Droid: It’s not just a robot from a galaxy far, far away. It’s also a good option for anyone who wants a mobile device unshackled by the closed operating systems used by certain other smartphone manufacturers.
There are a bunch of great games available for Android phones and tablets, including lots of the best games that are also on Apple’s iPhones and iPads. Below, our list of the 12 best games for Android.
Hitman games are famous for their open-ended sandboxes. At their best, they let you creep around a party or a museum, find your target, and creatively take them out. Hitman GO… doesn’t really do that. What it does do, however, is offer a bunch of smart, tightly designed puzzles that gradually become more complicated as you go, but are never too complicated to finish off in the space of a single bus ride. With its stripped down board-game aesthetic and abstract violence, it may not look much like a Hitman game, but it still manages to capture the series’ meticulous, satisfying nature.
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A Good Match For: Hitman fans, puzzle fiends, people who like imagining what it means when one board game piece “assassinates” another board game piece.
Not A Good Match For: Those looking for an actual portable Hitman game.
Watch it in action.
Purchase From: Google Play
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In Super Mario Run, Mario runs forward of his own accord. Your primary job is to tap the screen to make him jump, which you’ll have to do to help him collect the hundreds of coins strewn throughout each level. That may sound simple, but the creative designers at Nintendo have added a healthy amount of depth to that basic formula. There are touch-pads that stop Mario in his tracks, multiple paths to each objective, and each level can be replayed several times with increasingly complex coin configurations. The more you put into Super Mario Run, the more you’ll get out of it.
A Good Match For: Mario enthusiasts, fans of touchscreen platformers like Rayman Run, those who like replaying levels and perfecting them.
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Not A Good Match For: Anyone looking for a Mario game with traditional controls, people who only want to spend a buck or two on phone games, anyone who can see themselves blowing through each level once and never replaying them. Also, anyone who plays a lot on planes or subways: Super Mario Run requires a data connection to work.
Read our review.
Watch it in action.
Purchase From: Google Play
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You’re alone on an island, surrounded by puzzles. That’s The Witness, an extremely complicated game that is really very simple. Some of the puzzles are obvious: They’re on screens right in front of you, stacked in orderly rows. Other puzzles are much less easy to find. All of them will stymie and confound you, but over time you’ll gradually dismantle them until the game’s grand design is laid out in front of you like the workings of a finely crafted watch. Some games make you level up your character to access new areas; this one makes you level up yourself. There are few more satisfying feelings in gaming than when you finally realize the solution to a puzzle in The Witness. With a click, a new door opens. The Witness carries over all its brilliance to mobile devices, and works well on the go.
A Good Match For: Puzzle fiends, people who like a challenge, anyone who likedMyst and wants to see what a modern evolution would be like.
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Not A Good Match For: Anyone wanting action, the easily frustrated, people who don’t like puzzles in games and generally just go look up the answers.
Read our review.
Watch it in action.
Study our tips for the game.
Purchase From: Google Play
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Rymdkapsel is a real-time-strategy base-building game with a Tetris twist. It’s simple. Place odd-shaped floors of different colors on a plane in outer space. Command little rectangular men to farm on or work in these spaces to generate resources to build more spaces and feed more workers. Rally the little men to defend the base against alien invaders every so often. Survive and repeat.
This is a minimalist game, a stripping down of the real-time-strategy genre that went baroque with visually and technically complex games like StarCraft and Company of Heroes. Rymdkapsel makes its more ornate competitors feel needlessly garnished.
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A Good Match For: Gamers looking for a portable real-time-strategy game. There ain’t much to choose from, and this one has the bonus advantage of being good.
Not a Good Match For: Those who want a lot of action or complexity. This is a mellow game with a single unit-type and a handful of rooms to create. Players won’t be progressing through complex skill trees.
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Read our review.
Watch it in action.
