As much as we enjoy our serious mobile games here at Pocket Tactics, sometimes it’s nice to just unwind and have some fun with friends and family. Party games are a really entertaining and worthwhile genre of games and nothing’s better than meeting up, sharing a good meal, and capping off a hangout session via our mobiles.
Sometimes it’s hard to get a group of people together, but so long as there’s two of you, we’ve got another great list you might like.
Easy to pick up, high-energy and socially demanding, but along with these requirements comes exhilaration, surprise and a guaranteed way to shake things up. The life of the party might just be lurking in the palm of your hand. Here’s our collection of the best games you can play with your friends, whether you’re using an iPhone, iPad or an android device.
Identity V
Developer: NetEase Games
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free
One hunter chases four innocents across a gothic manse while the would-be escapees struggle to find and solve puzzles. The asymmetry and creepy-cute aesthetic make for a thrilling and iconic experience. The devs are always experimenting with new play modes (like the 8v2 for starters) and the hunt-or-be-hunted setup is a timely mix of the survival- and battle-royale games so en vogue these days. Add in a splash of progression (skill trees, new and unusual characters, cosmetic unlocks) and you have a winner.
Soul Knight
Developer: ChillyRoom
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free
Soul Knight is a pixelated top-down arcade shooter with a dash of roguelike elements thrown in for good measure. Technically it’s not primarily a multiplayer game, but the local multiplayer mode is so good it would be criminal not to give it a shout-out here. The weapons are unusual and distinctive, dreamt up with some real flair. It takes some real skill to pull off impressive moves, but the difficulty-satisfaction curve is pitched just right with this one.
Mucho Party
Developer: GlobZ
Platforms: iTunes, Android
Price: Free (effectively a trial with limited games), $3.99 one-time IAP for full unlock.
Sample a sumptuous variety of mini-games with inspired and easily-digested twists with goofy facial reactions, and deft touch controls. Your player avatar has an oversized head with a handful of emote options which are customizable: just snap a few photos of your mug with exaggerated expressions and mild hilarity ensues. Yes, the new Mario Party is a classic return to form but Mucho Party is a really nice substitute available for the price of a song. A hidden gem.
Heads Up!
Developer: Warner Bros.
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: $0.99, Free (android). Optional IAP to unlock extra category modes.
Heads Up! Was a victim of its own success for a time. The game is dead simple: a word appears on screen and is held above the guesser’s head. This same guesser is assailed by clues from teammates until the guesser finds the right word or phrase . Cycling through words quickly to rack up a high score, switching up the guessing role amongst team members. Heads Up! has one simple advantage over every other game on this list: it doesn’t need a surface to work. Works just as great standing or crammed together in a vehicle. Anywhere with good sight lines is fair game for Heads Up! short of a hall of mirrors. It’s so good that it’s cliche, at risk of getting played to death and forgotten. In case you’ve never given it a chance with a bored group, do.
Spaceteam
Developer: Henry Smith
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free
Masquerading as chaos and nonsense, Spaceteam never fails to gin up a riotous good time. Navigating the reaches of space takes technical know-how and precise coordination, and Spaceteam spoofs these facts of spacetime-travel by splitting up instructions from control panels. Someone knows which button to press, and where, but the orders and details are deliberately turned into techno-speak-gibberish. Jabbering, giddy gibbons sharing gibberish…in space. Seriously though, the game works wonders for those improvisational types who thrive on chaos and unprecedented social situations. Oh, and it allows for cross-platform play between Android and iOS.
Talisman: Digital Edition
Developer: Asmodee Digital
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: $3.99, $3.49. See here for an extensive DLC guide.
Talisman is a wild time and a mess, digital or analogue, but it’s markedly tidier and every bit as much of a caper on the good old ‘pad. Collecting magic artefacts, spells and literal pieces of fate and destiny as the hour grows late. It’s a classic and epic game, but also well suited to casual meet-and-greets, too. Because each turn’s decisions are relatively simple and straightforward, players can banter, chow down or otherwise divert themselves without hampering the flow of the gameplay at all.
Psych!
Developer: Warner Bros.
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free
Creative word games can be risky prospects when entertaining guests, but they also give such sharp turns of phrase and sweet surprises. (Cue Balderdash, Apples to Apples, Cards Against Humanity) Anything that allows for write-in answers is a golden opportunity, and Psych! Is no exception, adding replayability and variety. After hearing the prompt, each player jots down a fake answer to add to the pool. Points are earned by either guessing the true answer, or duping others into picking yours. It’s clean, freeform and effortless excuse to mess around and let your imagination run wild with some friends.
Mysterium
Developer: Asmodee Digital
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: $3.99, $3.49
Solve a murder mystery with a little ethereal help in Mysterium, where players will use richly illustrated images to try and winnow the guilty from the innocent. Just like in Clue, location, suspect and weapon will have to be grouped into the proper combinations. The mediums divine which of these combinations is valid, and then after successfully sleuthing, the group has to figure out which of the stories is the ghost’s own tragic ending. So a game that goes well ends where the ghost’s afterlife begun. It’s a fun gothic take on deduction, creative visual interpretation, and contention, sometimes downright quarrelsome co-operative goals.
Triple Agent
Developer: Tasty Rook
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: Free
Triple Agent is a mixture of chaos and order, of ineffective backstabs, liars giving useful tips and honest fools botching the naked truth. It’s a find-the-betrayer style party game, just like Mafia and Werewolf, but what sets it apart from its ilk, aside from a whip-smart app and panoply of extra optional win conditions, is the total miniaturisation of the experience. One device is passed around to dole out identities, clues and the final elimination vote. The group at the end of the chaotic play session collectively eliminates one person, and if they were a Good Guy the Bad Guys win and vice versa. Really fresh interface and game design take on an old standard.
Worms 4
Developer: Team17
Platforms: iOS, Android
Price: $4.99
Worms are good for the earth, enriching the soil and setting the fields for a rich harvest next season. Worms from Team 17, on the other hand, spend all their lives trading quips and aiming impractical and ultraviolent weapons at each other. Carpet bombs, napalm, the holy hand grenade, anything and everything is an instrument of death in Worms. The terrain is destructible too, and the only ‘loot crate’ drops are just in-game goodies and not a euphemism for scummy monetisation. This is a premier zany 2D shootout, decades old and no worse for wear.
What are your favourite party games? Let us know in the comments!