25 essential games to have in your Android collection
BlueStacks is the traditional Android emulator delivering the best gameplay experience. However, this new beast – LDPlayer, is also a good choice for playing Free Fire on PC and other popular mobile games. The best racing games for Android. Our favorite Android top-down, 3D and retro racers. (Image credit: Playrise Digital Ltd). See the list on the game’s Google Play page).
Updated: March 05, 2021: Text updated, one game swaped
Originality is a highly sought after quality in games, and we're also the biggest cheerleaders of games that have been made specifically for mobile.
But do you know the one thing that overrides both concerns? Quality. Put simply, if a game is really good, we want it to be available to play on Android.
That's why we get excited when we hear news of a beloved game being ported to mobile. It invariably means that whole bunch more people are going to get to see what all the fuss is about.
Besides which, there's an extra thrill to playing a game on a smartphone where previously you had to have a PC or console set-up to experience it. That old 'can you believe it's on your phone?' thrill hasn't worn off over the years.
Indeed, thanks to technical advances in smartphone design, and the tightening up of Bluetooth controller support, modern conversions will often play and look as well on mobile as anywhere else.
Here are just 25 of the ports and conversions we like playing on our Android phones. There are many more, so do share in the comments below.
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Genre: Card battler, RPG, Strategy
Find out more about Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Arguably the greatest card battler of all time, and also a brilliant example of how to do free to play properly. Add a core system that's built for touch and the customary Blizzard polish, and you have the winner that is Hearthstone.
Football Manager 2020 Touch
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Simulation, Sports
Football Manager 2020 Touch offers a like-for like experience with the equivalent PC mode, but with refined touch controls. It's a dauntingly deep management sim that's unrivalled on mobile.
Knights of the Old Republic
Publisher: Aspyr
Genre: Action, RPG
Find out more about Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
On a list of the finest RPG ever made, Knights of the Old Republic will typically feature somewhere near the top. We're rather lucky, then, that we've received this brilliant mobile port.
Bad North
Available on: iOS + Android + Switch
Find out more about Bad North
A brilliant port of one of the finest strategy games in recent years. There are roguelike and tower defence elements to this crisp, intense tactical experience.
Dead Cells
Publisher: Motion Twin
Genre: Action, Adventure
Has there been a better roguelite platformer than Dead Cells since the launch of the imperious Spelunky? I don't think so. This wonderful game sparkles thanks to a limber combat system and a dizzying arsenal of ranged and melee weaponry.
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game
Available on: iOS + Android
Find out more about Gwent: The Witcher Card Game
Those waiting for a Witcher 3 conversion will have to keep on dreaming. But until that happens, you can play the brilliant strategy card game from that beloved RPG on your Android device.
XCOM: Enemy Within
Available on: iOS + Android + Steam
Find out more about XCOM: Enemy Within
The latest XCOM games are the finest squad-based strategy games around, and they work wonderfully on mobile too. It's remarkable how faithful this feels on Android.
GRID Autosport
Available on: iOS + Switch
Find out more about GRID Autosport
There are plenty of brilliant mobile racers that justifiably claim to be console quality, but none have delivered the real thing to the extent of GRID Autosport. It's a deep, technically astonishing slab of premium racing action. Minecraft demo no download or login.
Minit
Available on: iOS
Minit condenses the epic Zelda-like adventure-RPG down into a tiny minute-long loop. This daunting constraint leads to one of the freshest takes on the genre in years - and it also makes for the ideal mobile game.
Death Road to Canada
Publisher: RocketCat Games
Genre: Action, Adventure, RPG
A dungeon crawler with a modern, zombie-filled twist, Death Road to Canada has you making your way across a ravage America with a motley crew of personalities.
Banner Saga 2
Available on: iOS + Android
Find out more about Banner Saga 2
Somehow improving on the majestic original in every way without shifting the formula at all, this is a stunning Norse-inflected RPG with a highly tactical turn-based combat system.
Kingdom: Two Crowns
Available on: iOS + Android + Steam ..
Find out more about Kingdom: Two Crowns
Kingdom Two Crowns started life as a PC and console game, but its simple 'run left and right' gameplay means it suits mobile to a tee. Building up your pixel-art kingdom is a delight whatever you're playing on.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Available on: iOS + Android
Find out more about Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
It would be inaccurate to say that we've been waiting for a Castlevania: Symphony of the Night conversion since the first Android phone hit shops, because it landed 10 years prior to that. But we're incredibly glad Konami finally got around to it, because this is the game that put the 'vania' into 'Metroidvania'. Seminal barely covers it.
Cultist Simulator
Available on: iOS + Android
Find out more about Cultist Simulator
Cultist Simulator is tough to pin down. It's a narrative card game with elements of strategy and deck building, and a massive does of trial and error. The only thing that's plain to see in this enigma of a game is the quality of its Android conversion.
Reventure
Available on: iOS + Android
Find out more about Reventure
Far smarter than its simplistic 8-bit platformer trappings would have you believe, Reventure gives you a semi-open world to explore and 100 ingenious ways to meet your end. It's a proper pocket adventure.
GRIS
Available on: iOS + Android + Switch
Find out more about GRIS
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Gris isn't the freshest game on this list. Mechanically, it's quite a by-the-book platform-puzzler. But by goodness it looks stunning, and its simple mechanics actually make it ideal for mobile.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
Available on: iOS + Android + Switch
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Find out more about Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is a stunning remake of a forgotten 8-bit platformer classic, brought bang up to date with beautifully sharp cartoon graphics. We're very glad it's made it way to mobile.
This War of Mine
Available on: iOS + Android + Steam
Find out more about This War of Mine
A rare mobile game that can move you to the core. This War of Mine is a stealthy platform survival game that's emotive, unforgiving, and truly heart breaking.
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Dragon Quest VIII
Available on: iOS + Android + 3DS
Find out more about Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
Square Enix moved heaven and Earth to make its joyful JRPG feel native to Android, including shifting the perspective to portrait view and implementing a new quicksave system. It worked.
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Available on: iOS + Android
Find out more about Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Another gaming gem that is a must in case you are a fan of the RPG genre. The well-written story, characters that are vivid and charismatic. Who would have said that this game was released 20 years ago!
Minecraft - Pocket Edition
Publisher: Mojang
Genre: Adventure, Brain training
Minecraft is the videogame that all the kids played before Fortnite came along, and also the game that almost single-handedly kicked off the whole 'build your own fun' craze. It's pretty great on mobile too.
Brawlhalla
Available on: iOS + Android + Switch
Find out more about Brawlhalla
A brilliant free-to-play multiplayer brawler with more than a twang of Smash Bros. to it. Brawlhalla has been a massive hit on other platforms, and it plays just as well on mobile - as you've got a controller to hand.
Game Dev Tycoon
Genre: Simulation
It took five years to arrive on mobile, but Game Dev Tycoon truly feels like it belongs on the platform. It's a remarkably addictive simulation game full of clever writing and genuine suspense.
The World Ends with You: Solo Remix
Publisher: Square Enix
Genre: Multiplayer, RPG
Find out more about The World Ends with You: Solo Remix
Essentially a love letter to the Tokyo district of Shibuya, The World Ends with You: Solo Remix is an appropriately gleeful mash-up of genres and ideas. Its unique swipey combat system seems born to work on mobile.
ARK: Survival Evolved
Genre: Action, Multiplayer, Stealth
This highly regarded first-person survival game comes to mobile virtually in one piece. Gaming laptop starcraft 2. It's big and extremely unforgiving, but few other games of this kind are as rewarding.
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