I, like many of you reading this, love to play video games. It’s been a constant in my life since I was about eight or nine years old.
I’ve seen the medium change and grow as I have. Sometimes for the worse, but often for the better — and recently, it seems that gaming is becoming more and more mobile.
Devices like the Nintendo Switch 2 and Steam Deck have freed gaming from being shackled to a TV or computer desk, and brought it out into the world.
Gaming on mobile is no exception to this, and there are hundreds of great games to pick from.
But I’m a greedy man, and I want more of what I love. Specifically, I want more of the games I enjoy on consoles to come to my Android smartphone.
After all, what’s the point in having all of that processing power if I don’t actually get the chance to use it?
Here are five of the games I love that would kill on Android smartphones and tablets.
5
Crusader Kings or Europa Universalis
Real-time strategic heaven
It’s something of a surprise that many of Paradox’s games haven’t made it to mobile yet, because at face value, they’re an excellent fit for the medium.
Paradox specializes in a genre known as “grand strategy games.” It’s similar to the Total War series in that your aim is to conquer the known world, but where the series differs is in the execution of such.
While Total War games focus on real-time battles and tactics, the Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis games don’t worry themselves about such small-scale achievements.
Instead, it’s all about the big picture. Scheme, plot, and marry your way to the top, using all the political means at your disposal to reach your ends.
It’s a slow-burn game for sure, and you can often find yourself living through several generations of your family before you finally become King of Wales.
And then, there are simply other problems to worry about, like your son being incapable of the simplest tasks, or your suspicion that the vastly powerful King of England wants your land.
Sending your son away on Crusade and then using that influence the Pope on your behalf is a good potential solution, but you also have this unmarried daughter who’s not doing much right now.
It’s a massively complex and deep game, and in some ways, that makes it less likely to land on an Android device, where brevity is rather well valued.
But smartphone games are steadily becoming more than they ever have before, so there’s never been a better time to bring them to Android.
4
Audiosurf
The best music game
Audiosurf is the best game you’ve probably never heard of. Released in 2008, Audiosurf asks one simple question: What if you could ride your music?
Audiosurf takes a music track and turns it into a racetrack, complete with dips, speed changes, and twists that match up with the music. Think “Temple Run, but with your music” and you’re on the right track.
The most popular mode is mono, which involves hurtling down your racetrack and hitting the color blocks, while avoiding the gray bricks in your way.
It doesn’t sound like much, but choose the right song, and it’s hard to find a more intense and enjoyable game.
Tracks will vary wildly depending on your song of choice, and they can be anything from relatively calm to pant-wettingly insane.
Even classical songs work pretty well (just wait for that climax), and there’s always Through the Fire and the Flames if you want a classic.
Audiosurf is hands-down one of my favorite games of all time, and it’s one I always have installed.
How would it translate into a mobile game? Probably extremely well. The game’s layout and controls are extremely simple.
You have three lanes, and you move the car between them with your mouse. Replace your mouse with a finger and presto! You’ve just ported Audiosurf.
Games like Temple Run have proven it’s more than possible, and Audiosurf’s short bursts of intense activity, as well as the chance to use your own music, make it perfect for an Android smartphone.
Sure, the original requires using downloaded music tracks, but there’s no reason why there couldn’t be a partnership with Spotify or YouTube Music to allow for the porting of music streaming.
Audiosurf is begging to be put on phones, and it’s a crime it isn’t. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some classic Sonic track remixes to surf.
3
Watch Dogs
Ingress Prime, but turned up to eleven
This one’s a little bit different, because I’m not about to argue that one of the actual Watch Dogs game should be ported over to Android.
Frankly, that’s a little bit too much for me to argue, and I’m not sure it would be a particularly good fit. But what if we stayed true to what Watch Dogs represents, rather than what the game is?
Have you ever heard of Ingress Prime? It’s a real-world augmented reality video game. Players use their phones to compete for and capture “portals” placed over real-world landmarks, securing them for their team.
The team behind Ingress Prime also worked on Pokémon Go, which is where a lot of Go’s augmented reality aspects came from. So why not take that and apply it to another game?
Watch Dogs is a hacking game, and in the original game, players would use their smartphones to hack and control aspects of the world around them, and help take down enemies.
It sounds like that would translate very well to an Ingress Prime-style AR game.
Where Ingress Prime focuses on landmarks and the struggle for those, Watch Dogs could have more of a player-versus-player (PvP) focus.
While there would be areas to capture, there could be more of a focus on taking down other players (anonymous, of course) within that zone to weaken that team’s hold.
Amusingly, something like this did actually exist, but it’s long gone now. Bring it back and make us all into hackers.
2
Dungeon Keeper
The legendary series deserves a real chance to shine
For the young ‘uns out there, Dungeon Keeper is a legendary game series from the late 90s that hit on a then-revolutionary idea: Why not be the bad guy?
Dungeon Keeper casts you as just that, the big bad of a dungeon. But really, all you want to do is keep your gold safe, your creatures many and happy, and maybe do a little light raiding on the hapless humans above.
Is that really too much to ask?
Apparently so, because mean heroes keep trying to destroy your dungeon, and you must do everything in your power to attract powerful new minions, expand your lair, and set up traps to keep invaders away.
Dungeon Keeper actually did have a mobile game, released in 2014. While much of the core gameplay loop was present, fans panned the game for its massive over-reliance on microtransactions and lengthy build timers.
It wasn’t the return to dungeon keeping that fans wanted, and they let it be known.
That game shut down in 2022, but there’s still room for a triumphant return. With games like Civilization VI proving there’s room on mobile devices for paid strategy games, why not just plonk Dungeon Keeper down on there for everyone to enjoy on the move?
Give me the joy of dragging my finger to slap a (mostly) innocent imp and let me build my dungeon on the bus.
There’s time for at least one more release before VI, Todd
You don’t need Skyrim explained to you. The 14-year-old video game is one of the most purchased and played games of all time, largely rivaled only by behemoths like Minecraft.
If you’re a gamer, you’ve played it, and you’ve probably ended up buying it multiple times, thanks to it releasing on multiple console generations, and in various Special Edition and VR guises.
Does it need to be on Android? Absolutely not. Would it be hilarious if it were? Beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Skyrim re-releases have become a meme for a reason, and plonking it onto your phone would be the pinnacle of hilarity. I’d probably buy it just for a laugh.
I imagine it wouldn’t play well without a controller, and frankly, it’s best enjoyed with mods, which an Android version wouldn’t be well suited to.
But then I’d boot it up, and while gazing up at the stars, From Past to Present would kick in and… I’m home again.
For a certain generation of gamers, Skyrim will always be a second home. And it would be a very funny joke for it to be available on phones and tablets.
But every now and again, you’ll remember how Skyrim makes you feel. And you’ll reach for your tablet, boot it up, and sink into one of the most gorgeous and well-realized worlds in all of gaming.
And it’ll be worth it.
