15 Incredible Indie Games on Android You've Probably Never Played

# Tired of the same old mobile games? Dive into our curated list of 15 incredible indie games on Android you’ve probably never played. Discover hidden gems, from deep RPGs to mind-bending puzzlers that showcase true developer passion.

Geminvo – Let’s be real. You’ve scrolled through the Google Play Store, past the same handful of blockbusters and ad-riddled time-wasters, and felt that familiar pang of boredom. You’re looking for something different. Something with heart. Something made not by a massive corporation, but by a small, passionate team or even a single person pouring their soul into a project.

That’s the magic of indie gaming on Android. Hidden beneath the surface is a treasure trove of creativity, innovation, and genuinely unforgettable experiences. After spending countless hours digging through forums like r/AndroidGaming, playing the games myself, and speaking with the creators, I’ve curated a list of 15 true hidden gems. These aren’t just good games; they’re labors of love that deserve a spot on your phone.

This isn’t just a list of recommendations. It’s an honest look at what makes each game special, from its brilliant highs to its occasional rough edges. We’ll explore the unique gameplay, the captivating worlds, and the inspiring stories of the developers who made them. Get ready to discover your next favorite game.

Table of Contents

1. Afterplace

A charmingly strange and genuinely open world adventure that feels like The Legend of Zelda and Undertale had a baby, built from the ground up for mobile. Afterplace drops you into its pixelated world with a refreshing lack of direction. There are no waypoints, no quest markers, and no map to guide you. This design choice, which might sound daunting, is actually its greatest strength.

It forces you to engage with the world on its own terms, making every discovery feel like a personal triumph. The controls are a masterclass in mobile design; instead of clunky virtual buttons, you simply touch where you want to go or what you want to attack. It’s fluid, intuitive, and perfectly suited for one-handed play while waiting in line. The world itself is a delightful mix of cozy and creepy, populated by endearingly bizarre characters and witty dialogue that often breaks the fourth wall.

Why You’ll Love It:

True Exploration: The lack of hand-holding fosters a sense of childlike wonder and makes every secret path you uncover feel genuinely rewarding.
Perfect Mobile Controls: This isn’t a lazy port. The game was designed specifically for touchscreens, and it shows in its seamless and responsive control scheme.
Hilarious & Heartfelt Writing: The characters are memorable, and the dialogue is consistently sharp, funny, and surprisingly deep.

Points to Consider:

Can Feel Aimless: Players who prefer a more structured experience with clear objectives might find the open-ended nature a bit frustrating at times.
Short but Sweet: While packed with secrets, some players find the main story can be completed relatively quickly.

This incredible game is the passion project of solo developer Evan Kice, who quit his job as a software engineer to work on it full-time for four years. In an interview with Apple after winning a Design Award, Kice explained his core philosophy was to create a “full-fledged indie adventure game that fits in your pocket,” a goal he has spectacularly achieved.

2. Caves of Lore

An astonishingly deep, old-school computer role-playing game (CRPG) with a unique skill system that will happily devour dozens of hours of your life. Don’t let the retro pixel art fool you; Caves of Lore is one of the most mechanically complex RPGs on Android. It features tactical, party-based, turn-based combat on a grid system. Its most brilliant feature is the “use-based” progression system.

Want to get better with swords? Use a sword. Want to master a fire spell? Cast it repeatedly. This extends to a unique spell memorization mechanic where you must equip spellbooks to access their spells, but with enough use, your characters memorize them permanently, encouraging experimentation. The world feels alive, with NPCs following daily routines and a dynamic three-moon system that affects everything from puzzles to monster spawns.

Why You’ll Love It:

Unbelievable Depth: Packed with features like crafting, enchanting, a monster lore system, and complex character building that rival much larger titles.
Rewarding Progression: The organic, use-based skill system feels incredibly satisfying and logical.
Excellent Exploration: The world is dense with secrets, many of which are cleverly tied to its unique and mysterious lunar system.

