The end of the week is finally here which means it’s time once again for the SGD Friday Night Indie Game Round-Up, our weekly tribute to the best new indie games to make their way onto Android! Each week our dedicated editorial team tirelessly scours every nook and cranny of the net in order to bring you this comprehensive guide to the coolest new indie games available on Android. And after tons of playthroughs and a few lively debates, we’ve come up with a list of 25 awesome new indie Android games for you to check out below! And when we say awesome we mean awesome, every game on this list has been personally vetted and recommended by a top SGD staff member.
Be sure to vote for your favorite new indie Android game in the poll at the bottom of the page too. As always, the game with the most votes as of Tuesday morning will be declared our indie game of the week and will also be featured on our front page!
Amazing Jumping Jacks In Space from Sokaz
Amazing Jumping Jacks In Space is a fun little jumping jack simulator that, well, not too surprisingly takes place in space. The gameplay is very simple: tap on the screen to do a jumping jack and tap it again to go back to a standing position. Your goal is simple too: just do as many jumping jacks as you can in one minutes time. All of this is done with a trippy retro art style, a bouncin’ soundtrack, and it features Google Play Game Services leaderboards and achievements too!
Amazing Jumping Jacks In Space (Playboard) | Amazing Jumping Jacks In Space (Play Store)
Bop That! from Magster Productions
One of the 90′s most iconic toys has made an unlikely return to Android in the form of Magster Productions’ new twitch reaction game Bop That!. Although its gameplay is very simple, essentially a “radical” take on Simon Says, it can be quite addicting as players are driven to best their previous run. While the core of Bop That! consists of basic but fun screen tapping those that want to get the true experience of what the Bop It! toys were all about will want to play “accelerometer mode” which utilizes your devices gyroscope to turn itself into an interesting augmented reality version of the original toy.
Bop That! (Playboard) | Bop That! (Play Store)
Chaos Influx from Chill Monster
Chaos Influx is a fast paced retro-remixed space shooter akin to classic games in the genre like Galaga, Space Invaders, and many more. Chaos Influx is by no means a mere clone though. The game features a simple control scheme, a plethora of awesome power-ups, terrifying bosses to fight, and several different game modes to blast your way through. Best of all Chaos Influx also features a killer 8-bit art style, a bouncin’ electro-dance soundtrack, and absolutely no ads or IAPs! How can you say no to that? Download Chaos Influx today!
Chaos Influx (Playboard) | Chaos Influx (Play Store)
DUDE CAT! from Brunkt
Every so often we here at SGD come across some pretty bizarre games. This week we have stumbled upon what could just be one of the craziest so far: DUDE CAT from indie developer Brunkt. DUDECAT is an endless vertical space shooter that is filled to the brim with cute (yet incredibly evil) kitties, exploding hot dogs, and lasers galore! The game also has a fantastic techno soundtrack, vibrant fluorescent graphics, and of course a whole whack of weirdness. If you don’t believe me just check out the game’s trailer: DUDE CAT! (Official trailer)
DUDE CAT! (Playboard) | DUDE CAT! (Play Store)
Fearman from Phyne Games
Fearman is a Pac Man-esque game that follows the crazy adventures of a very skittish guy known quite simply as Fearman. No matter how hard this guy tries to avoid scary situations he always seems to end up in them… and they seem to be getting scarier the more he tries to avoid them! He finds himself in the middle of a monster-filled adventure and it’s up to you to help him escape the island of Poveglia with his sanity intact. Just swipe the screen to direct Fearman, collect power orbs and other valuable items, and be sure to keep your distance from all of those grotesque monsters! Do you think you have what it takes to conquer your fear?
Fearman (Playboard) | Fearman (Play Store)
Front Wars from Homemade Games
Developed by indie studio Homemade Games, Front Wars absolutely nails both the style and gameplay of Advance Wars to great success. Players command a cartoonish looking army(Which doesn’t really seem appropriate considering it takes place in WWII) about a grid based battlefield as they take the fight to enemy units across land, sea, and air. There are many different kinds of troops to command and they each come with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Infantry units are cheap and quick to produce, but can’t stand up to the more expensive tank. And while faster vehicles like tanks can cover greater distances, they’d be hard pressed to outrun the guns of a massive cruiser patrolling the shoreline. This kind of rock, paper, scissors type of dynamic is what made the Advance Wars games so enthralling and the same is true of Front Wars as well.
