What are the best PC games you can play on mobile? Well, if you had asked that question a decade ago, there wouldn't have been many for us to recommend. Today, however, in our increasingly multi-platform world, many PC games find a home on mobile devices.
Indeed, whatever your opinion of what constitutes the cool Minecraft builds, we don't think that there are really many people who haven't played it, or we don't know it's on every platform, so we thought we'd shine the spotlight onto some other iconic games that deserve your attention.
The best PC games that you can play on mobile are:
Genshin Impact
A Breath of the Wild-like game that gives you the opportunity to explore a massive open world with your friends. Though to be fair, in the years since its initial launch, it's been updated and expanded in so many ways that it's now done a lot to distinguish itself from the Zelda game that inspired it.
One of the biggest appeals is the absolutely enormous selection of characters to unlock (read our best gacha games.
Goddess of Victory: Nikke
Those who play Goddess of Victory: Nikke. As the commander of humanity's last hope against an invading horde of mindless machines, you and your troops, otherwise known as Nikkes, must defend the remaining strongholds by completing missions. You're heavily rewarded for your efforts, which you can then use to unlock new Nikkes or upgrade your existing squad.
As well as being a free PC game, Goddess of Victory: Nikke has all progress made through PC and mobile clients sync up with each other nicely. The advantage to this is that, on PC, the game gives you a much larger playing field, meaning you can see enemies and their weak spots much sooner with the PC client. However, the game is entirely playable on mobile devices, so you can still get the full experience on the go.
Play Goddess of Victory: Nikke for free.
Hero Wars
Hero Wars is a game that many gamers will already be familiar with due to its relentless marketing campaigns – most of us have seen the adverts with a hero in a dilemma, and you have to open doors in the right order so he can get gold while avoiding enemies or lava (or some combination), but actually, that puzzle game is actually only a small mini-game in Hero Wars, and the game itself is something much more.
The main premise is that you're building up a team of heroes so that you can take them through a series of dungeons. The more you play, the more you unlock, and the more opportunity you have to enhance your team and unlock new heroes. They all fight in their own unique ways, so it's important to be strategic and pick out just the right team. The cycle goes on and on; as your team gets bigger and stronger, you'll find yourself getting more and more addicted.
Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming
Have you ever found yourself playing the role of an armchair general while watching Game of Thrones? Thinking "I'd never have done that" when Cercei makes a decision, or something like that? Well, Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming is a chance to prove yourself as a Lord of Lady of Westeros, vying for power as you strategically play the titular game.
The game is set immediately after the death of Eddard Stark and sees all the nobles trying to take advantage of the ensuing chaos. The fun twist here though, is the fact that the other nobles you encounter are actually other players – will you work with them, and build mutually beneficial trading agreements and alliances? Or are you going to be a warlord who just wants to conquer? There are a lot of ways to play and it earned its spot at the top of our list of the best Game of Thrones games.
Play Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming for free.
Forge of Empires
Don't worry; this whole listing isn't going to be filled with strategy games, but we couldn't resist talking about Forge of Empires too. Created by InnoGames, this free-to-play game is strongly rooted in history and sees you building a small settlement back in the Stone Age, then growing and expanding it throughout the many ages of real-world history.
Your technology and architecture change and evolve as you through the many different eras. Forge of Empires kicks off in the Stone Age, followed by the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Early Middle Ages, and so on. The game even takes you into the distant future so you can find out whether hoverboards and flying cars ever took off. Watching your own civilization grow across such a massive expanse of time is a special experience quite unlike any other.
Play Forge of Empires for free.
AFK Journey
No matter if you play this on your PC or phone, AFK Journey diamonds and gold, might be better done in short bursts, which is perfect for gaming on the move.
If you decide to begin your adventure, we have a few AFK Journey tier list
Magic: The Gathering Arena
Magic: The Gathering is one of the most popular and beloved trading card games of all time. With Magic: The Gathering Arena, this iconic game has been able to establish itself within the PC and mobile gaming spheres as well.
Essentially, this is a digital, free-to-play version of the card game. You can play against computer players, or you can even play against human beings, all the while building up your own virtual collection of MTG cards. If you've always wanted to get into MTG, this could well be the best way for you to do it.
The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup
For this next entry, we wanted to take a look at an indie classic that deserves a bit more love. The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup sees you helping a strange little clockwork dog through buildings and locations torn apart by a war. It's a game that absolutely oozes charm, and is more than a little bit creepy too.
The game was developed by Gory Detail, an indie studio established by Chris Seavor, the lead creative force behind the cult N64 classic, Conker's Bad Fur Day. If you've ever played that game and wanted something that captures that same, very distinctive feeling (particularly of its later levels) then you should definitely get Rusty Pup on your PC or iPhone.
Runescape
This iconic game needs no introduction, but for those who are not in the know, Runescape is one of the trailblazers of the MMORPG genre. Released back in 2001, Runescape laid the groundwork for many of the classics that followed, and, to this very day, it remains one of the best of its kind.
One of the appeals of Runescape is that you aren't forced onto a specific story path, you're dropped into the world and left to make your own way. With a sprawling world to explore, filled with countless quests for you to tackle, it's easy to see how Runescape has been able to stay relevant for over twenty years now. It's compatibility with both mobile and PC also means that you can keep the same file going across your different devices without a hitch.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Of course we weren't going to get through this list without including any FPS games, although technically PUBG lets you play it in third-person too. For those who have never played PUBG, the easiest point of comparison is Fortnite, in that both games see a huge group of up to 100 people coming together for a massive shootout on a perpetually shrinking map.
What sets it apart from Fortnite though, is that there's an overall grittier feel to it. While Fortnite sees giant bananas walking around with Spider-Man, PUBG opts for a realistic art style, and a more tactical type of gameplay. If you've always wanted to get into battle royale games, this could be a good place to start, whether on phone or PC.
The Sims Mobile
The Sims has been among the most popular PC games since the original was released back in 2000, and The Sims Mobile is the latest iteration of this popular life-sim. Really, mobile phones make perfect sense as a platform for the series, as it makes it easy to check in with your Sims on your lunch break, during your commute, or whenever else you get a free moment and don't want to start up your gaming PC.
This iteration of The Sims is actually free-to-play, which means that your Sim has a limited amount of energy for you to use each day, stopping it from turning into a time sink-hole and instead making it a pleasant daily de-stresser. Of course, you can always pay to get more time out of it. Either way, The Sims Mobile lets you create your Sim, design your home, fall in love, get a job, host parties, and do everything else that fans love about the series.
Among Us
You could say that this list would be a little sus without Among Us on it. If you've not yet played Among Us, it sees you and a group of other players on a gloomy spaceship with the knowledge that one of you is a murderer. You need to figure out who the killer is and then vote them off the ship – if you are the murderer, then you need to cover your tracks, because you don't want to be ejected into space.
As you can imagine, it's a game that is especially fun when played with a group of friends, but even if you're playing against strangers on the internet, it's still very easy to become enthralled with the game.
And those are our eight choices for the best PC games that you can also play on mobile. Have you played any of them before? Will you be playing any of them based on our recommendation? We hope we've been able to bring a new game to your attention.
Head over to our sister site, Pocket Tactics, if you need help finding the Scrambly if you're interested in learning about how you could make money playing mobile games.