Points to Consider:

UI Isn’t Mobile-First: The game was clearly designed with larger screens in mind, and the text and icons can be frustratingly tiny on smaller phones.
Confusing Mechanics: The crucial moon system is poorly explained in-game, which can lead to moments of frustrating trial and error.
High Encounter Rate: Like many classic RPGs it emulates, some players may find the frequency of combat to be a bit repetitive.

This is another masterpiece born from the dedication of a single person. Mike Robins, a self-taught solo developer, built this passion project over six years while holding down a full-time job and raising a family. He learned coding and pixel art specifically to create this game, a testament to the indie spirit that is truly inspirational.

3. The Darkside Detective

A hilarious and charming point-and-click adventure that perfectly blends the spooky vibes of The X-Files with the sharp, witty humor of a classic LucasArts game. You play as Detective Francis McQueen, the sole investigator in the criminally underfunded Darkside Division, tasked with solving the paranormal, the bizarre, and the downright silly cases plaguing Twin Lakes City. Accompanied by the lovably dimwitted Officer Dooley, you’ll tackle a series of “bite-sized” micro-cases that are heavy on laughs and light on frustration.

The humor is the star of the show, packed with clever puns, pop-culture references, and genuinely funny banter between the two leads. The puzzles are logical and well-designed, avoiding the obscure solutions that can sometimes plague the genre, making it a perfect entry point for newcomers.

Why You’ll Love It:

Genuinely Funny: The writing is consistently top-notch. This isn’t just a game with a few jokes; it’s a comedy that will have you chuckling from start to finish.
Charming Pixel Art: The “chunky pixel” aesthetic is wonderfully executed, giving every character and scene a distinct and memorable personality.
Killer Soundtrack: The music, composed by Ben Prunty (of FTL and Into the Breach fame), is an absolute standout, perfectly capturing the game’s spooky-silly vibe.

Points to Consider:

It’s Short: A common sentiment among players is that they just wish there were more of it. The cases, while delightful, can be completed relatively quickly.
Limited Replayability: Once you’ve solved a case and heard all the jokes, there’s little incentive to go back, aside from grabbing a few missed achievements.

The Darkside Detective was created by Spooky Doorway, a small indie studio from Ireland. Their development story is as unique as their game; the core programming and writing duo, Treasa and Dave McCabe, actually traveled the world together while making it.

4. Gorogoa

A breathtakingly original and artistic puzzle game where you manipulate beautifully hand-drawn panels, layering and connecting them to solve mind-bending perspective-based riddles. Gorogoa is less a game and more an interactive work of art. The gameplay is wholly unique, presented on a two-by-two grid of lavishly illustrated panels.

You can zoom into a panel to find a new scene within it, or drag one panel on top of another to create a connection—aligning a doorway in one panel with a path in another, for instance, allows a character to walk between them. The story is told entirely without words, following a boy’s lifelong quest to encounter a divine, dragon-like creature. This ambiguity allows for personal interpretation, creating an experience that is both mysterious and deeply emotional.

Why You’ll Love It:

Truly Innovative Gameplay: There is simply nothing else like it on the Play Store. The mechanics are original, intuitive, and consistently surprising.
Stunning Hand-Drawn Art: Every single frame is a meticulously detailed illustration, making the entire experience feel like you’re playing inside a living painting.
Mind-Blowing “Eureka” Moments: When you finally figure out how two seemingly unrelated panels connect, the feeling of satisfaction is immense. The solutions are logical yet wonderfully clever.

Points to Consider:

Very Short: The entire experience can be completed in just a couple of hours, which might feel brief for the premium price tag.
Ambiguous Story: The wordless narrative is a core part of its artistic identity, but some players may find it more confusing than intriguing.

This is a true labor of love from solo developer Jason Roberts, who spent nearly six years hand-drawing, animating, and designing every aspect of the game himself. His journey, which started as a failed attempt at an interactive graphic novel, showcases an incredible dedication to a singular artistic vision.

