The Netflix version of mobile games have their micro transactions removed (or at least all the ones I've downloaded).
Https://lichess.org/training lets me pretend I'm improving my mind by playing.
Plague Inc - control a plague and try to kill all humans on earth (tactical simulation)
Interstellar Pilot and Interstellar Pilot 2 - human explorers jumped through a wormhole to distant space and lost contact with earth. Factions control different sectors, some are friendly some are warring. You start with a single ship and try to do anything between simple survival and building a new faction to conquer all of this new space. (Open world rpg with tactical simulation elements)
Battlecruisers - The machines won, humanity is no more. You are not the smartest robot and somehow you managed to accidentally hijack a military battlecruiser. You are pursued across the world's oceans by several navies while you try to figure out how to get out of the mess you created. (shipbuilder)
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
I am a rhythm game enjoyer, I've genuinely played Cytus. At this point I'd consider the best mobile rhythm game, but I don't play it often as I'm not stuck playing only on a phone that often. Like, only play it on airplanes sometimes. I did fiend it for a bit when I first discovered it (10 years ago already?). Much easier to master than any other rhythm game I've played, might be part of why I don't play it more.
Bunch of puzzle games with no ads or transactions
You can play Morrowind on Android through OpenMW Android. I think this is the most updated version but you have to build it yourself: https://gitlab.com/cavebros/openmw-android
How are the controls?
I think it works well enough if you take into account it's on a phone.
I like vector pinball as well.
Wow this is amazing. My dad and I used to compete against each other to get the highest score on our old PC. Thanks for the recommendation
I had no idea this was ported to mobile, thank you for informing me. May all your pillows be your preferred temperature for sleeping on both sides for the rest of your life.
Well, backgammon is the best gambling game ever invented. Knowing how to play marks you as a person of distinction the world over. Computers can almost beat the best players in the world.
Lots of backgammon Android apps, the best is Backgammon NJ
mindustry is free on Android, it's a tower defense/factory building game (it's also open source)
I got bloons td 6 for like 7 bucks, for some reason it also has microtransactions but they are not required or pushed onto you. I think btd6 is the best tower defense game, it just has so much content and is still getting regular updates.
Minecraft pocket edition has microtransactions but it only ever pushes them on the menu never actually in game so maybe that's a compromise? Also it's simple but this port of Simon Tatham's portable puzzle collection is pretty good and has no ads or microtransactions https://f-droid.org/en/packages/name.boyle.chris.sgtpuzzles/
... What is mc pocket edition even trying to sell?
Maps, skins, mods, texture packs and cosmetics
The first 4 of them can be obtained from third party sites for free
The stupid paid texture packs and maps and skins on the marketplace
I grabbed Rusted Warfare RTS not long ago. It's a real-time strategy game. $1.99 on the Google Play store.
I've just downloaded that in the past few days bit haven't tried it yet. How do you like it?
Ooh my favorite genre of games! Very cool, ty!
iPhone or android?
There are a decent number of indie games, at least on iPhone. I play Balatro, monster train, binding of Isaac, stardew valley, slay the spire, dead cells, dicey dungeons, alto's odyssey on iPhone (some with a controller).
Oh Android, but those are all great suggestions and appear to be on android as well! I haven't played all of those, but I've heard wonderful things about all of those on PC. Didn't realize all of those have pc.
Yeah, discoverability kind of sucks (on both OSes) because they get flooded out by microtransaction slop. I have Apple Arcade (because I use the other Apple one stuff and it's cheaper just to package it), and filtering by that makes life easier. Several of those are included.
The other option that excels on Android is emulation. You might kind of need a controller for real time games, but there are a lot of substantial turn based games on older platforms that hold up well and are tolerable with on screen controller for menu navigation.
Balatro has no micro transactions but will consume your life regardless
SW: Knights of the Old Republic and SW: Knights of the Old Republic II are available for Android and iOS. These are complete ports of the original games, not knock-offs, and Aspyr did a pretty good job retooling the UI for mobile screens. I think they're totally worth the price.
Old school Runescape
Open MicroWave (Morrowind)
Stardew Valley
Old school RuneScape
There is a f2p that you can get hundreds of hours out of, but the full game has a monthly membership. It’s possible to sustain the membership with the in-game money you make just skilling/pvm drops.
I haven’t seen DATA WING by Dan Vogt mentioned! It’s a short top down “racing” game with really fun space drifting physics that’s 100% free to play with no ads and no micro transactions. Each level is only a minute or two long so it’s great for on the go
I'm enjoying NecroMerger. It has optional ads (no forced short ads either) and the micro transactions are either some general buffs, ad-free version or gems. The gems are dished out royally imo, where I've purchased most of the premium currency content by just playing.
Something you can't play right now but can sign up to play for later: WalkScape. It's an RPG game in a similar style to RuneScape, but you actually have to walk to craft, skill and walk around the map.
The team has often said that they are against microtransactions and other monetization schemes that currently plague the industry, so they have plans to release a freemium version and a paid version.
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