I’m looking for Android games that are designed to be played vertically (portrait mode). Could be casual, action, puzzle, roguelike, or anything really. Best if it can be played one-handed.
Paid or not doesn’t matter.
Feel free to exclude the pay-to-win crowd. Still, name 'em if you feel you have an excellent exception.
I don’t play many Android games, and enjoy even fewer, but Hoplite is great. It’s pretty simple to play but still requires some thinking, which is what I want out of a mobile game.
Gonna go with the wildcard here and suggest Walkscape. It’s still in beta, so access requires a one-time patron sub ($4.50, then cancel) or a free written application through their portal (may take like a week to approve)
It’s a classic runescape-style RPG where all actions cost “steps” walking. It’s designed to keep screen time to a minimum and walking time to a maximum.
Character management is generally pretty passive and 1-handed. Definitely much more casual by nature, but encourages much more active participation.
The different types of Gameboys and most of their games emulate really well on a smart phone. I prefer playing them in landscape orientation for the larger display, but portrait mode gives a more accurate recreation with the screen on top and buttons on bottom.
I’m out of touch with what the latest best options are for emulators and where to source your ROMs, but if you ask around in communities focusing on things like piracy, they’ll point you in the right direction.
Once Upon a Galaxy has been my default game since I first played it.
It’s an asynchronous alternating activation autobattler (like Arcane Rush, or Storybook Brawl/Hearthstone Battlegrounds but you play against ghosts). Games take about 10-15 minutes.
It’s largely public domain fantasy themed, but has been expanding into the “legally distinct” cultural references as they add content, basically every captain/unit/treasure is a reference.
The shop mechanic is simplified, there’s no currency, you just get a set of choices, and can pick 1. You get two shops per round by default, lots of ways to get extra.
Asynchronous play means that you face challenging opponents that naturally evolve with the meta game but you can also take time to make thoughtful decisions.
The draft pool for the shop has a large base pool that you add to by selecting a custom sebset from a second large pool as your captain’s deck. The progression is through unlocking cards for each captain’s secondary pool, and unlocking new captains. You can naturally earn all cards through play, most captains are free, new captains are paywalled for a limited time.
Monetization is through 3 paths: cosmetics, acceleration of card unlocks, access to paywalled captains. I haven’t found it to be particularly exploitative or negative feeling.
My only gripe is minor, that it doesn’t have mid-run save/resume, but that is on their road map.
There is essentially no story, if that matters to you.
If it’s not obvious, I’m really enthusiastic about this game. I’m not affiliated/sponsored in any way. Happy to answer any questions.
Goddess of Victory NIKKE fits what you are asking.
It is a high quality Free-to-Play mobile game played in portrait mode and completely playable with one hand (depending on how wide your device is). As long as your don’t care about leaderboards, it also isn’t Pay-to-Win. It is playable on PC as well, which is how I play these days. As a Day 1 Player, you don’t need to spend any money to play, enjoy, or progress in the game.
In terms of negatives:
Some people may not like the anime art style (game is playable in various language dubs, including Korean, Japanese, English, and depending on region, Chinese, which are optional downloads to reduce filesize) or the character designs, which have huge… personalities
If you don’t care about time limited events or being at the top of leaderboards, its not hostile to your playtime and mental health. Go at your own pace.
It is a gacha game for characters and skins, but the game gives players a lot of options, so unless you’re trying to be #1 on the leaderboards in your server, having every character max level isn’t that important.
They recently added a “Story Mode” for the campaign, which significantly reduces the difficulty of all the missions in the 40+ campaign chapters so that players can enjoy the story without needing to have as powerful characters. I think you get reduced rewards as well, but its a nice addition. You can also get photo film rolls to unlock past time limited events (not licensed or collab ones though) so you can enjoy the stories of those as well. You don’t get the rewards for them as they were running, but still can experience the stories and minigames. You get plenty of free currency for free character rolls, no money is needed. Unless you really want a skin or really like a licensed collab and want to buy an IP specific bundle or something.
Basically, for a free player, there is A LOT of story content available to keep your busy for a while. Play at your own pace, and don’t worry about leaderboards and you’ll be mostly fine. The biggest advice is to try to get 5 characters 4 times each. If you are playing the regular difficulty story, there is a point where it is required to progress, and is often referred to as the only “wall of progression” in the game.
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Surprisingly, mindustry hasn’t been mentioned yet! Great quality, well thought out, addictive combination of tower defence, RTS and factory building.
I got it. What a masterpiece!
The original Shapez is vertical. I don’t love how it plays on mobile in terms of controls but it works
I don’t play many Android games, and enjoy even fewer, but Hoplite is great. It’s pretty simple to play but still requires some thinking, which is what I want out of a mobile game.
