12 Mar 2022 12:56 AM +00:00 UTC

The Best Android RPG Games

Looking for the best Android RPG games? Then you must be ready to set out on your next adventure. It can be hard to properly convey what makes a game an RPG, but for the sake of this list, we're focusing on the sort that puts you in direct control of a single hero or team with levels to gain, skills to learn, and a long, forking path around a strange new world with a central villain to dispatch. The kind with grindy progression and character growth. And the best part? All of these are available on iOS as well.

Looking for more lists like this? We've rounded up a bunch of the best Android games in each major genre, including the best Android strategy games, the best Android card games, and even the best Android racing games if you'd rather just jet towards a finish line and hop into your next race. Plenty of gacha games can skirt the RPG genre, but they're typically more menu-based battle simulators than open-world adventures. We have those rounded up in our best gacha games list for that reason.

The Best Android RPG Games

Monster Hunter Stories

Looking for some unique yet simple turn-based RPG action? Monster Hunter Stories was drastically overlooked when it first released on the Nintendo 3DS. This cutesy spinoff to Capcom's flagship Monster Hunter series offered not only a great entry in the franchise for younger gamers but also a new way for older gamers to enjoy the series.

Reminiscent of 90s monster collecting games like Pokémon, Digimon, and Monster Rancher, Monster Hunter Stories has it all: a lengthy story set in a vast, explorable world, loads of creatures to catch and train, and a fun rock-paper-scissors-style turn-based battle system in which you attempt to second-guess enemies to give you and your monsties (yes, monsties) an advantage. With Monster Hunter Stories 2 now out on Nintendo Switch and PC, the mobile version is the better way to get caught up.

Oceanhorn

Skirting the genre again, Oceanhorn is as much an RPG as The Legend of Zelda. In fact, most would call it a rip-off. It's at least a homage to one of the most influential gaming series around. In Oceonhorn, there's a wide, open world to explore on both land and sea, a lengthy story governing your progression, and a bunch of puzzles blocking your path along the way.

You're on your own for most of it, just swinging a sword to take down enemies that get in your way. But for its grand scale and the sense of exploration it affords, Oceanhorn is very much deserving of your time. It was a landmark moment for mobile gaming, and with its sequel not being available on Android yet, you won't need to rush it.

Nexomon

Making another case for games that attempt to emulate those that came before, Nexomon is as close as you'll get to a proper Pokémon RPG on Android without resorting to, well, emulators. It captures a lot of what made the classic Nintendo series so big in the first place: a wide variety of interesting creatures to collect, intricate stat-building mechanics to make each one your own, and plenty of towns, caves, and forests to discover as you make your way through the story.

Many have tried to clone the Pokémon series over the decades, but Nexomon is perhaps the closest any developer has gotten to that point without just splicing their own wacky creations into a hacked version of the original games. Nexomon understands the visual charm and initial appeal of the franchise and wraps it up with a more mature storyline. There's even a sequel that takes things further.

Genshin Impact

No RPG game list would be complete without the one that took the gaming world by storm in 2020. Genshin Impact hails from the developer behind another mobile hit Honkai Impact 3rd. Using the lessons learned from that particular battle simulator, the growing Chinese team created a game nobody could have imagined would run on a mobile phone just a few short years ago.

Check out: Our Genshin Impact characters tier list to see the best of the bunch

The four-person squad you build depends entirely on your gacha luck, but progression is wholly your own as you explore its massive open world, open treasure chests, complete quests, gather materials, and make your way through its fully-voiced storyline about old gods and elemental superpowers.

It'll be a long time until this game is considered complete, but that just means it'll be something you can boot up and enjoy for years to come. And unless you just fall in love with a particular character, there's very little reason to pay anything to play it. Oh, and you can just go fishing now, too.

Last Cloudia

If you're looking for something that resembles a modern take on the retro RPG, Last Cloudia is probably the one for you. It's a service game, which means you won't see the end of the story for quite some time, but it'll certainly scratch that JRPG itch along the way.

Last Cloudia has been heralded in the gacha community for being one of the more generous and well-managed titles of the lot, ensuring players who simply want a fun and free adventure can get just that. Your party is large, the monsters are larger, and the world is full of fantasy tropes to keep you feeling like it's 1991. The battle system is far more flashy than something of that era, but with big buttons for major skills, even the most mundane battles can feel like an epic brawl.

RuneScape

RuneScape is a pivotal RPG for many. Those who grew up with it were molded by it, spoiled by its dozens of trainable skills, dangerous and meaningful quests, and expansive world. But it's an MMORPG. And that's enough to put probably 70% of you off the idea. But it shouldn't.

Whether you play the newer RuneScape or the classic Old School RuneScape, its world grows far larger when you pay a modest subscription fee. But many of us who played it as kids without a dime to our name got dozens, if not hundreds, of hours out of the free version. You can even play with paying players within those areas, with the rest of the world waiting for you whenever you decide it's worth your money.

