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The best mobile games in 2024

Our list of the best mobile games helps you find something great to play today on your iPhone or Android device, from open-world RPGs to simple match-threes.

Two female characters from Genshin Impact, one of the best mobile games, against a yellow background with the Pocket Tactics logo on it

What are the best mobile games? We’ve decided to approach this question from a simple if slightly out-there premise. If an alien were to land tomorrow and ask for a crash course in gaming, which mobile games would you encourage it to install first? We’re looking at those important, genre-defining games that represent something essential to the history of smartphone gaming.

To play these games, we recommend picking up one of the best gaming phones and considering whether iPhone or Samsung devices are for you. If you’re after titles from a specific genre, you can also head over to our lists of the best mobile RPGs and the best mobile strategy games.

Here’s our list of the best mobile games in 2024:

Return to Monkey Island

The latest installment in the Monkey Island series is available on both iOS and Android devices. If you’re a longtime fan, you’ll be pleased to hear that this is the first game since Monkey Island 2 to feature involvement from series co-creator Ron Gilbert, and the whole game is filled to the brim with fun little references to the series’ past. However, even if you’ve never played a Monkey Island game before, you’ll have no problem starting here.

The game follows the unlikely pirate adventurer, Guybrush Threepwood, who in this game is searching for the secret treasures of Monkey Island. It’s one of the best point-and-click games on phones, and it sees you exploring ancient temples and tropical islands, chatting with pirates in taverns, and adventuring on the high seas. It’s just about everything you could ever want, or expect, from one of the best pirate games.

Monument Valley

Monument Valley – and especially its sequel, Monument Valley 2 – is one of those rare video games that has crossed over into the mainstream. The kind that’s referenced in TV shows and played by people outside of the mobile gaming sphere and non-gamers.

That’s not to downplay its ingenious Escher-like spatial puzzles or its achingly beautiful art style. It’s just to say that an awful lot of people like it an awful lot, including us.

Play Monument Valley on Apple Arcade.

Raid: Shadow Legends

It’s easy for seasoned gamers to get a bit sniffy about gacha RPGs. But the simple truth is, a quite startling number of people seem to play them, and Raid: Shadow Legends is the 800lb gorilla of this particular loved-and-loathed sub-genre. You can’t really ignore it.

Indeed, it’s pretty difficult to ignore a game that looks this good, with stunning 3D graphics and screen-filling pyrotechnics accompanying your every PVE campaign mission or PVP Arena scrap. Read our Raid: Shadow Legends tier list if you want some help getting started in it.

Play Raid: Shadow Legends for free.

Slay the Spire

When the ultimate deck-building card battler came to mobile, it felt like it had finally come home. Plenty of other mobile games have lifted Slay the Spire’s formula wholesale, some of them quite successfully.

But Slay the Spire still rules the roost with its intuitive yet impossibly deep and varied card-based combat system.

Play Slay the Spire on Apple Arcade.

Forge of Empires

This free-to-play mobile strategy game is one that delivers on multiple fronts. First of all, you get the satisfaction of creating your own settlement, which you can build and develop as you wish, using resources you gather to invest in different types of research. Then there’s the fact that you get to see it pass through multiple real-world era of history, before moving on into the science fiction realms of the future. On top of all that, you also get to engage in turn-based strategy battles as other nations wage war against you.

There’s so much great content wrapped up in Forge of Empires, and it’s one of those games that you’ll easily pour hundreds of hours into as you come back to it every single day. Addictive in all the right ways, it’s a must-play for fans of strategy or history.

Play Forge of Empires for free.

Jetpack Joyride

Jetpack Joyride wasn’t the first endless runner to hit mobile (shout out to Canabalt), but it was one of the earliest and best. Just as importantly to this list, it’s still going strong, with ongoing support from legendary developer Halfbrick.

As hero Barry Steakfried, run, fly, and smash your way as far as you can, making use of wild power-ups and randomly generating hazards.

Play Jetpack Joyride on Apple Arcade.

Reigns

There are three Reigns games on iOS and Android, and all are brilliant examples of how to update the narrative-led adventure genre for a modern mobile gaming audience.

The key, it seems, was to add a hefty smack of humor and apply a card-swiping control system lifted straight from the Grindr dating app. Who knew?

Play Reigns on Apple Arcade.

Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact wears its The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild influence quite shamelessly, with a familiar anime-inflected fantasy world and action-RPG mechanics.

But you’ll forgive the obvious tribute act because it nails the formula so well, and because it does so in the form of a free-to-play mobile game. Which is quite amazing. If you’re still not convinced, let us explain what Genshin Impact is in a simple way. Our Genshin Impact tier list is also a good point of reference for newbies.

Play Genshin Impact for free.

Hero Wars

Hero Wars is a game that you may well have come across before because the adverts for it are rather prevalent. Unfortunately, they’re also pretty misrepresentative, in that the sliding doors puzzle game that they show is actually only a very small part of what Hero Wars is. Having said that, the real substance of this game is still good fun.

