Offline Android Games

[jhd]

For various reasons, I do not have Wifi access in my apartment. I was recently given an Android tablet.

 

Is there a reasonable way to limit searches in the Google Play store to those games that do not require continual online access?

 

I have found a few, but it is mostly hit-or-miss in terms of what will work offline.

 

I am mainly interested in strategy games and RPGs; puzzle games and things like Candy Crush do nothing for me.

 

I have installed several emulators, but I would also like to be able to play something newer than NES/SNES/Genesis games from the comfort of my couch.

[Flojomojo]

KOTOR and Baldur's Gate will keep you busy for ages. No wifi connection needed, classic RPGs. Also check out Bastion, Transistor, the Shadowlands RPGs, and anything from Spiderweb Software.

 

Strategy isn't as much my thing, but Rymdkapsel is awesome. There are games like Advance Wars but you'll have to seek them out. I would think Wesnoth works well for fans of that.

 

If you like Roguelikes or Nethack type games, there are bunches of them on mobile. Also look for Wayward Souls which is like an action Roguelike with SNES style graphics.

[Flojomojo]

https://www.google.com/amp/www.androidauthority.com/best-offline-android-games-669279/amp/

 

Crashlands, Final Fantasy, X-Com

[Flojomojo]

I am mainly interested in strategy games

 

 

Duuuuuuuude check this out ... lotsa strategy games for next to nothing

https://www.humblebundle.com/mobile/best-of-strategy-mobile-bundle

 

Note that these are best loaded via the side loaded Humble Bundle app ... you'll need to turn on "allow other sources" for that to work.

[jhd]

Excellent! This is exactly what I am looking for -- thank-you.

[Video]

Pretty much any android game can be played offline for a certain amount of time. I got lots of games, both paid and unpaid, and pretty much any of them will work at least a week without a connection online. The thing that I find annoying is that even the paid ones have to hit up home base once in a while. Its just that those paid games tend to have a longer time before they have to ping home. I think all of them give out after a month or so.

 

Since its a tablet, unless the battery is bad, I'd just say take it into work with you once a week or so and let it hook up somewhere, so many businesses have free access wifi now days. That would keep your games happy and you can use them at home.

[jhd]

This is basically the strategy that I have adopted. The tablet occasionally comes to work with me, and sits quietly on the edge of my desk, updating itself while I do other things.

 

I have just finished loading NES and Genesis emulators for some vintage RPG fun! The touch controls are not very good for action games, but I do not much care.

[Tanooki]

Emulators with a decent gamepad(bluetooth) is the way to go if you want offline. Let's be serious, look just in general how many games from one manufacturer to the next of console gaming had to offer from say the period of 1985-1995~ roughly. Sure you can instantly discount probably 1/2 the games as C or worse grade crap even back then, probably slice another 1/2 of the remaining (or less) as now badly aged garbage. That still could easily leave you with anything from 50-200+ solid choices of game to stuff on an Android device completely devoid of internet harassment.

 

While I have been time and again strongly tempted to load up my tablet with the library of just games alone I've retained for the SNES for instance or even the NES+Famicom I have not, what I DID shove on there are my Neo Geo arcade cabinet carts instead. I've got around 25 or so of them, plenty of variety especially since I never was big on most of the SNK fighting games so it's all sorts of other stuff. Works great on the Shield tablet I have and had them on there last year and did some serious Neo Turf Masters time among others on an airplane while on vacation. Quite a few android games can be ok completely offline but a lot more require it for simple reasons of implementation or insidious childish garbage like DRM checking to make sure you paid or it fails (one a 1P adventure.) Emulators won't cause that problem and given those old games had to sell into the 100s of thousands or more on cartridges to cart based PCBs(Neo Geo) they had to not suck or they'd be screwed. Android(and iOS) you can shovel any drivel for a buck or two, or worse, freemium whale bait and get away with it so the bar is far lower.