Run, jump, dodge and shoot your way to these action Android games.
There are so many awesome action games in the Google Play Store, it can be hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. But we’ve done the heavy lifting for you and after hundreds of hours of playing, we’ve rounded up the best action-packed games for Android that are worth checking out.
Many of the games on this list are paid apps, which might give you pause, so you’ll need to trust us when we say these games are well worth the initial investment. Plus, it’s always good to support those teams developing great games for Android!
When you’re done here, be sure to check out our best Android games roundup!
The games
- Ailment
- AnimA
- Battlelands Royale
- Dandara
- Dead Cells
- Death Road to Cananda
- Downwell
- Genshin Impact
- Grimvalor
- Huntdown
- ICEY
- Injustice 2
- JYDGE
- Pascal’s Wager
- Penarium
- Redungeon
- Suzy Cube
- Tesla vs Lovecraft
- Witcheye
Ailment
Ailment is a top-down sci-fi shooter with tons of movie references and horror elements. There are a lot of guns and enemies to kill, a solo campaign to complete, and PvP to hone your skills. It’s a brutal and graphic game, so it’s not the most family-friendly. Even so, it’s a great time.
The campaign has you wake up on a strange ship floating in space. The crew have turned evil, and you have to slaughter them to get out. It’s not all dark with plenty of humor and references to pop culture and media that’ll have you chuckling. The retro pixel art is fantastic, too.
The PvP side lets you battle friends or strangers in a fight to the death. You can earn a variety of guns and skins to customize your gameplay.
Ailment
Free w/ ads, IAPs at Google Play Store
This brutal top-down shooter is a hoot with lots of killing, references, and other stuff to keep you entertained.
AnimA
Here’s another ARPG for you loot fanatics out there (hey!). Unlike Titan Quest, which sets itself apart from Diablo with its setting and build diversity, AnimA pays heavy homage to Blizzard’s franchise. And you know what? We’re fine with that because the game is awesome on its own merits.
Sure, the fonts may look familiar, but any Diablo fan will appreciate the gameplay loop, the dark and foreboding atmosphere, and all of the enemies to kill. I lost many hours in AnimA, just hoping to earn some more loot. Yes, it’s free-to-play and therefore comes with microtransactions, but they’re not too bad.
AnimA
Free w/ IAPs at Google Play Store
AnimA is an isometric ARPG that features a fun gameplay/loot loop, pretty visuals, and a dark storyline. It’s perfect for Diablo fans. It’s also free with minimal microtransactions.
Battlelands Royale
Battlelands Royale is a made-for-mobile battle royale game that combines cartoony graphics and a top-down perspective with a simple last-man-standing gameplay format that works well. This game offers a fairly unique take on the battle royale formula that is absolutely for casual gaming sessions as a match takes only a few minutes to complete.
Just like PUBG or Fortnite, you parachute down onto a map with a bunch of other players — 32 total players in this case — and must scavenge for weapons, ammo, and armor while staying in the safety circle and eliminating your enemies. You can go it alone or play in Duos, depending on which you’d prefer.
There’s plenty of variety to keep each match interesting. Of course, there are microtransactions for things like cosmetics and emotes, but that’s quite typical for this sort of thing. Even so, Battlelands Royale is quite a fun game.
Battlelands Royale
Free w/ IAPs at Google Play Store
This battle royale was made specifically for mobile. Games last only a few minutes each and are great for casual play.
Dandara
Dandara is a fantastic and beautiful Metroidvania that was quite well-received on the PC and console releases. The gist here is you can manipulate gravity to jump off walls and ceilings.
One thing that I think helps Dandara stand out from other modern Metroidvanias like Dead Cells and Hollow Knight is that it plays at a much faster pace. Sure, it lacks the perma-death of Dead Cells or Hollow Knight’s strange subterranean setting, but I found the overall speed of the game to be closer to other platformers like Celeste.
This version of the game comes with the Trials of Fear update, which adds three new areas, another boss, power-ups, and more. It’s quite an awesome game and I think you’ll like it. It also comes with controller support.
Dandara
Dandara is a great Metroidvania on the Play Store. It’s got a ton of content and is well worth the money and time investment.
Dead Cells
Dead Cells released on Android a little while ago and it was worth the wait. This game is one of the best indies of the last decade. It mixes tough, brutal combat that many compare to Dark Souls with a rogue-like to ensure every death hurts. Each time you fail, you get back up again from your cell, start over, learn from your mistakes, and try to do better this time around.
