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Favorite mobile games for short play sessions?
Do you have any go-to mobile games for those moments where you just need to kill 10-20 minutes of time, without pausing a session to resume later? I'm on iOS but I'd imagine many are available on both iOS and Android.
Preferably without ads or in app purchases. (I'll consider a one-time payment if it seems to be a great fit.)
I discovered Rogue Words from someone here and I absolutely love it and am so happy to see it gaining popularity. But it fits into a different category of mobile game for me since I fall asleep too quickly! And I love Balatro and others that I consider full games (that have a PC version as well). But they're also too long for this use case!
Simon Tatham's Puzzles. It's a large collection of classic logic puzzle games, so you'll likely find at least a couple you like in there. Once you find some that click, you can usually finish each game in a couple minutes.
I need to warn though, for me personally they're addicting. I spent the majority of a return flight from Europe playing it, and it took weeks to break the habit of opening the app constantly. Before that, I'd stayed up until 6 am on multiple nights playing the Maps puzzle because I just fell into a rhythm and kept clicking "new game" each time I finished. The puzzles are all short but after a point, it's like entering a meditative or zen state. So they can easily keep me occupied for anywhere from a couple minutes to literal hours.
I forgot I already had this one installed! Maps is one of my favorites too.
I think Maps is the most "zen" one, since it's just filling colors, so once you get the hang of it you can just let your mind wander. It can happen with other puzzles, but that effect is strongest with that one. I currently have the game kinda "hidden" in a folder in my apps because I'd gotten in the habit of just opening it mindlessly, heh...
I have to actively keep myself away from Simon Tatham's Puzzles; I find them that addictive. So great (and devious) suggestion!
Slice & Dice can’t be recommended enough. Really well done mobile interface and super deep turn based synergy dice building design. Very challenging, but there are some easier modes that still offer a lot of neat fun. I think there’s an unlock all button as well.
We did a review of Slice & Dice last year for our podcast on roguelike games and had a great time with it.
Wanted to come back to this and mention that I downloaded Slice and Dice after reading this comment and I've been loving it!
I bought it and unlocked a heap of hero's, modes, monsters and items and there's more and more to do, it's a huge amount of stuff to see. Really great recommendation, thanks!!
SmashHit - old but beautiful shooter game where you are flying across geometric tonnels and shoot steel balls at glass structures. One time payment to unlock checkpoints and other games modes.
Golf On Mars - simple, neverending, 2D physically based golf on Mars. One time purchase.
I also loved to play Alto Adventures and Alto Odyssey - endless snowboarding beautiful runners, should be ads free on iOS, with one time purchase.
Smash Hit and Golf on Mars was with me on 3 or 4 my latest phones and I still loves them.
Smash Hit is cool! It's definitely going in my rotation.
I feel like I missed the era of "classic" iOS games, so I'm sure there's a lot like this I've never played only because they've fallen out of popularity after however many years.
+1 for Alto. Recently hit level 61 in Odyssey, then found out there's a Google play achievement for reaching level 61 without crashing more than 100 times, so it's been consuming a lot of my free time lately. I never really improved at the game until I found this challenge
Hoplite is a great turn-based roguelike where you keep going down a dungeon and selecting skills and upgrades on each floor. You can pause the round at any moment and continue later.
Free to try, with a single purchase to unlock extra things I don't remember now :D. Maybe on ios a purchase is required from the beginning, but it's really worth it.
This seems pretty good actually--I just ran through the tutorial and a couple of levels and it strikes me as a simplified (not simple) version of Alina of the Arena which is a game I love and I always wished I could play on mobile. This is close enough! Thanks!
I like the Zachtronics Solitaire Collection. If you're not familiar with Zachtronics, they primarily made programming/engineering puzzle games, then they started including solitaire mini-games with each one, and this is all of those solitaire variants (plus one new one) in a nice little app.