5. Hyper Light Drifter

A brutally challenging and stylish action RPG that combines the exploration of 16-bit classics with fast, modern, and incredibly fluid combat, all set in a beautiful, ruined sci-fi world. Hyper Light Drifter tells its story visually, with no dialogue or text, immersing you in a mysterious world steeped in forgotten technology and haunted by a strange illness plaguing your character. The gameplay is a masterful blend of exploration and combat.

You’ll dash, slash, and shoot your way through vicious enemies that demand precision and quick reflexes. The combat is difficult but fair; every move, from your sword combo to your dash, feels tight and responsive. As you explore the branching paths and secret areas, you’ll collect currency to upgrade your weapons and skills, gradually transforming from a fragile drifter into a formidable warrior.

Why You’ll Love It:

Deep and Satisfying Combat: The combat system is easy to learn but difficult to master, providing a rewarding challenge that forces you to perfect your skills.
Breathtaking Art and Atmosphere: The pixel art is stunning, and the world design, inspired by works like Studio Ghibli’s Nausicaä, is evocative and full of mystery.
Exceptional Soundtrack: The score by Disasterpeace is iconic, perfectly complementing the game’s blend of serene exploration and frantic action.

Points to Consider:

Mobile Controls are a Mixed Bag: While playable with touch controls, the game’s demanding combat is best experienced with a physical controller. Many players find the virtual buttons overwhelming and lacking in responsiveness.
Performance Issues: Some users have reported inconsistent frame rates on certain mobile devices, which can make the fast-paced action feel sluggish.
High Difficulty: This is not a casual game. The combat is punishing and will test your patience.

Developed by Heart Machine, an indie studio founded by Alx Preston. The game is deeply personal, with its central theme of a debilitating illness inspired by Preston’s own lifelong struggle with congenital heart disease. The mobile port was handled by Abylight Studios.

6. Mindustry

A brilliantly complex and completely free sandbox game that fuses tower defense with intricate factory-building and resource management. Mindustry is a game of logistics. You start on a barren planet with a single core to defend and must quickly mine resources like copper and lead.

The challenge isn’t just building turrets; it’s designing and maintaining the elaborate supply chains of conveyor belts needed to feed ammo into those turrets. The game quickly escalates from simple belts to complex factories producing advanced materials, liquids, and even autonomous units you can command in RTS-style assaults on enemy bases. With two full planet campaigns, a map editor, and robust multiplayer support, the amount of content is staggering.

Why You’ll Love It:

Incredible Depth: The sheer number of blocks, resources, units, and technologies to master provides hundreds of hours of strategic gameplay.
Engaging Hybrid Gameplay: The seamless blend of factory automation, tower defense, and real-time strategy is unique and highly addictive.
Completely Free: This is the game’s most unbelievable feature. It is 100% free, with no ads and no in-app purchases. It’s a passion project of the highest caliber.

Points to Consider:

Steep Learning Curve: The game can be intimidating for newcomers. The tutorial covers the basics, but mastering the complex production chains takes time and effort.
Finicky Controls on Small Screens: While playable, managing intricate conveyor belt layouts can be tricky on smaller phone screens. A tablet is recommended for the best experience.

Mindustry is primarily developed by Anuken (Anton Kramskoi), who started the project as part of a game jam in 2017. The game’s continued development and massive scope, all while remaining completely free, is a testament to the developer’s dedication to the community.

7. Paign

A true old-school, open world RPG for Android that proudly wears its inspiration from the classic PC series Gothic on its sleeve. In a mobile market saturated with simplified RPGs, Paign is a breath of fresh, hardcore air. It’s a story-driven, open world game with a focus on exploration, conversation, and challenging, skill-based combat.

You’ll join one of two factions, learn professions like alchemy and forging, and spend learning points to improve your skills in combat styles like one-handed swords or archery. The world is unforgiving; you will die a lot in the beginning, but you can save anytime. The low-poly graphics have a distinct charm, and the game offers a genuine sense of adventure without hand-holding.