Purchase from:Google Play
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Threes is basically a game about kissing. And math. You slide a bunch of little numbers around a tiled pad, trying to get two like numbers next to each other. If you can do that, they’ll get friendly and combine to form a new, bigger number. Keep on moving, keep on combining, and your score will climb and climb. Threes is an immaculately designed game made all the more winning for its aesthetics. Charming, musical, and deviously addictive, it’ll become a new obsession.
A Good Match For: People looking for a simple puzzle game to play on a commute, anyone who likes competing with their friends for high scores.
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Not a Good Match For: People hoping for a deep story, those who prefer sub-standard clones.
Read our review.
Watch it in action.
Study our tips for the game.
Purchase From: Google Play
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Remember Magic: The Gathering? Sure you do. Blizzard’s card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a lot like that, albeit streamlined and easier to pick up and play.. and way more addictive. Hearthstone began on PC but seemed destined for mobile devices, and boy oh boy does it fit right in. After an hour or two you’ll be building your own custom decks and challenging your friends and strangers to matches, either online or, if you’ve both got phones in the same room, in person. Each match is over in a matter of minutes, making it easy to fit into your everyday life. And while eventually you might feel tempted to start paying for the random card booster packs, you can wring a whole lot of enjoyment out of Hearthstone without paying a nickel.
A Good Match For: Fans of card games like Magic: The Gathering, people who like Blizzard games, anyone looking for a fun (free!) online multiplayer game for iPhone.
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Not a Good Match For: High-level perfectionists who don’t want to pay extra, people hoping for an offline option. Hearthstone will do a good job of matching you up against random online players of a similar level, but if you want to build a deck full of rare, powerful cards, you’ll have to sink in some cash.
Read our thoughts on the iPad version.
Watch it in action.
Download From: Google Play
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The Room: Old Sins is just the latest in Fireproof Games’ tremendous Roomseries. While it expands the “puzzles, except creepy” aesthetic of the first three games, it’s really just the latest in a series that we think you should check out in its entirety. The very first Room is just as fascinating as it was when it came out, and you can’t go wrong downloading the entire collection. Old Sins builds on the sturdy foundation laid by The Room Threeas you explore yet another spooky, puzzle-filled old house. Play this game, but really, play all of them.
A Good Match For: Puzzle fans, people who like occult stuff, those who liked any of the other Room games.
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Not A Good Match For: The easily frustrated, anyone looking for an action game, those looking for a video game adaptation of a Tommy Wiseau film.
Watch us play the game, and read some initial impressions.
Purchase From:Google Play
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By boat, by land, by airship, by giant mechanized city with legs, do you have what it takes to make it… Around the World in 80 Days? That’s the question at the heart of 80 Days, a fantastical re-imagining of Jules Verne’s famous novel that casts you as Passepartout, manservant to the gentleman Phileas Fogg. As a valet, you are responsible for packing the bags, negotiating at markets, and planning the itinerary on your journey ‘round the globe. Each trip will be different from the one before it, and thanks to the game’s peppy writing and frequent surprise detours, each trip will be great deal of fun. 80 Days captures the joy and melancholy of travel with unusual wit and humanity.
A Good Match For: People who like interactive stories, geography buffs, fans of travel.
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Not a Good Match For: Anyone looking for a low-investment, pick up/put down action game. Also, those who hate to read—the majority of 80 Days is text-based interactive fiction.
Watch it in action.
Purchase from: Google Play
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Framed 2 replaces its predecessor Framed on this list for an obvious reason: it takes all of the original’s ideas and expands on them, usually with terrific results. The basic game is the same: you’re watching a series of mysterious, noir-inspired events play out from left to right as if in an animated comic book. However, you have the power to rearrange the panels and cause events to play out differently. The puzzles start simple but quickly become more complicated, forcing you to think creatively and rearrange and even rotate panels on the fly to get each character through their scene safely. Framed 2 makes for a great pairing with the original, despite being the stronger and more fully realized game. Just play ‘em both.
A GOod Match For: Puzzle fans, comics fans, goofy noir fans, Framed fans.
Not A Good Match For: Anyone looking for an involved story, people who prefer more action in their mobile games.
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Watch it in action.