Gonna go with the wildcard here and suggest Walkscape. It’s still in beta, so access requires a one-time patron sub ($4.50, then cancel) or a free written application through their portal (may take like a week to approve)
It’s a classic runescape-style RPG where all actions cost “steps” walking. It’s designed to keep screen time to a minimum and walking time to a maximum.
Character management is generally pretty passive and 1-handed. Definitely much more casual by nature, but encourages much more active participation.
I would say Umamusume but don’t get into it if you don’t really have much time.
Anuto TD
This is so basic, it is creative. 😄
Currently playing Block Blast as my time killer and loving it.
The different types of Gameboys and most of their games emulate really well on a smart phone. I prefer playing them in landscape orientation for the larger display, but portrait mode gives a more accurate recreation with the screen on top and buttons on bottom.
I’m out of touch with what the latest best options are for emulators and where to source your ROMs, but if you ask around in communities focusing on things like piracy, they’ll point you in the right direction.
Recommended to use a VPN for any downloads.
Once Upon a Galaxy has been my default game since I first played it.
It’s an asynchronous alternating activation autobattler (like Arcane Rush, or Storybook Brawl/Hearthstone Battlegrounds but you play against ghosts). Games take about 10-15 minutes.
It’s largely public domain fantasy themed, but has been expanding into the “legally distinct” cultural references as they add content, basically every captain/unit/treasure is a reference.
The shop mechanic is simplified, there’s no currency, you just get a set of choices, and can pick 1. You get two shops per round by default, lots of ways to get extra.
Asynchronous play means that you face challenging opponents that naturally evolve with the meta game but you can also take time to make thoughtful decisions.
The draft pool for the shop has a large base pool that you add to by selecting a custom sebset from a second large pool as your captain’s deck. The progression is through unlocking cards for each captain’s secondary pool, and unlocking new captains. You can naturally earn all cards through play, most captains are free, new captains are paywalled for a limited time.
Monetization is through 3 paths: cosmetics, acceleration of card unlocks, access to paywalled captains. I haven’t found it to be particularly exploitative or negative feeling.
My only gripe is minor, that it doesn’t have mid-run save/resume, but that is on their road map.
There is essentially no story, if that matters to you.
If it’s not obvious, I’m really enthusiastic about this game. I’m not affiliated/sponsored in any way. Happy to answer any questions.
I will check it out. 🙂 Thanks for the recommendation.
Sudoku by SecUSo
I’ll do ya one better, the Simon Tatham’s puzzle collection. http://chris.boyle.name/projects/android-puzzles/
Downwell is one of the best mobile games of all-time
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devolver.downwell_rerelease&hl=en_US
Except for the lack of official gamepad support, in before anyone links to that one github with the hardcoded screen coordinates
Dungeon Tracer is a pretty decent remake of one of my favorites from back in the day, Dungeon Raid
Here is one that is quality and engaging if you like a good story:
80 Days
Goddess of Victory NIKKE fits what you are asking.
It is a high quality Free-to-Play mobile game played in portrait mode and completely playable with one hand (depending on how wide your device is). As long as your don’t care about leaderboards, it also isn’t Pay-to-Win. It is playable on PC as well, which is how I play these days. As a Day 1 Player, you don’t need to spend any money to play, enjoy, or progress in the game.
In terms of negatives:
Some people may not like the anime art style (game is playable in various language dubs, including Korean, Japanese, English, and depending on region, Chinese, which are optional downloads to reduce filesize) or the character designs, which have huge… personalities
If you don’t care about time limited events or being at the top of leaderboards, its not hostile to your playtime and mental health. Go at your own pace.
It is a gacha game for characters and skins, but the game gives players a lot of options, so unless you’re trying to be #1 on the leaderboards in your server, having every character max level isn’t that important.
They recently added a “Story Mode” for the campaign, which significantly reduces the difficulty of all the missions in the 40+ campaign chapters so that players can enjoy the story without needing to have as powerful characters. I think you get reduced rewards as well, but its a nice addition. You can also get photo film rolls to unlock past time limited events (not licensed or collab ones though) so you can enjoy the stories of those as well. You don’t get the rewards for them as they were running, but still can experience the stories and minigames. You get plenty of free currency for free character rolls, no money is needed. Unless you really want a skin or really like a licensed collab and want to buy an IP specific bundle or something.
Basically, for a free player, there is A LOT of story content available to keep your busy for a while. Play at your own pace, and don’t worry about leaderboards and you’ll be mostly fine. The biggest advice is to try to get 5 characters 4 times each. If you are playing the regular difficulty story, there is a point where it is required to progress, and is often referred to as the only “wall of progression” in the game.
Link?
Official English Webpage