Google Play Pass: The best games. Highlights of Android’s All-you-Can-Eat service.
Android users may have felt left out when Apple Arcade was launched last year. Subscribers received unlimited access, without ads, to more than 100 games on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. Some of the games were exclusives. Android users can access Google Play Pass which is a similar deal with unlimited access. The monthly fee is $5, but you get the best deal if you pay upfront $30 for an entire calendar year.
Apple Arcade is the same way. There’s too much filler, which makes it difficult to find what you will enjoy. We have sorted the options and selected 10 that we think are really worth checking out, and perhaps even paying for a year’s subscription. If you don’t want to sign up for Google Play Pass, but find these titles interesting, there are other options. They can be purchased or made free via in-app purchases.
Card Thief
This isn’t a game in which you steal cards. This is a strategy-stealth game where you have to steal as much as possible from a castle, without being caught. The game is played with cards on a board. Your actions can make the difference between being able to escape a wealthy person and spending your final days in prison.
Eight Days
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne is a classic adventure book that has inspired many real-life trips around the world. This interactive fiction version by Inkle will be the closest you can get to following in the footsteps of Passepartout and Phileas Fogg. You can either try to recreate their journey or create your own route across a steampunk-filled globe. You can replay the game over and over again, and you will never experience the same story twice.
Forgotton Ann
Forgotton Anne, a game that uses an anime-style in its art, is one of the rare ones to capture the feeling of playing one. The game is a mix of puzzlers and platformers. Its setting, which features sentient objects that are lost, is quirky and charming. The controls are simplified for mobile, and while the puzzles begin very simple, it’s not a bad thing to play on a small screen when you have spare time.
The Gardens Between
Two friends are stranded in a series magical, mysterious islands that have been littered with items from their home. They must light beacons at the top of every island to find their way home. You can manipulate time to solve puzzles, not space. When you interact on an island, you are able to go back in time and use objects that would be useful. The game is designed to be played in a vertical orientation on mobile devices.
Holedown
Holedown is a puzzle game that combines Puzzle Bobble with Breakout. You will be taken to asteroids and other planetoids to play this puzzle game. The goal is to bounce balls off of various blocks to dig deeper. You have a limited number of shots and each block has a number that indicates how many times you need to hit it before it disappears. Also, there is a ghost. It’s very cute.
Lichtspeer
You’ll love Lichtspeer if you like the retro glam-rock aesthetic of Thor Ragnarok, and you enjoy throwing spears. You are a future warrior who must kill zombies, sorcerers, and giants for your god. He is always above you and will punish you harshly in pseudo-German if you miss. The graphics and music are similar to those on the front cover of Trapper Keeper. If you’re the type of kid that loved the laser background at school photo day, then this game is for you.
Mini Metro
Mini Metro is the perfect game to satisfy your desire to design and run your own metro system. You’re given a series of busy stations to connect with the train lines in various cities around the world, including London, Hong Kong, and Barcelona. You must keep the stations from becoming overcrowded. This is complicated by limitations on how many trains you can own, and how many lines you are allowed to run.
Reigns: Her Majesty
It’s hard to be a queen — or a king. Reigns: Your Majesty puts you on the throne, where you are constantly visited by supplicants who ask for more time, money and resources. Your finances and favor with peasants as well as nobility, clergy and nobles are affected by every decision you take. You might enjoy a long and fruitful reign if you keep them all in check. You can always use the guillotine if you fail to balance them. You’ll be back in the throne quickly, thanks to the quick gameplay based on card swipes and the storyline that encourages you to keep dying and being resurrected.
7 Days
The visual novel makes use of the mobile format to present all its images and dialogue. The people you are chatting with may not be your friends yet, but they could become your allies or victims. As the protagonist, who is currently dead, is offered a second chance to live only if someone else gets it. You will have to make the final decision, but you’ll only be able to do so after getting to personally know all of them.
Stardew Valley
The farming/village simulator was originally a PC game, but has really taken off on mobile devices, thanks to the refined controls. You inherit your grandfather’s farm and must cultivate the land, raise animals, expand your home, and romance villagers. The touch controls can make combat a bit frustrating, but the game is as relaxing or as stressful as you want it to be. This is the perfect game to pass time during a long journey or while you’re watching Netflix.