Why You’ll Love It:

A True Gothic-like on Mobile: It successfully captures the feel of classic European RPGs, offering a deep, challenging experience rarely seen on Android.
Rewarding Exploration: The world is full of hidden secrets and valuable loot for those willing to venture off the beaten path.
Premium Experience: Buy it once and you own it. There are no ads, no energy systems, and no pay-to-win mechanics.

Points to Consider:

Unforgiving Difficulty: The game is tough, especially early on. Players who are not used to this style of RPG may find the combat and progression frustrating.
Rough Around the Edges: As an indie title, some users report occasional bugs and a need for more quality-of-life features in the UI, like better inventory management.
Niche Appeal: Its deep similarities to Gothic might confuse players unfamiliar with that series, as some mechanics like “Learning Points” are not fully explained.

Paign and its sequel are the work of solo indie developer Just Stezi, who is very active in the community and responsive to feedback. This direct line to the creator is a hallmark of the indie scene and has helped shape the game’s ongoing development.

8. Triglav

A retro hack-and-slash dungeon crawler about ascending a 50-story tower, featuring deep itemization and a unique, language-free storytelling approach. Triglav is a throwback to classic PC RPGs like Diablo 2. You choose one of three melee-focused classes (SwordMaster, AxeMaster, DaggerMaster) and begin your climb up a massive tower.

The gameplay loop is addictive: clear floors, defeat monsters, solve puzzles, find the key, and ascend to the next level. While the combat is a straightforward hack-and-slash affair, the game’s depth comes from its incredible item variety—over 3,000 items allow for deep character customization and build diversity. One of its most unique features is that the entire story and all quests are told through symbols and illustrations, making it universally accessible without language barriers.

Why You’ll Love It:

Deep Loot System: The sheer number of items allows you to create highly specialized builds, from a tanky “wall” to a speedy “hit-and-run” character.
Addictive Gameplay Loop: The floor-by-floor progression is perfect for both short bursts and long play sessions.
Truly Free-to-Play: The game can be completed without spending any money, and it contains no forced ads. Optional purchases are for conveniences like extra character slots.

Points to Consider:

Repetitive Gameplay: The core loop of clearing floors can become monotonous for some players over the long climb.
Limited Inventory: A core mechanic is the very limited inventory space, which forces tough decisions but can also feel restrictive.
Old-School Vibe: The gameplay can feel dated, and the lack of clear stat indicators makes it hard to min-max builds effectively.

Triglav was created by SmokymonkeyS, a two-person Japanese team consisting of a programmer and a graphic designer. The game originally launched as a web game in 2002 and has been refined for mobile, showcasing a long-term dedication to their unique project.

9. Underworld Office

A captivating and emotional chat-style visual novel where you, a shy kid named Eugene, accidentally stumble into the world of ghosts and must work with them to repay a life debt.Underworld Office presents its narrative in a unique and modern format: as a series of text message conversations.

You play as Eugene, a relatable and endearing protagonist, who gets pulled into a mysterious office that manages ghosts. The story unfolds through your interactions with a cast of charming, quirky, and sometimes stern spectral co-workers. You make choices in the dialogue that shape the story and lead to one of seven different endings, uncovering a tale that is surprisingly touching and deals with heavy themes like loss, regret, and mortality with a delicate touch.

Why You’ll Love It:

Incredible Storytelling: The characters are well-written and the plot is deeply emotional and compelling. Many players report being moved to tears.
Unique Presentation: The chat-style format is engaging and perfectly suited for mobile, making the story feel personal and immediate.
Beautiful Art and Animation: The game is complemented by about 40 short animations and 150 beautiful illustrations that bring the ghostly world to life.

Points to Consider:

Slow Pace: Some reviews criticize the story for unfolding too slowly, with conversations that can feel padded or drawn out.
Ad-Supported Model: In the free version, making choices costs “tickets,” which are primarily earned by watching ads. While not overly aggressive, it can break the immersion. A paid version is available to remove this system.
Translation Issues: The game was translated from Korean, and some players note that the phrasing can occasionally be awkward or unnatural.

