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My favorite PAID games on the Play Store (+ user recommendations) (lemm.ee)
submitted 6 minutes ago* (last edited 4 minutes ago) by char_stats@lemm.ee to c/android@lemdro.id
0 comments fedilink
 

Latest entries - March 15th, 2025:

Latest entries Netflix - March 15th, 2025:

Other recent entries:

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Introduction

(scroll down for the actual list)

This is a list of all games, sorted by category, that I've purchased and finished during the years and I'd like to recommend as they're all excellent and without predatory monetization or gacha system.

Edit: now I'm also including the most recommended titles by the community - which I haven't playtested yet or I'm not particularly interested in - marked with ๐Ÿ’ฌ.
If you want your entry to have a chance to be listed, these are the criteria:

  • paid Play Store games compatible with recent Android versions
  • no ads or microtransactions except ads-removal, full-game unlock, or proper DLCs
  • you love the game and think it's worth the price
  • include link and genre

I will still use my discretion and judgment to filter the entries, in an effort to try and keep the list's quality high.

[If you want to recommend free games, without ads or microtransactions, here is the list for you.]

Some of the games may be free with IAP's, but EXCLUSIVELY to unlock the full game, DLCs, or remove ads (no gacha or energy/gambling mechanics, "diamonds", pay-to-win, or any recurrent cash-grab bullshit of sort).

[Disclaimer: chances are some items in this list will inevitably be removed from Play Store as time goes by, or will not be compatible with future Android versions. I'll do my best to always keep it updated, but feel free to PM me if you come across any unavailable title and I'll make a correction]

I'm planning to keep the list updated for personal reference with the new games I'll play and like, or old games I've played that will come to mind later. So feel free to save it and check out new entries every so often.

My ultimate goal is to promote worthy content and honest/talented devs, hoping to see more quality games in the future, rather than the cancerous cash-grab machines the Play Store is regrettably riddled with. And, of course, to let everyone have a great time playing great titles ;)

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THE LIST

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Legend

๐ŸŒŸ - top favorite ย 

๐Ÿ‘‘ - top favorite and a timeless masterpiece ย 

๐ŸŽฎ - better played with a controller ย 

๐ŸŽฎโ—๏ธ - better played with a controller, but you need a controller mapping app (recommended: Panda) ย 

โŒ›๏ธ- outdated ย 

๐Ÿ’ฌ - recommended by the community, but I haven't played it or not my favorite ย 

~~[Game title]~~ - removed from Play Store, but you might still see it in the store if you've purchased it ย 

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Action/Shooter

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Hack and slash

  • Grimvalor ๐ŸŒŸ ๐ŸŽฎ (2.5D hack and slash medieval fantasy platform/RPG)

  • Shadow Blade ๐ŸŒŸ ๐ŸŽฎ (2D hack and slash action platform)

  • Ninja Arashi ๐ŸŽฎ (2D hack and slash action platform - free with IAPs to remove ads)

  • SAMURAI II: VENGEANCE (top down/isometric hack and slash)

  • Dead Cells ๐Ÿ’ฌ ๐ŸŽฎ (roguelite action platformer)

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Platform

  • Dadish ๐ŸŒŸ (2D platformer, pixel graphics, easy)

  • Dadish 2 ๐ŸŒŸ (2D platformer, pixel graphics, medium difficulty)

  • Dadish 3 (2D precision platformer, pixel graphics, hard difficulty)

  • Suzy Cube ๐ŸŽฎ (3D platformer, good rip-off of Super Mario 3D Land)

  • MouseBot ๐ŸŒŸ (3D platform-like)

  • Swordigo ๐ŸŽฎโ—๏ธ (2D RPG action-adventure platformer; requires controller mapping app if you want controller support - free with IAPs to remove ads)

  • Oddmar (2D action-adventure platformer)

  • Sonic Runners Adventures ๐ŸŒŸ (2.5D platformer)

  • Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty ๐ŸŒŸ (puzzle-platformer adventure)

  • Levelhead ๐Ÿ’ฌ

  • ~~Haipy (2D platformer, pixel graphics) (regional availability)~~

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Metroidvania

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Turn-based RPG

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Action RPG

  • Trials of Mana ๐ŸŒŸ ๐ŸŽฎโ—๏ธ (it's a port from console/PC but critically lacks controller support. You can use Panda Gamepad Pro - recommended - or Mantis to achieve that. If you will use the Panda app, check this out)

  • The Bard's Tale (3D action RPG adventure - this game has some optional IAPs: they can easily be ignored but they're there. Also, some users experienced an auto-save bug that corrupts ALL save files, so I recommend disabling auto-save altogether. I'm keeping the game listed here for now as I still consider it a true premium games and I haven't personally experienced any bug during my playthrough)

