The best indie mobile games are mostly small, finished games you buy once: Slay the Spire, Balatro, Stardew Valley, Dead Cells, Mini Metro, Florence, Unpacking, Alto’s Adventure, Monument Valley and Super Hexagon. None of them has an energy bar or a battle pass, and most cost less than a sandwich. Below is what each one is, what it costs on the US App Store, and who should skip it.
What makes a game “indie”? #
An indie game comes from an independent studio, often a handful of people, without a big publisher paying for development. Some sign with a publisher later. Balatro was made by one developer, LocalThunk, and published by Playstack. The label is about who makes the game, not how it plays.
On mobile, indie games tend to share a few traits you’ll notice quickly:
- One price, then nothing. Most are paid up front with no ads and no in-app purchases, or free to try with one purchase for the rest.
- They’re finished. What you download is the whole game, not a shell waiting for seasonal content.
- They respect your time. No daily login chores and no timers deciding when you can play.
- A strong idea beats a big budget. A subway map, a deck of cards, a woman’s life told in 30 minutes.
Big studios win on marketing, so indie games rarely show up in your ads or near the top of the grossing chart. You have to go looking, and our guide to finding good mobile games covers where.
The 10 best indie mobile games #
| Game | Genre | US App Store price | Typical session |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slay the Spire | Deckbuilding roguelike | $9.99 | About an hour per run |
| Balatro | Poker roguelike | $9.99, or Apple Arcade | A long run |
| Stardew Valley | Farming life sim | $4.99 | One in-game day |
| Dead Cells | Action roguelite | Paid, with paid expansions | 20 to 40 minutes |
| Mini Metro | Subway-map strategy | $3.99 | One map, 10 to 20 minutes |
| Florence | Interactive story | Paid, one price | About 30 minutes in total |
| Unpacking | Wordless puzzle | Paid, one price | One room at a time |
| Alto’s Adventure | Endless snowboarding | $4.99 | A few minutes |
| Monument Valley | Illusion puzzle | $3.99 | One chapter |
| Super Hexagon | Reflex arcade | $2.99 | Seconds |
Prices were checked on the US App Store in September 2026. They change and vary by country, so check the listing before you buy. Android prices are usually close.
1. Slay the Spire: the best game you can buy for a phone #
You climb a tower by fighting monsters with a deck of cards, adding cards and relics after each fight. Every run plays differently, and the choices are sharp enough that you’ll think about a bad one for days. The mobile version is $9.99 with no in-app purchases, and it saves when you leave, so a run can stretch across a week of lunch breaks.
Wrong for: anyone who wants a two-minute game. A full run takes about an hour, and the card text is easier to read on a tablet.
2. Balatro: poker, broken on purpose #
You play poker hands to hit a target score while jokers bend the rules into combinations that multiply into absurd numbers. It reached iOS and Android in September 2024 and sold strongly on phones from the first week. It’s $9.99 to buy, or included if you already pay for Apple Arcade.
Wrong for: people who dislike number-crunching. The fun is spotting the combination that multiplies everything.
3. Stardew Valley: hundreds of hours for $4.99 #
Eric Barone built this farming game almost entirely by himself, and it became one of the most-loved games of the last decade. Grow crops, fish, mine and get to know a small town. On the App Store it’s $4.99 with no in-app purchases, and it has received the big 1.6 content update with new festivals and a late-game mastery system.
Wrong for: people who hate fiddly touch controls. Some players find mining and switching items awkward on a small screen.
4. Dead Cells: fast, tough action #
A 2D action game in which you fight through a shifting castle, die, and start again a little stronger. Playdigious brought it to iOS in 2019 and Android in 2020. The developers stopped adding new content in August 2024, so what you buy now is a complete game with paid expansions.
Wrong for: anyone who wants to relax. It works with touch controls, but it’s at its best with a controller.