Purchase From:Google Play
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You wouldn’t think that a game that stitches together fishing and firearms would be a sublime mobile experience. Well, maybe you would think that.. and if you did, you’re right, so good for you. Everything about Ridiculous Fishing: A Tale of Redemption is both as ridiculous and as great as the title suggests. You’ll be playing, fishing, and shooting for many hours to come.
A Good Match For: Anyone who’s ever been bored with real-world fishing. All that quiet and waiting and patience that usually comes with the ol’ bait-and-line pastime gets thrown overboard in Ridiculous Fishing. Thank God.
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Not a Good Match For: Those who want tilt-free gameplay. You’re going to look a little silly with all the turning and twisting your 21st century smartphone in pursuit of crazy levels of fish death. But it’s worth it, by God.
Read our review.
Watch it in action.
Purchase From:Google Play
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You’re in a cold, dark room. First, you get a fire going. Then, you head out in search of wood. After that… well, things develop. To say more would be to spoil what makes A Dark Room special, but suffice it to say: This game grows far beyond its humble origins, and the journey from here to there is an engrossing one.
A Good Match For: Fans of management/RTS games, anyone who likes a little mystery in their games.
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Not a Good Match For: Anyone hoping for cutting-edge visuals or production values. A Dark Room is text-only, with no audio or visuals to distract you.
Purchase from: Google Play
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Easily one of the most celebrated video games of all time, Final Fantasy Tactics feels right at home on a mobile phone. It’s a sweeping saga, but individual turn-based battles unfold in manageable chunks, which makes it a fantastic commuting game. The mobile port brings over the dialogue enhancements from the PSP version, but with none of the frame-rate issues. If you haven’t played this classic, it’s absolutely worth downloading it. And even if you have, it’s never a bad time to play it again.
A Good Match For: Fans of turn-based games or tactics games, anyone who loved the original and wants a good way to replay it.
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Not A Good Match For: Those who prefer simple mobile games. FFT is a complex and challenging game that requires learning and mastering a ton of different abilities, classes, and strategies.
Read our impressions of the port, and our retrospective about the game’s legacy.
Watch it in action.
Purchase From: Google Play
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How has this list changed? Read back through our update history:
Update 5/31/2018: Time for another mega-update. We’ve taken off Knightmare Tower, Drop 7, Framed, Super Hexagon, Alto’s Adventure, Hoplite, and The Room 3 (all great games!) and replaced them with The Witness, Framed 2, Final Fantasy Tactics, Super Mario Run, Hearthstone, A Dark Room, and The Room: Old Sins.
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Update 2/18/216: Now with video!
Update 2/11/2016: We’ve done another large round of cuts and swaps to bring our Android list close to its comparable cousin, the iPhone list. Hitman GO, 80 Days, Alto’s Adventure, Framed and The Room Three all enter, while Angry Birds Star Wars II, Rayman: Fiesta Run, Plants vs. Zombies, Asphalt 8 and The Room Two say goodbye.
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Update 11/26/2014: Again our Android list has gone far too long without an update. (Sorry!) We’ve remedied that by completely overhauling it, bringing it much closer to parity with the generally similar iPhone list.
Update 10/04/2013: Way past time for an update, so we’re playing catch-up. We removed Arcane Legends, Muffin Knight, Fruit Ninja,Dead Space, andAngry Birds Star Wars. We’ve added Angry Birds Star Wars II, Reaper, Temple Run 2, The Room, Rymdkapsel, Super Hexagon, and Dots.
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Update 12/25/2012:Angry Birds Space and Need for Speed Most Wanted, Arcane Legends and Hamlet all land onto the Bests.
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Want more of the best games on each system? Check out our complete directory:
The Best PC Games • The Best PS4 Games • The Best Xbox One Games • The Best Nintendo Switch Games • The Best Wii U Games • The Best 3DS Games • The Best PS Vita Games • The Best Xbox 360 Games • The Best PS3 Games • The Best Wii Games • The Best iPhone Games • The Best iPad Games • The Best Android Games • The Best PSP Games • The Best Facebook Games • The Best DS Games • The Best Mac Games • The Best Browser Games • The Best PC Mods
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Note: If you buy any of these games through the links in this post, our parent company may get a small share of the sale through the retailers’ affiliates program.
