I have a confession to make: I love playing games on my iPhone.
Is that something to be ashamed of? Perhaps. Nevertheless, I have made my way through game after game. Some stay, some go, some are played once and then kept in the hope that one day, I’ll sit down and have the patience to finish it.
However, here are five of those games that are somehow still on my phone after many months and fluctuating interest.
1. Love Nikki Dress Up Queen
Yes, the name sounds ridiculous. And the game itself is, to a certain extent, ridiculous too. I’ve heard it pointed out that the game is simple enough to not frustrate the player, but complex enough to keep him/her interested. It’s totally true! And the clothes themselves are cute enough that anyone who even halfway like anime would be into them.
Seriously, there’s tons to do in this game. A lot of mobile games have the whole micro-transactions, free-to-play/pay-to-win mentality, but this one lets you grind enough for the premium currency without making it too much of a grind, ya know what I mean?
This isn’t to say the game isn’t without its flaws. I’ve had periods where I’ve gotten bored or there hasn’t been enough new content added. Or (these are the worst) when the only events are recharge-based. Those are plainly and simply pay-to-win scenarios. When it comes to buying in-game items, I was such a cheapskate for so long, but Love Nikki was the game to break that money hoarding streak. Those $0.99 sales are just too good to pass up sometimes!
2. Klondike Adventures
Okay, so it looks like FarmVille (yikes), but this game actually has an exploration side, which makes it less like watching grass (or wheat) grow and more like, you know, exploring.
There are also many (free) ways of gaining more energy, which helps it move along at a quicker pace. The types of crafting available is also fun, although the ship cargo demands tend to be rather hefty. But maybe I’m just lazy when it comes to my imaginary production lines.
3. Merge Dragons
You know that feeling you get when you’ve organized all your digital files into nice and neat folders on your desktop and you can finally breathe a sigh of relief? No? Just me? Well, Merge Dragons is that on a fantastical scale.
What really makes this game worth it, aside from the adventure aspect and the overwhelmingly satisfying tidying up of a field of mystical plants, is the events. Once in a while, there will be a three-day event where you can have a field of tasty merging with inexhaustible dragons at your beck and call. Now, they used to have the premium currency of the game (which look like multi-sided dice if this wasn’t already DnD-adjacent enough) available for gaining during these events, but apparently the micro-transaction gods saw this as not good business sense. I get it, but it still hurts.
4. Dragalia Lost
Yes, Nintendo made an entirely new mobile game. And it’s actually good!
There’s a story you’ll actually want to read half the time, which is amazing for someone like me, but when you do what to skip that cutscene, they give you a handy-dandy scene summary. Sweet, right?
There’s fun array of characters, and some great events. Unfortunately, some of those events involve multiplayer raids, and those are always, well, a mixed bag. Still, totally worth a shot. And the music and artwork are great!
5. Onmyoji
Japanese folklore with tons to do and an autoplay feature? Yes, please!
I’m definitely a sucker for world folktales, so this game was right up my alley. While I’m not as dedicated to this game as some of the others on this list, it is still a great diversion. While some of the characters are more revealing than I’d like (yeah, I’m that person), there are some great designs and a really interesting storyline. So give it a shot! Like all of the games on this list, it’s free-to-play!
Elizabeth Hyska 