The best Android games
The open-source nature of Android means there are numerous games introduced each week. As a result, it can be easy to miss the top apps in such a busy market.
We have done the hard work for you and prepared a list of the best Android games available to download. If you are searching for a new phone to get the most out of gaming on the go, take a look at our range of Android devices.
Marvel Snap
Price: free
CCGs (collectible card games) have been massively popular for decades. Their extensive rulesets however have made the genre difficult to get into for beginners. Step forward Marvel Snap: one of the best games for phones and a must-play for Marvel and CCG fans everywhere.
The premise of Marvel Snap is to build up your deck of cards and challenge other players one-on-one. In these matches, players add cards to the field and try to beat the opponent with each card’s power level and special abilities.
The cards in Marvel Snap are all based on Marvel characters from the comics and films. Many of these characters including Iron Man and Captain America, will be immediately familiar, but there is an amazing charm in discovering those you’ve never heard of before, such as Moon Girl and her companion Devil Dinosaur. This makes Marvel Snap a fantastic entry point into the Marvel Universe as a whole.
Part of Marvel Snap’s brilliance is in its depth, which is both strategic yet simple enough for anyone to pick up. Whilst challenges will gradually become harder as you face players with more complex decks, the game ingrains its layers of strategy in you extremely early on.
Regardless of whether you’ve ever played a CCG before or are a fan of the Marvel universe, Marvel Snap is an absolute triumph and an essential download for gaming fans.
Among Us
Price: free
If you have ever heard something described as ‘sus’, you can thank Among Us. This hugely popular multiplayer game arrived in 2018, yet it was in 2020 during lockdown that Among Us exploded online and became one of the best games for phones.
In Among Us, groups of players are split into two camps: crewmates and imposters. A single imposter is tasked with removing the other crewmates from the round, whilst pretending to be one of them. The social deduction elements of Among Us attracted millions, as friends and strangers tried to guess who the suspect was. It was this interaction between people that truly cemented the game as a modern classic, and it has continued to expand with updates introducing new cosmetics items and modes.
Players on mobile can also group up with users on other platforms thanks to cross-play, meaning you will rarely be waiting long to find an active match.
80 Days
Price: £4.99
Text-based adventure games may not seem like a natural fit for phones, given their origins on PC, yet 80 Days bucked that trend by offering a compelling narrative that is easily accessible, thanks to its easy-to-use interface and branching story.
Based on the famous novel Around The World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, 80 Days chronicles the adventures of Phileas Fogg and his valet Passepartout as they attempt to travel the world in 80 days. The game puts you in the boots of Passepartout as you make decisions on where to travel and what to do.
80 Days plays out like a choose-your-own-adventure game, letting you decide how to approach situations and ultimately, circumnavigate the world as quickly as possible. You may need to decide whether to get on a boat or travel by airship; both decisions have trade-offs, and this is where the game’s superb writing and depth shine.
Funny, charming, and accompanied by a stirring soundtrack, 80 Days is one of the best Android games around and should be experienced by all, particularly those with a love for adventure games.
Monument Valley 2
Price: £2.99
The original Monument Valley pushed the boundaries of what a mobile game could deliver, both visually and audibly. Its striking pastel colour style and soothing soundtrack wowed many, leading to a sequel in 2017.
Monument Valley 2 continues the original’s focus on geometrical puzzle solving, navigating the central character around an MC Esher-style level with simple taps. More varied level layouts and colour themes have been introduced in the sequel, including one in which the main character and her mother are separated, presented in a grey style reminiscent of brutalist art.
The narrative is the big inclusion in Monument Valley 2, as the original game centred around the puzzles themselves, rather than any context behind them. Levels now have emotional meaning behind them, either in the visual style being represented, or what happens literally on-screen.
Monument Valley 2 is a significant creative accomplishment. It takes what worked so brilliantly in the first game, and adds in emotional layers needed to keep the player fully engaged.
Disney Mirrorverse
Price: free
For Disney fans, Mirrorverse is a toybox dream. As a ‘gacha’ game or character collectible game, players unlock characters from the Disney franchises and use them in fights to progress through levels.
There are many gacha-style games on mobile, but what sets Mirrorverse apart is its combat. Instead of being turn-based, like much of the genre, in Mirrorverse, you can directly control the characters and trigger skills in real-time fights. This makes Mirrorverse more dynamic and exciting to play, particularly once you need to start collecting resources to unlock more characters.
As you would expect from a Disney game, it also radiates with charm. Seeing Woody fight enemies alongside Hades is an experience only achievable with Disney Mirrorverse.
Diablo Immortal
Price: free
One of the best Android games available, part of what makes Diablo Immortal a great mobile game is how effectively it translates the iconic gameplay on PC to a device that fits in your hand. Players travel through the game’s dark gothic world in the hunt for loot and gems, with the left thumb handling movement, and the right thumb used to activate attacks.
A key word to describe Diablo Immortal is satisfying. Everything you would expect to see from Diablo on PC is recreated on the mobile version; attacks are visceral and spells burst with colour, filling the screen with vibrant particles.
Care has been taken to make this mobile version feel like a direct companion to the main series, and it results in a gripping, chaotic, and fun action game.
Gaming on your phone does not have to be limited to the app store. Check out our guide on how to play Xbox games on your phone and broaden your mobile gaming experience even further.