You can train up your combat skills, chop wood to sell, enchant the magical runes players use to cast spells – it's a fully player-driven game. If combat isn't for you, supply the masses with crafted goods instead. Unlike most other RPGs, the quests actually feel like quests; they have complex and often lengthy steps that can take you to the other end of the game world, into dangerous dungeons or even remote islands. And when you die, you lose your stuff. Stakes make all the difference.

Final Fantasy III

You can play almost every mainline Final Fantasy game on mobile right now, some even in both 2D and 3D. And while Final Fantasy III may not be the most revered of the lot, coming long before the PS1 era brought Final Fantasy VI–IX for Western audiences to battle each other over, it's certainly the one that set the bar for most of the JRPG industry for decades to come – despite not being released in the West until 2006.

Final Fantasy III brought the job system to the genre. Including almost two dozen classes to choose from by the end of the story, it gives players the freedom to tweak their party to their exact liking rather than having each character be locked to their pre-determined discipline. Beyond that, it offers a sprawling world map with dungeons to explore, towns to discover, ancient relics to collect, and world-annihilating demons to take up arms against.

If you want to see where many modern RPGs get their ideas from, Final Fantasy III is the game to play. And whether you play the 3D remake or the newly remastered 2D original, you're bound to get lost in this classic adventure. As a game of a bygone era, it isn't easy.

Secret of Mana

Turn-based not your style these days? No worries – Square Enix has an extensive back catalogue of classic RPGs on mobile right now, and Secret of Mana is one of them.

Originally part of the Final Fantasy series, it's largely considered its own series these days. This SNES-era title gives you full 360-degree control of your character in which you can slash, bash, and sling spells to dispatch baddies as you waltz around its immersive 16-bit world.

If you've played recent indie hit Crosscode, you'll feel right at home with this one. Secret of Mana is a 90s classic that nostalgic adults badgered Square Enix to re-release for decades before it finally honoured the people's request. And if you end up falling in love, the rest of the Mana series is on Android as well.

Chrono Trigger

On the tail end of this best Android games list is the beloved Chrono Trigger. Another hallmark game we can thank the Final Fantasy series for, this 16-bit classic is considered one of the finest RPGs ever made.

Fully set against the tale of time, it's a turn-based title written by the father of Final Fantasy, scored by the legendary Noubou Uematsu, and featuring memorable character art from Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest fame. And it was far from the last time this tireless trio would work together. If the fixed turn-based approach of Final Fantasy III isn't up to your standard, the Active Time Battle system used in its sequel makes an appearance here, speeding up battles without taking away their strategic charm.

While most RPGs up until this point focused more on the bigger picture than the characters tasked with wrapping up the story, Chrono Trigger crafted characters people still shed a tear for to this day. It's another title that has inspired generations of game developers to emulate, teaching them how to write sympathetic stories and worlds you can truly care about.

Marvel Future Revolution

This is one we've been covering for many months now. Marvel Future Revolution sits somewhere between an MMO and a typical gacha game. It's entirely possible to play it on your own, only having strangers join a group for a quick jaunt around a minute-long dungeon for some gear each day.

Outside of that, you follow a linear path through the game's multiverse-spanning story where alternate worlds have smashed together to form a new "converged" planet. It's an interesting way of brining the Marvel universe's many different planets together, sending you across Ultron-ambushed cities, dinosaur-filled jungles, Norse-inspired Kingdoms, and more. Like a good MMO, it's all about mashing your buttons against stacks of enemies, leveling up, grabbing fresh gear, and beating up massive bosses.

It's a bit of grind at the later levels, but there's tons of easily obtainable progression to push each of its eight characters through. And unless you really want to be the best, you don't need to spend a dime. Check out our Marvel Future Revolution tier list if you want to get started. You can download it here if you're ready.

SAO Integral Factor

The Sword Art Online franchise has certainly played a part in the ongoing interest and development in the VR space. We're certainly not on the cusp of the "Full Dive" neural link gameplay its story has revolved around for over a decade now, but that hasn't stopped us from dreaming. Better yet, the games featured across its many arcs have translated pretty well to non-VR formats on both consoles and handheld devices. SAO Integral Factor isn't the newest, but it appears to be the most beloved.

Tasking players with scaling up the original story's 100 floors of MMO goodness, it still isn't considered complete many years after its release. If you, like so many others, were entranced by the idea of beating a floor boss to move the entire server up to the next new world above, SAO Integral Factor is the mobile RPG for you.

Work together with your newfound buddies to blast your way to the top, pulling off impressive combos and strategies to make it there. The only thing that would make it better? Characters being reset after a wipe. Where's the risk factor of the original series?

And that's your lot for now. The world of mobile gaming is ever-changing. Most developers aim to support phones of the past half-decade with their games. Though that leads to a lot of classics and SNES-era homages with 16-bit visuals, games like Oceanhorn and Genshin Impact prove mobile can offer immersive, globe-trotting adventures as well. There's a serious amount of choice when it comes to the best Android RPG games, and one thing's for sure: you'll never run out of games to play.

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