When dealing with bad WiFi or limited mobile data, it's important you have a selection of the best offline games to play on your phone. Long haul flights can be a struggle without them - but whether you're a farming fan, prefer some card-based fun, or want to embark on a dark and mysterious adventure, we've got you covered with this guide.
Some of the titles that feature here are more casual, while some are full-length cinematic masterpieces, and genres range from cozy life-sim to horror, so we're sure you'll find something that floats your boat.
Here are all of the best offline games:
1. Balatro
There's a good reason why Balatro topped every single chart of 2024 - despite its simple poker plus format, it effectively utilizes the roguelike gameplay loop to create both a satisfying and wholly absorbing game, one that you can spend hours on, if you're not careful. Fortunately for us, this makes it a great pick to kill some time while you're without mobile data or WiFi. You can try out all kinds of different builds, with Joker, Tarot, and space-themed cards that offer you all kinds of effects, some of which synergize with each other, and some of which… well, are run-ruining.
In our Balatro review, our own Connor Christie writes of the game, "It's a pretty simple premise, which is part of the incredible design of Balatro because as soon as you've got to grips with the basics, a world of incredible combinations and game-breaking scores opens up, inviting you to chase high scores like a raging bull chases a Matador dangling red cloth". Basically, it's a game that's easy to learn and hard to master, because while anyone can be decent at Balatro, only the obsessed truly reach record-breaking highs.
It's one of the most inventive roguelikes we've seen since the likes of Hades, and if you're going to pick one, it's the best mobile card game you can find out there - especially given that it's available on Apple, Android, and Nintendo Switch.
Check prices: iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, and Humble Bundle
2. Stardew Valley
An undisputed classic, Stardew Valley remains one of the most widely downloaded games of all time, and for good reason. If you somehow haven't played, or at least heard of it, this genre-defining, fun-for-all adventure begins with a plot of land and a dream, and what ensues after is chaos. A witch's island, a corporate plot to overthrow the little people, a sewer creature, and more await you in Stardew Valley, and its introduction to mobile means that you can play it anywhere, at any time.
In his 10/10 Stardew Valley review, our own Connor Christie writes, "As soon as the main menu melody chimes in, you're whisked away to Pelican Town, where there's so much to do that you almost lose every connection with the outside world". This is, in essence, perfect for the sort of game that people need when they have no Internet connection - after all, we all need some escapism when confronted with a life without YouTube.
Stardew Valley is a timeless classic, and I feel confident that anyone needing an offline adventure will feel so too. Even though the farming aspects of it are my least favorite (I'm much more of a fisher), the game retains its cozy vibe by providing you with realistic characters, a stellar soundtrack, and a gentle but firm time pressure. Need more like it? Try our guide to the best games like Stardew Valley for your next adventure.
Check prices: iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, and Humble Bundle
3. Gubbins
This game may be a love letter to Scrabble and Wordle, but it takes your classic word game formula even further with the titular Gubbins, creatures who affect your game both positively and negatively. Get as many points as you can, of course, but you don't need to do it alone. Need to replace a word because you thought of a better one? There's a rain cloud Gubbin for the job. Game getting too easy? Let's add a bunch of letters to your board - cheers, lemon Gubbin!
Though you can play the game for free, for a one-time purchase of six dollars, you can unlock limitless games, different modes, and more Gubbs. It's worth it, I'd say - I've personally spent hours trying to find the silliest words in the dictionary using the magical powers available to me, alongside min-maxing the amount of words I can fit on a board because of the streak bonus. Plus, this is one of the first word games I've ever played that accepts Internet slang words as real words. It'll let you cook.
While this is undoubtedly a more casual game than some of the other entries, sometimes it's what the situation calls for, especially if your mind needs some exercise. You'll spot Gubbins on our best games like Wordle list, so if you need some more word-related fun, that's the place to be. Many of the games on that list also don't require a WiFi connection.
Play for free: iOS and Android
4. Limbo
Need a spooky game that works while you're in a cabin in the middle of nowhere? Limbo is for you. The game has been out a long time, but it still holds up as a great example of a puzzle game that utilizes the side-scrolling format in an effective way. This is a game that expects you to fail at its puzzles, and encourages you to think laterally while trying different solutions - though, each time you die, you have to watch your character die pretty brutally.
Limbo's strengths lie in its horror themes. Apart from the constant, and oftentimes concealed, threat of death, the game's design encourages you to feel lost through its dark and monochrome color scheme. The level is littered with scares, like dead children hanging from trees and hidden environmental threats. Because the main character is constantly trying to find his sister, catching glimpses that fade when he reaches them, the game provides a constant sensation of your objectives slipping away from you.
Limbo sets an atmosphere of dread, and will do all the work of a horror movie without you having to stream it online. If you crave more from the genre, we have a guide to the best horror games of all time that you can check out. Hardly any of them are puzzle-related, though, so for that specific niche, Limbo's what you need.
