Welcome to the official mobile gaming thread, where we discuss the best and most interesting titles coming to iOS and Android each and every month. From sales, to exciting new releases, to promising games in the works, mobile gaming is vast and growing medium, with entries in genres of every fashion, premium and free alike.
The main post will contain recommended games that released during the previous year. All the games listed will have been highlighted by the ERA community in one way or another. This way you can keep tabs on the best games and at the same time curate an excellent resource to look back on to find games you may have missed.
Notable Mobile Games of 2020
(Images and descriptions taken from TouchArcade.com)
Genshin Impact
iOS / Android
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Meteorfall: Krumit's Tale
iOS / Android
Creaks (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Pascal's Wager
iOS / Android
Little Orpheus (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Retro Bowl
iOS / Android
The Pathless (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Slay the Spire
iOS / Android
The Last Campfire (Apple Arcade)
iOS
9th Dawn III
iOS / Android
South of the Circle (Apple Arcade)
iOS
There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension
iOS / Android
Necrobarista (Apple Arcade)
iOS
If Found
iOS
A Monster's Expedition (Apple Arcade)
iOS
Star Wars: KOTOR II
iOS / Android
Grand Mountain Adventure
iOS / Android
Mobile Gaming 2020 | Slay the Spire in Your Pocket, Nuff Said
Mobile Gaming 2019 | Mega Thread, Mega Backlog!
Mobile Gaming September/October 2018 | A Song of Ice & Dire
Mobile Gaming July/August 2018 | Get Ready to Battle Your Heart Out
Mobile Gaming June 2018 | Apple needs to let off some Steam
Mobile Gaming May 2018 | Mayday! Too many games to play
Mobile Gaming April 2018 | Portable Battle Royale
Mobile Gaming March 2018 | A lovely month for gaming on the go
Mobile Gaming February 2018 | A Thumping good time!
Mobile Gaming January 2018 | New ERA, new year, and so many new games
Mobile Gaming December 2017 | A Frosty X-mas Season
Mobile Gaming November 2017 | Giving thanks for iOS and Android alike
The main post will contain recommended games that released during the previous year. All the games listed will have been highlighted by the ERA community in one way or another. This way you can keep tabs on the best games and at the same time curate an excellent resource to look back on to find games you may have missed.
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Notable Mobile Games of 2020
(Images and descriptions taken from TouchArcade.com)
Genshin Impact
iOS / Android
Step into Teyvat, a vast world teeming with life and flowing with elemental energy.
You and your sibling arrived here from another world. Separated by an unknown god, stripped of your powers, and cast into a deep slumber, you now awake to a world very different from when you first arrived.
Thus begins your journey across Teyvat to seek answers from The Seven — the gods of each element. Along the way, prepare to explore every inch of this wondrous world, join forces with a diverse range of characters, and unravel the countless mysteries that Teyvat holds...
MASSIVE OPEN WORLD
Climb any mountain, swim across any river, and glide over the world below, taking in the jaw-dropping scenery each step of the way. And if you stop to investigate a wandering Seelie or strange mechanism, who knows what you might discover?
ELEMENTAL COMBAT SYSTEM
Harness the seven elements to unleash elemental reactions. Anemo, Electro, Hydro, Pyro, Cryo, Dendro, and Geo interact in all sorts of ways, and Vision wielders have the power to turn this to their advantage.
Will you vaporize Hydro with Pyro, electro-charge it with Electro, or freeze it with Cryo? Your mastery of the elements will give you the upper hand in battle and exploration.
BEAUTIFUL VISUALS
Feast your eyes on the world around you, with a stunning art style, real-time rendering, and finely tuned character animations delivering you a truly immersive visual experience. Lighting and weather all change naturally over time, bringing every detail of this world to life.
SOOTHING SOUNDTRACK
Let the beautiful sounds of Teyvat draw you in as you explore the expansive world around you. Performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the soundtrack changes seamlessly with the time and gameplay to match the mood.
BUILD YOUR DREAM TEAM
Team up with a diverse cast of characters in Teyvat, each with their own unique personalities, stories, and abilities. Discover your favorite party combinations and level up your characters to help you conquer even the most daunting of enemies and domains.
JOURNEY WITH FRIENDS
Play together with friends across various platforms to trigger more elemental action, tackle tricky boss fights, and conquer challenging domains together to reap rich rewards.