The Steam Link app, finally available on both Android and iOS, streams PC games to your mobile device. Here's how to use it and an open-source alternative, Moonlight.
May 16, 2019 4:10PM EST
May 16, 2019
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Mobile gaming has nothing on the PC—the vast library of in-depth games on the desktop is tough to beat. But at the end of a long day, it's hard to sit at a desk when the couch is oh-so inviting.
The Steam Link app has been around for about a year on Android, and it can stream PC games to your phone or tablet, so you can play right on the couch. It was originally rejected from the iOS App Store, but Apple has finally allowed the app on its platform—and it works for iPhones, iPads, and the Apple TV. There are also some alternatives from Nvidia and AMD that have their own advantages.
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Steam Link vs. Moonlight and AMD Link
You may not realize this, but game streaming has already been available on mobile devices for some time. Moonlight is an open-source app for iOS, Android, and Chrome that reverse-engineers Nvidia's GameStream feature, allowing you to stream games to just about any device (instead of just the officially supported Nvidia Shield).
It requires an Nvidia card in your PC, but as long as you have that, you can stream games right to your phone, tablet, or even another PC. AMD has an official app for Radeon users called AMD Link.
With all these options available, you have a choice to make: Steam Link works well and is platform-agnostic, but doesn't have very many settings. Moonlight has lots of settings you can tweak to alter performance and controls. (It doesn't support the rumble feature like Steam Link does, though.) AMD Link has a few extra quality settings, but in my experience is a bit jankier.
I recommend starting off with Steam Link. In my testing, it was an incredibly smooth experience for most games, though a few had some quirks (like a black screen). If you run into any issues or missing features, give Moonlight or AMD Link a try. Graphics and streaming were comparable in my tests, but it'll depend heavily on your device and your network quality.
Remember, even if your network is relatively fast, streaming performance may be choppy or entirely unusable—network reliability is as much of a factor as speed, and having a wired connection on your PC can often make a big difference.
How to Connect a Gamepad to Your Device
Moonlight lets you play with on-screen touch controls, but as any mobile gamer can tell you, touch controls are rarely ideal. You'll have a much better experience if you play with a dedicated gamepad.
If you're using an iPhone or iPad, you'll need an Apple-approved, made-for-iPhone (MFi) controller. I highly, highly recommend the Gamevice. It attaches directly to your device and turns it into a Nintendo Switch-esque gaming console for any game that supports MFi controllers (thankfully, Moonlight does). If you're on more of a budget and willing to prop your tablet up somehow, though, the SteelSeries Nimbus is a good standalone alternative.
Android users don't have anything quite like the Gamevice for tablets, but there are Gamevice models for Samsung Galaxy phones. For everyone else, the SteelSeries Stratus XL is a solid wireless gamepad. If you have a wired Xbox 360, Xbox One, or PlayStation 4 controller, you can also use those by plugging them into a USB OTG cable (either Micro USB or USB-C) and plugging that into your device.
If you're using a wired controller, just plug it in and your device should recognize it. If your controller is wireless, pair it with your device from your Bluetooth settings like any other wireless accessory.
How to Set Up Steam Link and Start Playing
The Steam Link app (iOS, Android) is remarkably easy to set up. When you launch it for the first time, it'll scan your network for computers running Steam and present a list of them. Tap your computer, and you'll be given a 4-digit PIN on your phone. Type this PIN into the pop-up that appears in Steam on your PC to initiate the connection. It'll test the network to make sure it's fast enough, then drop you at the home page.
From there, tap Start Playing.
Big Picture Mode
It'll begin streaming Steam Big Picture Mode from your PC, and you can select your game and begin streaming.