Check prices: iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch
5. Pocket Love
To counteract the Limbo darkness, there's Pocket Love. Ever dreamed about living in your own house with puppies, kittens, and a loved one? Pocket Love is the ultimate life simulator that's all about building up your dream home. Decorating various rooms with cute and whimsical furniture, changing the style of you and your partner, and doing your neighborly duty by cleaning up the streets nearby.
The details are what make this game so worth playing, as aside from the vibe cultivation, you and your partner can go out on picnic dates, take a dip in the onsens, or chill out on the beach, and the short snippets of dialogue are really sweet. Furniture ranges from pride collections to Earth Day celebrations, and you can really switch up the energy of every single room in what can be a multi-level house.
Whether you're single and using Pocket Love to imagine an alternate, less lonely reality, or you want to figure out how to decorate a future home with your partner, the game has something for everyone. For more titles that are good to play with your partner, check out our guide to the best games for couples, because we know that videogames are essential bonding time for many.
Download for free: iOS and Android
6. Final Fantasy
Everybody knows Final Fantasy, whether you've played it or not. Never taken the leap? Well, perhaps a period of no Internet connection is exactly what you need to get started. There's a reason this series has 16 mainline games, animes, a trading card game, novellas, a radio drama, and there's even a whole day named after it in Japan. As probably the series that has had the single most impact on the JRPG genre, Final Fantasy games have something for everyone.
We at Pocket Tactics love FF, but no one more so than our editor, Ruby, who in her Final Fantasy 7 review gives the game a 10/10. Among the other things that are great about the game, like the soundtrack, Ruby praises the game for its gameplay. "Venturing from town to town, creating strong friendships with the characters you meet along the way, and finally managing to defeat that boss you've been training for will stick with you, and have you returning for 'just one more hour' over and over again."
If you don't fancy the slightly dated graphics of VII, there's always the remake. Many of the games have had remakes or remasters, so there's no excuse. You can find a portable version of many of the games, and though seven is the chosen one for us, you should check out our list of the best Final Fantasy games to see which one is right for you.
Check prices (FVII): Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, and Humble Bundle
7. Minecraft
Does Minecraft really need an introduction? Chicken jockey, don't mine at night, etc. - you know the drill. Minecraft and its pocket edition are here to save you if you need a portable, offline version of the game, so you can work on a masterpiece when you have no mobile data. While you can't jump into a server with your friends while offline, there's plenty of other fun to be had in both creative and survival modes.
This is Minecraft - so do whatever your heart desires: build an underground cavern and hide treasure in it, water bucket yourself out of danger after launching off a cliff, or, you know, defeat the Ender Dragon. All in a day's work. As someone who doesn't really care for progression and story, I like to just wander around the map, uncovering treasures and secrets, as well as having my fair share of lava deaths when I accidentally fall into a cavern.
While we're not sure it's possible to get sick of Minecraft, if you've already mined all the diamonds you could possibly get your hands on, we also have a list of the best games like Minecraft, some of which are also offline. But we recommend staying with the blueprint - there's a good reason this game remains so culturally relevant well after its release.
Check prices: Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, and Fanatical
8. Japanese Rural Life Adventure
Japanese Rural Life Adventure is the best game that no one knows about. An Apple Arcade game that's slated to come to Steam and Nintendo Switch later this year, Japanese Rural Life Adventure follows a Stardew-esque formula, where you move to a new town and have to help the villagers you meet. Of course, there's farming, you can fish, and the townspeople have vibrant personalities. It's a game about gathering, fundamentally, but Japanese Rural Life does everything you know and love so well and in such a cute way, that you're happy to jump back into the familiar formula.
There's a small-town charm to the Japanese countryside that feels different from some of the other farm sims, and it includes some cool Japanese cultural aspects, like praying at a Shinto Shrine, which gives the vibe that the game cares about honoring the culture that inspired it. Plus, the game's artstyle is very reminiscent of some of those early-2000s Nintendo titles (anyone else play Catz?).
There's no ticking clock in Japanese Rural Life adventure - instead, the game moves on when you run out of energy and need to sleep. This, alongside its calming soundtrack, makes it a much more cozy experience for me than Stardew itself. If you need more of this kind of thing in your life, be sure to check out our list of best cozy games, a number of which are downloadable without an internet connection
Check prices: Apple Arcade
New offline games
Of course, there are always a number of upcoming mobile games that you can play without WiFi or data. Tomb Raider mobile is coming to your phone in February, which means you can play the 2013 title in its entirety, provided you have enough storage space. Civilization VII is also coming to Apple Arcade in February, which is a major win for the strategy mobile gamers among us. Plus, many of the upcoming Switch games require no Internet connection, including Mario Tennis Fever.
If you need more advice on what to download before your big trip away, chat to us over on the Pocket Tactics Discord server, where we can help you find more of what you love. Plus, you can always scour our lists of the best mobile games, best Switch games, and best Steam Deck games for more picks, because even though many of our top games need WiFi, there are some extremely solid offline entries.