5 games to install on your new phone
It’s the bounty that’s finally been unlocked, and you have a Christmas chance for new loot android phone ? Cold ! Once you’ve picked it up and installed all the essential apps (i.e. social networks…), you might want to see what it has and start playing with it. And that’s where we come in, offering you this list of mobile games to start playing with your new mobile device.
Genshin Impact
It’s hard to miss the mobile phenomenon of recent years! Mocked before its release for its graphics too reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, this game was an instant success that still captivates players more than two years after its release. Nonetheless, even though many players had embarked on adventures since the beginning, Genshin Impact remains fully accessible to those who want to join in on the adventure today : it does offer a great single player campaign that will keep you in suspense for hours on end, and will allow you to step up a bit in terms of experience before entering coop mode (the game does not offer PVP mode).
The classic mobile game model, Genshin Impact is a gacha-RPG, accessible and free-to-play (even over long periods of time), but will try to push you into microtransactions to progress more slowly or get certain coveted characters…
Disney Mirrorverse
Another hit Gacha-RPG, Disney Mirrorverse is also a big hit right now which you might want to try on your new Android phone. The main argument is obviously to let you play with your favorite Disney characters, other than offering these same characters in evil versions, which you have to fight on the other side of the mirror. We noted in our review how rich this game is, despite its apparent accessibility. The Disney Mirrorverse has a lot of ‘real game’ qualitiesand not just from hypercasual hobbies like mobile games which sometimes (often) do.
It’s also a gacha, meaning you have to pay via microtransactions to get ahead and end up getting a Disney character that makes you dream or reminds you of the first movie your parents brought you to see. ! But it’s also free to play, which means you can download the game and try it out for a few days before deciding if it’s worth spending a little money. The good news is that the game has been a success, and that content – and therefore new universes and characters – will keep coming for some time to come!
Vampire Victims
We stepped outside of the mobile frame a bit to try to have great success on PC. Vampire Survivor is indeed a “small” game that was originally released on itch.io, and is now available on Android phones. No wonder, considering how the mechanism seems to be inherited from mobile game culture. Simple, addictive and neo-retro, this game puts us in control of a monster hunter who has to survive waves of enemy attacks. Finally, we wrote “wave”, but tsunami would be the most appropriate word to describe what is happening on the screen, literally covered with creatures!
Luckily, the attacks are automatic, and the game can seem like a rhythm game at times. The main mechanic is to understand which gear (which we plunder as monster waves) combines best to make us invincible hunters. As graphically smooth as it is in terms of gameplay, Vampire Survivor is one of the big surprises of 2022. Its arrival on Android phones will make you understand why! And this game is free!
Afterplace
Amid gacha, match-3, and other ports of indie games, mobile games also occasionally offer genuine original titles designed for mobile with ambitions of being a “real” video game. This is an Afterplace case.
Afterplace is a 2D all-pixel RPG in the lineage of adventure games from the 8 and 16 bit eras. The Hero wakes up without really knowing why or how on an Island – designated by its inhabitants – a place at the crossroads of different parallel worlds, sheltering mysterious phenomena and creatures. Obviously, you’ll have to try to unlock the island’s secrets in order to get off it… A fairly lighthearted scenario that allows you to focus on exploring its open world and incredibly beautiful DA, who handles pixels with flair. Afterplace has just been released on Android phones, and costs €6.49.
Lucky Luna
Another mobile game with “just a game” ambition, Lucky Luna is a platform game trying to redefine the genre on mobile. And spoiler: success. We go from platform to platform, we avoid cliffs or peaks, we avoid monsters and collect diamonds… All this with just two minimalistic controls designed for mobile: swipe left, and swipe right! And it works wonders! Add to this find a neo-retro DA all in pixels, also designed for mobile phones (we played in portrait mode), and it’s a very, very good game for you android phone !
Lucky Luna is exclusive to the Netflix catalog: therefore it is accessible for free to subscribers of the streaming service, but not to anyone else. An opportunity also to discuss the platform’s game catalog, which has grown to now include many “console quality” titles: Kentucky Route Zero, Immortal, Reigns, Oxenfree, Into the Breach …
As the years go by, the boundaries between mobile games and traditional games are getting thinner. With your new Android phone, consider taking a look at the Google Play Pass offer which, for a €5 per month subscription, offers hundreds of games and apps for free access. And don’t forget that thanks to the magic of cloud gaming, Microsoft’s Game Pass catalog can be played right on your device android phoneincluding for AAA titles (Forza Horizon 5, High on Life, Halo Infinite…).