As you stand atop the peaks of Jueyun Karst and take in the rolling clouds and vast terrain stretching out before you, you may wish to stay in Teyvat a little longer... But until you are reunited with your lost sibling, how can you rest? Go forth, Traveler, and begin your adventure!
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure (Apple Arcade)
iOS
From the BAFTA-Award winning studio behind Monument Valley and Assemble with Care comes something entirely new!
Join Alba as she visits her grandparents on a Mediterranean island. She is ready for a peaceful summer of wildlife exploration with her friend Ines, but when she sees an animal in danger, she realises she needs to do something about it!
This is truly a Mediterranean paradise if you ignore all the litter! From the idyllic beaches to the ancient castle overlooking the town a whole island is ready to be explored. With Ines and your grandfather - who is a total bird nerd - by your side, you can start the movement to save the island. Maybe even the world after that.
- Handcrafted visuals. Every little corner of the island has been looked after with great detail. Trust me, it took us a while to make it
- Join Alba and Ines to found the AIWRL (really rolls off the tongue doesn't it?), an organisation that can save the island
- You will need to gather a bunch of volunteers and the town is full of good people. Help them out and convince them to join you
- There are animals everywhere, can you find all the species?
What you can expect:
- Great music. We worked with Lorena Alvarez, to make a soundtrack that is equal parts Spain and Amazing
- This is a Chillectathon. Make your time on the island your own and experience the adventure at your own pace. No rush
- A place you want to stay. We based this on our childhood summers and, well, we wish we could go back. This island is the next best thing
- Just a feel-good game about running around and doing good deeds
Meteorfall: Krumit's Tale
iOS / Android
Battle the likes of sozzled bearbearians and nuke-addled snotwolves to protect our glowing green world from the sweaty hands of the Uberlich! Krumit's Tale involves the same core deck building mechanics as Meteorfall: Journeys and the same cast of overly optimistic heroes, but expands the 'swipe' mechanic into a dynamic grid based system. This means more depth and longevity – our heroes will have to choose perks to complement their deck-building strategy and carefully manage the board if they wish to triumph.
+ A follow-up to the popular mobile solo deckbuilding card game - Meteorfall: Journeys!
+ The brave heroes of Meteorfall return! Play as five different heroes - Bruno, Greybeard, Mischief, Muldorf, and Rose - each with their own cards and a distinct playstyle
+ In true roguelike fashion, each run is different! Your journey is built from 20+ unique dungeons, 25+ fully animated enemies, more than 50+ perks (passive bonuses), and more than 300+ cards
+ More than 30 achievements to unlock
+ Feeling competitive? Check out the daily challenge mode! Each day has a different set of modifiers which tweak the rules of the game in radical ways.
+ Mobile optimized gameplay. The game can be played one-handed in portrait mode and auto-saves frequently
+ Offline play. If you want to enjoy Krumit's Tale on your daily commute or on an airplane ride - go for it! No online connection is required
+ Join an active community of players on Reddit (/r/KrumitsTale) or Discord
Creaks (Apple Arcade)
iOS
The ground starts shaking, light bulbs are breaking - and something rather unusual is happening right behind the walls of your very room. Equipped with nothing but wit and courage, you slowly descend into a world inhabited by avian folk and seemingly deadly furniture monsters.
From the creators of indie classics Machinarium and Samorost comes Creaks, a new puzzle adventure game that delights the senses with its hand-painted visuals, precise animation, eerie sounds, and an eclectic original score from Hidden Orchestra. Proceed at your own pace at figuring out the solutions to dozens of carefully designed puzzles, explore the mansion for hidden paintings, and uncover the great secret.
Creaks is best enjoyed with a controller and a good pair of headphones.
Pascal's Wager
iOS / Android
Pascal's Wager is an action role playing game with the style of dark fantasy. The game provides its players with top-notch picture quality and a feast for the senses that the mobile platform has never had before. In the game, the world is shrouded by dark mist, where light is dim and mysterious. People there become lunatic, and nobody knows the secrets behind that.
Players can play multiple characters to experience the strong storyline and reveal various hidden areas of the map. Along the way, they will fight unbelievable enemies, confront epic bosses, and embrace overwhelming death and truth. All the while, they'll be engrossed by a magnificent soundtrack performed by a world-class orchestra.