This emotional adventure was created by Buff Studio Co.,Ltd., a Korean developer specializing in story-driven games and visual novels. They have created a sequel, Charlie in Underworld!, for fans who want to explore more of this unique universe.

10. Endless Wander

A polished and satisfying pixel art action roguelike with a unique combat system that blends weapon skills and magical runes into a fluid combo chain. Endless Wander follows the hero Novu on a quest to save his sister from a mysterious portal.

The gameplay loop is classic roguelike: enter the portal, clear rooms of enemies, and choose your path forward to face a challenging boss. What sets it apart is its combat. As you clear rooms, you collect either a new weapon skill or a rune. You can equip three skills at a time, each with a rune modifier, and they cycle automatically as you attack. This system encourages experimentation to find powerful synergies. The combat is fast-paced and requires skillful dashing to avoid distinct enemy attack patterns. Between runs, you return to a home base to permanently upgrade your character and gear, ensuring a constant sense of progression.

Why You’ll Love It:

Engaging Combat System: The skill and rune combination mechanic is creative and makes each run feel different and strategic.
Highly Polished: From the beautiful pixel art to the tight controls and smooth animations, the game feels incredibly well-made for an indie title.
Fair Monetization: The game is free-to-play but has no forced ads. Ads are optional for extra rewards, and while there are IAPs for characters and a battle pass, they don’t feel necessary to enjoy the game.

Points to Consider:

Characters are Paywalled: While the base character is great, the two additional character classes are locked behind a relatively expensive paywall ($6.99 each).
Bugs and Balance Issues: Some players report bugs, such as character models not loading correctly, and feel that some enemy attacks are unfair or have overly large hitboxes.
Limited Content (For Now): The game is still in active development, and some players feel it needs more chapters and endgame content to justify long-term investment.

Endless Wander is the first game from First Pick Studios, a small indie team based in Paris, France. Their goal was to bring the soul of a PC indie roguelike to mobile with a fresh, mobile-first experience.

11. Letterlike

A clever and addictive roguelike word game that has been aptly described as “Scrabble meets Balatro.” Letterlike takes the familiar concept of forming words from a jumble of letters and injects it with a deep, strategic roguelike structure. Each run consists of multiple rounds where you must reach a target score by making words from a set of random letter tiles. Between rounds, you purchase power-ups and buffs that create powerful synergies—perhaps making all vowels score triple, or adding a multiplier for words containing the letter ‘X’. Every few rounds, you face a “boss” that introduces a unique penalty, like “no points for the letter E,” forcing you to adapt your strategy on the fly.

Why You’ll Love It:

Deeply Strategic: This isn’t just a word-finding game; it’s a build-crafting game where you create powerful engines to generate massive scores.
Endless Replayability: With procedurally generated runs, random items, and challenging bosses, no two games are ever the same.
Premium Experience: It’s a one-time purchase with no ads or IAPs, and the developer has promised all future content updates will be free.

Points to Consider:

Minimalist Presentation: Some reviews note that the game’s presentation is a bit sparse and lacks the “game juice” (satisfying visual and audio feedback) that makes games like Balatro so compulsive.
Readability Issues: The text on some power-up descriptions can be very small, and the lack of visual differentiation between stages can make it hard to parse what’s happening at a glance.
Luck Dependent: Like many roguelikes, a bad draw of letters can sometimes end a run prematurely, which can feel frustrating.

Letterlike is the work of solo developer Ron Lee (under the studio name Puzzlelike). The game has been a huge indie success on mobile, holding top spots in the paid word game charts on both the App Store and Google Play.

