10 Best Indie Games You Can Play on Android

For most of my life, I've been someone of limited means, which has prevented me from playing many of the video games that caught my eye when they were first released. However, progressively, this has become easier to manage within the industry.

Although video games are an expensive passion that not everyone can afford, they've become incredibly accessible thanks to their democratization, with more and more titles available at a wider range of prices than ever before.

Furthermore, you no longer need a state-of-the-art console: with a mobile device, you already have access to several titles that, once, seemed unthinkable, much less considering their quality.

Therefore, if you're someone who can only play on your phone and are looking for ways to make the most of it, I invite you to read this article about the ten best indie games you can play on Android.

10 Superliminal

A Matter of Perspective

Superliminal is among those short but memorable games you can't stop thinking about once you finish it, especially because it's a title with a rather unique premise.

Perspective-based puzzle games are still somewhat unusual, but they do exist, and this one in particular is captivating due to the creativity of its environments and the irreverent situations that arise from them.

Experiencing this lucid dream, however, is more than just cognitive entertainment: it's a rather human, therapeutic session, with an affable narrator whose voice you could spend an entire afternoon listening to while playing with the sizes and camera angles of everything around you.

It might not provide endless hours of entertainment like many others on this list, though Superliminal is a great recommendation for puzzle game enthusiasts, as well as for those who enjoy immersive and relaxing experiences.

9 Dredge

Portable Fishing

Fishing games are as old as I am, which allows me to confidently say Dredge is the genre's most outstanding representative, because it truly becomes an exceptional experience as the hours go by.

Obviously, those expecting a simulator won't find much here, but those looking for a game where they manage resources, discover increasingly unique species, and face the most desolate cosmic atrocities imaginable will find a true marvel in this product.

Combining management and horror, Dredge offers an extremely satisfying fusion of genres and systems, with an immersive gameplay loop where you become a deep-sea fisherman dealing with both colossal creatures and supernatural entities.

If you add to that a stunning art style, a length perfectly suited to its entertainment value, and a flawless progression system that ensures you won't be bored for a single second, it's easy to see why it's among the most praised indie games of recent years.

8 GRIS

Deafening Silences

Returning to the short but unforgettable approach I mentioned in Superliminal's case, GRIS is an experience that sears into your heart by the unique way it conveys its powerful message.

Dealing with such delicate themes as grief puts you in a complex situation, as any mishandling becomes readily apparent, though Nomada Studio displayed a supernatural talent for saying everything about loss without uttering a single word.

Through shapes, colors, and above all, music, this silent platforming adventure transcends the mere beauty of its stunning visuals to make you cry in a way few video games ever will.

GRIS feels like catching lightning in a bottle, because I find it difficult to believe we'll ever see another experience with these specific characteristics capable of replicating the sea of ​​emotions it can evoke in just a couple of hours.

7 Blasphemous

An Additional Challenge

I've always admired, with a healthy dose of fear, those who can play Metroidvanias on their phones, but I have to admit the Blasphemous port makes me think they might not be so crazy after all.

The accessibility with which one of the genre's most iconic titles is presented on Android is truly commendable because it's not an easy mechanical experience to translate, though The Game Kitchen did a truly admirable job.

That said, Blasphemous is what it is: a wonderful pixel art masterwork whose aesthetics, soundtrack, and environments are the idyllic backdrop for a campaign that will make you suffer against both bosses and platforms, especially thanks to those unsufferable spikes.

If its successor ever comes to mobile, I'll be sure to recommend that one. Until then, Blasphemous is an idol of the genre for numerous reasons, so there's literally no excuse not to discover why firsthand.

6 Sea of Stars

Turn-Based Marvel

Turn-based games have always seemed like a perfect formula for handheld devices to me because, strictly speaking, they demand more cognitive than motor skills, something that's certainly evident in Sea of ​​Stars.

The spiritual successor to the historic Chrono Trigger is one of this decade's most wonderful titles in the genre, with a colossal sense of adventure that truly excites you with every narrative, gameplay, and spatial advancement.

It feels like a genuine journey, like the ones video games used to strive to convey in the 90s, but through a modern lens that gives it a wide variety of mechanics and an enviable level of technical and visual refinement.

Dynamic battles with a strong strategic element, extensive customization, highly creative boss fights, countless beautiful biomes to explore... Sea of ​​Stars has everything you'd expect from a JRPG icon, even if it is Canadian.