■ Features
- An incredibly Rich and Deep story, 20 or more hours of content
- Four operable characters, with different combat modes and skill trees
- Dozens of different enemies, bringing extensive experience of hectic battles
- Diversified NPCs, responding to independent subplots
- Three-dimensional map with multiple layers
- Cinematic performance and storytelling, fully voiced dialog
- Powerfully attractive soundtracks, performed by a world-famous symphony orchestra
- Full controller support to ensure the best possible gameplay experience
- Substantial post-launch DLC adding to the story and characters
- Addition of robust PVP and PVE multiplayer modes to be added post-launch
Little Orpheus (Apple Arcade)
iOS
A game by The Chinese Room
The year is 1962 and NASA are trying to put a man on the moon. In a remote corner of Siberia, a Soviet cosmonaut is heading in the other direction. Comrade Ivan Ivanovich is dropped into an extinct volcano in his exploration capsule, Little Orpheus, to explore the center of the earth. He promptly vanishes.
Three years later he emerges claiming to have saved the world. He has also lost the atomic bomb powering the Little Orpheus. He is taken to a top secret bunker deep below the Ural mountains to be debriefed by the fearsome General Yurkovoi, a man so frightening even Stalin won't buy him a drink. The General rolls up his sleeves, fixes Ivan with a steely glare and say "So... where have you been comrade? And where is my bomb?"
And Ivan looks him right back in the eye and says "Well General, you might not believe what happened to me, but I'll do my best. Because it happened like this..."
Join our bold yet hapless hero as he explores lost civilizations, undersea kingdoms, prehistoric jungles and lands beyond imagination. Gasp as he battles the subhuman tribe of the Menkv and escapes the clutches of dreadful monsters! Cheer as he triumphs over impossible odds and brings socialism to the subterranean worlds!
Little Orpheus is a technicolor side-scrolling adventure game inspired by classic movies like Flash Gordon, Sinbad and The Land that Time Forgot. Delivered in eight bite-size, commute-friendly episodes, Little Orpheus is simple enough for casual players but rich enough for seasoned adventure fans.
If you're a fan of old school family blockbusters, want a rollercoaster story that'll take you to the Earth's core and beyond, or are just in some need of ideologically correct entertainment, join the most unlikely hero to hit Apple Arcade on an adventure beyond belief. With stunning visuals, brilliant acting and a world-class score, Little Orpheus is a pocket-epic you'll never forget.
Comrades, to the center!
Retro Bowl
iOS / Android
Retro Bowl is the perfect game for the armchair quarterback to finally prove a point. Presented in a glorious retro style, the game has simple roster management, including press duties and the handling of fragile egos, while on the field you get to call the shots. Can you pass the grade and take your team all the way to the ultimate prize? Can you win the Retro Bowl?
The Pathless (Apple Arcade)
iOS
From the creators of ABZÛ, The Pathless is the mythic adventure of an archer and an eagle in a vast forest.
Archery and Falconry
Become the Hunter, a master of archery who travels to a mystical island to dispel a curse of darkness that grips the world. Forge a connection with your eagle companion and soar through the air. Perform fluid acrobatics and execute awesome trick shots with a unique archery system that allows effortless shooting while moving at high speeds.
Explore an Open World
Forge your own path through a beautiful open world packed with secrets to find. Traverse misty forests, lush meadows and snowy tundras. Discover the dark history of the island as you solve puzzles in ancient ruins and bound across the treetops.
Hunt Corrupted Spirits
Giant corrupted spirits lurk in the woods. Use all your skill to hunt them down, but be careful not to become the hunted yourself. Engage in epic battles against the cursed beasts to restore light to the land. The bond with your eagle and the fate of the world hang in the balance.
Slay the Spire
iOS / Android
We fused card games and roguelikes together to make the best single player deckbuilder we could. Craft a unique deck, encounter bizarre creatures, discover relics of immense power, and Slay the Spire!
Features:
- Dynamic Deck Building: Choose your cards wisely! Discover hundreds of cards to add to your deck with each attempt at climbing the Spire. Select cards that work together to efficiently dispatch foes and reach the top
- An Ever-changing Spire: Whenever you embark on a journey up the Spire, the layout differs each time. Choose a risky or safe path, face different enemies, choose different cards, discover different relics, and even fight different bosses!
- Powerful Relics to Discover: Powerful items known as relics can be found throughout the Spire. The effects of these relics can greatly enhance your deck through powerful interactions. But beware, obtaining a relic may cost you more than just gold…
The Last Campfire (Apple Arcade)
iOS
DISCOVER A PURPOSE
The Last Campfire is an adventure, a story of a lost ember trapped in a puzzling place, searching for meaning and a way home.
