Crashlands

Crashlands took the proven crafting formula of survival and base-building and brought it to the touchscreen with controls designed directly for fingers, not as a compromise port. The player character Flux Dabes crash-lands on an unknown planet, where she must gather resources, craft tools and weapons, and gradually work her way through a story full of absurd humor and distinctive dialogue that sets the game apart from most similarly themed titles on the market.

The combat system combines real-time dodging and attacking with a fairly deep gear system – weapons and armor can be combined and upgraded, giving the game surprising depth for a mobile title. Controls are handled by a virtual joystick for movement and buttons for actions positioned so they don't cover the action on screen, and it works just as well on a small phone as on a tablet. The visual style, with bold colors and exaggerated character proportions, gives the game a fairy-tale lightness that contrasts with the fairly demanding crafting system underneath.

It's a one-time paid game with no ads, which was rather the exception among mobile RPGs in its release year. With this approach, Butterscotch Shenanigans built a reputation as a studio that relies on honest content rather than monetization, and the game remains a celebrated example of how a full-fledged RPG can work on mobile without a single paid upgrade offer.

Why play it: For players craving a deep crafting RPG with humor, with no worries about ads or pressure toward microtransactions.