5. Mini Metro: calm, until it isn’t #
You draw subway lines across a growing city and keep passengers moving until a station overflows. Dinosaur Polo Club’s game costs $3.99, its privacy label says it collects no data, and it includes colorblind and night modes. Each map takes 10 to 20 minutes and ends when your network finally breaks.
Wrong for: people who hate losing. Every map ends in failure, by design.
6. Florence: a love story in half an hour #
Florence follows 25-year-old Florence Yeoh through a relationship with a musician named Krish, told through tiny puzzles instead of dialogue. The studio Mountains made it, and Annapurna Interactive published it in 2018. One sitting finishes it.
Wrong for: anyone who wants replay value. You’ll play it once, and that’s the point.
7. Unpacking: a life told through boxes #
You unpack one woman’s belongings in a series of homes over the years, and her story comes out of what she keeps and what quietly disappears. There’s no text and no timer. It reached iOS and Android in August 2023.
Wrong for: players who want a challenge. It’s gentle, satisfying, and over in a few hours.
8. Alto’s Adventure: endless and beautiful #
Tap to jump and hold to backflip as you snowboard down slopes that never end. It’s $4.99 with no ads and no in-app purchases, and the sequel, Alto’s Odyssey, is the same price and just as polished. If this is your kind of game, our best endless runner games list has more.
Wrong for: people who want a story or a collection to grow.
9. Monument Valley: the original still holds up #
Guide a silent princess through buildings that only make sense from certain angles. The first game is $3.99, and the Forgotten Shores expansion adds more levels for $1.99. It lasts a couple of hours and looks best on an iPad.
Wrong for: anyone who measures value in hours per dollar. It’s closer to a good film than a hobby.
10. Super Hexagon: the hardest $2.99 you’ll spend #
Terry Cavanagh’s game has you rotate a tiny triangle through collapsing walls to a pounding soundtrack by Chipzel. Surviving 60 seconds on a level is a real achievement. It hasn’t been updated since 2018 and doesn’t need to be. If you enjoy the punishment, our hardest mobile games list has seven more.
Wrong for: almost anyone looking to relax.
Free indie games worth trying #
Not every indie game costs money. Vampire Survivors is free, with optional ads and paid expansions, and it runs offline.
Flappy Kittens is our own game, listed as Flappy Cat on Google Play. It’s a free tap-to-flap arcade game: you fly a cat through the gaps, collect fish treats, and spend them on 14 cats and 8 worlds. There’s nothing to buy with real money, because the shop only takes fish, and the game is paid for by ads. It plays offline and a run lasts seconds, so it fills the gaps between the longer games above.
Where to find more indie games #
- Apple Arcade costs $6.99 a month or $49.99 a year in the US, and its games have no ads and no in-app purchases. A lot of the catalog comes from independent studios.
- Google Play Pass gives you a catalog of paid games and apps with ads and in-app purchases removed. Check Google Play for the current price in your country.
- The studios themselves. If you loved a game, look up who made it. Small teams rarely advertise, so following them is often the only way you’ll hear about their next game.
- Year-end lists. Apple and Google both publish their best games of the year, and indie games do well in them.
Frequently asked questions #
What is the best indie game on mobile? #
Slay the Spire and Balatro are the two most often recommended, and both cost $9.99. If you want something cheaper and gentler, Stardew Valley at $4.99 gives you more hours per dollar than almost anything else on the App Store.
Are indie mobile games free? #
A few are, but most good ones charge once, usually between $3 and $10, and then never ask for money again. Free indie games like Vampire Survivors use optional ads or sell expansions instead of selling power.
Are indie games better than big-studio mobile games? #
Not always, but they’re built differently. A premium indie game earns its money when you buy it, so it doesn’t need timers, loot boxes or daily chores to keep you spending. Many big free-to-play games do. Our guide on how to spot pay-to-win games explains what to look for.
Do indie mobile games work offline? #
Most premium ones do, including Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire, Mini Metro and Balatro. Still, turn on airplane mode and start a game before you rely on it for a flight.