I've enjoyed "The Battle of Polytopia" on both Android and iOS. It is a turn-based strategy game sorta like Civ but simplified. While "Civ" and "short play sessions" usually don't match, it does in this case. Polytopia has a quick-fire 30 turn mode where you basically try to maximize your score by exploring the map, researching tech, and expanding your empire as much as possible. It's a lot of fun. It doesn't have ads but it does have some in-app purchases that give you different "tribes" to play as in the game. They're very much optional though and they don't shove it in your face. Highly recommend.
Sudoku is something else I do enjoy playing on my phone from time to time. I don't have a good iOS app for it but on Android, "Sudoku - The Clean One" by "Dustland Design" is my favorite. It does have ads but the in-app purchases are just to remove ads and to get some more AMOLED themes for $4.49 and $1.99 USD respectively and they are one-time purchases. I'm still a beginner but I can get through a medium difficulty square in ~3-5 minutes so I'll play a few when I have some time.
Polytopia is also part of the Google Play Pass if someone wants to play with all those extra fun tribes as part of that monthly cost.
It's fun now and again
This is really fun! But I do have to say, after getting to a point (in the first/tutorial) where I've conquered all the villages and explored all the ruins, I was a bit aimless. Growing my army didn't seem like it would be beneficial at that point.
Edit: played an actual game and it's quite different from the tutorial. Very engaging!
If you like puzzle games, many games at increpare.com work in the browser on a phone. There's a huge number of them and I haven't played many, but at least some of them are really interesting and sometimes tough as shit. Usually figuring out the rules is part of the game.
Personally I'm a fan of Gestalt OS and Gestalt 3.1. The first couple levels in whichever you play first can be a bit tough, but once you understand the basic rules, each level doesn't take long.
Those games are fascinating. Is it all one person's collection? It's just a very eclectic mix.
As far as I know, he's created all of them himself. Increpare (Stephen Lavelle) is probably best known for developing Stephen's Sausage Roll. Unrelatedly, he was also an old flatmate of Terry Cavanagh's.
Yes, I believe it's all one guy who also works on PuzzleScript, the tool within which many of the games were made. It really is a lot, seems like it may be his job, at least partially - he gets some money from Patreon and also releases a commercial game here and there, although cheap.
For me the best mobile game of all time is Shattered Pixel Dungeon. It‘s a turn-based roguelike dungeon crawler with a seemingly unlimited amount of content and variation. You level up while diving deeper into the sewers of a city. Every 5 levels you have to fight a boss and after that the graphics of the environment change as you progress into an even deeper and different kind of dungeon. If you die, you start again but that‘s the charm of the game. Every run is different. The interface is great, especially because it plays in portrait mode, not landscape. Personally I can‘t be bothered holding my phone sideways. And best of all: the game is actively developed and new features, heroes and sub-classes are constantly being added.
It looks interesting, but I wish I could demo it before buying. These types of games aren't always my favorite.
But I'll keep it in mind, as turn-based is more appealing to me than action, currently.
Shattered Pixel Dungeon is a FOSS game, so the source and compiled builds are available on GitHub. Paid versions are available on Google Play and Itch.io if you want to show support.
https://github.com/00-Evan/shattered-pixel-dungeon/releases/tag/v3.1.1
Monument Valley always caught my attention in the mobile space, I completed it without it having to go to Daily Challenges or Achievements what have you. I can second Alto's Adventure & Odyssey, and if you never played World of Goo, the mobile version could do a very good job at scratching that itch.
If you already have Apple Arcade or Netflix, they have a big collection of stuff to look through as well.
Brain Out reminds me a little of the "Kuukiyomi: Consider It" games. Or at least the art style on the App Store page gives me that vibe.
I Love Hue is very satisfying to play, you just rearrange color blocks until they are perfect gradients. No timer so you can pause anytime. Can play offline.
This thread, and ones like it are dangerous. I made the mistake of reading two of them previously and picked up FarmRPG (Tower level 85 and still going), Shattered Pixel Dungeon & Magic Research - all of which are utterly awesome.