12. Superliminal

A mind-bending, first-person puzzle game where perception is reality, allowing you to solve impossible puzzles by manipulating the size and scale of objects through forced perspective. Imagine picking up a small chess piece, holding it up close to a distant wall so it looks huge, and then dropping it—only for it to actually become a giant, house-sized chess piece. That’s the core mechanic of Superliminal. You’re trapped in a dream therapy program gone wrong, and you must navigate surreal environments by thinking outside the box. The game constantly plays with your expectations, introducing new twists on its perspective-based puzzles that are consistently clever and surprising. The experience is often compared to

Portal for its first-person puzzle-solving and witty, disembodied narrator guiding you through the experiment.

Why You’ll Love It:

Incredibly Innovative Mechanic: The forced perspective gameplay is unlike anything else and leads to some truly jaw-dropping moments.
Clever Puzzle Design: The game does a fantastic job of exploring its central idea without getting repetitive, always finding new ways to challenge your perception.
Surprisingly Poignant Story: What starts as a series of clever puzzles culminates in a beautiful and inspiring message about changing your perspective on life’s problems.

Points to Consider:

Short Playtime: The game is a memorable experience, but it’s also a short one, clocking in at only a few hours for a single playthrough.
Puzzles Can Be Too Easy: Some players feel the game doesn’t fully explore the depth of its mechanics, with many puzzles being relatively straightforward.
Becomes a “Walking Simulator” at Times: The latter half of the game focuses more on surreal experiences and narrative than complex puzzle-solving, which disappointed some players.

Superliminal was developed by Pillow Castle, an indie studio founded by Albert Shih. The mobile port was handled by Noodlecake Studios, a publisher well-known for bringing quality indie titles to Android.

13. Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise

A stylish and charming escape-room-style puzzle adventure with a groovy 1960s spy theme. You play as Agent A, tasked with infiltrating the secret lair of the villainous spy, Ruby La Rouge. The game is a classic point-and-click adventure where you explore rooms, find hidden objects, and solve a series of clever logic-based puzzles to progress. The world is filled with retro-futuristic gadgets and a sleek, minimalist art style inspired by 60s design. The puzzles are well-designed, striking a great balance between being challenging enough to make you think but not so obscure that you need a guide. Agent A’s witty internal monologue adds a layer of humor and charm to the experience.

Why You’ll Love It:

Excellent Puzzle Design: The puzzles are logical, varied, and consistently satisfying to solve.
Fantastic Art Style and Atmosphere: The 60s spy theme is executed perfectly, with a clean, stylish aesthetic and a jazzy soundtrack.
Charming and Funny: The protagonist’s witty commentary and the lighthearted tone make it a joy to play.

Points to Consider:

Lots of Backtracking: Some puzzles require you to travel back and forth between multiple rooms, which can feel a bit tedious at times.
Thin Story: While charming, the narrative is fairly light and serves mostly as a framework for the puzzles, ending on a cliffhanger.
No Hint System: If you do get stuck, the game offers no in-game hints, which can lead to frustration on the tougher puzzles.

The game was created by Yak & Co, an Australian indie studio led by Mark White and Jason Rawlings. Agent A has been a critical success, winning numerous awards, including the AGDA Game of the Year in 2016.

14. Rymdkapsel

A meditative and minimalist real-time strategy game that strips the genre down to its essentials: base-building, resource management, and defense.In Rymdkapsel (Swedish for “space capsule”), you build a space station using tetromino-shaped rooms, evoking a feeling of “Tetris meets StarCraft“. Your goal is to command your tiny minions to build rooms, generate resources, and defend your station from waves of attackers that arrive on a timer.

The gameplay is a tense balancing act. Do you expand your base to research mysterious monoliths that provide powerful upgrades, or do you focus on building defensive corridors to survive the next onslaught? The game’s beauty lies in its simplicity; with a clean, abstract art style and a soothing ambient soundtrack, it’s a uniquely relaxing yet challenging strategy experience.

