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Ask HN: How do you find high quality mobile games?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you find high quality mobile games?

#21

Post by brucethemoose2 »

- Look for open source games, via FDroid or GitHub.

- Look for games that also exist on PC/Console.

- Use app curation apps and reputable 3rd party game reviewers.

I hate to drop the later two recommendations without examples, but I am kinda out of the the Android gaming scene, and I can't find the services I used before (IIRC Apptopia and some Steam/Android cross reference website).

Re: Ask HN: How do you find high quality mobile games?

#22

Post by enragedcacti »

On Android it is kind of fragmented (big surprise) but here are some strategies to filter a lot of the mobile monetization:

1) Play Pass - 1000+ Games/Apps with no ads or in-app purchases for $5/month or $2.50/month when bought yearly.

2) In the Play Store, Filter by Top Paid. Most Gacha games are free to play to get you in the door so immediately the Top Paid section has some great games like Minecraft, Bloons TD 6, Stardew Valley, Don't Starve, etc.

3) Open the "Play Games" app and scroll to the very bottom of the Home page where there should be a "Dive deeper" section. That section has a number of filters, notably including "Premium", "No Ads" and "No in-app Purchases". It only shows title cards before tapping so browsing it kind of sucks but at least you know you've gotten rid of the stuff you definitely don't want. It also has a "Trending" filter so you can see newer stuff as it comes out.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find high quality mobile games?

#24

Post by loganc2342 »

andsoitis wrote: post #17

Metacritic does iOS games reviews: https://www.metacritic.com/game/ios Not sure why they don't do anything for Android (you mentioned "the Play store"). But perhaps the answer to that question also answers your question.

Ah, mobile gaming. The only place that Scrabble can get a 94 on Metacritic.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find high quality mobile games?

#25

Post by kibwen »

Kelteseth wrote: post #6
WASDx wrote: post #3

Emulators can be used to play old console games.

Pokemon red is still the best mobile game

Pokemon Showdown also works great in a mobile browser, it's a free, open source, highly popular PVP battle simulator and team builder: https://pokemonshowdown.com/

Re: Ask HN: How do you find high quality mobile games?

#26

Post by jurassic »

Nearly all mobile games are designed to get you addicted and then monetize you via micro transactions. IMO it’s better to just not participate in that form of gaming. I deleted all mobile games about 10 years ago after I found myself unable to regulate how much time I was spending on objectively stupid games like Pocket Frogs (basically you vs an RNG trying to breed and catch them all). I knew it was a low quality way to spend time, but still I would find myself there again multiple times per day because they baked time delays into the gameplay (unless you pay up, of course). I hope it’s the closest I’ll ever get to experiencing a gambling addiction, but it was so odd feeling like I had no control over it after a while. I had to delete everything and go cold turkey to get back control. I still enjoy a good console game now and then but it’s giving too much of my time and attention away to game developers letting that stupid stuff on my phone.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find high quality mobile games?

#27

Post by TillE »

There are a handful of mobile ports of desktop games which are fine, like Hearthstone if you're into that. It plays ok on a phone.

But mostly they don't exist. And I'm convinced the root cause is that a tiny touchscreen is an awful medium for nontrivial games. You can make a tiny screen work with a controller, and you can make other types of games with a big touchscreen where you can present lots of information, but the combination is so restrictive that it's just not worth the trouble of competing with the heaps of F2P garbage.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find high quality mobile games?

#28

Post by BoppreH »

Netflix Games[1] have higher quality than usual and no ads, no in-app purchases, and no predatory tactics (in the games I tried). Bonus points for being all free if you already have a Netflix account.

I can vouch for Poinpy[2], Laya's Horizon[3], Lucky Luna[4], and Skies of Chaos[5]. I haven't tried the mobile ports, but the desktop versions were very good: Into the Breach[6], World of Good[7], and Kentucky Route Zero[8].

The downside is that some Netflix'ied games seem to be buggy, and it requires online connection on startup to check your account status.

[1]: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/121442

[2]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

[3]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

[4]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

[5]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

[6]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

[7]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

[8]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.netflix.NG...

Re: Ask HN: How do you find high quality mobile games?

#29

Post by LasEspuelas »

I found these by searching and exploring and in my opinion they are good games for mobile (Android):

* Retro Bowl and others by the same dev * Rusted Warfare for an RTS. * Spent many hours on Andors Trail before reaching the current end * Euclidea is fun if you are geometrically inclined

All these found through browsing and searching.

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