The port itself is incredibly well-done and it supports controllers if you’d prefer that route. The touchscreen controls are really top-notch, but it’s hard to beat an external controller, for sure. Dead Cells is so good that I highlighted it in my Game of the Week series. I adore this game, without a doubt.
If you’re up for a steep challenge filled with dangerous enemies, loot, and build diversity, Dead Cells is an absolute must-play. In my opinion, it’s one of the best games on the Play Store right now.
Dead Cells
One of the best indie games ever has arrived on Android and the wait was worth it. This game is hard, but man is it fun.
Death Road to Canada
When you’re going to be dropping money on a game, you’re going to want to be sure it has good replay value. In that regard, Death Road To Canada is an outstanding choice. Facing a zombie apocalypse, you must lead a scrappy squad of somewhat interesting characters on a deadly mission to the relative safety of Canada.
Along the way, you’ll need to explore and loot places for supplies, while also managing your team’s health and morale. Everything in Death Road to Canada is randomly generated, making every playthrough a unique experience in this road trip action-RPG.
Death Road to Canada also supports controllers, which is always a win in my book. A custom character creator lets you have some additional fun, and you can even meet them in your journey (for good or for ill). There’s just a ton of stuff in this game and it’s so worth the $10. There’s a lot to say for practically infinite replayability.
Death Road to Canada
Death Road to Canada is no stranger to our lists of best games and for good reason. It has a ton of replay value and it’s just a good game.
Downwell
Downwell is a retro-style rogue-like game where the goal is fairly simple — you jump down the well and see how far you can fall. Easy, right? Well, not quite — the well is filled with enemies. But don’t worry, you’re able to shoot down as you go, which also helps you kind of float.
Story? Who needs a story when all you’re looking for is action, baby! From the cool graphics, excellent music, and simple controls, this is a game that’s easy to jump into but hard to master. Each time you play is unique, with new weapon upgrades popping up randomly. At the end of each stage, you also get to choose an additional power-up to help you along.
Downwell
Downwell is one hell of a game. See how far you can go as you enjoy the endearing retro styling.
Genshin Impact
Genshin Impact is an open-world action-adventure title and it’s become a surprise hit. It takes a lot of inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and that’s more than OK because the story is quite engaging on its own and the game is gorgeous. It’s easy to lose hours in Genshin Impact and you’ll see why if you try it out.
Overall, I’d say the game’s biggest weakness is the monetization. It’s free to play on mobile, PC, and PS4 (with cross-save between PC and mobile), but with that comes hefty in-app purchases and an abrupt stop when it comes to the endgame grind. It can be downright frustrating, but that’s just what you’ll deal with.
I love Genshin Impact a lot. The gacha mechanics for new characters and weapons aren’t too bad, and the game itself is good enough that you might feel enough good will toward the developer to fork over some cash. If you opt to not pay anything, get ready for a hefty grind.
Genshin Impact
Free w/ IAPs at Google Play Store
One of the new kids on the block, Genshin Impact is a gacha open-world action-adventure game that takes a lot of cues from Breath of the Wild. Despite some misgivings with the monetization model, it’s a great game.
Grimvalor
Grimvalor is a side-scrolling action RPG that features tight controls, excellent movement abilities, an interesting albeit familiar story, and pretty graphics. Until I got hooked on other games, this was my go-to whenever I had a free moment.
You need to be tactical about how you approach enemies and level your character. There’s plenty to explore, too, with secrets hidden throughout the map. All told, the world is hellbent on seeing you fail, but take up your sword and fight on anyway. Most of the time, the odds are against you and it’s up to your skill to see yourself through.
You get the first act for free, after which you need to fork over $7 for the full game. I like this tactic; it lets you experience the game as it is and then you have the choice to pay to continue. Go ahead and give it a try to see if you like it.
Grimvalor
Grimvalor fills that action RPG itch while being a fun platformer. Enjoy the excellent combat and exploration. You even get a trial demo before purchasing.
Huntdown
The future is looking pretty darn grim in the cities of Huntdown. Gang leaders rule the streets, and their lackeys wreak havoc and terror wherever they go. As one of three bounty hunters, your job is to take them all down one by one and restore some semblance of order to this warped world. Armed to the teeth with every weapon you can imagine (guns, chainsaws, a guitar, among others), you’ll need to platform your way to each level’s boss and successfully take them out to proceed.
Levels are short, but challenging, and the satisfaction you’ll get from acing them is one of Huntdown’s biggest draws. This is pure action-platforming with a shiny ’80s veneer splashed over it. The soundtrack is awesome, the 16-bit graphics are retro fun, and the game’s got attitude and style coming out the wazoo. Huntdown is ad-free and the game’s only in-app purchase of $8.49 comes after you’ve completed the first two demo stages.
