The best mobile games are sometimes the ones you’ll play only when outside your home. Often the games on this list took up more time for me when I was sitting in a room with all the current-gen consoles. It was just easier to jump in for five mins and get my fix before doing something else, which is the beauty of mobile gaming.

Here are our picks for the Top 5 Mobile Games in 2022.

– Dylan Blight

5.) Disney Mirrorverse

Kabam

An exciting premiere got me to download Disney Mirrorverse earlier this year and has continued to have me check into the game semiregular since. The heroes and villains of Disney films must team up to face off against an even more significant threat, which allows you to fight alongside Usula from The Little Mermaid and Merida from Brave. Combat is simple but enjoyable, and the levels are usually only a few minutes long, making this a great game to pull out and get your fix while in a waiting room. 

– Dylan Blight

4.) Vampire Survivors

Poncle

I had been hearing about Vampire Survivors all year from various people in the gaming community but never pulled the trigger. When it was revealed at The Game Awards that it was now on mobile devices, I finally gave it a go and quickly found myself hooked. The auto-shooting rogue-like is a really good fit on mobile devices with the only real moment-to-moment input required is moving your character around. Having also played the PC version, the map have been adjusted well to the vertical screen of my phone

This version also has really good, unintrusive advertising and monetization. You’ll have the option to watch an ad to get a revive or to earn more gold when your run is complete. And that’s it. No other obstacles to getting back to fighting monsters. While Vampire Survivors on mobile has proven to be the entry point to get me to play it on PC, I would happily be entertained playing this version of the game for hours on end.

– Ashley Hobley

3.) Pokemon Go

Niantic

It was a bit of a mixed year for Niantic and Pokémon Go as they initially tried to take back all the “playing from home” features and eventually stuck on a point that I think everyone is somewhat happy with now. But it was also a year of new gameplay changes, and how Mega Evolutions changed made me care about them for the first time. While the new postcard additions continue to help foster the worldwide community. The Ultra Beasts event was the standout of 2022, however, as a good combination of in-game events and fun marketing made the wormholes appearing in the game feel like such a new and exciting thing to experience. 

– Dylan Blight

2.) Apex Legends: Mobile

Respawn Entertainment, EA

Lightspeed and Quantum Studios have done a stellar job, in conjunction with Respawn, bringing Apex Legends to mobile devices. While the number of legends available has been reduced, the game runs really well and feels like the console/PC version. A number of little changes, like increasing the ammo size and automatically picking up loot and opening doors, show that a lot of thought has gone into making this work on a mobile device.

With its own battle pass, events and characters exclusive to this version of the game, Apex Legends Mobile is a great addition to your device if you have a spare 20-25 minutes to battle other legends on the go.

– Ashley Hobley

1.) Marvel Snap

Second Dinner, Nuverse

Marvel Snap shows just how good a mobile game can be when a developer can achieve the balance between the infamously over-monetized mobile games and console game quality. It is a game that offers strategic depth and an engaging upgrade path for your collection and cards whilst consistently turning the script on its head through the sheer variety of cards and locations that can come up between games. Marvel Snap offers everything I love about card games and serves it up in bite-sized rounds that fit in so well on the mobile ecosystem. I haven’t even tried the PC build, and I don’t think I will (did you even remember you could play it on PC?). 

– Wil James

Dylan Blight, Ashley Hobley, Ciaran Marchant, Wil James & Jacob Hegarty compiled this Top 5 list. The Video Games nominated must have been released or had a sizable update between December 13th 2021 – December 13th 2022 and have been released in Australia.