[vesche]

I have tried a various many different types of mobile games on Android and have only ever held onto two mobile game apps: Lichess and Wordiest. Every other gaming app I have briefly tried (before uninstalling) has had one of these dark patterns: pay to win, invasive fullscreen video ads, daily play incentives, and/or incessant grind to complete never-ending objectives. It's unfortunate that there aren't more quality gaming apps on mobile.

[svachalek]

The healthy games column on this site actually has some good recommendations. Lara Croft Go is so good, it's sad they don't make them like this anymore.

Legends of Runeterra is really, really free to play. It has daily rewards, competition, and some other stuff this site calls dark patterns, but I've got close to everything (and there's a lot) in the game for free and never really felt pressured to pay money or even to play, which satisfies my personal sense of fairness. No ads either, they make their money selling cosmetic stuff.

My go-to these days is board game apps. For the most part, they're very free of all this crap. Some great adaptations: Through the Ages, Scythe, Root, Wingspan, Concordia, Galaxy Trucker, Railroad Ink, Spirit Island. Spirit Island is at a higher price point than the rest, and tries to get you on a monthly subscription. But it's a fantastic board game.

[parentheses]

lichess is so well made