Virtually all free to play games are. The most popular are designed in a way to lure you in with freebies and gameplay that tickles you lizard brain in a pleasant way. Then, when you are invested enough, they annoy you with waiting times and artifical speed bumps just enough to make you spend bucks in their cash shop but not enough to stop playing. These games are basically slot machines masquerading as a game, where the only goal is to milk you dry of your income.

Almost all mobile-only games from mobile-only game developers and advertised in mobile-only environments are trash. Look for mobile games related to other gaming environments or advertising channels. Android games through Humble Bundle are great (although they don't do mobile-only bundles any more?). Android ports of PC or Switch games tend to be pretty good. Open source Android games run the gamut of quality, but the ways they are bad are the same ways open source PC games are bad, not the very different set of ways that mobile games are bad (microtransactions, ads, etc).

I have exactly one game on my phone. Bloons Tower Defense 6. Without a doubt a great game!

Cultist Simulator, Stardew Valley, Minecraft, Slay the Spire and Dead Cells are all good options. Admittedly they're all PC games you can play on mobile but they're still good.

Apple Arcade seems to have escaped this cycle and has games that feel like early mobile games where developers made their games passion projects; games are focused on fun without any in app purchases, games get constant content updates, remasters of some of the best mobile games but without ads or in app purchases.

There's an Android app called "minireview" which has tons of reviews of games on Google Play and helps filter out the garbage.

Been playing Oddmar, a fantastic platformer on iOS.
It’s fun to play on the phone, but getting a controller and playing on the iPad is chef’s kiss

Yes, I'd say if you cut out the pc/console to mobile ports then 95% of mobile games are hot garbage that aren't even worth the data its saved to, as they are most likely just thinly veiled spyware looking to suck as much of your money up as possible with as little effort as possible.

Like others have said, its like looking for a needle in a haystack of flaming hot garbage.

https://thelemmy.club/post/398879

I asked, Lemmy answered.

Might not be your cup of tea, but I like Dungeon Village 2.

If you find a good developer, it's worth checking their catalogue. For example, Butterscotch Shenanigans is one I am a fan of. Another to look at is Noodlecake.

My controversial opinion is that candy crush is actually brilliant, yeah they want you to buy gold but it's more fun not to. The same goes for a lot of advert funded / in app purchase games - they're fantastic mobile games if you ignore the money option.

Morrowind ports and similar aren't great mobile games, they're great games but candy crush I can pull out my pocket when I'm waiting for a bus and get totally drawn into a few rounds. Airport control is another example, draw lines to direct landing planes and avoid a crash - super simple and repetitive but its complexity grows, cut the rope likewise is a true game in my definition because you learn skills and develop your personal ability beyond just learning game mechanics. They're engaging and enjoyable with a complexity ramp and nice easy to understand ui and graphics - they're everything a mobile game should be.

There are some great horror and story games too, especially the Indy ones

Just wanted to share that if you have a Netflix account, you can probabaly try some good mobile games. Here's some I found that were good:

Arcanium

Bloons

Into the Breach

Since I didn't see it here.... Banner saga 1,2 &3 are absolutely wonderful.

It's definitely not you. You're right and most of them are complete garbage. Idk what kind of game you are looking for but Bloons TD6 is great. It does have an up front fee but if you buy it it's actually playable. It does have some microtransactions unfortunately but it's 100% totally playable without spending any money beyond what you paid to buy it. The Stardew Valley mobile port is another great one that does come with an up front fee and no microtransactions. Since the mobile version isn't actually done by concernedape himself though it isn't always up to date with the latest and greatest updates he has added to the game.

Time is too precious for wasting it playing subpar games on mobile phones.

For me the best gaming experience is on the PC.

Get yourself GeForce now and a Bluetooth controller, you'll never go back to Android games.

Egg Inc. was alright but mostly yes.

snake.io is a great little game

Depends on what you like my friend!

Tap Wizard 2 and Home Quest have been recent favorites in the "idle simulation" space Also Vampire Survivors and Melvor Idle are both on mobile platforms so it is objectively false to call all mobile games bad 😉

Id say League is probably the closest you’re going to get to a “real” game. Reasonable prices. No P2W. And the game is super polished and quality.