Latest entries - March 16th, 2025:
Other recent entries:
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Kitty Q - Adventure
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Master of War - Forces of Eo - Strategy
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Turdbots - Adventure
Introduction
(scroll down for the actual list)
I recently realized there are still, to this day, some actual “hidden gems” in the Play Store. Not the fake ones everyone talks about which, in a way or another, often have a catch or aren’t very “hidden”. I mean free games with no ads or IAPs of any kind that are fun to play.
So I was thinking maybe it’s time to compile a list of them. Please suggest the ones you’ve found and enjoyed!
I won’t try them all as I did with my premium games list [will update with link as soon as I post it], because this time you could simply download and try them for yourself without spending a dime. I’ll simply list them.
‼️Also, please do checkout MiniReview - Game Reviews for more free games that match the following criteria (use the “Browse” tab and select the correct filters). The same app for iOS - App Store - is here.‼️
Entry Criteria
- FREE
- NO ADS
- STRICTLY NO IAPs (except donation buttons, but I’ll have to check before adding the game to the list, so no guarantees it’ll be added quickly)
- it has to be a legit game, of course. Full, not demo.
- it has to be available on the Play Store and compatible with the latest, official Android version at the time of entry
- possibly include a link to the game on the Play Store
I’ve saved this post so to keep it updated over time, for my own reference and for your benefit. So feel free to save it and check out new entries every so often.
THE LIST
Legend
☕️ - includes a fair donation button, with or without minimal cosmetics only
[Game title] - removed from Play Store
Shooters
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PewPew Live (from MiniReview top chart)
Stealth
Platform
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Dribble (outdated)
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Safari Forever w/ Level Editor (from MiniReview top chart)
Rhythm
Arcade
RPG
Roguelike dungeon crawlers
Deck builders
Adventure
Puzzle
Strategy
Racing
Management
Simulation
Casual
Sport/Competition
Visual novel
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tong jyun ☕️
Happy gaming ;)
ps: please let me know if there’s any wrong information about the games included in this list (especially regarding the ones with free donations) so that I’ll fix the post, if necessary.
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Saving this for later. Great list!
See also https://nobsgames.stavros.io/android/
Many of these are paid, but they’re one-time payments and usually a reasonable price.
Ye I’m all for one-time paid games! I’ll drop my premium games list here tomorrow
Thanks for your lists. It’s hard to find mobile games that offer fun and a fair deal.
Glad to see you here! I hope this helps getting traction towards a critical mass on Lemmy!
Hey! I hope so too, but I’m sure Reddit itself will do most of the legwork for us haha! They’re going the way of the Xitter.
And BTW thank you for reminding me Lemmy existed and I should have gotten on it long ago!
TIL CDDA is on the play store
Guaguin is a sudoku-like puzzle game that I enjoy a ton. Instead of the usual 9-block square, this has random shapes with a number and a math operator on them. The goal is to have no repeating digits on rows/columns, and each block needs its mathematical problem to be solved. For example a block labeled 20x needs to filled so that all the numbers inside of it multiply to 20.
Achikaps
Thanks! OpenTyrian is obsolete, unfortunately. I will add OpenTTD.
Every time this topic appears, I always make sure Simon Tatham’s Puzzles is mentioned.
A no frill collection of puzzles that just works.
Yup! It’s there in the list and a great collection :)
Forge is a very nice Magic the Gathering implementation. It has (almost?) all cards ever and it’s single player. There is an APK, but also a desktop version.
Consider adding osu!lazer to the rhythm game list. While not available from Play Store yet since some features are on development, it gatekeeps no gameplay feature with a paywall. Only server sided features like friend/mod rankings.
Hey, thank you for this great list! Do you think you could maybe add a small description for every game?
Hey, thank you for this great list!
You’re welcome :)
Do you think you could maybe add a small description for every game?
Sorry, I won’t do that. I think it’s easy enough to click on the links and check all the info on the Store, with pictures and description. Furthermore, I did not play all these games as they’re user recommendations, so it’d be too much work for little benefit.
Acceptable
This only kinda meets the criteria since emulators are available on the play store, though roms will have to be sourced elsewhere, but… 100% roms and emulators. The N64 content and earlier emulate really well on a smartphone, especially when paired with a bluetooth controller.
IIRC ever version (different language releases, etc) of every game for Nintendo consoles from when they first became a company through all of the N64 content is a grand total of like 20bg: each individual game is tiny, so you can easily fit all your favorites on your phone.
I’m not sure what the latest and greatest emulators are today, but when I dabbled into this stuff last time, there were free, no bullshit options.
Quick search reveals a couple communities for it here on Lemmy:
I’d hit the side bars of those communities and go from there.
Note: downloading roms you don’t own the license to is piracy; and even if you do own the license, your ISP won’t know that, so I’d recommend practicing some basic internet safety like using a VPN. Also, ad blockers are an ABSOLUTE MUST on any website that provides or directs you to roms, otherwise you’ll have like 20 links on your page that all say “Download!” that will lead you to some flavor of shitware.
But yeah, if you want games without all the modern bullshit in them like ads and lootcrate gambling, etc, then what better option than games that were made before all that cancer existed?!
While I enjoy emulation, it is kinda OT for this list.
Also, is it me or the two links in your comment are broken? It seems like they both miss an “h” in “https”.
While I enjoy emulation, it is kinda OT for this list.
Kinda, but only kinda. I wouldn’t put any how-to guides or anything here, but letting folks know that it’s an option is worth posting.
Also, is it me or the two links in your comment are broken? It seems like they both miss an “h” in “https”.
Weird. They both worked for me; I changed them to the ! links - see if that works any better. …actually iirc that makes it better for mobile users anyway.
Nice list, will be checking out some of these as I’ve only been playing Sudoku lately. Thank you!
Links that didn’t work for me / not on the play store anymore: Satyrn, Supertux, Supertux classic, Dribble, Bad Trip, Lofi, Ping pong , Rocket League sideswipe, Butterfly soup, Butterfly soup 2
Thanks for the feedback. I’ll check.
Edit: fixed them
Great, thanks for the list!
You’re welcome :)
Welcome to Lemmy! Love the post and I look forward to more, just one small suggestion. The title reads a little bit spamlike, I almost dismissed the post as some sort of ad.
Lol! You’re right, actually. But it’s accurate, to the point and, I suppose, easy to find for users.
What would you suggest instead? Maybe removing the “100%”?
I think changing it to something like “List of my favorite 100% Free Games - no ads, no IAPs” should suffice. To me, that comes off as having a more genuine/personal feel
Thanks for the suggestion. I can’t really say that because, as mentioned in my post, I haven’t played all those games. This is a list of games recommended by the users that I simply put together for everyone to easily browse.
I changed the title a bit and I’ll see if I can further improve it! Cheers!
