Papers Please

Some good ones from the fdroid app-repo.

Shattered Pixel Dungeon - already mentioned roguelike

SGT-Puzzles - already mentioned microgame puzzlers

Frozen Bubble - already mentioned bubble-shooter

Vector Pinball - already mentioned pinball

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.artificialworlds.boxstacker/index.html - Physics puzzler

https://f-droid.org/packages/com.simondalvai.ball2box/ - flick ball to the box for 3-stars

https://f-droid.org/packages/com.gpl.rpg.AndorsTrail/ - Massive story quest driven RPG

https://f-droid.org/packages/de.chadenas.cpudefense/ - Tower defense on a PCB

https://f-droid.org/packages/ch.logixisland.anuto/ - trad tower-defense

https://f-droid.org/packages/it.alessandropira.wesnoth114/ - hex turn-based fantasy RPG

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.lettucepie.flickybee/index.html - flick the bee through the course

Stardew Valley! It was worth the $5 already in vanilla, then it got updated with more content at no extra charge and then again. And now 1.6 is around the corner with even more. It is the love child of one dev that keeps on giving and giving and giving. And there are tons of mods of all kinds including entire world overhauls that adds even more replayability. Very much recommended.

Whatever emulator you can run and the ROMs of your choice.

Slay the Spire is one of my favorite games of all time, and has a nice android port I play before bed all the time. No ads, just caw caaaw

Threes

Fun puzzle game that got ripped off by 2048 and it's endless clones. They wrote a blog post on how shitty mobile game development can be.

Freeciv on Android is an almost feature complete re-creation of Civilization 5 with minimal graphics. You can also download the JAR and run it on a desktop if you have a Java SDK installed. As a Civ player that started with 4, I found it easier to pick up than freeciv which is trying to replicate something more like Civ2.

Mini Metro. Its a transportation strategy game where you build and manage a city´s metro system through the style of the London tube map. You pay once and get the whole game. No ads or micro transactions.

Open Tyrian is an old shoot em up thats open source and has been ported to dozens of platforms, including android. It plays very well with touch controls.

If you want a Minecraft like game thats free and has no microtransactions I recommend Minetest (Now called Luanti). Its open source and has tons of mods.

Balatro

Endless Sky is a solid space trader and combat game, free on f-droid

Frozen Bubble is a pretty fun bubble bobble clone, also on f-droid

Arx Libertatis allows you to play the full version of Arx Fatalis, a super in depth underground RPG inspired by Ultima Underworld. You need the PC game files to transfer to your phone though.

Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic, if you feel like playing rollercoaster tycoon 1/2 on your phone. They slightly altered the UI to make it more touch friendly.

I have the following games on my iPhone:

• Infectenator - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/infectonator/id547566699?l=en-GB
• Plauge Inc. - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/plague-inc/id525818839?l=en-GB
• Mini Metro - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/mini-metro/id837860959?l=en-GB
• Reigns - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/reigns/id1114127463?l=en-GB
• Freeways - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/freeways/id1203896014?l=en-GB
• Myst - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/myst-mobile/id6444813759?l=en-GB
• Chrono Trigger - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/chrono-trigger-upgrade-ver/id479431697?l=en-GB
• 80 Days - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/80-days/id892812659?l=en-GB
• Netwalk - https://apps.apple.com/se/app/netwalk-network-puzzle-pro/id1614316916?l=en-GB

Yellow and the subsequent games are pretty interesting puzzle games

Mindustry is basically Factorio-meets-tower-defense. It's open-source, also available on desktop.

DATA WING is a great racing game with an amazing, short story.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is a fun little RPG with lots of humour

Dribble is a surprisingly unique platformer, free with no iaps and unique swipe controls.

You can get ports of the marble blast games on Android, I particularly like Ultra.

Halls of Torment released recently and seems to be a direct port of the PC version. I've been enjoying it quite a bit

I used a 3 month trial for Play Pass and have found quite a few games through it. It strips out ads and microtransactions and gives you all the content for free, at least in my experience so far. Some of the games in this thread are included. I'm debating keeping it after the trial

Shattered Pixel Dungeon is great, it's an open-source dungeon crawler. Neither adds, nor transactions, micro or otherwise. If you want to pay tho, there's a donation link for the dev team.

And if you still want too play GBA games, check check out the Lemuroid emulator, it's also open source and has no adds. Works for nintendoDS too.

You can find both of these on F-Droid. They're also be on Google Play, but since I've only tried the F-Droid version idk if the other has adds.

Balatro, works really well with touch, numbers go brrrrrrrrr

Kairosoft titles are typically $5 to $7 dollars. Tons of Dev and Tycoon style business builder titles. Most are fantastic.

I didn't see Unciv recommended yet, it's a decent mobile open source version of Civilization.

Pocket City 2 also gets a shout-out, it's not very deep but a nice casual city builder with a one time purchase.

Hoplite, Pixel Dungeon, micRogue

Cookie clicker paid, stardew valley, Terraria, freedoom (gzdoom + open source IWAD packaged on fdroid store), mindustry, original peggle you can find apk on internet archive, opensurge, minetest engine with voxelibre game for open source minecraft.

Surprised Slice & Dice hasn't been mentioned, it's amazing. That and Dawncaster.

A useful tool is DarkPattern.games, which lists dark patterns in mobile games (such as micro transactions).

The whole Cube Escape Series.

Started playing Balatro on my phone at work.

The Lifeline series from 3 minute games is excellent if you like a twist on choose your own adventure games.

I really enjoyed playing the platforms cats are liquid: a better place(there is also a light in the shadow, but that game is worse); catbird, nameless cat, kitty death room and the 4 dadish games

If you want a game that has microtransactions, but rarely try to sell you things, i would recommended the tower defense game(i think) the battle cats. There is also a 10 year celebration that gives you a lot of rewards

Fran Bow . It's a psychological terror click adventure, available on both Mobile and PC. On mobile I think it has 5 different chapters, and 0 transactions other than the buying price. Really recommend it!

Slay The Spire

Into The Breach

as a Rhythm Game Enjoyer I always gotta recommend Cytus. There are paid songs but the base game has over 100, each with at least three difficulties :3

tho even if you like rhythm games I definitely recommend looking up the game first because I have yet to ever properly convince my other rhythm game-loving friends to genuinely play cytus. Still it is one of my all time favorite games