FarmRPG is so good that I pay the fiver a month for the starter pack, not because you need to, but just to support the game.
Yesterday I downloaded:
One other that I think is excellent and don't see mentioned in this thread is Grindstone. It's a one time payment (also available on Apple Arcade) puzzler with a great art style and it's also perfect for playing for anything from a few mins to a few hours.
And finally, one I hesitate to recommend because it's F2P with IAP but I still find fun is Angry Birds - Dream Blast. I'm on level 7969 and still playing... Without dropping a penny on it. There are no forced ads but it does offer watching ads for a few extra goes or a boost before starting a level.
I'm so annoyed at how many apps are still iOS only ಠ︵ಠ
Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks like an Apple Arcade exclusive? I'm not seeing a price or anything like that.
My bad, you’re right it is exclusive. Also available on steam… which is why I thought it was available to buy. Sorry about that!
No worries! I didn't even realize Apple Arcade exclusives were a thing. That's like... worse than "console exclusives", because you need both the hardware and a subscription.
/noise
Recently picked Grindstone back up. Really like the AA version of Pac-Man 256. And I’m expecting to get super addicted when then new Angry Birds game hits AA next week.
I have been searching for years for anything that is as awesome as FarmRPG for short burst of gaming, and I haven’t found it. So I’m still farming, further in the endgame than I could ever imagine.
What keeps me from enjoying most mobile games is just the time it takes to boot m up. Most games are so graphically demanding that they give me a loading screen or make my phone go in ‘game mode’, which is to be a hurdle for me to just jump in and out a game.
FarmRPG is completely menu based , no loading screens whatsoever, but it combines that dry aesthetic with funny writing, a very welcoming community and a very well balanced sense of progressions throughout the game. Can’t recommend it enough.
(Writing a book with ADHD is a challenge, I credit FarmRPG for helping me cope with the utter boredom of writing. ^^)
Someone mentioned FarmRPG in the fall and boy did it suck me in. And I cannot explain why I'm hooked.
It's so much fun!
I get it. It just feels like a really friendly place to me. Always something to do but never feels demanding.
True, I think the game loop of occasionally being able to clear several quests at once and then having a lull for a few days keeps me coming back too. It always feels like I've got something close in reach I'm grinding towards without being too daunting.
-I'm also 'Russel Sprout' on there for anyone down the line who comes across this and wants to be friends!
Since someone (you?) recommended it previously I've hit level 60 of the Tower and still enjoy myself. I second it.
It was me! I remember your username. Glad you enjoy it. :)
I’m currently tower 133 and my wife is now also hooked which really doubles the joy I’m having with it.
I did just hit 100 today/last night!
Congrats!
I’ve been stuck on 134 for a while now, focusing a bit more on quests and borgen bucks :)
I hit a point on all the seasonal quests that I had to stop expecting an outcome (I was low key emotional about the Juneteenth quests though, especially Lorn)
But was able to combine masteries with the other quests or do them alongside each other at least. Borgen bucks seem exhausting.
Oh. I actually never read the quest descriptions, I suspected them to be not that good or important. But sounds like I should.
They're pretty fun usually!
But this one
text of June 19 quest below
One of Lorn’s biggest regrets happened many years ago, far away from Redbrook. He was a soldier then, and he was sent with his battalion to free a group of people that were enslaved for many, many years.
A dispatch was sent to the town ahead of the battalion to allow everyone time to gather. The slaveholders and the enslaved were assembled and waiting when the soldiers arrived. Lorn was given a proclamation to read to the town. The proclamation announced that those currently in the bondage of slavery were freed and would be treated as such. Lorn’s battalion remained in the area only long enough to make sure the proclamation was obeyed, and then they moved on to their next assignment.
To this day, Lorn worries that he didn’t do enough to help those newly freed people. He did his duty and followed his orders, but those newly freed men and women and children needed more than being released from forced labor. They needed kindness, friendship, and support.