The game follows a formula that many mobile gamers will be familiar with: it’s all about building up a team of heroes and watching them make their way through dungeons. If they’re not up to the challenge, you have to grind and enhance them, or you have to work to unlock other heroes who might be better suited to the challenge. It’s a game that’s really easy to get sucked into, and those who play it will soon find that it has become a part of their daily routine.

Play Hero Wars for free.

Honkai Star Rail

Honkai Star Rail is a turn-based gacha RPG from the developer behind Genshin Impact. It features vibrant, exciting areas to explore, difficult enemies to defeat, and a roster of unique characters that you can have on your team.

If you’re new to mobile gaming we recommend you take a look at our Honkai Star Rail codes, Honkai Star Rail tier list, and Honkai Star Rail banner guides. We also have builds for every single character, check out Honkai Star Rail’s Jing Yuan and Honkai Star Rail’s Seele.

Best mobile games: Kingdom Rush. Image shows a large battle taking place in a snowy tundra.

Kingdom Rush

Like The Room, you could take any entry from the four-strong Kingdom Rush series, and you’d have a shining example of the genre – in this case, tower defense.

Lots of mobile games task you with carefully positioning and upgrading defensive units to fend off waves of enemies, but none do it with as much charm or attention to detail as Kingdom Rush.

Best mobile games: Pokémon GO. Image shows a selection of Pokémon in the forest.

Pokémon GO

If there’s another mobile game that has kept people coming back for as long as Pokémon Go, you’ll have to remind us what it is. Having launched way back in 2016, it’s still going strong.

This was the game that really made a virtue of AR and location-based gameplay, as you battle and capture cute critters near real-world landmarks.

Best mobile games: World of Tanks: Blitz. Image shows a tank on the battlefield.

World of Tanks Blitz

World of Tanks Blitz is a legendary MMO PVP shooter in which you control a tank as you roll into battle with players from all over the world. There’s a huge variety of vehicles, maps, modes, and strategies for you to test out on the battlefield, as you fight in a 7×7 format and pursue your victory.

The world is vast and action-packed, hosting historically accurate vehicles from the USSR, Germany, France, Japan, Great Britain, China, the USA, and many other countries. But if that’s not your jam, you can also drive experimental vehicles based on blueprints created by real-life engineers, inspired by well-known anime series, and more. On top of that, no two battles are the same, and you’re never alone – whether you bring old friends or meet new ones.

Best mobile games: Alto's Odyssey. Image shows the sun shining over a beach.

Alto’s Odyssey

If Jetpack Joyride represents the glorious past of the endless runner, then Alto’s Odyssey is its stylish present. The first thing you’ll notice is an art style so sharp and silky-smooth it belongs on the cover of a magazine

But it plays amazingly too, with an incentive-driven structure that keeps you coming back for just one more go.

Best mobile games: Call of Duty Mobile. Image shows two women running along in a Chinese location.

Call of Duty: Mobile

Neither Android nor iOS are lacking for quality online shooters, but Call of Duty: Mobile is arguably the most comprehensive package of the lot. It bundles together a slick, fast-paced multiplayer shooter with a more expansive Battle Royale mode.

It all looks and moves beautifully too, with top-notch controller support and plenty of modes to try. FPS titles and mobile gaming go hand in hand, so it’s only natural that fans of the genre need to give CoD a go.

Best mobile games: League of Legends: Wild Rift. Image shows Seraphine waving to the camera

League of Legends: Wild Rift

MOBAs continue to be big news in the world of eSports, and on mobile just as on PC, League of Legends is the king. Choose your hero and embark on a classic 5v5 lane-running face-off with your fellow players.

What’s remarkable is how true to the original formula this mobile version is. If you’re interested in trying it out, make sure you check out our League of Legends: Wild Rift tier list.

Best mobile games: Wayward. Image shows a character near a statue in a pixelated art style,.

Wayward Souls

RocketCat games hit gold with Wayward Souls, a roguelike action RPG that takes the classic top-down action of 16-bit Zelda and applies some procedurally generated magic to it.

No two runs are the same here as you hack, slash, explore, and die. Repeatedly.

Best mobile games: Among Us. Image shows a red crewmember approaching a yellow crewmember in a tunnel.

Among Us

Among Us is a free-to-play online whodunnit that takes a fresh and oh-so-modern approach to online multiplayer gameplay, demanding careful communication and no small amount of skulduggery. It’s easy to see why it’s been able to become one of the most popular online games recently.

Join your fellow players in preparing your spaceship for departure, but watch out for the imposter. Unless it’s you, in which case go right ahead and murder your crew.

Best mobile games: Clash Royale. Image shows a man sunbathing on a beach.

Clash Royale

The game that launched a thousand imitators, Clash Royale combines a card-battling strategy with MOBA-like base raiding. Playing cards here spawns 3D units onto a simple two-lane battlefield.

As so often with Supercell’s games, the presentation, learning curve, and balance are absolutely spot on. Mobile gaming doesn’t get much better than taking on the role of a Royale while tackling enemies and kicking butt.

For more content like this, check out the best mobile RPGs and best iOS games. If you like handheld gaming but want to play on something more substantial than a smartphone, check out the best portable gaming consoles.