Recently unboxed a fancy new Android TV and looking for some good games to play? Lifewire has you covered. Here’s a list of 16 of the best Android TV games you can download and install this year. These picks cover the gamut from role-playing games, racing sims, retro titles, and more.
Best for Storytelling: The Wolf Among Us (or Any Other Telltale Game)
While developer Telltale Games closed in September 2018, unfortunately, you can still download its excellent episodic adventure games on Android TV. The Wolf Among Us is one of its best. Based on DC Vertigo’s award-winning Fables comic book series, it follows fairy tale gumshoe, Bigby Wolf, as he investigates a gruesome murder. Like most Telltale titles, it features deft storytelling, excellent voice acting, and harrowing moral choices. Several other Telltale games are available for Android TV as well, and they’re all worth checking out.
Excellent storytelling and voice acting
A fascinating setting based on the Fables comic series
The demise of Telltale Games means there won’t be a sequel.
Best for a Group: Jackbox Party Pack 2
As its name suggests, the Jackbox Party Pack 2 is best enjoyed during a social gathering. It features five party games: the hit bluffing game Fibbage 2; the sound effects game Earwax; the absurd art auction game Bidiots; word prompt game Quiplash XL; and the nail-biting Bomb Corp. Players can use their phones, tablets, or computers as controllers, while spectators can join in by playing as audience members.
Mini games perfect for a party setting
It’s pricey for a mobile app
Best for Platform Lovers: Super Phantom Cat
Developed by Veewo Games, Super Phantom Cat is a retro-styled 2D platformer that pays homage to the 8- and 16-bit gaming eras. It features a quirky plot, a chiptune soundtrack, fully customizable controls, and even some bonus levels that promise more challenge and depth. Critics have praised the game for its visuals, classic gameplay, and charming unlockable characters.
Charming graphics and characters
The retro aesthetic
The platforming is a bit basic
Best for People Who Love Stupid Animal Antics: Goat Simulator
Coffee Stain Publishing’s chaotic Goat Simulator is dumb in the best way. Its premise is simple: you are a goat; a physics-defying, nigh-indestructible goat who causes as much mayhem as possible. The developer compares it to an old-school skating game, but instead of doing ollies you’re causing explosions, smashing property, and generally wrecking things. It’s also filled with bugs and glitches, but that’s all part of its charm. Coffee Stain is committed to keeping everything except game-breaking issues in the game because “everything else is hilarious.”
It’s ridiculous fun
You need a game controller to play
Best for Star Wars Fans: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Widely considered one of the best role-playing games of all time, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic takes place four thousand years before the rise of the Galactic Empire. Sith Lord Darth Malak has attacked the Republic with an armada, and it’s up to the player to gather a party full of heroes and stop him. The Android TV version features iconic Star Wars locations like Tatooine and Kashyyk, over 40 different Force powers, a streamlined user interface, full HID controller support and more. It’s the full KOTOR experience, with dozens of hours of gameplay, memorable characters, and sharp storytelling.
It’s one of the best RPGs of all time
The combat is a bit dated
Best for Dads: Octodad: Dadliest Catch
Like Goat Simulator, Octodad is mainly about having fun with physics and causing destruction. But, instead of a goat, you’re an octopus masquerading as a human. It’s your job to help him with his fatherly duties while keeping his cephalopodan nature a secret. That’s kinda tough when you don’t have bones. Silly and charming, Octodad is a sweet meditation on deception and fatherhood.
Its charming and goofy premise
It requires a compatible game controller to play
Best for Role-Playing Game Fans: Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VI is arguably one of the best entries in the long-running series and one of the best games of all time. It was the first in the franchise to allow people to play all of the main characters, and it introduced the Ultima Weapon, which has appeared in every Final Fantasy game since. Final Fantasy VI on Android is a remade version featuring updated graphics and controls. It also includes new magicites and events that were first introduced in the 2006 remake.
