At PCMag, we live and breathe all things gaming. We’ve played and reviewed many Android games and understand how the often misunderstood mobile gaming scene fits into the broader gaming ecosystem. Recommending little mobile games is a big responsibility, so you can trust our rigorous testing and independent reviews to steer you in the right direction. We’ve reviewed mobile games since 2005, after all! Whether you want to swipe through a casual card game or buy a full-on mobile controller for serious gaming, Android has many options for many tastes. Scroll down and check out these excellent mobile games for your Android phone or tablet. If gaming isn’t your cup of tea, or you’re more of a productivity person, we have a separate list of the overall best Android apps for you to peruse.
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Among Us dominated the gaming world in 2020 as the perfect, paranoid, quarantine pastime, even though it technically launched in 2018. As you and your fellow astronaut friends work together to fix your spaceship, secret saboteurs work to quietly kill you all. Whether you use good old-fashioned social manipulation to flush out the truth, or lie your head off to continue the ruse, trust nothing and no one.
On PCs, the MOBA market is completely dominated by Dota 2 and League of Legends. On mobile, however, the playing field is a little more even. Arena of Valor, from Chinese megacorporation Tencent, is one of the best ways you can enjoy this truly bizarre real-time strategy genre on the go.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
One of the most iconic games in the Castlevania series has found a home on Android phones. Take control of the vampire Alucard, and slay the demonic hordes that haunt the castle and scheme to resurrect Dracula. Symphony of the Night features an expansive RPG weapon and inventory system that’s chock full of unique gear, items, and spells. With a tremendous castle to explore, unique abilities to earn, and an encyclopedic list of monstrous punching bags to beat up, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a Konami classic that is well worth snatching up.
One of the most iconic and beloved RPGs of all time can be played on your Android device. Embark upon a time-traveling RPG with seamless and strategic combat, great sprite-based visuals, and an utterly charming story. This mobile Chrono Trigger is based on the expanded Nintendo DS version, which features a much improved story translation over the SNES original. Touch controls can be a bit inaccurate, which can be annoying as the combat is faster-paced than your average turn-based RPG. Still, Chrono Trigger was a monumental RPG for its time, and remains shockingly engrossing today.
Give me any device that plays Crossy Road, and I will absolutely try to get that chicken across the road again. The Frogger formula works wonderfully as a methodical endless runner. The colorful voxel look is iconic, and chickens are just inherently funny.
In Downwell, you plummet down randomized stages using guns strapped to your feet. The goal? Pull off the most stylish runs possible before death. Bullets not only kill enemies, but help you hover in the air for crucial repositioning. The levels themselves are retro and mostly monochrome, save for the occasional red splashes. The vertical orientation really sells the feeling of falling.
Before you play the big-budget remake on PlayStation 4, experience the original game that elevated Final Fantasy from popular JRPG to beloved cultural institution. In this mobile Final Fantasy VII, Cloud and his friends may not have as many polygons as their console and PC counterparts, but they have just as much heart. New cheat codes make it easy to experience the story, without getting bogged down in battles.
It’s arguable that Fortnite’s popularity exploded due to its battle royale matches being free on mobile. After all, how many kids secretly play this version on their phones in class? Note that Fortnite is not available from the Google Play store. If you have a Samsung device, you can use the Galaxy Store to get your hands on the game. If not, you need to take a few more steps to get it on your Android device. Check our guide here for more details.
This expansive action-RPG drops you into the fantasy world of Teyvat, a mysterious realm ruled by ancient gods and shrouded in centuries-old mysteries. But your character knows none of that. In Genshin Impact, you journey across the world to find your lost sibling, fighting monsters and helping anyone you meet along the way. Genshin Impact has a Zelda-like, open-world environment that’s packed with things to do, and the constant stream of new events should keep you busy for a long, long time. The presentation is great to boot, featuring high-quality cinematics, solid voice work, and a truly spectacular soundtrack. Genshin Impact is free to play, but utilizes a gacha-style monetization system that encourages you to roll for new characters. You can earn these rolls through special currency which can be earned in-game or through cash purchases.
Genshin Impact (for PC) Review
Gwent: The Witcher Arcade Game
Gwent on Android is a rebalanced iteration of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s addictive, multiplayer card game. It combines deck building with clever strategy, giving you a robust selection of combat and support units. Cards are divided into factions, so not only do they have individual perks, but they synergize with their faction ability to radically change how you approach a match. Gwent is free to play, but you can spend money to buy card kegs for new units. Alternatively, you can earn special currency by completing objectives, which you can then spend on new cards.
