Mobile gaming is a market that’s really come into its own in the past few years. It’s been a long road from Angry Birds, to Pokémon GO, to today, with a seemingly endless number of games having been released along the way. A lot of hits have come out also, but along the way, some great titles inevitably slip through the cracks.
These are a few great ones you might’ve missed.
Downwell
Downwell is a game with a very odd core concept behind it: you’re falling down an endless well, and you have boots that shoot bullets downwards to slow your fall. It’s a supremely simple game, but with infinite variations to the well you’re falling down, as well as all kinds of power-ups and items you can earn to up your game, Downwell has much more to offer than meets the eye. Never a front-page, headliner sort of game in app stores, it’s actually popular enough that it’s been adapted for console play as well.
Crossy Road
Take the basic structure of the computer gaming classic Frogger, throw in plenty of unlockable goodies, add a dash of infinite runner gameplay, and then paint it all in an amusing, blocky aesthetic, and you have Crossy Road. This seriously addicting spiritual successor to Frogger will have you leaping across rivers, collecting coins, and dodging traffic in an attempt to hop further than anyone’s ever hopped before.
Golden Nugget Casino
This slot machine app effectively mimics all the best aspects of a real casino, from your favorite games to the ability to win real money (at least where this is legal!). Maybe best of all though is that it’s actually just one of many such apps you may not have noticed if you don’t go out of your way to. Online casino gaming resources indicate that most successful online platforms have their own mobile apps, which amounts to a lot of great options in this category.
Tiny Rails
When it comes to mobile simulation games, Tiny Rails is easily among the best. Featuring a cute, pixellated style, Tiny Rails sees you taking care of an entire railway, developing it from a small commuter line into a continent-sprawling empire. If you love simulation or business-based games, it’s as good as it gets on mobile.
Fire Emblem Heroes
Lost in the expansive shadows of Pokémon GO and Super Mario Run, one of Nintendo’s other franchises also snuck into mobile gaming not long ago. The mobile version of Fire Emblem Heroes offers a simplified version of the franchise, and lets you take hundreds of characters from the popular tactics games on a series of pocket-sized adventures. It may actually be Nintendo’s best mobile effort to date.
I Am Bread
I Am Bread is the most bizarre, surreal game on the list, and is exactly what it purports to be. You play as a sentient slice of bread, aiming to flip and flop your way across a variety of different rooms and shove yourself inside a toaster to become toast (as bread apparently wants to do). Just be careful not to fall on the floor for too long – the five-second rule feels a lot shorter than you might think!
These hardly comprise the full list of overlooked mobile titles – but they certainly convey just how many hidden gems there are in the medium, and each one is well worth a try.