Huntdown
Take to the neon-washed mean streets of a city engulfed by gang warfare in Huntdown. Put your skills to the test in this high octane action-platformer!
ICEY
At its core, ICEY is a 2D side-scrolling action game where you play as the titular character, a mysterious cybernetic warrior that kicks serious ass. The game plays flawlessly, with tight controls and new skills to be unlocked and upgraded as you progress through the game.
If that’s all ICEY was — a kick-ass side-scrolling action game — it would still find a spot on this list. But that’s just the beginning; there’s also an entire meta-narrative at play here exploring the relationship between the player and the narrator. It’s pretty awesome and certainly unique among games as a whole, but especially mobile games.
ICEY
Enjoy an excellent side-scroller that also holds some deeper truths. Explore this meta-narrative.
Injustice 2
Injustice 2 is the sequel to the award-winning game Injustice: Gods Among Us, which is also one of the best fighting games for Android. If you’ve played and enjoyed the first game, you’re sure to enjoy the sequel which features more fantasy fight match-ups between your favorite heroes and villains from the DC Universe.
Unlock new heroes and build your ultimate team as you battle in 3 vs 3 fights with the ability to swap out fighters as needed. The usual suspects are here — Batman, Superman, Joker, Harley Quinn — as well as a whole slew of new heroes and villains which you’ll discover and unlock as you play.
Injustice 2
Free w/ IAPs at Google Play Store
A fun brawler for DC fans, Injustice 2 sports plenty of fighting action with your favorite heroes and villains.
JYDGE
JYDGE is a gritty and violent top-down twin-stick shooter that is an absolute blast to play. You are the JYDGE, a cybernetic enforcement officer who uses his Gavel (see: BIG freaking gun) to dole out RoboCop-style justice. Each level features different challenges that are required to progress but never feel like a slogging chore.
Confiscating illegal cash along the way, you’re able to upgrade JYDGE and his gavel with a deep selection of accessories. In that way, JYDGE retains the rogue-like element from its predecessor Neon Chrome by encouraging you to replay levels with different upgrade combinations until you complete all the challenges.
With a game that has you replay levels over and over again, it’s imperative for a game to find that mix of great gameplay with an interesting soundtrack that isn’t super annoying or repetitive — and JYDGE absolutely delivers.
JYDGE
JYDGE is an awesome top-down rogue-like shooter. Exact justice in this gritty cyberpunk dystopia.
Pascal’s Wager
Pascal’s Wager is an interesting game. Called by some a Dark Souls for Android, it’s an action RPG with several Souls-like hallmarks. It’s set in a moody medieval setting, combat is difficult, and it respawns enemies when you stop at a checkpoint. You get the idea.
Where it sets itself apart is the playable characters. You don’t create a character and lock yourself into a build. Instead, you can choose a character and change between the ones you’ve unlocked any time outside of combat. So no, you don’t spec points into your build because you get to try some wildly different play styles on the fly.
So yes, Pascal’s Wager tries really hard to be Dark Souls and that’s fine. I highly recommend that you use a controller, though, because you’ll die a lot more than you need to with the touchscreen controls. It’s also a premium purchase with no nonsense.
Pascal’s Wager
Billed as “Dark Souls for Android,” Pascal’s Wager is a brutally challenging game for fans of the Souls-like genre. Play with a controller, though.
Penarium
Penarium is a tough-as-nails platformer created by Team 17, who you probably remember best from the Worms franchise. Whereas Worms was a slow-paced strategy game, Penarium is on the opposite end of the spectrum, featuring fast-paced action and requiring quick reflexes to survive.
It tells the tale of a Willy, a portly farm boy who’s always longed for adventure. One day, a circus show rolls into town and Willy decides to run away for a bit of fun and excitement. Unfortunately, this is no ordinary circus — it’s Penarium, the sadistic circus extravaganza! It’s simultaneously dark and quite light-hearted.
Penarium
Survive the circus and claim victory, or die trying. The crowd wants to see you fail.
Redungeon
With fantastic hits like Dead Cells and Hades, it’s not a stretch to say that roguelikes have been having a resurgence in popularity the past few years. All that action isn’t just reserved for consoles though and Android has some awesome contenders in the genre to offer up. Enter Redungeon, an endless dungeon-crawler featuring randomized dungeons, increasing levels of difficulty, and some adorable pixel art.
