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Best free Android games you can play right now

Kill your commute and wear out your thumbs for free, with our pick of the best Android games that don’t cost a penny. From addictive action titles to deep RPGs and puzzling adventures, these top quality games are completely free to download and enjoy right now.

Not only are the following games completely free to download and play on your Android phone via the Google Play Store, you shouldn’t have to pay out for annoying in-app purchases to fully enjoy them. Although IAPs may be an option, you can generally avoid them; in these titles, they tend to be a time saver more than anything else.

As a side note, Android phone owners can also enjoy a massive selection of free games courtesy of Amazon. The Amazon Underground service has all kinds of great titles covering every genre you can think of, with no strings attached. Check out our round-up of the best Amazon Underground games for a small selection of our favourites.

Check out our other best Android games round-ups, including our pick of the best mobile adventure games and the best mobile horror games.

South Park Phone Destroyer

South Park has just returned to consoles with The Fractured But Whole, and at the same time Android owners can get stuck into a fresh new mobile game called Phone Destroyer. This real-time strategy title has you playing cards throughout frantic battles, to turn the tides in your favour and defeat your enemies. Who are all, of course, popular characters from the TV show, including Kenny, Jimmy and Butters.

You’ll need to collect a strong deck to progress through the increasingly difficult duels, gifting you better power-ups and levelling up your warriors. Although simple at heart, Phone Destroyer is great fun and boasts that sick sense of humour that South Park is well known for.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

Nintendo’s Animal Crossing first hit our shores well in the past (15 years ago to be precise), giving us one of the most relaxing and engrossing open world gaming experiences of all time. Since then the series has appeared on several consoles as well as in portable form, thanks to Nintendo’s DS and 3DS consoles.

Now anyone with a smartphone can leap into the wonderful world of Animal Crossing, as the Pocket Camp spin-off just hit the Google Play store. Pocket Camp allows you to build, in Nintendo’s own words, the ‘best campsite ever’ – and of course, invite your real-life chums around to visit.

Check out our complete Pocket Camp explainer and our tips and tricks guide to get started with this free Android title.

Stranger Things

As much as we love the Netflix show, we have to admit that we were apprehensive when we downloaded the Stranger Things Android game. After all, tie-in apps and games are often, to put it politely, a wee bit pants.

Thankfully this free-to-play title captures some of that 80s nostalgia perfectly and serves up an old school gaming experience that’s truly gripping. Direct characters from the show with just a tap here and there, to examine objects, solve puzzles and progress through a mystery based on the popular series.

Dragon’s Watch

This tactical mobile game is the debut release from UK developer The Secret Police, who boast some big-name backers including Ian Livingstone and Haywood Nakayama.

Gameplay is nice and simple, although Dragon’s Watch is also quite complex once you dive into the crafting and character fusing systems, not to mention the various tactics you can employ to beat your enemies. Each mission consists of waves of enemies, which must be bested in a turn-based fashion via the unique revolver combat mechanics. Making it to the end rewards you with precious loot, including new characters to lead into battle.

Dragon’s Watch is free to download and play, and you can grab it right now for your Android smartphone. Have a gander at our Dragon’s Watch tips and tricks guide for all you need to know on getting started with this addictive mobile RPG.

Art of Conquest

Art of Conquest is the latest MMORTS (which stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Real Time Strategy game – quite a mouthful) to hit our Android devices. You take control of one of six kingdoms in a fantasy realm and your mission is simple, yet complex: expand your borders by taking on (and taking down) your neighbours.

You can expect massive real-time battles featuring hundreds of units, which require skill and careful planning to win. In other words, lots of gameplay, and all for free.

Check out our in-depth Art of Conquest guide for all you need to know.

War of Crown

So, once there was this God of Destruction, right. Not a nice fella. In fact, he wanted to plunge the world into darkness, for reasons only known to the God of Destruction. Thankfully he was eventually (after a bit of a bloody conflict) put in his place by Arwyn the Hero king, who sacrificed himself in the process.

Unfortunately, with Arwyn gone, things got pretty rowdy and the royal crown was lost. At this point, a powerful and greedy force known only as the Empire took advantage and swept across the land, claiming vast regions for its own greedy needs.

Gamevil’s epic and complex strategy title is free to download from the Google Play store and we recommend doing so. This anime-style tactical battle game follows in the footsteps of the brilliant Fire Emblem Heroes and other turn-based mobile RPGs, allowing you to gather a team of virtuous fighters to take back control of the land. It’s deep and complex and really sucks you in, to keep you playing until the wee hours.

Have a gander at our in-depth War of Crown guide to see more on this gripping mobile strategy title.

Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble

If you don’t know anything about Yo-Kai Watch, head over to our full explainer. In a nutshell however, this is another one of those nuts Japanese franchises which involves doing battle with and harvesting a massive collection of strange beasties – similar to Pokemon (see below for more on Pokemon Go, one of the biggest Android games of recent years).

Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble doesn’t see you roaming the real world looking for creatures to catch, however. Rather it’s an addictive puzzle game, with hundreds of levels to battle through. The colourful graphics, challenging gameplay and surprising depth make for a great free Android game that’s well worth downloading.

Check out our Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble guide for more info.

Pokemon Go

It’s no surprise to learn that Pokemon Go was the most popular mobile game of 2016, both on iOS and on Android. This addictive title is an addictive (and free) translation of this classic game to the humble smartphone, giving us an actual reason to explore our real-life surroundings. Just make sure you don’t stumble in front of any cement trucks as you chase down that elusive Pikachu.

Head over to our Pokemon Go hub for our strategy guides, tips and tricks and other in-depth game features.

A Pokemon Go rival has just emerged in 2017, offering another AR-based monster collecting experience. Check out our Monster Buster coverage for all you need to know.