Every year on this day, Lorn remembers. Then, he tries to find someone around him that needs a little more help and he reaches out to help.
Lorn would like everyone in town to join him in celebrating this day of freedom by helping others. Will you join him and remember someone that needs help
I agree. I highly recommend reading the quest descriptions if you enjoy narrative in games. They do a pretty good job of building lore in the quest descriptions which I personally enjoy and think adds some flavor to the game.
It's been about a decade since I had an ipod touch. Solomons keep, Solomons boneyard, infinity blade series, minigore were my jam. I think you can sideload the Infinity Blade series, and I have no idea if the others are still around.
Also second the alto games, those are a joy.
I've been filling this niche with two games on Android: Konane and Mu Torere. Both are based on traditional Polynesian board games and are good for short pick-up-put-down play.
Very cool, thanks for sharing something I may never have learned about otherwise!
It looks like there are iOS apps but they are... 7+ years old and may not even work properly. But I'll probably look into these more outside of that.
Oh, just remembered another one: the Super Cat Tales series. They're a bunch of platformers developed for mobile. I learned about it when I saw a random girl playing one at college, and was pleasantly surprised to find the gameplay is pretty smooth. They do have ads, but you can pay to disable them.
I've been doing this with Slay the Spire recently, runs usually go longer than 10-20 minutes, but if you keep trying to make a claw deck work as defect you lose a lot of runs pretty quick. I think I've played that game more than any other mobile game I've had.
Edit: Forgot to mention the game Slay, simple strategy game with even the biggest maps for me not taking more than 20 minutes. The base game has enough maps in it to keep you entertained for hours on end. I'd highly recommend it. The developer has been porting that game to different platforms for ~30 years. I've thought about picking up the Steam version eventually to support him.
I am that someone who recommended Rouge Words on Tildes, and my go to is Bullpen. It’s like a simplified Sudoku. The Easy-Normal puzzles are fun for speeding through, but the Hard ones is where the real game is. I’m on a 125 day streak, going for the 365 day achievement. One time IAP to unlock everything. Just got a solid update in the last 24 hours.
The other game I play a lot is Sliding Seas. It’s a merge based match-3; 1470 levels in and never needed to buy anything or watch an ad.
Less what you want, but I’m deeply invested in King Rabbit - Puzzle and King Rabbit - Race. They’re not being updated anymore, but we still have a nice little community of level builders on Discord.
Wow, you've knocked it out of the park twice now with your suggestions then! Bullpen is fantastic. Reminds me a little of minesweeper while ultimately being more sudoku like.
I’ll let you know if I get hooked on something else!
Thanks for the Sliding Seas recommendation. I started playing it and have enjoyed the level variety so far! I'm also interested in seeing how far I can go without using the power ups, since so far it seems like trying a level a few times lets me beat if I ever get stuck.
I usually only use them when I’ve got a VIP and am about to lose. It’s definitely not a game I’ve ever felt pressured to buy something in, despite the offers and such. Once or twice I’ve gotten stuck on a level and stubbornly kept losing, but I’ll usually throw gems (I have like 60K stocked up) for more moves or powerups at it after 4ish losses.
Worth mentioning, Sanderson just dropped a list today that isn't awful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_VPPV5dDDU
Several of these I hadn't heard of, and might fit original criteria. For those wondering his list was:
"Titans of mobile"(Things he felt required being mentioned)
His actual list after that:
Tetris, obviously. Perfect game for short sessions, but if that's not your thing.... The Escapists!
Also an excellent game for short sessions as you can pop in while you're on the bus and work toward escaping prison.
If neither of these are your fancy, then Super Hexagon could be a good shout. Rhythm games are always good for a quick session every now and again.
My long time favorite for everything from long flights to doctors office waits is 7 Little Words. It's a word game where you need to fill in words based on clues but all the words have been cut up into small blocks of letters and need to put back in place.