Discover the Best Free iOS & Android Games of October 2019
As enthusiasts of digital entertainment know, the mobile gaming landscape is in a constant state of evolution. October 2019 was a particularly exciting period for smartphone gamers, bringing a fresh wave of captivating titles to both iOS and Android platforms. Whether you’re an avid racer, a dungeon-crawling RPG fan, or a strategic mastermind, this month delivered a diverse array of experiences that pushed the boundaries of what free-to-play mobile games can offer. The accompanying video provides a fantastic overview, but let’s dive deeper into these standout selections, exploring what made them essential downloads.
The innovation within the mobile gaming sector continues to surprise, with developers consistently finding ways to deliver high-quality experiences without an upfront cost. From immersive simulations to fast-paced action, these titles demonstrate that “free” doesn’t mean compromising on fun or graphical fidelity. Let’s break down the top picks from October 2019, analyzing their gameplay mechanics, unique features, and overall appeal to help you decide which virtual adventures to embark on.
Top Free iOS & Android Games of October 2019: A Closer Look
Real Driving Sim: The Open-World Automotive Experience
Kicking off the list of best free mobile games is Real Driving Sim, a title that lives up to its straightforward name. This driving simulator provides a sprawling open world, encompassing numerous cities and diverse environments, allowing players to explore at their leisure. Unlike many mobile racers that confine players to tracks, Real Driving Sim offers a vast playground for both free-roaming and structured challenges, extending beyond traditional racing to include various objective-based missions.
A significant strength of Real Driving Sim lies in its robust online multiplayer capabilities, enabling players to undertake challenges and explorations together. Furthermore, the game thoughtfully provides multiple control schemes—touch arrows or tilt—acknowledging that player preference can drastically impact the driving experience. This flexibility ensures a wider audience can enjoy the game comfortably. While the graphics might not match the hyper-optimized visuals of a closed-course racer due to the demands of rendering an expansive open world, the visual presentation is remarkably solid for a free iOS & Android game, delivering an impressive sense of scale and detail.
Monolisk: Craft Your Own Dungeons, Conquer Others’
For fans of action RPGs and creative expression, Monolisk emerged as a truly unique offering in October 2019. This hack-and-slash title distinguishes itself with not only a wealth of handcrafted dungeons but also an intuitive dungeon creator. This empowers players to design and share their own intricate levels, subsequently allowing others to dive in and conquer these player-made challenges. Such user-generated content significantly boosts the game’s replayability and community engagement, fostering a vibrant ecosystem of creativity.
Monolisk’s distinct art style and innovative platforming elements contribute to an experience that feels fresh and distinct from other mobile RPGs. Although minor issues exist with quest progression and certain aspects of its monetization model, these are largely overshadowed by the game’s core strengths: its engaging hack-and-slash combat and boundless creative potential. The ongoing development of Monolisk further promises enhancements and additions, ensuring its continued evolution and cementing its place as a compelling choice for those seeking depth in their free mobile games.
Perfect World Mobile: A Classic MMORPG Reimagined
The realm of mobile MMORPGs received a notable addition with Perfect World Mobile, a faithful adaptation of the beloved PC classic. This game successfully elevates beyond a mere mobile port, offering significantly improved graphics that showcase an impressive level of detail for a smartphone title. The developers clearly invested extra effort, opting not to simply reuse original character models but to enhance them for a modern mobile audience, which greatly benefits the overall immersion.
A common critique of mobile MMORPGs is their reliance on “auto-play” mechanics, often reducing player interaction. However, Perfect World Mobile strikes a commendable balance; while auto-play is available, it feels more like an optional convenience rather than a compulsory design choice. The combat system itself is engaging and offers genuine rewards for active participation, making player involvement meaningful. While the mobile market is saturated with MMORPGs, Perfect World Mobile manages to consolidate familiar elements into a more refined and enjoyable package, offering a coherent and fun experience for fans of the genre among free iOS & Android games.
Call of Duty Mobile: Console-Quality FPS on Your Phone
When it comes to competitive shooters, Call of Duty Mobile made a surprisingly strong debut, quickly establishing itself as one of the better iterations of the franchise, especially for mobile platforms. It delivers a “greatest hits” collection of maps from the series, alongside a well-executed 100-player Battle Royale survival mode that rivals its console counterparts in scale and intensity. The game manages to translate the fast-paced, tactical gunplay of Call of Duty effectively to touch controls, a feat that few mobile shooters achieve with such finesse.
Developed with input from both Activision and Tencent, the game also handles microtransactions with unexpected subtlety. Players can largely ignore cosmetic purchases without feeling disadvantaged, a welcome departure from more aggressive monetization strategies seen in other free mobile games. Despite initial concerns about potentially intrusive controls on a smaller screen, Call of Duty Mobile provides a remarkably fluid and responsive shooting experience, proving that a high-fidelity competitive FPS can indeed thrive on mobile devices.
The Addams Family Mystery Mansion: Spooky City-Building
Venturing into a different genre, The Addams Family Mystery Mansion offers a unique take on city-building games, focusing on assembling the iconic Mystery Mansion itself. This title primarily revolves around time and resource management challenges, providing a straightforward yet engaging experience for players. Unlike typical city builders with sprawling urban landscapes, this game hones in on the intricate details of expanding and decorating the Addams family residence.
As players construct and customize the mansion, they progressively unlock various members of the eccentric Addams Family, each bringing their own “to-dos” and quirks into the game. While the game’s microtransaction system can be somewhat extensive, it remains a well-designed and genuinely enjoyable experience for those intrigued by its premise. It accurately delivers on its promise, offering a charming and functional city-building style game centered around a beloved IP, carving out a distinct niche among free iOS & Android games.