  • Evoland (action/adventure RPG with 2D and 3D graphics and a mix of genres)

  • Evoland 2 ๐ŸŒŸ ๐ŸŽฎ (action/adventure RPG with 2D and 3D graphics, mix of genres; controller recommended)

  • Pascal's Wager (soulslike) ๐Ÿ’ฌ

  • Star Wars: KOTOR ๐Ÿ’ฌ

  • Star Wars: KOTOR II ๐Ÿ’ฌ

  • ~~Ys Chronicles I ๐ŸŽฎ (2D action RPG - old-school action JRPG which doesn't really hold your hand, bump combat, level cap is 10, yet it's fun!)~~

  • ~~Ys Chronicles II ๐ŸŒŸ ๐ŸŽฎ (2D action RPG - fantastic old-school action JRPG! Continues where Ys I left off and offer a longer, more flashed out experience. The pixel art is simply beautiful, with real-time lighting effects. Dungeons get very "labyrinthy" and challenging towards the end (I needed to follow a guide), but the effort was fully repaid)~~

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CRPG

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Roguelite tabletop

  • Balatro ๐ŸŒŸ (poker-inspired roguelike)

  • Indies Lies ๐ŸŒŸ (inspired by Slay the Spire; free and with three paid DLCs which will also remove ads, add extra story modes, characters, and new mechanics)

  • Meteorfall: Journeys

  • Slay the Spire (legendary deck builder; PC port)

  • Dicey Dungeons (there's no actual deck of cards but rather equipments and dice; it plays like a roguelite deck-builder)

  • Slice & Dice ๐Ÿ’ฌ

  • Dawncaster ๐Ÿ’ฌ

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Adventure

  • Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (humorous, Zelda-like, pixel art adventure; achievements didn't work correctly, but they might have been fixed after I played it)

  • Oceanhorn ๐ŸŒŸ ๐ŸŽฎ (3D Zelda-like action adventure)

  • Afterplace ๐Ÿ’ฌ

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Crafting/Survival

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Survival horror

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Point-and-click

  • Fran Bow ๐ŸŒŸ (point and click/puzzle - psychologic soft horror) Excellent story and gameplay. [Edit: the old one, divided into chapters, is here]

  • Lost Echo (point and click/puzzle adventure)

  • Tangle Tower ๐Ÿ’ฌ

  • ~~The Silent Age (point and click adventure) contains IAPs to unlock episodes~~

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Puzzle-adventure

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Strategy

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Tower defense

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Management

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Idle

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Racing

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Golf/Billiard

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Netflix games

(require an active Netflix subscription)

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Extras and emulators

  • AppSales is an app that will make you save some money by notifying you when specific games (or apps) in the Play Store go on sale. Just add the games you wish to buy to the AppSales' watchlist and you'll get notified when the price gets cut.

  • Panda Gamepad Pro ๐ŸŽฎ is a tool that allows you to map your controller for touch inputs, practically adding controller support to those game that don't have it.

  • Retroarch ๐ŸŽฎ (emulator for almost all consoles) "jack of all trades" emulator, the only one that supports analog triggers for Xbox One S controller. It has a bit of a learning curve, and other individual emulators might offer better performance

  • Dolphin ๐ŸŽฎ best emulator for GameCube and Wii

  • DraStic DS Emulator ๐ŸŽฎ

  • PPSSPP Gold - PSP Emulator ๐ŸŽฎ

  • Delta Touch [9 x Doom engines] ๐Ÿ’ฌ (engine for Doom games)

  • Quad Touch ๐Ÿ’ฌ (engine for Quake games)

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Happy gaming ;)

ps: please let me know if there's any wrong information about the games included in this list (especially regarding IAPs or availability) so that I'll fix the post if necessary.

Some setting items don't show in search. Also, is there no search within a community? in c/summit@lemmy.world
[โ€“] char_stats@lemm.ee 2 points 1 hour ago

I don't know how I missed that... Thanks!

8
Some setting items don't show in search. Also, is there no search within a community? (lemm.ee)
submitted 2 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) by char_stats@lemm.ee to c/summit@lemmy.world
2 comments fedilink
 

First of all, best Lemmy app I've tried so far and I can see the attention to details and to the customization that matters. So hats off to you for the brilliant work!

I tried searching for "draft" or "drafts" or "save" in the settings, and nothing popped up. However, there is a setting for "Save drafts automatically". I suppose that's a non-indexed item which should have been indexed?

