The best mobile games in 2024

A list full of the best mobile games to play on your iOS or Android device

Writing a definitive list of the best mobile games is a tricky – some would say foolhardy – task at the best of times. We’re talking about a process that incorporates hundreds of thousands of games spread across iOS and Android, covering over a dozen years.

So we’ve decided to approach this from a simple if slightly out-there premise. If an alien were to land tomorrow and ask for a crash course in gaming, which of the best mobile games would you encourage it to install on the best gaming phone first? With such an unusual filter applied, we’re not looking for obscure gems or even necessarily run-away hits here. We’re looking at those important, genre-defining games that represent something essential to the history of smartphone gaming—a veritable greatest-hits compilation of the App Store and Google Play.

All we stipulate is that the game has to still be active and great to play today. We’re also only going to include one game per series, so we’ll generally (but not exclusively) go with the first rather than the best entry.

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 even by 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.

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 persue 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.

Play World of Tanks Blitz for free.

Age of Frostfall

Age of Frostfall is a unique RTS tower defense game set in a harsh frosty landscape. To succeed in your role as a hero, you must raise a mighty dragon, build up your city, and recruit legendary fighters to ensure your army is the strongest around.

If you’re eager to become a king of your own little realm, this is the game for you. Each battle you win and foe you slay helps you gain respect, but so does fostering alliances. So make sure you invite your friends to join you on this journey so you can take down the most vicious of the Unmelted.

Play Age of Frostfall 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.

Mech Arena

From the developer that brought Raid: Shadow Legends into the world, Mech Arena is a game that is exactly what it says on the tin. You and other players take control of mech suits and fight each other in arenas – there’s tons of customization available for the mech, and things you can unlock by grinding.

It’s not a complex concept by any means, but a game that’s really easy to dive into whenever you’re after some simple thrills. Controls are tight, and combat is diverse and enjoyable – meanwhile, there are several different arenas for you to do battle on, ranging from desert encampments, through to moon bases, and Japanese towns. The presentation is quite reminiscent of Overwatch actually, so if you enjoy that game, chances are you’ll enjoy this too.

Play Mech Arena for free.

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.