From grand hundred-hour RPG adventures to a handful of short skirmishes in Marvel Rivals, there’s a whole breadth and width of experiences to be had in the world of gaming. Eventually though, you’ll have to power down and do something else– eat, sleep, go outside, etc.
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Some games however, hook you thoroughly. One more game turns into 20, and before you know it, the first light of dawn shines through your windows. Whether it’s ease of entry, snappy gameplay, quick and easy restarts, plenty of unlocks, or any combination of these traits; once you start these games, good luck putting them down.
8
Slay The Spire
A Tower Of Cards
- Released
-
January 23, 2019
- ESRB
-
E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Tobacco Reference
- Developer(s)
-
Mega Crit
- Publisher(s)
-
Humble Bundle
Conceptually, Slay the Spire can be a bit intimidating. It’s part dungeon crawler, part roguelike, and part TCG and these genres on their own can be quite overwhelming, let alone combined. However, Slay the Spire somehow took each of these and made a cohesive, understandable and engaging gameplay loop.
Campaign attempts can be quite long, but the game is just difficult enough to send all but the most hardened card sharks to the bottom of the tower. Falling is rarely frustrating however, because of the huge amount of unlocks that you get and starting a new run is simple and bursting with new possibilities.
7
Balatro
Joker’s Wild
Strategy
Digital Card Game
Roguelike
- Released
-
February 20, 2024
- ESRB
-
E10+ For Everyone 10+ // Gambling Themes
- Developer(s)
-
LocalThunk
- Publisher(s)
-
Playstack
An indie game that took the world by storm, Balatro was nominated at The Game Awards 2024, including for Game of the Year, competing with heavy hitters like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Wukong: Black Myth. Balatro took home some awards, too, sweeping the indie awards and taking home Best Mobile Game.
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How did this plucky little gem reach such great heights? Simple, it’s just really difficult to stop playing. It’s a simple game that uses the near-universal language of poker to draw you in, and in combination with the game’s Jokers, Balatro ensures that you’re all in.
The game’s actually dev apologized when it was ported to mobile. Rightfully so, since who knows how many more hours the game can sap when you can take it everywhere with you.
6
Teamfight Tactics – Hyper Roll
Pure Auto Chess
- Released
-
June 26, 2019
- ESRB
-
T For Teen due to Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Blood, Fantasy Violence
Really, any auto chess game could be on this list. There’s something about that formula: combining units to make bigger units, putting the right units together for a bonus, optimizing item attachments, there’s just something that always keeps you coming back for more. Win, lose, it doesn’t matter, it’s all about luck and the chase.
Riot, however did something special with TFT– or rather its variant, Hyper Roll. They took what was already a beautiful gameplay loop and basically turned it up to 11 by removing the economic management, leaving behind a high-octane experience where the games are much shorter, but you end up playing more games back-to-back.
5
Talented
Build The Perfect Hero
- Released
-
December 20, 2024
- Developer(s)
-
TurtleFox Games
- Publisher(s)
-
TurtleFox Games
With its intoxicating combination of horde defense, tower defense, and RPG, it’s surprising that Talented doesn’t get more attention.
Playing the game is simple: pick a class, use your arrow keys to shoot enemies coming in from the cardinal directions, collect EXP and levels to pick the titular talents from a procedurally generated skill tree.
That last bit is a large amount of the game’s appeal and staying power. It’s awesome to pick up talents and curate the perfect build, testing both your skill and luck. Succeed, and you’ll be mowing down enemies with ease. Fail, and you’re crushed under the teeming hordes and get to start over. Either way, win-win.
4
Vampire Survivors
Bullet Heaven
- Released
-
December 17, 2021
- ESRB
-
T For Teen // Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
-
Luca Galante
- Publisher(s)
-
Luca Galante
Run around an endless 2D plane, avoiding enemies while your build does the shooting for you. On its face, it’s a simple formula. However, when Vampire Survivors released, it took gaming by storm, launching a thousand copycats and becoming a genre in its own right.
5:16
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Though we’re spoiled for choice in that genre, this game still remains among the best of them. Vampire Survivors is fun, easy to play, and takes a bit of grinding to master all its secrets. All the elements that keep you coming back for more. That you can play it on your phone gives it an even bigger draw.
3
Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket
Gotta Catch ‘Em All
- Released
-
October 30, 2024
- Publisher(s)
-
The Pokemon Company
TCGs are difficult to get into. Whether it’s the complexities of the genre or the cost, something drives away casual fans. Pokemon TCG Pocket handles both those concerns pretty much in one fell swoop.
This mobile version of the card game removes energy cards from the game, making it a resource that’s dealt every turn. The game also removed the Prize Card mechanic, a pain point for even experienced Pokemon TCG fans, and replaced it with a point structure.
What’s left is a streamlined game that’s intuitive to learn and is bite-sized enough to play in between tasks, but with enough meat on it to draw you in, game after game. While it has the usual real money options, you can amass quite a collection of cards and several working decks quickly without paying a cent.
2
Path Of Achra
Walking The Path Is Simple
- Released
-
May 7, 2024
- Developer(s)
-
Ulfsire
- Publisher(s)
-
Slouching Beast
Another indie hidden gem, Path of Achra is a roguelike RPG with perhaps the lowest barrier to entry of any game in the genre. When you think of roguelikes in the classical sense (if you do at all), you probably imagine games like Nethack, the titular Rogue, or even Caves of Qud. While they’re the same graphically, this experience is far different.
If you can get past the fact that the…crunchy graphics, you’ll find a deep game that will have you attempting run after run. The game is simple, so simple in fact that you play it with five buttons at most, and you’re more likely to just hold down Tab to auto-attack, move, and confirm. So, why not put together builds in the game’s intricate interlocking ability system and see just how far you can get in the Path of Achra.
1
Tetris
Just One More Line…
Tetris (1984)
- Released
-
June 6, 1984
- ESRB
-
E
- Developer(s)
-
Alexey Pajitnov
A classic for a good reason, Tetris is as captivating as it is simple. Everyone knows it: blocks fall from the top, nudge blocks in desired direction, when you make a line the blocks disappear. Everyone from a toddler to your grandma can play this game, it has such a flat learning curve.
Yet despite the fact that it’s a 50-year-old game, it still flourishes today, largely unchanged in an industry dominated by million-dollar Triple-A games and live-service money machines with poly counts requiring exponentially more computing power then Tetris.
Once you start, it becomes far too easy to clear line after line only to fail due to the high speed of later stages, and then start over anyways. It’s a game so very playable, that you even see it when you’re not playing. Which is a condition named after this game: the Tetris Effect
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