Digimon ReArise: The Art of Raising Digital Monsters
For fans of monster collection and raising simulators, Digimon ReArise delivered precisely what was expected, albeit with a significant emphasis on its core mechanic. The narrative sees the human and Digimon worlds merging, propelling players through a story interspersed with turn-based battles. While an auto-battle function is present for convenience, the true heart of the game lies in its robust monster-raising system. This aspect takes center stage, requiring players to actively collect resources, train their Digimon, feed them, and foster their growth.
The game excels in providing a varied and rewarding experience in these areas. The detailed Digimon progression system, combined with a wealth of activities and items dedicated to nurturing your digital companions, ensures a deep and engaging gameplay loop. This focus on building bonds and evolving creatures creates a compelling experience that sets it apart in the collection genre, making Digimon ReArise a standout choice among free iOS & Android games for enthusiasts.
The King of Fighters All Star: Beat ’em Up Meets RPG
Defying genre expectations, The King of Fighters All Star reimagines the classic fighting series as a side-scrolling beat ’em up action RPG. While it’s not a pure fighting game, it remarkably retains the essence and aesthetic of The King of Fighters, appealing to both long-time fans and newcomers. The game effectively adapts the series’ iconic characters and their distinct fighting styles into a mobile-friendly format, where many moves are contextual rather than requiring complex combo inputs, simplifying the controls without sacrificing strategic depth.
Beyond the engaging combat, the game introduces detailed character management and collection mechanics, allowing players to build and customize a roster of fighters. This adds a layer of strategic depth that complements the action-packed gameplay, ensuring that players have plenty to engage with outside of brawling. Its polished aesthetic and faithful representation of the King of Fighters universe, combined with innovative gameplay adjustments, make this a truly fun and surprisingly deep addition to the roster of free iOS & Android games.
Zombie Blast Crew: Upgrades and Undead Action
For those who appreciate straightforward, action-packed gameplay, Zombie Blast Crew offers a polished arcade shooter experience infused with mobile gaming conventions. The premise is simple and directly reflected in its title: players are tasked with blasting hordes of zombies. While there are some variations in mission objectives, the core loop involves intense zombie shooting action. The game excels in its clean aesthetic and satisfying gunplay, making each encounter feel impactful.
A key progression system in Zombie Blast Crew involves upgrading your heroes. Starting with one, players quickly acquire additional characters, each with unique abilities, and continuously enhance their capabilities. Beyond the single-player campaign, the game provides competitive challenge modes that, while not strictly PvP, offer engaging ways to test skills and earn rewards. Its accessibility and addictive upgrade cycle make it a solid choice for quick bursts of entertainment among the free iOS & Android games.
American Dad! Apocalypse Soon: Humorous Bunker Management
Drawing immediate comparisons to the popular Fallout Shelter, American Dad! Apocalypse Soon distinguishes itself with a unique comedic slant and expanded gameplay mechanics. This title is heavily oriented around humor, weaving an outlandish story where aliens invade Earth, prompting players to construct an army of cloned Rogers to fend them off. The base-building elements are robust, allowing players to manage their bunker and its inhabitants, while the battle system provides surprisingly fun and engaging combat encounters.
While the game delivers a pleasant experience, even for those not deeply familiar with the American Dad! franchise, one significant point of contention involves the frequent appearance of 30-second ads, which can interrupt gameplay flow. Despite this minor drawback, the core gameplay—balancing humor, strategic base management, and engaging battles—offers a compelling alternative to similar titles. Its unique blend of popular IP and distinctive gameplay ensures its position as an interesting option within the realm of free iOS & Android games.
RuneScape Mobile: The Full MMORPG Experience, Anywhere
Securing the top spot in October’s lineup is RuneScape Mobile, which delivered an early access version of the iconic MMORPG directly to smartphones. This highly anticipated release promises and largely delivers the full RuneScape experience on mobile devices, including the crucial feature of cross-platform play. This means players can seamlessly transition their adventures between PC and mobile, a significant advantage for a game with such deep and time-consuming progression.
For those unfamiliar, RuneScape stands as one of the most enduring and expansive MMORPGs in history, known for its vast world, diverse skills, and player-driven economy. Bringing this comprehensive experience to mobile while maintaining its integrity is a monumental achievement. RuneScape Mobile continues to develop new features and evolve, making it an incredibly robust and immersive choice for anyone seeking a true MMORPG experience on their phone among free iOS & Android games, especially for Android users in early access.
Bonus Picks: Premium Strategy Games Worth the Price
While the focus remains on free iOS & Android games, October 2019 also highlighted two premium titles that are undeniably worth their modest price tags for strategy aficionados. These games exemplify high-quality mobile porting and design, demonstrating that some experiences are best delivered with a one-time purchase.
Total War Alexander: Grand Strategy on the Go
A standout premium title is Total War Alexander, a superb adaptation of the renowned strategy game series by Creative Assembly. This port expertly translates the complex grand strategy and real-time tactical battles to mobile, a challenge that many developers struggle with. For a mere $4.99, players gain access to one of the finest strategy titles available on mobile, offering deep campaigns and intricate combat that will satisfy even the most demanding strategists on both iOS and Android.
Bad North: Jotunn Edition: A Tactical Tower Defense Hybrid
Finally, Bad North: Jotunn Edition emerged as another exceptional premium offering at $4.99. This game masterfully blends elements of real-time tactics with tower defense, creating a unique and compelling hybrid genre experience. Its distinct minimalist art style and intuitive gameplay make it immediately engaging, while the strategic depth ensures long-term replayability. Any fan of tactical games will find countless hours of enjoyment protecting their island kingdom from Viking invaders, making it a must-have for those willing to invest a small sum in quality mobile gaming.