Why You’ll Love It:

Elegant and Minimalist Design: The game is a masterclass in stripping a genre down to its core, creating an experience that is both beautiful and easy to understand.
Tense and Addictive Gameplay Loop: The constant pressure of the attack timer creates an engaging rhythm of expansion and defense that is hard to put down.
Unique Meditative Feel: Unlike most RTS games, Rymdkapsel is calming and almost zen-like, making it a perfect game to get lost in.

Points to Consider:

Limited Control: You can assign minions to tasks (e.g., construction, defense), but you can’t control them directly. Their sometimes-baffling AI can be a source of frustration when they make inefficient choices.
Very Short: The game has only three main objectives, and it’s possible to complete them all in a single, hour-long session, leaving little replay value.
Better on a Tablet: The minimalist interface can feel cramped on a small phone screen, making it a better experience on a larger device.

Rymdkapsel was created by indie developer Martin Jonasson of Grapefrukt Games. It was his first full-time indie game, born from a desire to focus on the enjoyable base-building aspects of RTS games without the stress of directly controlling attacks.

15. 80 Days

A brilliantly written interactive novel that reimagines Jules Verne’s classic journey in a vibrant steampunk world, where your choices truly shape the adventure. You play as Passepartout, the loyal valet to Phileas Fogg, and it is your job to manage finances, pack suitcases, and, most importantly, chart your own course around a 3D globe.

This is a game about the journey, not the destination. Every city and every route between them is a self-contained story, filled with thousands of branching narrative choices. Will you bribe a train conductor for an early departure, join a mutiny aboard an airship, or get arrested by corrupt lawmen? The world is a fantastic steampunk re-imagining of 1872, with mechanical camels, walking cities, and a rich, alternative history. The writing is superb, painting a vivid picture of a world on the brink of change.

Why You’ll Love It:

Masterful Writing and World-Building: The half-million-word script creates an incredibly rich and imaginative world that feels alive with possibilities.
Meaningful Choices: Your decisions have real consequences, opening and closing routes and storylines, making each playthrough unique.
Infinite Replayability: With over 150 cities to visit and countless branching paths, it’s impossible to see everything in one trip, making it highly alluring to start a new journey immediately.

Points to Consider:

It’s a Reading Game: This is an interactive novel, first and foremost. Players looking for action-oriented gameplay will not find it here.
Map Can Be Tricky: The stylized globe can sometimes make it difficult to get your bearings and distinguish between land and sea.
Resource Management Can Be Stressful: Balancing Fogg’s health, your finances, and the ever-ticking clock adds a layer of pressure that can be intense.

80 Days was developed by Inkle, a studio renowned for its work in interactive fiction. The game’s celebrated script was penned by Meg Jayanth, who made a conscious effort to challenge the colonialist perspectives of the original novel by creating a more diverse and empowered cast of global characters.

Your Next Favorite Game is Waiting

The Google Play Store is more than just a marketplace; it’s a gallery of digital art, a library of interactive stories, and a playground of innovative mechanics. The 15 games above are just a glimpse into the incredible creativity thriving in the indie scene. From the sprawling RPGs of solo developers to the mind-bending puzzles of small, artistic teams, these games prove that passion and a unique vision are the most powerful assets in game development.

Now it’s your turn. What’s your favorite underrated indie game on Android? Drop your recommendations in the comments below and let’s build the ultimate hidden gems list together!

Summary Incredible Indie Games on Android

The Google Play Store is full of incredible indie games that fly under the radar of the main charts, offering unique and personal experiences.
Afterplace and Paign deliver deep, open world RPG adventures reminiscent of classic console games, each crafted by dedicated solo developers.
For puzzle lovers, Gorogoa and Superliminal provide mind-bending mechanics and artistic visuals that are unlike anything else on mobile.
Games like The Darkside Detective and 80 Days prove that mobile is a fantastic platform for sharp, witty writing and compelling, choice-driven narratives.
Mindustry stands out as a deeply complex factory-builder and tower defense hybrid that is astonishingly available for free with no ads or IAPs.
Supporting these hidden gems means supporting passionate individuals and small teams, fostering a more creative and diverse gaming landscape on Android.