Redungeon’s gameplay isn’t complicated, but staying alive through its gauntlet of traps is no easy task. Playing like a brutal obstacle course, your main goal is to collect treasures and make it as far as you can in one piece. You can choose between on-screen button controls or touch-screen swipe controls to maneuver your characters and in either case I’ve found that the controls are intuitive and responsive. There are also different characters to unlock, each of whom has their own abilities. Creep A. Crow, for example, is an extremely cute scarecrow whose passive ability allows it to jump over single space gaps with the greatest of ease.
Redungeon is free to play with ads and in-app purchases. There is an optional one-time in-app purchase to remove ads and additional in-app purchases to buy more coins, but coins can also be acquired by just playing the game, so the monetization is refreshingly fair. If you’ve missed the boat on this excellent action-packed game, there’s no time like the present to give Redungeon a try!
Redungeon
Free w/ ads, IAPs at Google Play Store
Redungeon is an endless dungeon-crawling obstacle course with multiple characters to unlock, a great soundtrack, and challenging gameplay that will keep you coming back for more.
Suzy Cube
Suzy Cube is a fun adventure that spans many levels, each one a new challenge to master. With gamepad support, Suzy Cube promises many hours of platforming fun. Locate power-ups and master the levels in order to recover your castle’s stolen gold.
Suzy Cube is a game that’s been in the works for many years. Developed by an indie game developer, this action-packed platformer is a must-play game on mobile with touch controls that have no right being as good as they are. It’s easiest to compare the graphics and gameplay to Super Mario 3D Land for the Nintendo 3DS and is far superior to Mario’s mobile debut, Super Mario Run.
It’s a cutesy adventure for 3D platformer fans and I personally love this game to death. It really is a lot of fun.
Suzy Cube
This 3D platformer is a cute, fun adventure. Locate your castle’s stolen gold and power-ups along the way.
Tesla vs Lovecraft
Tesla vs Lovecraft is another spectacular game from Finnish developers 10tons Ltd and it’s a real treat. The game pits Nikola Tesla and his hi-tech inventions against a vengeful H.P. Lovecraft who has unleashed endless waves of nightmarish monsters.
This is an incredibly polished game that uses twin-stick controls for moving and shooting. The campaign gradually increases in difficulty with well over 200 enemies capable of spawning on screen at one time so you must be fast with your trigger finger. Fortunately, there are power-ups and perks aplenty, which are accessible in rogue-like fashion.
The touchscreen controls feel comfortable, and the game also offers great support for Bluetooth controllers which is always fantastic to see in a premium game. There’s a ton of content built into the base game, along with some DLC available that offers new monsters, weapons, and much more. Don’t be worried; the game feels polished without needing to shell out more money, but once you’ve finally made it through everything that Tesla vs Lovecraft has to offer you might be glad there’s a little bit more to explore.
Tesla vs Lovecraft
Yet another fantastic game from 10tons Ltd, Tesla vs Lovecraft is an action-packed twin-stick shooter.
Witcheye
Witcheye is a wonderfully retro game that looks and sounds like it’s ripped from the 90s era, but also happens to be a near-perfect mobile platformer that makes excellent use of touch controls. You play as a witch who transforms herself into a bouncing eyeball as she heads off on a quest to retrieve her stolen magical ingredients.
There are over 50 levels to enjoy that each features amazingly colorful graphics and a very memorable soundtrack. There’s plenty to unlock, including a hard mode that completely revamps the whole game to up the challenge. There are even speedrunning tools if you’re into that!
Witcheye
Once again, we have another excellent game published by Devolver. Witcheye is a fantastic retro game that’s a real nostalgia trip.
These are the best action-packed games for Android
There’s no shortage of great games on the Google Play Store, as long as you’re willing to spend a couple of dollars upfront.
Death Road to Canada is probably one of my favorite mobile games, so that gets a big recommendation from me. There’s a ton of customization (and randomization) available for creating your own characters, and each playthrough is unique in terms of the weapons and extra characters you’ll run into on your journey through the zombie apocalypse up to Canada.
Another game that I absolutely adore is Penarium, which is a tough-as-nails platformer where you play as a hapless boy who’s been tricked into fighting for his life in an evil circus. There’s a ton of challenging levels to play through and it’s an unrelenting experience that plays surprisingly well with the simple touchscreen controls.
Last but not least, give Tesla vs Lovecraft a go. It’s a top-down twin-stick shooter that looks great and features some of the craziest action you’ll ever see in a mobile game. It’s a rogue-like shooter that will literally throw hundreds of enemies at you to the point where they completely fill the screen. Luckily, you get a ton of weapons and power-ups to help keep them back.
Of course, each game here is well worth your time and investment.
Updated October 2021: Added Huntdown to our list!
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