Free mobile games have come a long way and their focus has shifted from simple ad-based revenue systems to complicated gacha rollercoasters that try to take every penny without consideration for your poor wallet.
It’s through that seemingly endless stream of pay-to-win and freemium games that Apple makes its 30% from every transaction.
However, fortunately, not all games rely on heavy transactions to make a profit while actually delivering quality content. This list features a lineup of titles you can play on your iPhone without having to worry about missing out on any key moments or having to spend your hard-earned cash (or ask your parents for some pocket change).
13
Cyberika: Action Adventure Cyberpunk RPG
Do you crave some cyberpunk action on the go? Well, strap in because it’s time to go on an adventure to Cyberika. Its futuristic city may remind you of a recent triple-A title in the same genre, and to that end, it holds up quite well.
It touches upon topics such as crime in a futuristic tech-centered world due to poverty, with the only law being survival of the fittest.
While the combat lacks depth and sometimes traveling in a car can take too long, the music, items and stat-building mechanics manage to make up for it.
12
Asphalt 9: Legends
Coming in at full speed is the racing game in pole position. The Asphalt series began as no more than an attempt to put arcade racing in a mobile form, but over time, it grew to become a rightful successor to that in-cabinet experience.
If you liked the Fast & Furious movies, then you’ll enjoy getting a taste of Asphalt 9’s TouchDrive mode, which lets you almost fly through the map in endless runner style. While doing so, you can drift your guts away, step on the pedal, inject some NOS and perform dope stunts. Outside this crazy mode, you can enjoy a traditional racing experience and pay for whatever cosmetics you want to add to your car and lineup.
11
Fire Emblem Heroes
Nintendo has had its ups and downs with mobile titles but when it released Fire Emblem Heroes, it finally nailed the formula. Among strategy game fans, Fire Emblem is beloved on Nintendo’s consoles. Now mobile gamers get a chance to see what all the fuss is about.
Yes, it might have a gacha system, but there’s enough here to enjoy without bankrupting yourself.
10
Froglike: The Frog Roguelike
Everyone knows Frogger, an arcade game that sees you hopping across the road and dodging traffic while controlling a frog. Froglike: The Frog Roguelike is a modern look at what the amphibian can do in a roguelike setting.
In roguelike games, players try to complete the game from start to finish with (most of the time) a single life, with randomized items and skills adding variety to each run. In Froglike, this mechanic is preserved, as you jump from lily pad to lily pad, hop into a portal and collect power-ups, all while dodging enemies who want to put an end to your incessant hopping.
9
Genshin Impact
Genshin Impact is as close to Zelda: Breath of the Wild as you can get on your phone. Its expansive world and engaging gameplay are only rivaled by the amount of cleverly used gacha hooks.
While you may feel compelled to spend your pocket money on its microtransactions, the game is rarely forceful in the way it presents said options. Though the truth of the matter stands – that it does help to get some goodies in order to progress more steadily, Genshin Impact can be enjoyed from start to finish without even having to pay a dime.
8
The Everlasting Regret
You’ve probably heard of Tencent before. Do you know the company behind League of Legends and PUBG? Yep, that’s Riot Games and Krafton’s biggest investor. Well, five graduates from Tencent decided to just create a casual puzzler game.
The result? A gorgeous visual style and a relaxed gameplay loop. It is centered around the Song of Everlasting Regret, a Chinese poem that the dev has chosen to represent the charm of Chinese classical poetry. Even if you’re not into this kind of stuff, if you ever feel stressed out and want to chill, that’s the game to grab.
7
Nier: Recarnation
The Nier series became well-known with Yoko Taro’s 2017 title Nier Automata. Here, real-time action is replaced with turn-based combat to match the mobile element, but the depth of the story remains unchanged.
As with previous installments, the visuals encapsulate the somber tales of a world where everyone is sad and occasionally funny. They also really like philosophy. NieR: Recarnation might be fantastical, but it makes you think more than most games that are obsessed with realism.