ON A JOURNEY
Travel deeper into the lands beyond the dark forest and overcome the adversities before you.
UNCOVER A WORLD
Discover beautiful wilderness filled with lost folk, strange creatures and mysterious ruins.
LIGHT THE LAST CAMPFIRE
Find hope and carry it with you on your Journey to light The Last Campfire.
FROM A SMALL STUDIO
A unique tale from Hello Games and the creative minds behind LostWinds.
9th Dawn III
iOS / Android
9th Dawn III: Shadow of Erthil is a huge 2D open world RPG and collectathon dungeon crawler packed full of adventure! When asked to investigate mysterious, ghostly sightings around the lake of Elmson, you trek through the lands of Cedaltia to uncover the truth. Upon arrival, you hear rumors of an untrustworthy king. Taking the path of the Chosen One, you journey to Lorwyck Castle to confront a powerful enemy – traversing ancient fortresses, dark dungeons, perilous swamps, and more!
Soon, you find yourself at the heart of a foreboding prophecy. Equip your best gear and adventure across the fields of Ashwick, the snowy regions of Halstom, dense forests of Vlak, the sprawling depths of huge dungeons, and the perilous Hollow Mountains of Scorn on an epic quest to uncover the secrets of a mysterious evil force ...
Can you become the savior of Cadaltia?
• Explore a huge, seamless open world full of crypts, fortresses, villages, and more.
• Find your way across deadly dungeons, fight over 270 unique monsters, and acquire loot, treasures, and rare materials.
• Become the ultimate warrior as you unlock spells and abilities, fine-tune your attributes, and level-up your crafting abilities!
• Recruit monsters! Turn them into powerful allies with care and combat skill training.
• Collect 1,400 uniquely drawn items – including more than 300 weapons and 550 pieces of armor and accessories.
• Customize weapons and armour, go fishing, cook food, collect gems, and more!
• Kick back and play Fyued, an original card game played throughout the region with 180 collectable cards!
• Enjoy an original orchestral soundtrack.
• Help the townsfolk to prosper with sidequests that range from silly to dangerous!
Valorware is a UK-based game development and publishing company. Valorware is led by a solo-developer, focusing on producing content-rich Role Playing Games (RPGs).
South of the Circle (Apple Arcade)
iOS
A narrative adventure game by the BAFTA winning studio State of Play.
Antarctica, 1964.
A crashed aircraft, tail to the sky.
Cambridge academic Peter stumbles from the wreckage in search of help, fighting the cold. As his attempts to escape the ice grow more desperate, the lines between his past and present begin to blur.
A love story between colleagues Peter and Clara, set against the backdrop of the Cold War, South of the Circle is a narrative adventure game about memory, survival, and the consequences of not dealing with the past.
• Compelling and immersive narrative with a unique sense of time and place
• Fully motion captured performances to achieve emotional realism, from a cast including Gwilym Lee (Bohemian Rhapsody), Olivia Vinall (The Woman in White), Richard Goulding (Belgravia), Anton Lesser (Game of Thrones), Adrian Rawlins (Chernobyl), and Michael Fox (Downton Abbey)
• Nuanced emotional choices with a unique symbol-based mechanic
• Rich, authentic environments
• Deeply researched 1960s setting
• Exploration, discovery, and environmental storytelling woven through the narrative
• From State of Play Games, developers of BAFTA winning Lumino City, BAFTA nominated KAMI 2 and Apple Design Award Winner INKS
There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension
iOS / Android
"There is no game: Wrong dimension" is a Point&Click comedy adventure that will take you on a journey you never asked to go on, through silly and unexpected video game universes.
Will you be able to play along with the ""Game"" to find your way home?
We sincerely think NOT.
-A Point&Click comedy adventure. You can go ahead and put your controller back up on the shelf.
-Incredible 3D graphics that are flat. Completely flat. And very pixelated.
-Almost fully voiced. (May contain traces of foreign accents here and there.)
-Solve riddles that require you to think "Outside the box".
-Hint system included because you can't think "Outside the box"...
-Shorter than an MMORPG, which leaves you plenty of time to finish some REAL good games.
-Discover the Top 10 best walls. The fourth one will surprise you!
