2020 threw a wrench in the plans of pretty much every one around the world. In the field of video games, many studios have had to postpone their releases and adapt to working remotely. Despite all this, the mobile video game ecosystem appears to have come out relatively unscathed. This year’s harvest has been exceptional, reaching never before seen records in terms of profits and media impact. League of Legends on Android? A multiplatform adventure RPG reaching a record-number of users in its mobile version? We’ve put together a list of the fifteen best games released this year. Here are our Uptodown Awards!
Genshin Impact
Freemium changed the rules of the game this year. Who said that a free video game couldn’t be based around the story and keep it up for dozens of hours? Genshin Impact was released simultaneously for phones, PC, and even consoles. But the Android version holds up well enough against its bigger sisters to be considered the most successful game of the year. And no, it’s not simply “a clone of Breath of the Wild.”
League of Legends: Wild Rift
This one just might have been the most highly-anticipated game of 2020. Although its release is still happening in stages world-wide, it’s already available to many users, offering a surprisingly satifying expereince that feels like a pocket-sized LoL with shorter rounds and a gameplay adjusted to touchscreens. Without a doubt, its true explosion will take place in the upcoming year, but the media frenzy is already picking up speed.
Raziel: Dungeon Arena
The delay in the release of Diablo: Immortal, announced all the way back in 2018, has left the Android dungeon crawlers throne empty for a long time. Without a doubt, Raziel has managed to make a name for itself with this hack and slash that’s similar to the game from Blizzard. Spectacular graphics, the possibility to play in a cooperative online mode, and endless dungeons to explore, are just some of what you’ll find in this excellent game.
Sky: Children of the Light
There’s no ‘buts’ about the greatness of thatgamecompany, the studio that brought us revolutionary games like Flower and Journey. Just like the latter, here, you get to explore a vast world on your own or in the company of strangers in what is once again a dreamlike journey with a few drops of introspection. Don’t let anyone tell you that mobile video games can’t be profound experiences!
The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross
With huge success and a fantastic anime adaptation along the way, the manga from Nakaba Suzuki finished in March 2020. Meanwhile, at almost the same time, this game was released. In it, Netease brings back the characters from the manga to offer us one of the best anime-style games we can find on the platform. Its spectacular graphics, along with a fun turn-based combat system based on cards, make Grand Cross a fantastic title for fans of story-based JRPGs.
Rogue Agents
Sometimes it doesn’t take much for a video game to be a success. Rogue Agents is a third-person multiplayer action game with controls that work like a dream. The possbility to jump and take cover around the settings, along with the ability to do parkour on certain walls makes for a fast-paced and frenzied combat experience. Up to 12 players per setting and the typical single-player or team deathmatch game modes are more than enough to have you hooked for a good while.
Guardian Tales
To say that Guardian Tales is a clone of The Legend of Zelda 2D is only scratching the surface of this great game. Even through it’s an action RPG, it offers endless features, including managing your base of operations, the possibility to control different heroes, and PvP modes for fighting against other players. All this is added to an interesting ‘metroidvania’ layer where you’ll have to get new objects and abilities to discover new paths. It’s a must-have game!
TFT: Teamfight Tactics
The second title from Riot Games to make it onto our ranking. What could possibly be as successful as League of Legends? A game from another genre that uses the characters from its universe! TFT is an ‘autochess,’ the strategy subgenre that came into existence in the form of a mode for DOTA 2. Here, you have to deploy units on the battlefield to take down enemies through dynamics and positional abilities. You can improve your units as you play and win. So simple and addictive, it’s scary.
Soulworker Anime Legends
‘Hack and slash’ is a genre that’s survived in part due to the dynamics of MMOs for smartphones, since the ‘gacha’ system and the repetition of game routines is one of the trendiest premises happening on Android right now. Of all the games on the list, Soulworker stands out for its anime-style graphics and some animations that could very well pass for a commercial title for desktop machines. In fact, it’s the mobile adaptation of a successful Korean MMO of the same name for PC. Everything is connected.
Subscribe to my Adventure
Imagine that you’re an adventurer in search of emotions as you make your way through forests and dangerous dungeons, but you decide to stream your adventures live on social media and broadcast your exploits online for your fans to enjoy. That’s exactly what Subscribe to my Adventure is all about. It’s an original way to reimagine social networks, where you’ll talk to characters you meet via private messages and survey your viewers to make decisions. It’s a little gem that reminds us once again that not everything has already been done.
Shadowgun: War Games
Madfinger Games brought us sagas of the caliber of Deadtrigger and Shadowgun; and War Games is a spin-off of the latter. But is there room for more ‘hero shooters’ on the market in the wake of Overwatch? Well, of course there is! Especially when the game comes with the enormous production values of the studio. 5vs5 combats, multiple game modes, and a good handful of characters to choose from, all with their own abilites. There’s life beyond the typical shooters we already know!
Evil Hunter Tycoon
Fighting against evil forces is exhausting, and the best way to do so isn’t always by controlling the front-line heroes. Evil Hunter Tycoon give you the opportunity to transform a village in ruins into a reference point for adventurers where they can rest, buy equipment and prepare for the most difficult challenges. You have to set up stores, inns and churches to please visitors, all with adorable pixel art graphics that would conquer any heart.
Omega Legends
Fortnite casts a long shadow and battle royales are back on top as the most-played action games of the year. Naturally, more than a few games based on Epic’s work have been released, with Omega Legends being one of the favorites in the company’s war against Google and Apple. Much more than a simple copy, Omega Legends offers several different characters to choose from with different skills and improvements that you’ll earn as you go. This, along with the fact that it works well on not so powerful devices, makes it a must for your game collection.
Evangelion Battlefields
It doesn’t matter if it hasn’t made its way west yet, or even if it never does. Evangelion Battlefields is a dream come true for fans of the work from Gainax, especially keeping in mind that the movie remake of the original series is close to being finished. Here, you get a cinematic experience based on the fight of the EVAs against the angels. Although you can make your moves in real time, you have to select actions in advance, experiencing never-before seen situations beyond what’s narrated in Hideaki Anno’s work and its different incarnations. Congratulations, Shinji!
Kartrider Rush+
No one can say no to a good old-fashioned game of Mario Kart. The Kartrider saga isn’t a total stranger, being one of Nexon’s most-played titles from the studio’s extensive catalog and a complete institution in Korea, even above the Nintendo saga. This new installment from the saga has been adapted for western players, offering endless game modes, tracks, and characters with a progression system based on MMO games. This means you’ll be able to complete daily missions, interact with other players, and participate in temporary events to get unique rewards.
