Thanks toNetflix getting involved in gameson top of all its streaming efforts and Apple developing the A17 Pro chip, lots of games from consoles can make their way to mobile like you never could’ve imagined. Remember when mobile ports were games like Telltale properties and and Limbo? Now, there’sDeath Stranding,Resident Evil 4,Alien: Isolation,Spiritfarer, and evenHades!
Mobile gaming has truly come a long way already, and the technology used for phones and tablet devices will only advance further from here on out. Perhaps it’s not so farfetched that some of these games below will eventually join the ever-growing library of console games on mobile stores.
GTA 6 probably has no chance of being on mobile any time soon, but its predecessor has been the biggest-selling game for Rockstar no matter how many times it was re-released and remains ever popular today. Gettingthis open-world crime experiencedirect to your hands sounds like a win-win for everyone.
It seems more and more like the Yakuza series isone that keeps getting better and betterwith each frequent installment. This is especially true withInfinite Wealth, with its refreshingly new mechanics and gameplay that perhaps offer the best example of why it’s finally time to bring Like a Dragon to mobile devices.
The turn-based combat and minigames are already perfect and a mainstay of 2020’sLike a Dragon, but you now also havethe tropical area of Dondoko Island, a portion of the game structured like an island management sim that feels like it would be easy to adapt to mobile. Plus,the job system is some of the most funyou’ll have with this series yet!
8Layers Of Fear (2023)
The 2023 remake ofLayers of Fearis a fitting horror game experience for mobile and tablets.Turn off those lights, crawl into bed with your device, and put those headphones on, because you’re in for a fantastic treat of a horror experience, with jumpscares and sequences that have the masterful quality and direction of a movie.
Layers of Fear is one of those ‘walking simulator’ horror titles with little to no combat involved and very linear story progression, though this version is perfect because it’s all the games bundled into one package connected by a new Writer character. While it may be Unreal Engine 5, if the iPhone can runa graphically impressive adventure game like Death Stranding, Layers should be a breeze.
Hi-Fi Rushhas, at last, lost its Xbox exclusivity and brought its music, action, and rhythm gameplay to PS5, and it should further expand into the mobile game arena. The market isfull of rhythm games, but Hi-Fi Rush would absolutely make for some steep competition with its beloved world and protagonist Chai.
Like Layers of Fear, this would be another great game for plugging in the headphones and listening to the beat of the music as you defeat enemies, but with a much lighter and more fun tone. You’re in for an epic adventure fighting the bosses of Vandelay Technologies, from the studio behind The Evil Within, no less.
Fellow roguelike Hades has already landed on iPhone via Netflix, and why shouldn’tReturnalfollow in its footsteps? Plus, it wouldn’t be the first PS5 game to have migrated over there, as Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding has been reaching new porters on mobile since January of 2024.
The bullet-hell combat feels highly reminiscent of mobile games, and the story progression of a time loop mechanic, moving through different biomes, and solving a mystery from outer space would be the perfect sci-fi companion to your mobile library of similar games like Twelve Minutes and Vampire Survivors.
With the wait forSilksongstill keeping fans in sheer suspense, perhaps another way to reignite some interest inHollow Knightis to announce its arrival on mobile platforms. After all, it’s a 2D platformer with fantastically colorful visuals, cute characters, and Metroidvania hack-and-slash combat.
Its visual style isn’t too out of the norm for a game you might find on mobile and would actually look much better played on a smaller screen, almost as if the world of Hallownest was made for it. But you should probably prepare to tap like your life depends on it because some of those bosses aren’t kidding around.
While it might be a detective gameabout solving a murder mystery, it also remains a mystery as to howDisco Elysiumisn’t already available as a mobile game. The ingredients are all there. Point-and-click interaction with objects, reading and interacting with heavy blocks of text, TTRPG mechanics like rolls, and an art style and world that won’t be too over-the-top for phones to handle.
Disco Elysium is a remarkable achievement for the medium and video game storytelling and is incredibly worthy of gracing new audiences on Google Play or the App Store. The Director’s Cut also has some exceptional voice acting in store, particularly the narrator, pairing well with headphones.
There are already plenty of video gamesthat let you play as a cat, with a majority being mobile games, so how dare Android and iOS make the precious orange tabby fromStrayfeel left out? It’s about time for Stray to become the platforming game with the best graphics on mobile.
Besides getting to be a cat, the other cool part about Stray is its world design and premise, which envisions a dystopian cyberpunk world devoid of humans that, instead, features humanoid robot NPCs. There are also enemy mini-blobs called Zurks, who chase the poor cat, who’s already dealing with the trauma of being separated from a group.
2Dredge
Dredgewould continue its excellent success if itturned into a tabletop roleplaying gameor a mobile game version. The fishing genre is sort of a free-to-play staple in the app market, like Ace Fishing and Fishing Clash, but this one comes with theadded twist of Lovecraftian horror.
Dredge sees you traverse a cursed archipelago with monstrous sea creatures lying in wait to attack your boat when the sun sets. Your goal is to catch as much fish as you can to trade for upgrades, while also meeting tons of NPCs in visual novel style and exploring a deeper story in a way that just makes sense to complete from your phone.
A no-brainer for Larian.Baldur’s Gate 3has quickly become one of the most popular fantasy RPGs of all time, and it’s not hard to see why with all its attention to detail, characters, and endless open-world quests. It’s now on PC and every major console, so the next step would only be porting it over to mobile devices.
The drag and point-and-click CRPG style of gameplay ultimately makes it the stronger choice to come to mobile — the feeling would be easy to recreate by tapping the screen with your fingers, whether moving your characters or selecting their inventory. The combat, dice rolls, and branching dialogue options can likewise all be achieved with just your fingers.
