Picture this: You’ve just finished a long day of working from home. You look (or feel) like a hot mess, but that’s okay. The pandemic has taken its toll on us, and your mental health deserves a much-needed break. What better way to unwind than by playing some calming mobile phone games? Some of them are free too!
Oh, and remember to set the mood as you travel to these digital worlds – dim your room lights, light your favourite candle, sink into your favourite chair as you enjoy some alone time. Now go have some fun!
Sky: Children of the Light
This open-world game is not only beautifully animated, but also musically relaxing. In Sky, you play as one of the Children of the Light who aim to spread hope through a barren and desolate kingdom to return fallen stars to their constellations. While playing this game, you can also encounter, socialise, and team up with various players around the world in real time.
Download free from: App Store | Google Play Store
Stardew Valley
This popular farming role-playing game is finally available on mobile! In Stardew Valley, you are a newbie farmer who’s inherited a farm from their grandfather. Your tasks are to provide yourself an income while rebuilding and exploring a dilapidated town, uncovering its secrets. You’re even able to grow your relationship with the villagers and eventually romance them!
Download from: App Store | Google Play Store
Monument Valley 2
This beautiful puzzle game has won numerous awards and is the sequel to the first Monument Valley game. In this game, you help to guide a mother, Ro, as she teaches her child about the mysteries of the Valley while simultaneously exploring breathtaking environments and manipulating the architecture.
Download from: App Store | Google Play Store
Alto’s Odyssey
Alto’s Odyssey is the second instalment of Alto’s Adventure, a critically-acclaimed action game. While the first game sees Alto skiing down and across various beautiful snow mountains and cliffs, this game has Alto sandboarding over majestic sand dunes, temples, and canyons with highly dramatic and visually stunning views. The minimalist game is a pleasant, casual game that’s easy to play and has intuitive controls. For those who like a challenge, you can try mastering different combos and tricks to climb up the leaderboard.
Download from: App Store | Google Play Store
My Oasis
Your mind is like a garden – and this game captures the essence of it. My Oasis markets itself as an anxiety relief game, and is an idle clicker game whereby the player taps on various objects to explore and upgrade their oasis. With its calming music and affirmations, this game has garnered many positive reviews in helping players ease their anxiety.
Download free from: App Store | Google Play Store
Tsuki Adventure
If you love bunnies, this game is just for you! This passive adventure game follows Tsuki, a worn-out corporate worker (who happens to be a very adorable rabbit) travelling back to their countryside carrot farm in search of a new beginning. What’s unique about this game is that the player is only an observer (other than being able to control Tsuki when fishing or planting carrots) and the game progresses in real time. Ultimately, it takes quite a while for the story to unfold. If you enjoy this game, also consider downloading Tsuki’s Odyssey, which is in its early access stage for more bunny adventures!
Download free from: App Store | Google Play Store
If you have an Apple Arcade subscription, be sure to put that into good use by checking out if the following games are available for free with your subscription. The following games are, after all, exclusive to the App Store and can only be accessed by iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV.
Mutazione
Mutazione is an adventure game that has a similar playstyle to the retro 2D point-and-click format that was popular in the 1980s. You play as 15-year-old Kai, who travels to a community of human mutants to visit her ailing grandfather, and from there, you’ll be whisked away into the drama of the strange and secretive community of Mutazione.
Download from: App Store
Assemble with Care
From the studio that brought you Monument Valley, Assemble with Care is a minimalistic visual novel and puzzle game that has an entertaining storyline and satisfying playing experience. You play as an antique restorer looking for a sense of adventure and go around town helping others to fix not just broken objects – but also lost or fraying relationships.
Download from: App Store
Sneaky Sasquatch
Sneaky Sasquatch is a stealth adventure game that sees you playing as a sasquatch (or bigfoot) trying to save a nature park from development. This game’s playstyle is similar to Untitled Goose Game and even has a honkload of gaming references to it. Player beware: this game is highly addictive but will be worth the hours you put in!
Download from: App Store
Outlanders
Outlanders is a minimalist town-building simulator that sees you as the town leader calling the shots. The gameplay is divided into multiple levels, and for each level, there are different needs to be met, different strategies to apply, and different decrees you may enact. No matter which path you decide to take, there’s always a leader in you that will make wise decisions for your townsfolk.
Download from: App Store
Cozy Grove
This is perfect for gamers who appreciate a story entwined in a gameplay. You start off as a Spirit Scout that’s traversed the lands in search of adventure. After being stranded on a haunted island, your task is to help the island’s spooky residents and find hidden secrets to bring back colour and joy to the island. As this game is designed to take things slow, there’s a limit to how many islander requests you can complete in a day.
Download from: App Store
Card of Darkness
This adorable card game from Zach Gage, Pendelton Ward, and Choice Provisions is not only easy to understand, but also tests your decision-making skills. The hand-drawn illustrations from this game are reminiscent of Pendelton’s Emmy Award-winning cartoon, Adventure Time, with his quirky and distinctive animation style. In this game, you play as a little boy who goes on an adventure where he ultimately saves the world just by picking up the right cards.
Download from: App Store
Solitaire Bliss
This one’s for all of you who enjoy an old-school and easy game of Solitaire! On Solitaire Bliss, you’ll get to enjoy 36 free games such as Klondike (Solitaire one card and three cards), Spider Solitaire, and Freecell. It also boasts over 100 variants of Solitaire overall, and all the special features you could possibly need — solvable-only games, statistics rankings, multiple and unique card sets, and many customisation options so you can play the game of your choice to unwind. What we also like about it is that you can play it live online too if you don’t want to download another app on your phone.
Download from: App Store | Google Play Store
