10 hidden-gem Android games worth trying

– There are literally millions of mobile games. There are so many that no one can keep track of all of them. That means there are some excellent games that simply don’t get the attention they deserve. The premise of this article is to highlight some examples and show you some games you may not know about. Let’s check out some hidden-gem Android games that should be more popular than they are.

We do intend to do more than one of these, so this is by no means a definitive list. Feel free to add some in the comments too if you would like.

Hidden-gem Android games

Blindscape

Price: Free

Blindscape is something a little bit different. It has no graphics at all. Players navigate through the game using only sound. It’s about a person living in an authoritarian society and he wants to end his life instead of living in it. It’s a very short game at only about ten minutes and you’ll spend most of it hunting around a room blind while trying to find things. It’s free with no in-app purchases, ads, achievements, or anything — because you can’t see anything, so the developer gives you nothing to see.

Kittens Game

Price: $2.99

Kittens Game is a simulation game where you build and maintain a town. The town is inhabited almost entirely by kittens. As you can see from the screenshots, the game omits graphics and instead uses a text-based UI for you to manage your little town. The game works offline, has a couple of dozen buildings to build and various resources to harvest. It can be a bit slow, but it’s definitely a neat concept.

Levelhead

Price: $6.99

Levelhead is one of the best games that hardly anybody plays on mobile. It’s a platformer with clean graphics and effective controls. You play the role of a robot that delivers packages. Each level is a training exercise to prepare you for totally real-world scenarios. The game has 90 levels where you hone your skills, but the real challenge comes from player-created levels.

The level creator is quite good, and you can find some pretty difficult levels made by other players. It also syncs cross-platform with other versions of the game. It’s seriously good and as close to a Mario Maker experience as you can get on mobile at the time of writing. It’s also free with Google Play Pass if you have it.

LYNE

Price: $2.99

LYNE is a fairly simple puzzle game with some simple mechanics. Each level has you connecting similar shapes together. You also get some octagonal pieces that let you travel through it multiple times to connect shapes together. That’s basically the whole game, so people looking for things to evolve massively over the course of the gameplay may get a little disappointed. However, we think it’s a good, cheap puzzle game that works well as a time killer. It’s also free on Google Play Pass.

Hidden Folks

Price: $4.99

Hidden Folks is kind of like a mobile version of Where’s Waldo. The game shows you a list of targets and you must uncover them to complete the stage. It features 32 different areas, over 300 targets to find, unique interactions for when you’re right or wrong, and it has three color modes. You can also play the game in 22 languages and the mouth-made sound effects remind me of Doug, the cartoon show. This one is also cheap or free with Google Play Pass.

Pigeon: A Love Story

Price: $0.99

Pigeon: A Love Story is another weird game. You fly around as a pigeon to find your true love. The challenge is that there are over one million pigeons in the game. That means you can fly around for quite a long time without finding the one for you. It requires data to play, but that’s because it livestreams a map of London underneath you as you fly. It’s meant to be a calming experience, so it’s definitely not for everybody.

Reventure

Price: $2.99

Reventure is a 2D platformer with some pretty absurd features. The game features over 100 different endings, a large game world for players to explore, and a ton of items to collect. The graphics are nothing to write home about, but it helps the game feel the way it’s supposed to feel. There are also tons of secret tunnels for you to find. It’s a fairly difficult game even after you get used to it. Reventure is free on Google Play Games, if you have it.

The Witch Spring series

Price: $0.99-$5.49 each

The Witch Spring series is small, but it has a fairly dedicated following. It’s an RPG-style game where players beat monsters, train, and occasionally craft. Each game has slightly different mechanics from the others, but they feel similar. Most players recommend playing the four games in 2-1-3-4 order since the first two games follow the same story, but the second title is easier for beginners. There are some issues with English translations, but otherwise, the games are surprisingly good.

Wordiest

Price: Free / $1.99

Wordiest is a simple word game that looks a lot like other simple word games on Google Play. The difference is that this one doesn’t weigh you down with in-app purchases. You can just play the puzzles as you want. The game challenges you to assemble two words out of a set of 14 letters. You get a score based on your answers. You can then see how those scores compare to all the other players who tried that level. It’s easy, quick, and fun for people who like brain teasers.

VVVVVV

Price: $2.49

VVVVVV is a simple platformer with some decent mechanics. Players can jump and run along both the ground and the ceiling. That mechanic is extremely useful for avoiding obstacles. It’s not an easy game to play. The developer also did Super Hexagon, one of the hardest mobile games of its era. In fact, we could easily put both games on this list. In any case, those who like a challenge should enjoy this one.

Once again, we plan on making more of these types of articles. Tell us your favorite hidden-gem games in the comments and maybe they’ll appear in the next list. You can also check out our latest Android app and game lists.