What are some good incremental games on Android?
I'm open to options, but I'd especially like to find some that have some sort of real-time, directly controlled primary loop (rather than clicker, or autobattler or that). Basically, while I want it to be an incremental game, I'd still like it to feel like there is a satisfying primary loop.
Also, obvious I'd like to avoid anything pay to win or reliant on microtransactions.
Edit: clarification on primary loop
Edit 2: games in the same style include Berry Bury Berry, A Game About Digging a Hole, Scritchy Scratchy (does have an Android port), and a lot of old Flash games.
31 replies
If you haven't played Universal Paperclips, now is the time.
I have bee playing Idle Fantasy lately its effectively Runescape in idle form.
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.tristinbaker.idlefantasy
Another one is Idle Defrag for that 90s HDD defragmentation nostalgia. Although that one is no longer on the play store :(
eeeeeh i found that to be really quite amazingly boring, you literally just queue some actions and wait for hours...
This looks a bit complex but great!
Its like any RPG, play with all skills until you find your groove.
I am working down the mining and smithing lines at the moment with some combat sprinkled in. Might do construction next as it pairs with mining and woodcutting.
Already fighting a cow and then I'll go to the copper mines. We will see what happens.
Feels similar to Home Quest.
Do you have some examples of incrementals you've enjoyed on other platforms?
Berry Bury Berry, A Game About Digging a Hole, and Scritchy Scratchy are the games that I know of that are closest to the gameplay loop I'm looking for. Basically, doing a simple satisfying task to buy upgrades to make the task more efficient. Also similar to a lot of old flash games.
I like Antimatter Dimensions and Exponential Idle
Once you play antimatter dimensions you will never be able to play another idle game again. By far the best game of this genre
I know it sounds insane but it lowkey ruined this entire genre for me because every other idle game has so much less content and mechanics
I'm playing it for the 2nd or 3rd time right now, i forget which.
I loved it so much until the reality update? One that requires you to "code" everything manually. It fell into the same trap as most other idles in that I spent more time copying a guide than I did playing.
Was bloody excellent until then though. I fully agree that it ruined other idles for me.
I can see the critique, the automator was a massive jump in complexity. I think the pseudo programming language was easy enough to wrap your head around, but finding the optimal setup requires a lot of tinkering, unless you're using a guide.
Then again, what other idle game lets you script the game from within itself? I still love it
Not quite what you asked for but I quite liked Kittens Game.
The Kittens Game rocks.
Breakout 71 (available on F-Droid) is awesome and is like a souped up version of the ball bounces on paddle to break blocks game. I particularly enjoy the way it controls, when you let go it autopauses the game and unpauses when you click on the screen again. There are different upgrades that you get every round and some of them can get out of hand very quickly!
Unciv is a FOSS recreation of Civilisation V and has an Android version available on F-Droid, it looks pretty neat if you like that sort of game!
And of course, you can always install Retroarch and a frontend (e.g. ES-DE, RetroHrai!, Daijisho, that last one being closed-source while the former two are FOSS) to emulate retro games and, depending on your phone, you can emulate up to Switch! I personally enjoy playing 3DS (horizontally) and GBA (vertically) on my phone. You might also like Lemuroid, which is an emulator that is configured well OOTB but less flexible than Retroarch.
I don't think any of those are incrementals, though :)
I'm sure in the massive catalogue of retro games that can be emulated at least one is an "incremental" game.
Breakout 71 is actually really fun though, you should play it!
Yeah I installed that one, will check it out :)
The only thing I have that might fit that is Endless Sky, on a certain level. Run missions or trade to get money to improve your ship to run missions or trafe to get money to build a fleet to... You get the idea.
It's not made specifically for android but it seems to work well enough if you just play in horizontal view:
https://sh4dowsand.itch.io/terraformental
You can use the Mitch app to download the web version of the game and run it offline
It's honestly one of the best games i've ever played, just by sheer dint of how well the gameplay is designed. It's such a great way to add flavour to a text-based game!
I found Terraformental to be really fun early on, but it really seems to bog down a lot late game.
Literally just started playing "earn to die" a few hours ago. I think it fits your bill.
Collect the Cookies!
Is an "idle-ish" swiper, with heaps of upgrades.
https://f-droid.org/packages/nodomain.collectthecookies/
cifi is probably more idle than you want, but it's good for an idle incremental.
Obelisk Miner is more a clicker, but reasonably fair to play with little or no micro transactions.
Idle kingdom clicker building out your kingdom and exploring the maps was pretty fun. The grind gets pretty extreme in the later worlds though.
Super toss the turtle adds a prestige system to the classic flash game.
Dungeon Defense is like 2 bucks, and is a pretty fun one.
There is A Dark Room
Scritchy Scratchy also has a mobile port.
Melvor Idle has a mobile port, but it's more of a waiting idle game.
I played a game called "The Tower" that was a tower defense idle game, but its a mobile game that pushes microtransactions.
You can try itch.io. There ist a inofficcial launcher on f-droid called mitch. There are plenty of games from indie developers also for android
Ingress? It's more an AR game. Gets you out. Pokemon go.
Keyword: Incrementals :)