Patient Gamers

Currently two:

War Thunder - It has so many issues from the grind, to unadressed design issues (IE 10kg HE shells doing no damage on a direct hit), to balance issues including p2w vehicles. That said, under all the shit, theres a solid foundation, and no other game comes close to replicating it.

Super Auto Pets - Its an autobattler streamlined to the point where its the perfect casual game when I don't feel like anything else. It also doesn't have any of the normal f2p traps, and is monitized purely on cosmetics that can also be earned for free.

Edit: I guess Dota 2 counts too. I put a ton of time into that. I'm not a particularly good player, but its one of the best team-based games out there, so I enjoy playing it with friends.

Warframe

Warframe ever since 2012!

If you mean free-to-play in the sense of a commercial game that one can play without payment, but where it is supported by data-mining or in-app-purchases or ads, I can only off-the-cuff recall playing a few games in that category:

• World of Warships. I played one round against humans.

• Defense of the Ancients 2. I played one round against human players and some time against the computer.

• Fallout Shelter. I didn't like it much, though I do like the mainline Fallout series.

• I remember some gamebook game on Android that showed ads at the bottom.

I'm not playing any of those currently. Broadly-speaking, I don't like the model. I'd rather just pay up front.

If you're talking about free-to-play-with-the-aim-of-selling-you-on-a-larger-game, I've played plenty of those -- in the 1990s, shareware and demos were a common way to promote a game. But they've kind of fallen out of favor in terms of DLC. I don't think I've played any of those for a while.

If you're talking about entirely free games, then I've played plenty of those. I think the two that I'm currently playing off-and-on, both open-source, would be:

• Shattered Pixel Dungeon, an Android roguelike. [email protected]
• Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, a (mostly PC; there's an Android build and you can play it on a touchscreen, but it's really better-suited to a keyboard) open-world roguelike. There's a not-very-active Threadiverse community at [email protected]; the subreddit is much more active.

PC - Path of Exile - This is an ARPG similar to Diablo 2. It has very well defined terms (outside of a few edge cases) that help guide your build creation. Lots of community support. They release a new league with content and updates every 3-4 months. While F2P, stash tabs are a useful purchase if you enjoy it long-term. I've been playing since 1.0 (over 10 years ago now)

Android - Idle Obelisk Miner - There is some initial manual mining, but then you'll unlock drones and bombs for mining. It's better as a screen-on idler, but can be played screen off, but much slower. In terms of an idler, I feel the pacing is done very well. (30 days of play time in game as of now)

Warframe and Lotro are terminal illnesses for me. I'm never done playing them. It's an endless cycle of dressing up a hobbit in Middle Earth or dressing up a Warframe in space.

I recently picked up Crossout again when browsing free games on xbox. The Battle Bots x Lego kinda thing works for me, sadly it's very pay to win so you hit a certain level and then the fun is gone.

I have put some 1400 hours into Rocket League, even though I've been playing it since it wasn't free. Easy to learn, impossible to master. Sadly the community is super super toxic, so it's more fun if you have a friend or two to play with.

Warframe and Warthunder. Lot of war happening, now that I think about it.

I'm starting to get a bit burnt out on Warthunder, though.

Does wordle count?

Xonotic, tf2

Predecessor is the best MOBA I've ever played, and it's not even out of early access yet. Right now just grinding Brawl because it's braindead action but the normal gamemode is also good.

Thinking about getting back into Crossfire. That was a super fun time during high school with a good friend about 15 years ago. Maybe it's just the nostalgia but I remember some quite fun modes like Ghosts.

I don't remember when Alto's Odyssey became free to play on Android, but it's honestly such an amazing game. Its prequel is pretty nice too, but I like this one better.

I used to be addicted to Super Starfish too. I'm even pretty close to completing it, but just never had my chance to do so because... reasons. I would love to see this game on the Nintendo DS.

I played the original Sonic trilogy. It was fine, I guess.

The Dadish series was super annoying and very infuriating despite looking like something a child could complete in one sitting.

Bean Dreams was absolutely phenomenal, though. I loved every second of it. Why on earth did they have to take it down from app stores???

I played Okay. It was okay.

Bart Bonte's "color" series of games are also pretty fun to play through. You actually can finish all of them in one sitting if you're brainy enough to do so. I did. "Black" was my favorite, since you get a glimpse of the Belgian flag at the end (Bart is Belgian after all).

I even played Goat Simulator on mobile (not the sequel, the original). For some reason I enjoyed that one the most despite how very obviously limited the mobile version is.

Conclusion: I like very niche categories of mobile games.

I play League of Legends and a couple gacha games all F2P. Genshin, Snowbreak, and Aether Gazer. Wuthering Waves just came out so time will tell if it stays in my rotation or not.

Rocket League!

World of Tanks was the last I was hooked on but burnt out and haven't played it in forever.

