NOTICE: I’m reuploading this as I lost my first account on lemm.ee (the instance was shut down) so that I can continue updating the list through this new account. The previous version of this list is now deprecated—links to that post might no longer work.

 

Latest entries - 8 July 2025:

Other recent entries
Introduction

I recently realized there are still, to this day, some actual “hidden gems” in the Play Store. Not the fake ones everyone talks about which, in a way or another, often have a catch or aren’t very “hidden”. I mean free games with no ads or IAPs of any kind that are fun to play.

So I was thinking maybe it’s time to compile a list of them. Please suggest the ones you’ve found and enjoyed!

Edit: I'm now including free games (no piracy) from other sources beside the Play Store (which will be specified within brackets), such as GitHub or F-droid. If they're also FOSS, like all F-droid games, they'll have this green checkmark ✅️. For the games that have both F-droid and Play Store versions, the green checkmark is for the F-droid version.

I won’t try them all as I did with my premium games list, because you could simply download and try them for yourself without spending a dime. I’ll simply list them.

‼️Also, please do checkout MiniReview - Game Reviews for more free games that match the following criteria (use the “Browse” tab and select the correct filters). The same app for iOS - App Store - is here.‼️

I’ve saved this post so to keep it updated over time, for my own reference and for your benefit. So feel free to save it and check out new entries every so often.

Entry Criteria
  1. FREE
  2. NO ADS
  3. STRICTLY NO IAPs (except donation buttons, but I’ll have to check first)
  4. NO PIRACY
  5. it has to be a legit, full game you’ve played and liked. No demos, no emulators (everyone knows RetroArch anyways)
  6. no entire repositories. You can recommend them in the comments if you want, but this list is for individual games you’d like to recommend
  7. if it’s a Play Store game, it should be compatible with the latest Android version at the time of entry
  8. must include a link to the game, especially if from sources outside the Play Store. Not direct-download links, just links to the page
  9. sketchy sources won’t be considered. Play Store, GitHub, and F-droid are welcome

[If you want to recommend paid games, without ads or predatory microtransactions, here is the list for you.]

 

THE LIST

 

Legend

✅️ - FOSS (Free and Open-Source Software). Listed on top in their respective categories

☕️ - includes option to donate, with or without minimal cosmetics only

[Game title] - delisted

 

Shooter

 

Stealth

 

Platformer

 

Rhythm

 

Arcade

 

RPG

 

Roguelike dungeon crawler

 

Deck builder

 

Adventure

 

Puzzle

 

Tower defense

 

Strategy

 

Management

 

Racing

 

Simulation

 

Casual

 

Visual novel

 

Educational

 

Extras and emulators/engines

  • Fabularium ✅️ (F-droid - engine and maker for text-based adventures, interactive books)

Delisted or outdated

 

Free games with minimal ads/cosmetic IAPs

 

Happy gaming ;)

ps: please let me know if there’s any wrong information about the games included in this list (especially regarding the ones with free donations) so that I’ll fix the post, if necessary.

  • Zaleramancer@beehaw.orgEnglish
    4·
    2 days ago

    Thanks for posting this. I really enjoyed getting to play Magic again thanks to Forge, and Anuto is a really solid tower defense.

    • char_stats@discuss.tchncs.deOPEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      Thanks for the suggestion. I’m not familiar with how Codeberg works (first time I heard about it actually), but I’ll look into it as soon as I have more free time. For now, I’m OK with Lemmy posting.

      If you’re not bothered, mind explaining how it’d be more efficient or convenient? Keep in mind that I work on this EXCLUSIVELY from a phone, because for me sitting at a PC desk=work (I mean the boring one that pays the bills lol).

      • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.comEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        The other poster mentioned it, but some things that may help:

        • There is a phone-friendly web editor built in for editing Markdown
        • You’re able to see the history of changes, and a reason why they were made if one was provided
        • You can link directly to a line or header in the markdown
        • Others can make changes that you can then approve or reject
        • char_stats@discuss.tchncs.deOPEnglish
          2·
          1 day ago

          Thanks for the explanation. I see the advantages of it, I’m just not sure that’s necessarily more efficient or needed for my lists—there aren’t lots of changes usually, and I enjoy the process anyways. I might give it a try at some point though!

      • PlexSheep@infosec.pubEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        If you know GitHub, code hub is the same thing but free and open source, and working on federation support.

  • morethanevil@lemmy.fedifriends.socialEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    Clicked through the first few links, Zombotron is marked in Google Play with “contains ads”, Dock The Rocket contains AIP, same for Shattered Pixel Dungeon. :(

    • char_stats@discuss.tchncs.deOPEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      So, I checked those games:

      • Zombotron contains ads so I moved it to a bottom, hidden section for games with minimal ads/IAPs

      • Dock The Rocket added IAPs, so same as above

      • Shattered Pixel Dungeon has two entries in my list, and both match criteria. One is from the Play Store and has optional IAP for donations only—see rule #3 of criteria. The other entry is a link to the game in F-droid, so no ads or IAPs.

    • char_stats@discuss.tchncs.deOPEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      Thanks for reporting this. Some games start free without ads or IAPs, then devs add them later on. I don’t blame them, as that’s their work and people must eat, but I’ll double check the games you mentioned and remove them if they don’t match entry criteria any longer.

  • passenger@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    Fabularium (the F-droid version is bit enhanced over the original). It is an engine to play text adventure games like Anchorhead or Zork. Get the games at ifdb.

