Once Upon a Galaxy has been my default game since I first played it.
It’s an asynchronous alternating activation autobattler (like Arcane Rush, or Storybook Brawl/Hearthstone Battlegrounds but you play against ghosts). Games take about 10-15 minutes.
It’s largely public domain fantasy themed, but has been expanding into the “legally distinct” cultural references as they add content, basically every captain/unit/treasure is a reference.
The shop mechanic is simplified, there’s no currency, you just get a set of choices, and can pick 1. You get two shops per round by default, lots of ways to get extra.
Asynchronous play means that you face challenging opponents that naturally evolve with the meta game but you can also take time to make thoughtful decisions.
The draft pool for the shop has a large base pool that you add to by selecting a custom sebset from a second large pool as your captain’s deck. The progression is through unlocking cards for each captain’s secondary pool, and unlocking new captains. You can naturally earn all cards through play, most captains are free, new captains are paywalled for a limited time.
Monetization is through 3 paths: cosmetics, acceleration of card unlocks, access to paywalled captains. I haven’t found it to be particularly exploitative or negative feeling.
My only gripe is minor, that it doesn’t have mid-run save/resume, but that is on their road map.
There is essentially no story, if that matters to you.
If it’s not obvious, I’m really enthusiastic about this game. I’m not affiliated/sponsored in any way. Happy to answer any questions.
Gonna go with the wildcard here and suggest Walkscape. It’s still in beta, so access requires a one-time patron sub ($4.50, then cancel) or a free written application through their portal (may take like a week to approve)
It’s a classic runescape-style RPG where all actions cost “steps” walking. It’s designed to keep screen time to a minimum and walking time to a maximum.
Character management is generally pretty passive and 1-handed. Definitely much more casual by nature, but encourages much more active participation.
I don’t play many Android games, and enjoy even fewer, but Hoplite is great. It’s pretty simple to play but still requires some thinking, which is what I want out of a mobile game.
an absence of quick-time events (I hate those things in cut-scenes, parry systems, etc.)
a mode that allows the player to destroy the environment, NPCs, etc. including, when on, making the game unable to be completed potentially. I think having that be a toggle will still allow people to relive older RPGs where you could easily ruin your life without knowing for hours.
Off-the-wall weapons. I think Blood 2 had a few and even halflife 2
I have the Hifiman HE400se headphones. They’re open-back, so pretty wide soundstage. They use planar magnetic drivers, unlike most headphones which use dynamic drivers. Both technologies can be good, but the construction is different and they have different strengths. Here’s an explainer from rtings
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