Front Wars (Playboard) | Front Wars (Play Store)
Go Deeper from DB&R Game Studio
It is the year 203X. Earth has been decimated by a terrifying apocalypse. Many different species stand against the remaining few members of the human race in a struggle to gain total control. It’s up to you, a nameless hero, to assault the disputed Tower of Souls and regain control for the human kind.
Go Deeper is a fast-paced action game that features an easy-to-use game control scheme that is based off of coordinating colours to destroy your enemies. The game features some fantastic 2D HD graphics, 4 unique areas to explore, 42 levels to blaze through, and more enemies and boss battles than you can wag a sword at. To top it off you’ve also got a tonne of achievements to unlock too! If you’re looking for some super fast-paced arcade action look no further than Go Deeper!
GoDeeper (Playboard) | GoDeeper (Play Store)
HappyTiles from Deadly Serious Media
HappyTiles is Deadly Serious Media’s own charming take on the hugely popular Don’t Tap The White Tile/Piano Tiles style of games. The gameplay is simple: tap on the Happy Tiles as quickly as possible while avoiding all of the grumpy tiles. Tap one of the wrong blocks and it’s game over for you! What really makes Happy Tiles stand out from other games of the sort is how it has been imbued with the charm and colourful art design Deadly Serious Media is known for. If you’re digging the whole Don’t Tap The White Tile/Piano Tiles gameplay style you’ll be very hard-pressed to find a game better than this one.
HappyTiles (Playboard) | HappyTiles (Play Store)
Heroes: A Grail Quest from Game Dev Team
Heroes: A Grail Quest is a turn-based strategy game that takes place in a fleshed out fantasy world. You’ll be leading an army across the land in hopes of finding a lost artifact that will be able to save the king and his kingdom. Along the way you’ll encounter lots of exciting turn-based battles, a plethora of powerful artifacts and magic scrolls, and you’ll be exploring a world filled with dungeons and other cool locales. Heroes: A Grail Quest is a one time purchase with absolutely no ads or IAPs! Sweetness!
Heroes: A Grail Quest (Playboard) | Heroes: A Grail Quest (Play Store)
Joy Joy from Radiangames
Joy Joy is another fantastic game from renowned indie developer Radiangames. Joy Joy is a twin-stick shooter that is absolutely beautiful. The game features a one-of-a-kind art design and some of the most hectic arcade gameplay on Android to this very day! Using either customizable virtual controls or a Bluetooth-enabled control pad you’ll be blasting your way through 24 unique waves and 6 intense challenges using a vast array of weaponry, while also unlocking achievements and climbing the global leaderboards. Radiangames is well known for releasing top notch games and the release of Joy Joy helps to bolster their already strong reputation. Fans of twin-stick shooters absolutely MUST download Joy Joy right now!
Joy Joy (Playboard) | Joy Joy (Play Store)
Lightlands from Torsten Winkler
From the very first moment I started playing Lightlands, I was hooked. This minimalist physics platform puzzler challenges players with reaching the end of each level with an extremely limited moveset, requiring careful strategy and patience as they plan ahead. Lightlands’ clever mix of puzzle physics and traditional platforming gives it a unique take on the genre akin to what Lemmings would be like were it to be spun off into a platformer.
Lightlands Light (Playboard) | Lightlands Light (Play Store)
Lightlands (Playboard) | Lightlands (Play Store)
Mosaic: A Lights-Out Game from Ignis Studios
Mosaic is a simple puzzle game that revolves around the idea of simplicity… but don’t take that as meaning the game is stupid easy. In fact Mosaic is anything but! In order to win you just need to turn on each and every one of the coloured squares on the screen. Again it sounds really simple, but I assure you it’s not! Mosaic also features three challenging game modes, rankings via Facebook, and most importantly no ads or IAPs! Definitely download Mosaic: A Lights-Out Game today! It’s free and totally worth your time.
