I do like having games on my phone, but it’s always a struggle looking for games with 0 microtransactions. So would like a game I can out right pay for, or one with ads. The ability to disable ads for $5 is chill though.
I’ve played a lot of games that you can “have fun being f2p” but some days I just get really sick and tired of games I play trying to sell me things every 30 seconds.
So do you guys have any?
If not I may go back to playing GBA games on my phone XD
Papers Please
Some good ones from the fdroid app-repo.
Shattered Pixel Dungeon - already mentioned roguelike
SGT-Puzzles - already mentioned microgame puzzlers
Frozen Bubble - already mentioned bubble-shooter
Vector Pinball - already mentioned pinball
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.artificialworlds.boxstacker/index.html - Physics puzzler
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.simondalvai.ball2box/ - flick ball to the box for 3-stars
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.gpl.rpg.AndorsTrail/ - Massive story quest driven RPG
https://f-droid.org/packages/de.chadenas.cpudefense/ - Tower defense on a PCB
https://f-droid.org/packages/ch.logixisland.anuto/ - trad tower-defense
https://f-droid.org/packages/it.alessandropira.wesnoth114/ - hex turn-based fantasy RPG
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.lettucepie.flickybee/index.html - flick the bee through the course
Stardew Valley! It was worth the $5 already in vanilla, then it got updated with more content at no extra charge and then again. And now 1.6 is around the corner with even more. It is the love child of one dev that keeps on giving and giving and giving. And there are tons of mods of all kinds including entire world overhauls that adds even more replayability. Very much recommended.
Slay the Spire is one of my favorite games of all time, and has a nice android port I play before bed all the time. No ads, just caw caaaw
Threes
Fun puzzle game that got ripped off by 2048 and it’s endless clones. They wrote a blog post on how shitty mobile game development can be.
Whatever emulator you can run and the ROMs of your choice.
Endless Sky is a solid space trader and combat game, free on f-droid
Frozen Bubble is a pretty fun bubble bobble clone, also on f-droid
Arx Libertatis allows you to play the full version of Arx Fatalis, a super in depth underground RPG inspired by Ultima Underworld. You need the PC game files to transfer to your phone though.
Freeciv on Android is an almost feature complete re-creation of Civilization 5 with minimal graphics. You can also download the JAR and run it on a desktop if you have a Java SDK installed. As a Civ player that started with 4, I found it easier to pick up than freeciv which is trying to replicate something more like Civ2.
Halls of Torment released recently and seems to be a direct port of the PC version. I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit
I used a 3 month trial for Play Pass and have found quite a few games through it. It strips out ads and microtransactions and gives you all the content for free, at least in my experience so far. Some of the games in this thread are included. I’m debating keeping it after the trial
I have the following games on my iPhone:
- Infectenator - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/infectonator/id547566699?l=en-GB
- Plauge Inc. - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/plague-inc/id525818839?l=en-GB
- Mini Metro - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/mini-metro/id837860959?l=en-GB
- Reigns - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/reigns/id1114127463?l=en-GB
- Freeways - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/freeways/id1203896014?l=en-GB
- Myst - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/myst-mobile/id6444813759?l=en-GB
- Chrono Trigger - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/chrono-trigger-upgrade-ver/id479431697?l=en-GB
- 80 Days - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/80-days/id892812659?l=en-GB
- Netwalk - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/netwalk-network-puzzle-pro/id1614316916?l=en-GB
Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic, if you feel like playing rollercoaster tycoon 1/2 on your phone. They slightly altered the UI to make it more touch friendly.
Mini Metro. Its a transportation strategy game where you build and manage a city´s metro system through the style of the London tube map. You pay once and get the whole game. No ads or micro transactions.
Open Tyrian is an old shoot em up thats open source and has been ported to dozens of platforms, including android. It plays very well with touch controls.
If you want a Minecraft like game thats free and has no microtransactions I recommend Minetest (Now called Luanti). Its open source and has tons of mods.
Minetest is a good suggestion, but it’s worth noting that the base application won’t have anything playable on install. A few of the games made with it attempt to recreate Minecraft, but it’s not limited to that.
Also, while the core team has announced the name change, it’s still listed as Minetest on both the play store and F-Droid.
Balatro
Balatro, works really well with touch, numbers go brrrrrrrrr
The Lifeline series from 3 minute games is excellent if you like a twist on choose your own adventure games.