I have not come back to it in awhile, but Mobile Legends bang bang. It's a tower rush game (league of legends knock off) that is free to play, with plenty to buy for those that want. Besides some of the cosmetic stuff (skins and stuff) anything can be gotten through grinding.

It's 5 on 5 tower rush, with lots of different characters. I had gotten quite familiar with playing a few, and for awhile really knew a bit about playing against most of the regularly seen characters.

Nowadays I get the urge every few months, update app, play for a week or two then put it down.

Sim city build it also stays on my phone, as it is a peaceful and colorful game. Easy to play for 10 minutes or go in and out of on a long ride.

I've been playing Palia. It's a chill MMO focused on resource gathering, NPC quests, and crafting.

Super Auto Pets and Bloons TD Battles 2

Recently got back into Dota 2. It's still incredibly good!

Risk.

Not sure why though. I dislike Hasbro, the game isn't particularly exciting, and I don't like the monetization, but it's relaxing for me. I haven't spent a dime and I only play for 15-20 min/day, but I like it for some reason.

Likewise with Magic: The Gathering Arena. I don't play as much recently, but I do like it.

Most of my time is spent playing older AAAs and indie games though.

DISCLAIMER: The following is a subjective opinion, your mileage may vary

Wuthering Waves hit me blindsided. I went in with low expectations since Tower of Fantasy was so incompetently made (just IMO, no offense), but this game is easily a top 5 anime action RPG from what I‘ve played among the likes of Ni no Kuni II, Code Vein, and Genshin.

The combat has more skill expression (perfect dodges, counterattacks to break the enemy) than Genshin, and the story is more mature (human sacrifices for example), both of which I welcome. It has barely launched, has technical issues (stutters a plenty, no inverted camera option, etc.), and other things I could nag about (dudes too edgy, girls too uninspired), but the animations, graphics, and story presentation are surprisingly good and top notch as far as gachas go. I enjoy the story more than Genshin‘s too.

I recommend to give it a shot. In its current state it‘s already super fun even with its shortcomings. If this was a singleplayer game on Steam, I‘d buy it for 40 bucks, it‘s that good lol

https://www.kartkrew.org/index.html

Dr. Robotnik’s Ring Racers. A Sonic fan game that's similar to Mario Kart. It's kinda drawn me in and it's very technical.

In terms of multiplayer games to play with friends on Discord; been playing a lot of Apex Legends recently. Sadly I suck at aiming.

Gumballs and Dungeons is a fun roguelike gacha. The main game loop is picking a Gumball which have different stats and mechanics and diving a Dungeon which has different enemies and mechanics. So you want to synergize your gumball with your strategy for a particular dungeon. Each floor of a dungeon is a 6x5 tile map and you flip the tiles looking for the down exit. There’s a boss every so many floors and just try to go a deep as you can. At the end of the run you keep some of the stuff you collected to unlock new dungeons and gumballs.

Another Eden is a gacha RPG from the writer and composer of sony enix dream team; chrono series, xeno series, final fantasy. There is so much content there and a ton of crossovers with other franchises. The map movement is done really well here for a mobile targeted rpg, it’s slightly elevated from a side scroll perspective and you mostly move horizontally in lanes with vertical connections here and there to switch between lanes. The writing is great, the music is great, the battle mechanics can get really deep.

The only mobile f2p game I've played in months is Super Snail. Slow burn gatcha idle rpg.

Honkai Star Rail just passed the one-year mark and I'm massively impressed with it. I don't often play games on mobile and this is only the second gacha I've put significant time into (the first being Final Fantasy Record Keeper). I honestly didn't know my four year old, not-flagship phone could run something like this. I guess there's a reason Hoyo has enough money to buy a small country.

The battle system is crazy good. Turn based without rounds is my favorite RPG battle system, and this might be the best version of it I've seen. The presentation's great. The story and the writing is a little weird.

I wish it didn't throw a million currencies and play modes at me, but I guess that's the genre (or just F2P in general these days). Looking forward to when I can sort all that stuff out in my head so I'm not wasting time on it when I get a chance to open it.

Pikmin Bloom. It helps me get up and walking and has guided me to cool local public art.

Currently playing The Finals. Quite nice with the destruction of everything.

I used to be addicted to PlanetSide 2. Great game but it really needs a rewite or a 3rd installment. Player numbers are low and the game feels dated but it's still so fun to me if you can find a coherent platoon

would not say hooked but I have been messing around on isleward.

VRChat

Various incremental/idle browser games that are truly free. Kittens Game is pretty good. It also has a mobile app (Android link) (iOS link) which you pay once upfront for. The Shark Game is also pretty cute.

Just found @incremental_[email protected]

pokemon tcg mobile

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2830720/FreeInfantry/

Free Infantry. I wouldn't say I'm hooked, but it would be great if this really took off again. Was a great game back in the day. I've completely forgotten how to play it or do anything and mostly fumble around.