Mosaic: A Lights-Out Game (Playboard) | Mosaic: A Lights-Out Game (Play Store)
Rogue Heroes from My Kung Fu Games
Rogue Heroes is fast-paced 2D action-platforming RPG with roguelike gameplay elements. You’ll take your hero deep into the game’s procedurally generated levels while collecting new equipment, levelling up, battling deadly enemies and terrifying bosses, and of course completing a multitude of different quests. As you progress you’ll encounter new locations, new traps and obstacles, and you might even earn some of the games achievements while you’re at it! Another perk here is that the developer is going to be adding new zones, traps, bosses, and enemy types in an upcoming update slated for release in June! Rogue Heroes is a solid roguelike platformer that you really should delve into.
Rogue Heroes (Playboard) | Rogue Heroes (Play Store)
ROTO: A Simple Circular Puzzle from Lucid Labs
This awesome new retro platformer features challenging gameplay that feels like a Super Meat Boy infused version of They Must Be Fed. Each stage is made up of a solar system of planets that players must jump back and forth between in order to clear all the objectives. It’s impressive how much nuance indie developer Lucid Labs has managed to achieve by designing Roto with an ultra simple one touch control scheme.
ROTO: A Simple Circular Puzzle (Playboard) | ROTO: A Simple Circular Puzzle (Play Store)
Singular from Nerial
Singular is a fantastic puzzle game from London based Indie developer Nerial that has been strongly inspired by two fantastic games: Thomas Was Alone and World of Goo. In Singular you take control of M. Green. You must direct M. Green through a hostile world that is filled with deadly red cells. It’s a story about solitude, love and sacrifice, and the discovery of diversity. Each of the game’s levels are based around a simple yet satisfying mechanic: touch cells to make them explode in a certain radius. Singular is a puzzle game that is sure to get you scratching your head more than a couple times. It is an absolute must have for any puzzle gaming fans out there.
Singular (Playboard) | Singular (Play Store)
Skippy Rock from DDS Games
Skippy Rock is a fast paced arcade game that’s all about, well… a skipping rock. What’s that? You don’t think that sounds too exciting? What if I told you that you’ll have to dodge terrifying sea life like killer whales, giant squid, and great white sharks? Ahh, now I’ve got your attention! Top the fun gameplay off with a killer pixel art style and a well done soundtrack and you’ve got yourself one heck of a great game! Definitely give Skippy Rock a spin. This is one game you don’t want to skip out on!
Skippy Rock (Playboard) | Skippy Rock (Play Store)
Spelltronic from Apocalypse Train
Spelltronic is an action-packed arcade word game that combines two of America’s all time favorite past times: spelling and blowing up robots! You’ll be given two minutes to spell out as many words as possible by tapping on the marching letterbots and turning them into words. Each time you spell a word successfully you’re given more time on the countdown clock but every time a letterbot escapes time will be taken off of it. If the unique gameplay wasn’t enough to get you hooked Spelltronic also features a charming animated pixel art style, plenty of robotic bleeps and bloops, and also achievements and leaderboards! Check this game out if you want some bang for your buck!
Spelltronic (Playboard) | Spelltronic (Play Store)
String Fighter from Nanogamo
The newest fighting game on Android features intuitive touch controls, full 3D graphics, and a brutal fight to the death between……puppets?!? Yup, in this outlandish sidescrolling fighter players will control one of many marionette warriors as they engage in gesture based combat that still manages to stay fairly true to the classic Street Fighter design. Looking for a cool new fighting game that isn’t a port of a game you’ve already played a hundred times? Check out String Fighter!
String Fighter (Playboard) | String Fighter (Play Store)
Swipecart from Micro Factory Games
In the future extreme mine cart racing is going to be all the rage, and Micro Factory Games has decided to cash in on this prospect many years before this actually happens. Their creation: Swipecart. Swipecart is a 2D side-scroller that takes place on a terrifying mining track. You will hurl yourself down the course and gain speed by swiping back and forth and braking by touching anywhere on your device’s screen. Watch out though as doing either of these actions too much is sure to make your cart overheat and maybe even go haywire! To come out of each run successfully you’ll need to build up the correct amount of speed and apply just the amount of brake – which is easier said than done when you’re constantly keeping an eye out for any awkwardly placed see-saws and other dangerous barriers.