-Motion sickness free, which is pretty remarkable for a non-VR experience.
-Contains tons of bugs... but it's supposed to be like that.
-And lots of other surprises!
Necrobarista (Apple Arcade)
iOS
In a back-alley Melbourne cafe, the dead are granted one last night to mingle with the living.
For Maddy Xiao—barista, amateur necromancer, and new owner of the Terminal—things couldn't be better, as long as you're not reminding her of the fact that she's got an enforcer from the notoriously uncompromising Council of Death breathing down her neck.
If Found
iOS
If Found… is an interactive visual novel from DREAMFEEL about searching for connection.
On December 31st 1993 in the crumbling ruins of a mansion on Achill Island, Kasio destroys her diary.
It tells the story of her return home to the West of Ireland, her conflict with her family, the friends she makes, and the challenges she goes through.
Everything leads to this night when a black hole will destroy the entire world. Where did it come from? Is there any way to stop it?
With brand new gameplay mechanics, beautiful hand-drawn art, and a stunning soundtrack, players will relive Kasio's experiences and see the moments both happy and painful that make up the month of December 1993.
Features include: awkward crushes, the planet Jupiter, many kisses, a punk concert, confusion, happiness, a cute dog, and a break in.
A Monster's Expedition (Apple Arcade)
iOS
From some of the best puzzle designers in the world comes A Monster's Expedition, an adorable and relaxing open world puzzle adventure for monsters who love to learn about humans.
By pushing trees over to create pathways, you'll explore hundreds of islands near and far to learn about the history of "humanity".
Immerse yourself in human culture with all-new exhibits from the "Human Englandland" dig site, each accompanied with expert insights*!
*Insights is not a legally binding term and may or may not include idle speculation, rumour and hearsay.
- Adorable open world puzzle game from the creators of A Good Snowman is Hard to Build and Cosmic Express
- Simple but deep mechanics packed with possibilities to discover
- Hundreds of islands to visit – some right in front of you, others well off the beaten track for true puzzle lovers
- Learn about the mythical humans from the perspective of curious monsters
Star Wars: KOTOR II
iOS / Android
Five years after the events from the award winning Star Wars® Knights of the Old Republic™, the Sith Lords have hunted the Jedi to the edge of extinction and are on the verge of crushing the Old Republic.
With the Jedi Order in ruin, the Republic's only hope is a lone Jedi struggling to reconnect with the Force. As this Jedi, you will be faced with the galaxy's most dire decision: Follow the light side or succumb to the dark…
Grand Mountain Adventure
iOS / Android
Explore entire mountains in this open-world skiing & snowboarding adventure! Land the biggest cliff drops in the backcountry, freeride down a steep chute, clip the gates in a slalom track, stomp a perfect park run, or just explore the vast ski resorts - the choice is yours!
Note: This is a demo version with the first mountain available for free. Purchase the full game to unlock all 7 mountains and get the twin-tip skis and board.
Features:
- 7 huge open-world mountains to explore
- 100+ different challenges to master
- 10+ different types of challenges (including Super G, Slopestyle, Freeride, Big Air and more)
- Cross-device multiplayer over Wifi
- Game Controller/Joypad support
- Online leaderboards to compete in
- Vivid ski resorts with busy slopes, avalanches, wildlife, and sunsets
- Absolute freedom to ski wherever you want, and ride any lift you like without loading screens or interruptions
- Advanced trick system with flips, spins, corks, rails, combos and more
- 20+ hours of gameplay to complete all mountains
- Zen mode
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Previous Threads
Previous Threads
Mobile Gaming 2020 | Slay the Spire in Your Pocket, Nuff Said
Mobile Gaming 2019 | Mega Thread, Mega Backlog!
Mobile Gaming September/October 2018 | A Song of Ice & Dire
Mobile Gaming July/August 2018 | Get Ready to Battle Your Heart Out
Mobile Gaming June 2018 | Apple needs to let off some Steam
Mobile Gaming May 2018 | Mayday! Too many games to play
Mobile Gaming April 2018 | Portable Battle Royale
Mobile Gaming March 2018 | A lovely month for gaming on the go
Mobile Gaming February 2018 | A Thumping good time!
Mobile Gaming January 2018 | New ERA, new year, and so many new games
Mobile Gaming December 2017 | A Frosty X-mas Season
Mobile Gaming November 2017 | Giving thanks for iOS and Android alike
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