Hitman Go takes everyone’s favorite bald video game assassin and presents a stylish, abstract take on his typically realistic murders. Levels resemble tabletop board games, and you take turns moving an Agent 47 game piece around to snuff out his targets. Fortunately, the darkly comic strategy remains, and the clean, elegant aesthetic feels appropriate for someone who makes a living through dispassionate professional killing.
League of Legends: Wild Rift
For years, pretenders have attempted to bring the smash hit MOBA genre to mobile phones, but with League of Legends: Wild Rift, the biggest name in the field makes its true Android debut. Traditional strategies still apply as you, your team, and your minions, battle the enemy team for control of the map. Thanks to the smaller, mobile-friendly battlefield, and revamped touch controls for moving and casting spells, fights are even faster and more frenetic than before.
The free-to-play Marvel Snap is one of the most surprising mobile hits in this or any other universe. It takes Hearthstone’s brilliant, competitive deckbuilding mechanics and combines them with Marvel’s heroes and villains, complete with creative abilities inspired by the comics. Once you download Marvel Snap to your Android device, you won’t be able to stop making strategic plays as you climb the ranks and unlock even more cards.
Originally, the mobile version of Minecraft wasn’t quite the same thing as its PC and console counterparts. However, the games have since been unified, with new versions largely taking from the mobile version’s foundations, ironically enough. So, know that when you’re building blocks and taking down Creepers on your phone, you aren’t getting a compromised experience.
Minecraft: Pocket Edition (for Android) Review
Monument Valley became the poster child for mobile games as art, and for good reason. Its beautiful optical illusion puzzles are triumphs of design, and they work here because of mobile’s unique strengths as a platform. You can’t go wrong with either the original or its sequel.
Monument Valley (for Android) Review
By letting us hunt creatures in our own backyards, Pokemon Go turned our real world into the world of Pokemon. It’s a blessed video game, proof that augmented reality offers a genuinely exciting new way to play. Even when you can’t go out into the real world, Pokemon Go lets you join the fun. Check out our Pokemon Go tips for more.
Reigns takes the casual swiping interface of a dating app and uses it to have players make earth-shaking decisions as a medieval monarch. Reigns: Her Majesty swaps out the king for a queen, and adds robust management mechanics alongside richer writing. There’s a Game of Thrones version, too, but it may just bring up bad memories of how the show ended.
Rocket League combines soccer, rocket-powered cars, and billiards in one frenzied, multiplayer sport for console and PC. Rocket League Sideswipe, on the other hand, brings that addictive formula to the mobile scene. It streamlines the action for easier play on mobile devices, without sacrificing the nuance that makes the full game so engrossing. You still shoot, bounce, or nudge a giant soccer ball into your opponent’s hoop or goal, but the action is presented in a 2D, side-scrolling affair. The gameplay remains deep thanks to the complex ball physics, and the online, 1v1 and 2v2 matches that offer endless challenge.
Rocket League Sideswipe (for iOS) Review
Thatgamecompany made a name for itself with a trio of acclaimed indie art games: Flow, Flower, and Journey. Sky: Children of Light definitely follows in that tradition. This is a family-friendly MMO about holding hands and soaring through skies of open, non-linear, theme park-esque levels. It’s equal parts adorable and thrilling. Like in Journey, you communicate nonverbally through various emotes, allowing connections that span continents and language barriers.
Mobile gaming is great for spontaneous local multiplayer sessions, because everyone carries a phone. Spaceteam leverages that idea by tasking players to shout Star Trek-esque technobabble at each other to cooperate and keep their spaceship functioning before time runs out. No other platform could support a game that uniquely fantastic.
Spaceteam (for Android) Review
Stardew Valley’s chill, yet potent, mix of farming, life sim, and casual RPG elements made it a modern indie classic. A game about checking in on your farm for a few minutes every day is the kind of game you want on your phone. Plus, if your real dating app starts to get too depressing, you can romance these kind-hearted video game country folks instead.
Throw 2048 in the trash and play Threes, the original, superior puzzle game about sliding numbered tiles together to create the biggest combos possible. Along with a rock-solid puzzle hook, Threes charms with its soft pastel aesthetics that burst with character. The game is now free with ads, so you have no excuse.
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