Swipecart is an extremely addictive side-scrolling racer that features challenging gameplay, an instantly likeable pixel art style, a kicking soundtrack, and tonnes of content to play through. You’d be silly to not hop on the opportunity to see this extreme sport before everyone begins talking about it!
Swipecart (Playboard) | Swipecart (Play Store)
Treehouse Hero from Max Games Studios
Treehouse Hero is a unique tower defense game that puts you in the shoes of the mighty Hero of the Squirrels. It turns out that aliens have crash landed in your forest and you’re the only one that can put an end to their tyranny. Using the game’s Peggle-esque gameplay style you’ll toss a wide array of deadly weaponry down on the large eyed enemy aliens that want nothing more than to see your demise. If you do well you’ll collect coins and gems that’ll help to max out your stats – an absolute must if you have any hopes of defeating the alien’s mighty boss! Prepare yourself for one of the most unique and addictive tower defense games to have ever landed on Android devices!
Treehouse Hero (Playboard) | Treehouse Hero (Play Store)
TV Snatz from Unsound Games
Since time immemorial, whenever a mouse or a rat was included in a video game they have invariably been obssesed with cheese theft but one game is here to change all that. Slightly. In the old school style arcade game TV Snatz players control a band of television addicted rodents as they go about concocting elaborate schemes in order to nab as many TVs as possible. Fans of retro gaming will definitely get a kick out of TV Snatz!
TV Snatz (Playboard) | TV Snatz (Play Store)
Twin Robots from Thinice
Twin Robots is a platformer that’ll have you switching control between two robot brothers as they run, jump, and solving a wide variety of puzzles. This is easier said than done though as these robots are battery powered, so each action they perform uses up a bit of their energy. You’ll have to be cautious of this as once you delve deeper into the game it will get to be quite a challenge. It’s good to note that Twin Robots is fully playable as a single player only game but the devs also went a step above and added in a local multiplayer mode for good measure! Not bad Thinice, not bad.
Fans of puzzle-platformers cannot afford to miss out on Twin Robots! Download it today!
Twin Robots (Playboard) | Twin Robots (Play Store)
Water Knight from Fortuna Lion Game Studio
Water Knight is a dynamic arcade game that is littered with quests and even features gameplay elements from the classic handheld game Tamagotchi. You take total control of the Water Knight as you jump across floating islands and battle the monsters that infest the hostile landscape. Along your journey you’ll also send sweets and jewelry to Princess Iriel, free the imprisoned Golden Fishes, and who knows, you may even unlock the Water Knight’s golden armor? There are achievements to unlock, upgrades to earn, and a whole bunch of additional features too! Water Knight from Fortuna Lion Game Studio is one arcade game you should definitely check out.
Water Knight (Playboard) | Water Knight (Play Store)
Wayve from Rainforce15
Wayve is a fun new color based puzzler that tests players ability to adapt to dynamic reactions across a hexagonal playing field. Players are given a limited move set with which to lay down colored pieces that will cycle the colors of all the pieces around it which gives the gameplay an interesting element whereby it becomes necessary to think two steps ahead. Puzzle aficionados will definitely appreciate Wayve’s imaginative design.
Wayve (free) (Playboard) | Wayve (free) (Play Store)
Wayve (Playboard) | Wayve (Play Store)
Yarrrr! from Volcano Mobile
This swashbuckling new side scroller combines two things everybody loves, pirates and zombies! As the fearless buccaneer Pat the pirate it’s up to players to slice their way through an endless horde of bloodthirsty zombies using a mobile optimized control scheme that allows for massive combos. Be careful though, with so many of the undead coming for your head even the slightest slip up can mean game over!
Yarrrr! (Playboard) | Yarrrr! (Play Store)
online poll by Opinion Stage
The Friday Night Indie Game Round-Up is brought to you by the combined Voltron-like powers of Craig Forshey and James Maxwell!