've ever seen in an Android game. While I was yearning for more by the end, I'm still satisfied with what I got. If you enjoy beautiful zen-like experiences, give this game a shot.
Honorable Mentions
- Bad banker: Bad Banker is a clever puzzle game about joining together numbered squares to make bigger numbers. What sets this apart from the '2048' genre is its sheer complexity. The game plays more like a management game, taking care of your money and taking out competition all while managing the amount of space that you have. The reason it's not on the list is because it's hard to pick up and play, the tutorial is pretty long and if you're bad at it (like me), it feels like you're constantly troubled by something and you never feel like you're in control of what's happening. Still, a fantastic game worthy of a mention!
- Bonza Word Puzzle: Bonza is a word game where you connect broken pieces of a crossword puzzle to make words based off a specific hint. The game is really simple, and has a lot of content to go with it. It's a simple idea that genuinely works well and is a lot of fun!
- Unpuzzle: Unpuzzle is a game where you "unpuzzle" a board and remove pieces in a specific order until there's nothing left. While the concept sounds easy and simple, the game constantly introduces a BUNCH of new mechanics every few level until your board looks like an overwhelming mess of shapes and colors that's just so satisfying and fun to clean up.
- Mindustry: Mindustry is a tower defense game with a twist: It's also a sandbox/resource management game! Think something like Factorio, where you have to create complicated supply chains in order to get materials enough to build and manage your towers! This game is great, but it's currently in beta with a long road ahead of it, and the Android controls are a little awkward, but you can easily lose over a hundred hours in it!
- Dan The Man: It’s an awesome free retro platformer with tight controls, but it doesn't really do anything new or creative. It's a lot of fun, don't get me wrong, but it plays it way too safe and doesn't innovate in the slightest.
- PICK-XELL: A fairly underrated arcade game based around digging either left or right. The more you progress, the more it demands you to mine faster and dodge hazards like mines that would kill you instantly. With endless mode, it's one of my favorite simple score attack games!
- One More Bounce: Another underrated gem in the play store. This is an arcade game with a bunch of different modes where you bounce by creating lines for the ball to bounce on. Your objective is to reach the end of the level by bouncing with lines without hitting anything. The game is really polished and really fun, but I found it to be frustratingly difficult where you have to get the ball through tight areas with moving blocks without touching anything.
- What’s inside the box?: Hell if I know, I never actually gotten around to finishing this game. What’s inside the box is a puzzle game where you solve increasingly difficult and vague puzzles in order to go deeper into a box. The puzzles are interesting and quite creative, it's a joy to uncover what the hints mean!
- Dood - The Puzzle Planet: Sadly this game isn’t a spinoff of Disgaea’s prinnies that constantly say “Dood!” after saying something, but it’s still a good game. Dood is a really well-designed puzzle game where you control a bunch of blobs that try to take over tiles in the least amount of moves whlist stopping the other blobs from taking over yours. It’s a really thought-provoking and interesting game with a cute art style, but like others here it just didn’t have much staying value for me.
- PKTBALL - Endless Smash Sport: It’s an arcade version of tennis that’s surprisingly fun and polished, but lacks much depth. Thankfully, it has a 2-player mode that made it my go-to multiplayer game when I'm bored with my friends.
- A Dark Room (paid): This game almost made it to the list, but I decided not to because it’s more of an experience than an actual game. The game starts as a sort of idle/clicker game with emphasis on the story but it quickly branches out and becomes something else entirely. The mystery and writing in this game is really good, but there’s really no replay value at all. After I finished it I just uninstalled. I’d maybe add this game to the list if it were free, but sadly that isn’t the case. Note: this game is free on PC!
- Let's Create! Pottery (paid): Exactly what it sounds like, Let's Create Pottery is a game about making, coloring, decorating, and selling pots, and then buying new decorations and materials to use in the future. This game is a very neat concept that's executed surprisingly well, and can provide you hours of entertainment assuming you're creative enough. They even have a website where you can share your pots online! The problem, though, is the mission system and the broken economy. The missions have you replicating a different pot from a small picture and can honestly be very tedious as you'll just trial/error your way into getting it right. The economy is also in bad shape because the game can't recognize good pots, and you can create a mess in 5 minutes that'll sell higher than a masterpiece you created in 2 hours, which completely ruins progression. It's still a very entertaining casual game, though!
- Hook (paid)*: Hook is a brilliant minimalist puzzle game that consistently introduces new mechanics and concepts as you go through it, making sure you'll never be bored and the game will never be repetitive. The only problem is, as usual, it's pretty short. You can finish the entire game in about 90 minutes or less ala Monument Valley. It's a shame, because if it had more content it definitely would've made it to the list.
- Dungeon Cards: Dungeon Cards is a minimalist 'dungeon crawler' in a 3x3 or 4x4 board where you try to carefully move around, kill enemies, sneak past traps, and not die! It's a puzzle/strategy roguelike that has a ton of content and very high replay ability.