6
Cytus II
Cytus is a music rhythm game with very little lore to go around, at least in a comprehensible fashion. Cytus II, though, is enriched with a futuristic story where you are transported into a world where technology allows syncing between the real and the virtual.
The more you play, the more the underlying plot unfolds. As the characters walk their own paths, you see how their stories fit together, pulled along by a giant catalog of songs that are unlocked with every couple of levels.
5
Sky: Children of the Light
First of all, if you haven’t played Journey and Flower by thatgamecompany, close this page and go play both of them right away. Secondly, if you are still here, just play them at some point, especially Journey, because you won’t regret a single second.
And if you want to try out their spiritual successor in a mobile form, Sky: Children of the Light is the game for you. As children of the sky, you try to return fallen stars back to the heavens. During this sweet adventure, you meet other players with whom you can work together to achieve your goal.
There is no way to communicate but signals like taking the other one’s hand and leading him along or shining a candle to become friends. In the midst of all that, you solve puzzles, explore, stress-free, finding new realms that make you gasp with their beauty.
4
Among Us
It comes to be expected that the most fun is to be had with other people. And with Innersloth’s now-iconic title, this is truer than ever. After three years of hard work, the developer managed to land a hit that turned the pandemic into a time of leisure and comfort – something well needed for a world in turmoil.
Inspired by classical games like Mafia, a dozen players are placed inside a traveling spaceship and have to perform various tasks in order to keep going and survive. However, there is an impostor or two within the group looking to (sometimes literally) backstab unsuspecting crewmen.
Everyone works together to identify the impostors in discussion panels, based on who you think is behaving unnaturally. It all creates drama that reveals the psychology behind people’s actions.
3
Pokémon GO
Pokémon GO was the biggest mobile game of its time when it first launched, and it is still going strong. If you’re not currently playing the game, then you’re probably oblivious to how active and popular the game still is. Take a walk down to your local park when a Community Day event is happening, and you’ll see exactly what we mean. Dozens of people walking, catching Pokémon participating in raid battles together, and much more.
What’s also amazing is that Pokémon GO still manages to be one of the friendliest free-to-play games, with almost the entire game playable without paying. You can even send and open gifts now in order to restore your item supplies if there are no PokéStops nearby.
While some events require paid access, you can consider those aimed squarely at only the most hardcore Pokémon collectors. If you just want a fun game to play while getting some gentle exercise, Pokémon GO is still the very best.
2
Pikmin Bloom
Similar to Pokémon GO in many ways, Niantic’s other AR game, Pikmin Bloom, is an even more relaxed way to enjoy getting some exercise. Pikmin Bloom is more of a passive experience than Pokémon GO, designed so that you can set the game up as you begin your walk, and then check in on how things have progressed once you’re finished.
Your steps will help to grow Pikmin seeds, your walking route will uncover new items you can send your Pikmin creatures to collect, and you can also come across a variety of expedition challenges that you can have squads of Pikmin undertake.
The ultimate goal of Pikmin Bloom is to collect all of the Decor Pikmin. Once they’ve reached the maximum friendship level, your Pikmin will seek out unique gifts that will become permanent cosmetics for that Pikmin. Collect them all by visiting different businesses and locations while using the game.
1
Apex Legends Mobile
Apex Legends is one of the very best battle royale games you can play, and now you can get that same experience on mobile devices. Apex Legends Mobile makes the big-budget version of the game playable on mobile devices, and has a totally unique progression system, in addition to a unique mobile-exclusive Legend, Fade.
This will be familiar for Apex Legends veterans, but will offer different map rotations, a different battle pass, balance changes, new game modes including Team Deathmatch, and potentially even more mobile-exclusive Legends in the future, that just may make their way into the main game eventually.
Apex Legends Mobile is a fascinating new experience based on one of the very best battle royale games, and if you want to get to grips with Apex while out and about, Apex Legends Mobile is the best way to do it.
Written by Plamena Katsarova and Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF.