Tweak Settings
If you want to jump into the settings, you can do so from Steam Link's homepage. You can change streaming quality to 'Fast' if your network is a little choppy, or 'Beautiful' if you have the bandwidth for better graphics, as well as tweak some advanced settings. But for the most part, I found Steam Link's default settings to be just about perfect. Pay close attention to the pop-ups Steam offers about controls—iOS controllers, for example, don't tend to have clickable thumbsticks, so you'll need to press Menu+X and Menu+Y. It's a bit clunky, but it works.
How to Set Up Moonlight and Start Playing
First, ensure the latest version of Nvidia GeForce Experience is installed on your PC. Open the GeForce Experience window, click the Settings cog, and click the 'Shield' tab. Toggle the GameStream switch to on.
Next, jump on your phone or tablet and download Moonlight from your respective app store (iOS, Android). When you start the app, it should show a list of your GameStream-enabled PCs on the network. Tap on the one you want, or tap 'Add Host' and enter your PC's IP address if it doesn't appear automatically. Moonlight will give you a PIN, which you'll need to enter into the popup that appears on your PC.
Games to Stream
When you click Connect, your phone or tablet will present you with a list of games, ready to stream. If you tap one, it should start playing right on your device—with full gamepad support, if you have a compatible one plugged in or paired.
Tweak Settings
That's all it usually takes to get up and running, but if you want the best possible experience, you'll probably want to tweak a few settings.
From Moonlight's main screen, tap the arrow on the left (for iOS) or the settings cog along the top (for Android). Moonlight has many more settings on Android than iOS, but most users should at least tweak their resolution and framerate targets: 1080p at 60Hz is ideal for the best graphics and smooth playback, but if the stream is choppy, lowering it to 720p or 30Hz may help. You may also get better results by limiting network congestion—so tell your roommate to stop watching Netflix while you're trying to stream games.
Lastly, I recommend tweaking the on-screen controls you see. Not all gamepads will have L3 and R3 buttons, so setting on screen controls to 'Auto' (on iOS) or 'Only show L3 and R3' (on Android) will give you touch buttons for just those functions.
It's worth noting that streaming technology is still pretty new, and it won't be perfect. You may get an audio pop here and there, and your graphics will be a tad fuzzier than if you were playing on the PC itself. But it's hard to beat playing Shadow of War from the couch, without having to fight your spouse for the TV.
If you experience any other issues while streaming, there might be a solution—like disabling your firewall or tweaking some of Android's other settings. Check out Moonlight's setup guide and troubleshooting page for more. The setup page even has instructions for streaming over the internet, though your mileage may vary depending on your internet speed. Network streaming will definitely produce the best results.
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Game And Watch Super Mario Wiki
Get the Big Fish Games app for Android
The Big Fish Games app is THE place to find awesome games, new releases, and great deals for your Android tablet or phone!
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LET'S GO GUMMY! The gummies are falling! Go on a squishing Match 3 adventure and rebuild the world!
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The Season 7 of Game of Thrones premiered on HBO on July 16, 2017, which means that we’ll soon get to see what’s going to happen next in one of the most popular and best-rated TV shows in history. An event like this is something you don’t want to miss, and it’s definitely something you mustn’t let others spoil for you.
Sling TV 7 Day Free Trial
But what if you don’t have a cable subscription? How can you watch the latest season of Game of Thrones live, preferably on your Android device? We have several fantastic ways how you can not only watch Game of Thrones on a budget but also for free by taking advantage of free trials.
One-month free trial
$14.99 after
Operated by American premium cable and satellite television network HBO, HBO Now is a subscription video on demand service that allows subscribers on-demand access to HBO’s library of programs, films, and other content. It costs $14.99 a month, and there’s a one-month free trial that you can take advantage of to try it for free.
HBO Now subscribers can comfortably watch the Season 7 of Game of Thrones using the HBO Now Android app. While the app has had a rocky start on Play Store, HBO Now is working hard on making it better, releasing updates on a regular basis. With the free trial available on the official website, there’s no reason not to give it a go and watch Game of Thrones streamed directly from the show’s creators.