Games that are fun but didn’t make it onto either lists:
- Plague Inc: Because it has a very poor microtransactions model and very intrusive ads. Also, because of the controversial business that this game made. This game is almost a direct ripoff of a flash game called Pandemic, and no, they’re not by the same devs. While this game is better, I’ll admit, it still feels extremely unfair that the flash game developer had his idea ripped off. These guys made a crapton of money by copying a guy who was developing for fun. See here for info about it.
- Terraria: It’s a fantastic game but it just doesn’t work on a small touch screen. Even on tablets, it’s just really uncomfortable. I’d get this on either PC or consoles instead.
- Piano Tiles 2: It’s a pretty awesome game with SO much content, but I felt like it got pretty repetitive pretty fast.
- Zenonia 4: I bash the sequels pretty hard, but I still think zenonia 4 is a good game. Not anywhere near as good as the first 3 (which don't work anymore :( ), but it’s something. Also note that this needs an active internet connection (ugh)… But I still enjoyed my time with it, it's one of my favorite RPG games on Android.
- Smash Hit: It’s a really interesting game about managing your balls (that sounded much worse than it should’ve) and using them to break glass and hit switches/doors… But I also felt like it was starting to get bland by the middle, especially since it's almost impossible to win without constantly replaying the same levels over again so you can play more efficiently. Sadly, Smash Hit wasn't the smash hit we were waiting for. rimshot
- Kingdom Rush: I get it, people really love this game, but I found it a little simple for my tastes. Still a really good tower defense but I vastly prefer Infinitode and BTD5.
- Gumballs & Dungeons: It’s a really fun game but sadly I felt like it got old fast. Spent a couple of hours then got bored by the 3rd set of levels. While it does get progressively harder and later levels need more strategy, it just feels like there isn't much new mechanics to keep me going.
- Fallout Shelter: Really fun management game based on the insanely popular Fallout franchise (which I'm a fan of!), and a pretty good time waster, but sadly I felt like there wasn't much depth in the gameplay and it started feeling like a mindless idle game where I just wait until something interesting happens. Still, for a mobile spinoff, it's surprisingly good.
- Jetpack Joyride: Anyone remember this game? I do! It’s a classic runner game that honestly is pretty damn fun but has too much emphasis on luck, also, progression is pretty slow…
- MyBoy Free: Simply because I’ll get into arguments that emulators aren’t games. Well, I don’t really care, this emulator opened up a whole lot of awesome games I’ve never played before. If you’re interested, I recommend playing Castlevania Aria of Sorrow, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, and Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland on it. Oh, also Legend of Zelda: The Minnish Cap!
- Infinitode: Right now my second favorite tower defense game just behind BTD5. It has a really huge skill tree and a bunch of replayability, but I didn’t add it because of how unbalanced it is. Right now half of the towers are useless and sometimes the most simple options are the most effective. If the balance issues are fixed I'll happily put it on the list.
- Realm Grinder: It’s my favorite clickeidle game on android, but I didn’t add it because of that very reason. This game is addictive but doesn’t really have much fun value. It’s great for wasting time, but that’s pretty much it.
- Minecraft Pocket Edition: It's not up there simply because everyone already knows what it is. It’s still a great sandbox game, maybe even the best on android, but having it on the list feels like it would just waste space.
- Rise of the Blobs: A 3D tetris-like game based around dropping blobs of the same color next to eachother. It’s surprisingly polished and pretty fun, but like other games, I didn’t feel like it was addicting or fun enough to stay installed on my mobile for over a week.
- Timing Hero: A great retro RPG-like game where it’s all about studying enemy patterns and timing your attacks/dodges right by pressing a button. Fairly fun for a while, but progress becomes really tedious later on.
- Magic Touch: Wizard for Hire: Another one of Nitrome’s wacky games, this time you draw certain shapes on the screen to pop balloons before they touch the ground. It’s pretty innovative and interesting but it gets repetitive fast.
- Redungeon: This one almost made it onto the list but I didn’t feel like it was on par with the other games there. It’s a roguelike dungeon crawler but it’s really, really simple. Still, a very good game.
- Good Pizza, Great Pizza: It’s a game where you make pizza with a REALLY good art style. Sadly it gets repetitive fairly quickly, and the economy is pretty busted in this game. My friend was basically joking around and he figured out that giving people empty pizzas with no sauce or cheese nets you more money in the long run because you don’t use any resources.
- Eternium - Mage And Minions: Honestly the best 3D action RPG on Android. Decent controls, free, and without intrusive ads or a bad microtransactions model. It’s really polished and really, really good. So why isn’t this on the list, you might ask? Call me biased, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I was playing a really inferior version of diablo/torchlight. Whenever I booted this game up, the only thought that raced my mind is that I should go play those 2 rather than this one. Also, it sucks up battery quickly because it’s a 3D game with heavy graphics. If you enjoy ARPGs though, definitely give this a try.
- Outfolded: A minimalist, beautiful game about unraveling shapes to reach the end. The music and sound design is fantastic, but I feel like the gameplay gets tedious when you reach the other levels. The puzzles just don’t feel intuitive after a certain point and you’ll be trying to trial/error your way through.
Edit 1: Added Dungeon Cards to honorable mentions
PART 2 IN THE COMMENTS SINCE I PASSED THE CHARACTER LIMIT IN THE POST
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