Cut the Rope series

Cut the Rope is the perfect example of an addictive puzzle game that kids and grown-ups can both get stuck into and lose themselves for five minutes or five hours. Fronted by the uber-cute Om Nom, the Cut the Rope games have you guiding delicious candies into the mouth of the cuddly mascot by…cutting ropes. Obviously. The near-perfect difficulty curve builds to some seriously challenging levels, while later entries in the Cut the Rope series have you meeting up with Om Noms throughout time.

Vector

A slick free-running parkour game reminiscent of Mirror’s Edge, which sees you flipping, dodging and generally chucking yourself across rooftops to escape evil government soldier types. Bags of style help to elevate this fast-paced action title above other free-runners, with strong replayability to keep you coming back for more.

The good news is, the original game proved so popular that Vector 2 was later released on the Google Play Store. It’s once again free to download and play, so go grab it now. Check out our Vector 2 review and guide for our top tips on how to get started.

New Star Soccer

Oh, god. If any Android game in this list is likely to get you sacked from your job, it’s New Star Soccer. You’ll be locking yourself in a toilet cubicle for hours on end to guide your superstar footballer to success, managing his training regime and relationships as well as getting involved in matches with set pieces and attempts on goal. Never played it? Do yourself a favour and keep away. It’s like they made crack free or something.

Asphalt series

If you like arcade racers, the free-to-play Asphalt series is basically an instant download. Don’t expect realistic physics; you can happily slam into barriers and steer like a mentalist and your car won’t flip over and die. Later installments introduced the ability to smash the hell out of rival racers, a la Burnout. Great fun.

A shout out also goes to Need For Speed: No Limits, which we recently reviewed and enjoyed a lot.

Clash of Kings

This free-to-play PvP strategy war game has some huge backing, with 800 global servers allowing tens of millions of players to beat the living crap out of one another with their virtual armies. When you’re not conquering other factions you can gather resources and build up your base, inventing bigger and better weapons for clobbering your rivals.

Check out our Clash of Kings starter’s guide for info on how to play the game.

Smash Hit

This ball-bouncing smash-up has you throwing metallic orbs at glass obstacles as you race through a gloomy, atmospheric and seemingly endless corridor. At first it seems all too easy, but the difficulty ramps up later and you’ll need a careful aim to pick up those essential power-ups.

Frozen Free Fall Icy Shot

You can always count on Disney to pump out addictive mobile games, and Frozen Free Fall Icy Shot is another winner. Blast snowballs at a bunch of coloured ice blocks to smash as many of them as possible or complete other mission objectives. Nice and simple, right? Well, this game can be absolutely fiendish in its later stages, and you’ll definitely get value for money. Especially as this app is completely free to download and play.

Read next: The best Disney games you can play right now

Hearthstone

If you’re more into card games than throwing balls about, Hearthstone is a great free-to-play title that can be enjoyed solo or online against other Android folk. Collect a powerful deck of spells and creatures and unleash them at just the right moment to defeat your opponent. Great presentation adds to a solid strategic game.

Dead Trigger series

It’s by no means perfect, but the Dead Trigger series is a well-polished FPS that pits you against legions of the undead and some pretty sizeable foes. The controls are somehow not crap, making Dead Trigger about as frustration-free as you could hope for a mobile first-person shooter. Plenty of tense moments and some seriously meaty weapons make it well worth a download.

Underworld Football Manager

Offering a unique twist on the tried-and-tested footy manager sim, Underworld Football Manager is a fun and deep simulator that sees you bullying rivals and using underhand tactics to climb the leagues. Of course, you’ll also have to prevent the competition from doing the exact same to you. Only the most ruthless and organised of underworld managers will make it to the top.

Candy Crush Saga

Do I really need to say anything about Candy Crush Saga? Surely everyone and their mum and their mum’s mum has played this colourful match-’em puzzle game? Still addictive, unless you’re absolutely sick of the sight of it by now.

Plague Inc

The Lite version of Plague Inc is free to play and as compelling as it is harrowing. You play the part of a virus and your objective is to wipe out the human race before we can develop a cure. Nice.

Plants Vs Zombies series

One of the best tower defence games of all time, Plants Vs Zombies hands you an arsenal of vegetation, from pea-spitters to coconut bouncers, and tasks you with strategically planting them to keep an army of ex-humans at bay. The fun, cartoony graphics hide a very tense and challenging game that’s now free to download and play on your Android devices.

Angry Birds series

Yeah, Angry Birds has now reached Kanye West levels of exposure, and like Mr West is just as divisive. But the original Angry Birds was still one of the best free games of its time, with simple gameplay that completely captured that ‘one more try’ spirit of truly great mobile titles.

Puzzle Quest series

I’ve lost count of how many Puzzle Quest games have hit Android phones over the years, but I’ve probably played more of these buggers than I’ve had hot dinners. The addictive combination of symbol matching and tactical combat never gets old, with fresh game mechanics in every title adding a twist to the action.

Crossy Road

This modern-yet-still-beautifully-retro update of Frogger sees you dodging cars, trains and all manner of deadly obstacles to get as far as you possibly can before snuffing it. The endless gameplay means you’ll be desperately trying to beat your mates’ high scores for some time to come. Plus there’s a Disney version where you can play as everyone’s favourite animated characters.

Pacman 256

One of the most recent games on this list is Pacman 256, perfect for anyone who fancies a quick dip in the pool of retro gaming nostalgia. It sticks closely to the same formula that make both the original Pacman and Crossy Road so addictive, with bigger mazes than ever before.

Did I miss your favourite free Android games? Why not call me names and let us all know why your game is so great in the comments below?

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