It’s arguably the best game in the Final Fantasy series
Like many Square Enix mobile games, it costs a bit more than the competition
Best for Point-and-Click Adventure Fans: Machinarium
This award-winning indie adventure game from Amanita Design tells the story of a little robot named Josef who’s searching for his girlfriend, Berta. Along the way, he’ll uncover a plot by the Black Cap Brotherhood and solve a variety of logic puzzles, brain teasers, and a mini-game. There’s no dialogue, except for some tutorials screens. Instead, the game tells its story via its visuals, animated thought bubbles, and a beautiful soundtrack composed by Floex.
The hand-drawn visuals
It’s a bit short
Best for Strategy Lovers: This War of Mine
Award-winning survival-themed strategy game This War of Mine has sold an impressive 4.5 million copies since its 2016 launch and has generally received positive reviews from critics. Inspired by the 1992–96 Siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War, it focuses on the daily lives of civilians caught up in an armed conflict. Trapped in their homes during the day, at night they struggle to find supplies, evade soldiers, and fight off hostile scavengers. Surviving often means making difficult decisions — do you try to protect everyone or sacrifice some for the greater good? This War of Mine’s DLC, The Little Ones, is also available, and developer 11 Bit Studios is donating 100% of proceeds to the charity War Child. It’s raised at least $500,000 to date.
Moral decisions that feel weighty and consequential
Proceeds from the DLC go to a worthy cause
The subject matter is a bit of a bummer
Best for Zombie Lovers: Death Road to Canada
Developer Noodlecake Studios calls Death Road to Canada a “randomly-generated road trip action-RPG” where you “manage a group of jerks as they explore cities, find weird people, and face up to 500 zombies at once.” Everything is randomized, including the locations, events, and survivors’ personalities. There are also special events, rare encounters, and unique recruits, so each playthrough is nearly guaranteed to be different. This replay value of this game is massive.
Randomized locations, events, etc. provides lots of replay
A compatible game controller is required to play
Best for Beat-Em-Up Fans: Double Dragon Trilogy
Double Dragon is the grandpappy of beat-em-up action games. First released in arcades in 1987, it begins with one of the most recognizable video game openings of all time – the kidnapping of a woman named Marian by the Black Shadows Gang. Her boyfriend, Billy, and his brother, Jimmy, are both martial arts experts, so they punch, kick, knee, and head-butt their way through an assortment of bad guys and levels to get her back. The Double Dragon Trilogy includes all three installments of the series optimized for mobile. Players looking for something closer to the 1987 experience can pick the “original” difficulty option or pick “expert” for a more significant challenge.
It’s one of gaming’s seminal franchises all in one digital collection
Nothing — it’s a classic for a reason
Best for Laughs: The Bard’s Tale
InXile Entertainment’s 2004 role-playing game is a comedic spoof of its genre featuring The Princess Bride actor Cary Elwes as the titular performer. An incredulous and exasperated Tony Jay plays the Narrator. He mocks the Bard at every opportunity as he battles fire-breathing rats, breakdancing corpses, and more to rescue a princess. The game is genuinely funny if a bit dated. Plus the Android version includes an autosave feature and the original The Bard’s Tale trilogy, giving you plenty of gameplay for the price.
It’s genuinely funny
Outdated controls
Best for Frogger Fanatics: Crossy Road
Developed and released by indie studio Hipster Whale in 2014, Crossy Road is a viral hit with over 200 million players worldwide. It’s like Frogger, but with a chicken. The idea is to cross an endless series of roads filled with dangerous obstacles for as long as possible without getting splattered. There are also coins scattered throughout the levels. Collecting them lets you unlock over 200 new characters, many of which are references to pop culture like the Android logo robot and comics character Archie.
Best for Racing Fans: Real Racing 3
One of the best sim racing games on mobile, Real Racing 3 features 39 circuits at 17 real-world locations, including Silverstone, Hockenheimring, Le Mans, and Dubai Autodrome. It also has over 140 detailed cars from manufacturers like Ford, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and Mercedes-Benz. Real-time multiplayer lets you challenge others in global 8-player, cross-platform races with drafting, while the time-shifted multiplayer mode lets you race against A.I.-controlled cars. Add to all of that over 4,000 events and challenges, and you have a game that will keep you hitting the tracks for dozens and dozens of hours.
There’s a ton of content for the price
It’s “freemium,” so you will have to pay to unlock some features
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