~~The other thing I wanted to ask is if there's a way to search into communities, if that's even a thing in Lemmy as I'm new here, and if the feature is roadmapped? I believe it's an essential feature to avoid things being asked countless times in communities.~~ [Edit: there's Filter by community]

Thanks for your work and keep it up!

Free Android Games - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha. in c/android@lemdro.id
[โ€“] char_stats@lemm.ee 2 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

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!

Free Android Games - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha. in c/android@lemdro.id
[โ€“] char_stats@lemm.ee 4 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Ye I'm all for one-time paid games! I'll drop my premium games list here tomorrow

Free Android Games - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha. in c/android@lemdro.id
[โ€“] char_stats@lemm.ee 2 points 21 hours ago

You're welcome :)

Free Android Games - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha. in c/android@lemdro.id
[โ€“] char_stats@lemm.ee 2 points 22 hours ago

Thanks! OpenTyrian is obsolete, unfortunately. I will add OpenTTD.

Free Android Games - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha. in c/android@lemdro.id
[โ€“] char_stats@lemm.ee 1 points 22 hours ago

I think it's paid on the Play Store and called Achikaps Pro?

Free Android Games - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha. in c/android@lemdro.id
[โ€“] char_stats@lemm.ee 3 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Thanks! Would this be helpful for cross-posting to that community? My goal is to have a post showing in these 2 communities, and when I update the original one in this instance, the update will automatically carry on to the community in the other instance.

I tried cross-posting using a function in the Summit app, but the updates don't carry on... Do you know how I could achieve this?

Free Android Games - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha. in c/android@lemdro.id
[โ€“] char_stats@lemm.ee 1 points 22 hours ago

Excellent recommendation! I'll add it to the list, thank you.

Free Android Games - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha. in c/android@lemdro.id
[โ€“] char_stats@lemm.ee 3 points 1 day ago

Yup! It's there in the list and a great collection :)

Free Android Games - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha. in c/android@lemdro.id
[โ€“] char_stats@lemm.ee 1 points 1 day ago

I changed them to the ! links - see if that works

They do work now!

Free Android Games - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha. in c/android@lemdro.id
[โ€“] char_stats@lemm.ee 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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".

Free Android Games - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha. in c/android@lemmy.world
[โ€“] char_stats@lemm.ee 3 points 1 day ago

Thanks for the recommendation, but it clearly doesn't match the entry criteria. This list is for people who abhor seeing ads and microtransactions of any kind.

This game, which I'm sure is great, should be part of another category of games: those with bearable ads/IAPs. I've been thinking about compiling such list, but it'd be extremely tricky and time consuming to discern what's fair from what's annoying or predatory.

44
Free Android Games - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha. (lemm.ee)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by char_stats@lemm.ee to c/android@lemmy.world
4 comments fedilink
 

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/58557378

Latest entries - February 15th, 2025:

February 2nd, 2025:

January 7th, 2025:

ย 

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.

โ€ผ๏ธ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.โ€ผ๏ธ

ย 

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 writing/updating (14)
  • 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.

ย 

THE LIST

ย 

Legend

โ˜•๏ธ - includes a fair donation button, with or without minimal cosmetics only

~~[Game title]~~ - removed from Play Store

ย 

Shooters

ย 

Stealth

ย 

Platform

ย 

Rhythm

ย 

Arcade

ย 

RPG

ย 

Roguelike dungeon crawlers

ย 

Deck builders

ย 

Adventure

ย 

Puzzle

ย 

Strategy

ย 

Racing

ย 

Simulation

ย 

Casual

ย 

Sport/Competition

ย 

Visual novel

ย 

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.

281
Free Android Games - no ads, no IAPs, no gacha. (lemm.ee)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) by char_stats@lemm.ee to c/android@lemdro.id
54 comments fedilink
 

Latest entries - March 16th, 2025:

Other recent entries:

ย 

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.

โ€ผ๏ธ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.โ€ผ๏ธ

ย 

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.

ย 

THE LIST

ย 

Legend

โ˜•๏ธ - includes a fair donation button, with or without minimal cosmetics only

~~[Game title]~~ - removed from Play Store

ย 

Shooters

ย 

Stealth

ย 

Platform

ย 

Rhythm

ย 

Arcade

ย 

RPG

ย 

Roguelike dungeon crawlers

ย 

Deck builders

ย 

Adventure

ย 

Puzzle

ย 

Strategy

ย 

Racing

ย 

Management

ย 

Simulation

ย 

Casual

ย 

Sport/Competition

ย 

Visual novel

ย 

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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