    • char_stats@discuss.tchncs.deOPEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      So, it kinda works similarly to an emulator? Plus it can create text adventures, it seems. Am I correct? I’m not familiar

      • passenger@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        I can recommend:

        Anchorhead & King of Shreds (Lovecraftian horror games)

        Superluminal Vagrant Twin (Space trading game like Privateer)

        Just only now got into interactive fiction! So much games to try…

        • char_stats@discuss.tchncs.deOPEnglish
          1·
          1 day ago

          Are these browser games, or they have a file to be loaded into Fabularium, or both?

          I found them on itch.io, but I’d appreciate some links (if any other) and some more info about the kind of games they are, like:

          • are they apps?

          • browser games?

          • roms for emulator?

          • FOSS or not?

          Sorry if I sound pedantic, but I go through many entries to verify, get links for, and classify into genre. Thanks :)

  • splendoruranium@infosec.pubEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    Is there any solution to getting DOS games to work on Android? There seems to have been an old DOSBox version but all information I can find at a glance seem to be outdated. I feel like all the old 90s adventures would be great to run on my phone. Maybe even much earlier stuff like Zork. Or is this a fool’s errand?

  • Noerknhar@feddit.orgEnglish
    9·
    3 days ago

    Thanks!

    I don’t dare to ask, but any suggestions in the idle area? That genre is infested with nasty p2w and dark patterns.

    • Zaleramancer@beehaw.orgEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      Hey, it’s a paid game (non-freemium) but you could try Orb of Creation. I think there’s a free demo on itch. One of the most fascinating incremental games I’ve played. I actually played all the way up to the current content’s end.

      Eagerly awaiting updates.

      • Noerknhar@feddit.orgEnglish
        1·
        2 days ago

        Thanks - looks interesting from what I’ve seen. Not sure where to get it tho, the version on itch just launched in browser?

        • Zaleramancer@beehaw.orgEnglish
          1·
          2 days ago

          Since I’m a little embarrassed by the mistake, what do you look for in an incremental game? I can look through the ones I’ve played for Android and see if any could work?

        • Zaleramancer@beehaw.orgEnglish
          1·
          2 days ago

          Oh, right, so I was so excited to mention it I forgot it’s not a mobile game >.<

          It’s on steam, but yeah, my bad.

    • limerod@reddthat.comMEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      I can recommend Antimatter dimensitions. It does have some ads for bonus and in-app putchases. But, you absolutely can finish the game without any of it. I have an adblocker installed so receive the ad bonus without even getting an ad.

  • Luthor@pawb.socialEnglish
    2·
    2 days ago

    Pixics seems to have a weekly subscription show up after a few puzzles. There doesn’t seem to be a way to play more without subscribing.

    • char_stats@discuss.tchncs.deOPEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      Thanks for the heads up. Since this is a user-recommendation list and I haven’t played the vast majority of these games (I merely double check on the surface, Google, Perplexity), just a question before I delist the game:

      • have you been playing the game yourself to the point you reached a pay wall?

      If yes, consider the game nuked.

      I tried playing the game a bit, but some puzzles aren’t too quick to solve so I haven’t met any paywall yet.

  • axby@lemmy.caEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    What do people think of my hobby project, “AlexGames”: (F-Droid) (Web version) (Source on Github, AGPLv3).

    It’s a collection of simple games, mostly solo or local multiplayer, though the web version supports network multiplayer by sending your friend a URL: solitaire, chess, go, reversi, checkers, minesweeper, backgammon, some word puzzle games, and some arcade type games.

    I was planning on adding AI next. And I really should polish the Android app, I’ve mostly only focused on the web version. And if people want, I could also submit to Google Play. My calculator app seems to be a lot more popular on F-Droid than Google Play, so I haven’t bothered uploading this one to Google Play yet.

    Happy to hear any feedback! I suspect that it looks too bland and unpolished for many people to be interested, or maybe it needs different kinds of games? My goal was to not need to download a bunch of ad filled free apps from the play store for when I wanted to play games with a friend on a flight or something, or just idly play something simple like solitaire.

    edit: also in the Android app, stick to the “webview” version… the native Android version is mostly an experiment, I meant to hide it behind a setting but never got around to it.

    • PlexSheep@infosec.pubEnglish
      3·
      1 day ago

      Pretty cool collection you have there. Unfortunately, the web version doesnt seem super accessible to Smartphones. Is that all a huge codebase? Has charm.

      • axby@lemmy.caEnglish
        1·
        1 day ago

        Thanks! What do you mean about smartphones, can you share what phone OS and browser you are using? It should work on Android (Firefox/Chrome) and iOS (Safari), I consider mobile to be just as important as desktop. Ah, I remember some FOSS mobile browsers have WebAssembly disabled… here is an older version compiled to JS instead of WASM, let me know if that works: https://alexbarry.net/dev/games/reversi-ai2-no-wasm-2025-01-05/

        In hindsight I should add some browser side detection of if WASM is supported, then show a warning at least, if not redirect to a JS version.

        And yes, it’s all one big code base (https://github.com/alexbarry/AlexGames), each game is pretty small though, maybe 500-1000 lines of Lua on average: https://github.com/alexbarry/AlexGames/tree/main/src/lua_scripts/games . Overall it’s quite simple, the Lua/Rust APIs just call simple browser APIs to draw shapes and graphics. The harder part was being able to re-use the same code on Android and desktop (wxWidgets). Also I’m running into some WASM/browser limitations when trying to do heavy processing for board games AI.

          • axby@lemmy.caEnglish
            1·
            13 hours ago

            Ah, thanks for the feedback. Can you give me an idea of areas that I should improve? I tried to keep it simple, you should just be able to select a game and play, but maybe there is a pain point that I don’t notice anymore now that I’ve gotten used to it.