The 10 best mobile games of 2024 the best gaming apps of the yearNick GillettNick GillettPublished December 24, 2024 2:00pm Theres been controversy over Balatros age rating, even though it doesnt feature any gambling (Photo by Samuel CORUM / AFP)From converted Playdate game Shift 2, to the gentle artistry of Roia and the near perfection of Balatros on touchscreens, 2024 had some classic mobile releases.Sorting the wheat from the chaff is not an easy task when it comes to mobile games, but as artless as so much of the iOS and Android libraries can seem, once you find a good one suddenly your faith in the format is restored. And usually severely dozen hours of your life are stolen away. Below are the 10 best mobile games weve played this year, all of which are worth a download and none of which cost more than 5 well, except for our favourite mobile game of the year, which is worth the extra expenseThe Longing MobileiOS & Android, 4.99 (Application Systems Heidelberg)Set in an unknowably vast maze of underground passages, your humble little avatars job is to wait for an ancient slumbering king to awaken and end all fear and longing. In a peculiar twist that process takes exactly 400 real-time days.You can either decide to wait or look for shortcuts. Reading the literary classics included with the game speeds up time a bit, but there are many and highly varied other ways of bringing forward the kings wake up, which you can find hidden around the subterranean labyrinth of unmarked stairs and corridors.Peculiar, sometimes claustrophobic, sometimes joyous, The Longings mobile version is every bit as strange and wonderful as it was on PC and is quite unlike any other game weve played probably ever.Score: 8/10 Shift 2 its better than it looks (Scenic Route Software)Shift 2iOS and Playdate, 4.99 (Scenic Route Software)Originally released for the monochrome Playdate, Shift 2 is a match four puzzle game whose outwardly straightforward interactions bely a world of subtle complexity.Drag any row or column you need to create matches, which auto-merge into a new tile pattern. Keep merging and your score multiplier increases. Fail to make a match and its reset to nothing.Its three play modes completely change the way you address those core mechanics, in a game whose level of tactical involvement is unusually taxing for a mobile game.Score: 8/10All Of YouiOS, 3.99 (Alike Studio)A mother hen has lost her clutch of chicks, who youll need to find and rescue one by one as you progress through All Of Yous levels.Played via a series of discrete circles, like the panels in a comic book, you help navigate the hen through perils, obstacles and dangerous drops to find her chick at the end. Interactions are simple, and usually time-based, with some frames able to be paused, whilst others just run on autopilot.As in the developers previous game, Love You To Bits, the glorious art style, beautiful music, and ingeniously constructed puzzles make it a singular pleasure from start to finish, and one you should not miss.Score: 9/10RoiaiOS & Android, 2.99 (Emoak Studio)A touchscreen is the perfect way to enjoy Roia, which is a game about sculpting mountains. Starting at the top of a peak, you use a finger to carve channels to guide a waterfall as it descends towards the sea.Building up some areas and scooping out others, you help the flow of water find its way downwards, taking in odd jobs along the way. Youll assist in a canoe race and herd stray sheep as your cascade makes its way to sea level.Relaxing, ambient, but also powerfully compelling; Roia is a delightful way to spend a few hours and is perfect for a multi-touchscreen.Score: 8/10Monster Train+iOS, included with Apple Arcade subscription (Good Shepherd)Although there are now quite a few roguelike deck builders, its not an easy genre to compete in when existing entries are so brilliant, the most famous undoubtedly being Slay The Spire.Monster Train has you helping Hell against the ranged forced of Heaven, in a series of multi-level skirmishes. Defend each floor of your train, with enemies moving up a level if they manage to beat its defenders, something you can only prevent by taking advantage of card synergies and a little bit of luck.The Apple Arcade version is identical to the paid one, and thats good because in depth and balance terms there arent many games that come close to Monster Train.Score: 9/10 Unnamed Space Idle -minimalist gameplay (JDOG Corp)Unnamed Space IdleiOS & Android, Free (JDOG Corp)With minimalist graphics and almost no sound effects, Unnamed Space Idles spectacularly detailed incremental gameplay introduces itself to you slowly enough that it takes a good couple of weeks to begin to understand how its cleverly interwoven mechanisms work.And they just keep coming, as systems that seemed either too complicated or largely irrelevant suddenly take centre stage as you level up your ships weaponry, shields, research, and resource harvesting, choosing the right time to prestige baking in the improvements youve been working towards.Its interface is a tiny bit fiddly on a phone, working best on an iPad, but if youve ever enjoyed an idle game this is a genuine and long term treat.Score: 8/10Please, Touch the Artwork 2iOS & Android, Free (Thomas Waterzooi)For a totally free game without advertising or microtransactions, Please, Touch the Artwork 2 is surprisingly generous with its considerable charms.Playing as a polite skeleton in a suit, you wander through a succession of famous paintings, spotting differences, finding hidden objects, and generally enjoying a bit of casual puzzling as you explore.Theres a delightful homemade quality to its animation, and its unusual and anarchic approach to some of the worlds best known works of art is a joy all of its own.Score: 8/10Poly Bridge 3iOS & Android, 2.99 (Dry Cactus)Theres something incredibly satisfying about the process of building bridges. In Poly Bridge 3 that requires carrying a set of vehicles across a gap, while leaving room for everything else that happens in the level, whether thats sailing ships passing underneath or planes flying through the middle.Using its beautifully designed interface to draw in and edit your structure, and its supports, you can then press play to test it in action. Getting cars and lorries across a chasm is just the start there are also global leaderboards to see who can engineer the solution that uses the least possible building materials.Its mind-blowing seeing the inspiringly bizarre constructions other players have cooked up, offering new ideas and encouragement for your own bridges, and the whole things works brilliantly on mobile.Score: 9/10Strange HorticultureiOS & Android, 4.99 (Iceberg Interactive)Strange Horticulture has you running an occult florist, your customers coming to you with the sort of problems you wouldnt normally turn to flowers or herbs to sort out.Using your steadily expanding reference work, the Strange Book of Plants, youll need to identify which blooms you need for each job, before going about finding them, cross-referencing letters, clues from customer briefs and your map for exploration.With no dexterity-based components, this is purely a game of thoughtful discovery and inference, its lovely art style and tactile gameplay making it an ideal game to play on your phone.Score: 8/10BalatroiOS & Android, 9.99 and included with Apple Arcade subscription (Playstack)More TrendingOur non-controversial mobile game of the year is Balatro, the poker-based deck builder that relies on increasingly outlandish combinations of multipliers to overcome its later rounds as you make tactical straights and royal flushes.Its ambient music and faux 16-bit good looks translate perfectly to mobile, as do its interactions, which feel perfectly at home on a touchscreen.Brilliantly conceived and utterly involving, Balatros mobile incarnation is the sort of game you can easily sink hundreds of hours into.Score: 9/10Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralExclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. 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