5 Dead Cells

A Luxury Adaptation

Being able to say you have Dead Cells on Android sounds like a luxury port for two reasons: first, because it's among the finest indie games ever made, and second, because it will cost you an arm and a leg if you consider time as currency.

So far this century, very few titles can rival Motion Twin's roguelike in terms of density and variety of entertainment, as the depth of gameplay and content it offers can keep you from playing anything else for months.

Speaking from experience, given there was a time when I had access to every game imaginable and still only played Dead Cells, it's a title so perfected in its combat, progression, and gradual discovery that it seems designed by psychologists to hook you on a chemical level.

This, of course, is true for all games in the genre, but Dead Cells' Metroidvania nature, with its emphasis on branching exploration and incredibly challenging bosses, makes it even more satisfying.

4 Slay the Spire

Entertainment for a Lifetime

I mentioned the replicability of the roguelike genre's addictive nature as a way to anticipate the inclusion of titles like Slay the Spire, which also has the added advantage of being a card game and, therefore, is more accessible than a real-time action title for mobile ecosystems.

With the same number of possibilities and activities as Dead Cells, albeit with the substantial change of being a turn-based experience, it's incredible how fresh this title remains even after 200 hours of play.

Due to the number of playable classes, its difficulty system, and the virtually endless synergy of cards, relics, and decision-making in each run, it truly manages to create the illusion of infinity within its boundaries, as it never seems to end.

Eventually you might get bored, but you'll have to dedicate so many hours to it and enjoy so much entertainment that I doubt you'll mind exhausting it, because enough time will have passed for you to have grown so fond of it that you might even want to get it tattooed.

3 Vampire Survivors

Say Goodbye to Your Productivity

Having three out of three roguelikes in a row, Vampire Survivors is both highly recommended and highly discouraged, as it's an endless source of fun that will, however, harm your productivity in ways you've never imagined.

Both Slay the Spire and Dead Cells demand a notorious level of mental and physical commitment due to their challenging gameplay, but this game delivers an unstoppable dopamine rush where all you do is move around while witnessing the most mesmerizing display of colors and stats ever conceived.

Of course, there are intersectional skills involved in Vampire Survivors, so we can't reduce it to absurdity, though the mechanic loop it presents is so simple yet addictive that it's tough to remember you're 27 years old and can't spend six hours a day on your phone.

It's no wonder it invented a subgenre within the procedural philosophy, as I've rarely seen this level of effectiveness in hooking players. Take this as a recommendation but also as a warning, because Vampire Survivors is almost arcane.

2 Into the Breach

Perfection Adaptable to Every Ecosystem

Into the Breach is a meticulously crafted time sink designed to make you feel like a true war commander, and I can't even begin to describe how absurdly satisfying it is to dedicate all your free time to it.

While I'm not exactly an expert on strategy games, I am someone who can recognize when a title has been touched by the gods of unadulterated enjoyment, and this one was clearly conceived in the waters of pure bliss.

Given the sheer number of options in terms of mechs, upgrades, scenarios, challenges, and difficulty levels, not even the absence of a formal story can stop you from getting completely absorbed in trying out all sorts of combinations, like a kid attempting to assemble a LEGO creation from different sets.

Into the Breach awakens a primal form of entertainment that completely disconnects you and places you in a paradise of grids and turns that takes 15 minutes to plan, a heaven you wouldn't want to leave even if your life depended on it.

1 Balatro

The Main Reason for Buying a Phone

You might think that having a wireless communication device primarily allows you to connect with loved ones and share questionable opinions on social media, but this technology's ultimate goal is to let you play Balatro anywhere.

Of course, this benefit comes at the cost of being so engrossed by it that you become one with the poker cards, the Jokers, and the unfathomable pleasure of its audiovisual design, though it's a sacrifice every human being on this planet should be willing to make.

Roguelikes have found a natural home on phones thanks to their quick matches, concentrated entertainment, and slow but steady progression, without having to wait 15 days for an upgrade to be ready but rather depending entirely on your skill to advance.

In Balatro's case, you have a game whose possibilities are calculated in scientific notation, as it offers so many perfectly integrated gameplay systems that it would take you a couple of lifetimes to grasp the vastness of its fun.

The sensations this title generates should be studied by anthropologists because of the way it evokes a regression to a time when seeing a beautiful color or hearing a distinctive sound could leave you hypnotized, but that's just the tip of the iceberg for this masterpiece.