Gacha games are quite popular these days. The most popular ones have millions of installs and even the smaller ones have loyal fans. The games have a specific style of play. They usually have old school JRPG combat mechanics along with very long stories, different types of special events, and sometimes online multiplayer. However, the distinguishing feature of a gacha game is the gacha element.
You summon characters with in-game currency or in-game items (often called moves). As the game’s meta changes, it’s necessary to build and rebuild your team multiple times, which helps keep things interesting. Also, once you get a good meta team, the damage you can do is insane.
Some are more friendly to this mechanic than others, and that separates them from the pack. With that in mind, here are the best gacha (mobile RPG) games for Android! Note that free games are constantly changing with the addition of new events, characters and mechanics. Most of what we’ve written here should still apply, but they’ll all have grown and changed at least a little by the time you read this.
Best gacha games and mobile RPG for Android
Another Eden
Price: Free game
Another Eden is not the most popular gacha game, but it is actually quite good. The author of the story and the composer of the music are the same guys who recorded Chrono Trigger. There are actually quite a few odes to Chrono Trigger in the game, including time travel and some other small story and design elements. The gacha element is quite small, but we think it will grow over time. The mechanics are slightly different from a traditional mobile RPG. You move around the map and take part in story missions like early console JRPGs instead of the usual mission style gameplay.
It’s surprisingly good, although it’s a bit different from most gacha games. The Summer 2019 update also added a lot of new story content and gameplay changes.
Arknights
Price: Free game
Arknights is a hybrid of a gacha RPG and a strategy RPG. Many of the core mechanics are similar. There’s a campaign mode, various temporary events, and hundreds of characters to summon. However, the combat is much less JRPG and more SRPG. It’s almost like a pseudo-tower defense game in how the combat works, and the final levels are part puzzle and part brute force.
The game also has an auto-introduction mode and a surprisingly decent soundtrack. It has the same appeal to players as Azur Lane, and there is a much greater focus on collecting characters than other parts of the game.
If you like the mechanics but want to try something new, Path to Nowhere (Google Play) has very similar tower defense style strategy RPG mechanics. We think Arknights is the better game, but choices never hurt anyone.
Bleach Brave Souls
Price: Free game
Bleach Brave Souls is one of several gacha role-playing games with a long-standing shonen theme. We chose Bleach Brave Soul, but you can easily try Ultimate Ninja Blazing (Naruto), Dragon Ball Legends, and One Piece Treasure Cruise. In any case, Bleach Brave Souls has action RPG mechanics, a fairly solid gacha system, plenty of characters to summon, and even online PvP if you really want to.
As with most, this game is a bit intense, and the drag levels can be a bit frustrating at times. However, with a little patience, you can usually land big meta moves when you need them.
Fate/Grand Order
Price: Free game
Fate/Grand Order uses the huge cast of the popular Fate anime series. So fans of the series should have a good time. The game has a surprisingly engaging story and soundtrack. Plus, you get tons of units to summon, lots of special events, and decent anime-style graphics.
Most of the complaints we found were about the differences between the Japanese and global versions. The Japanese version is a bit further along in its development cycle. In any case, Fate/Grand Order is a perfectly good gacha game even if you’re not familiar with the anime series.
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
Price: Free game
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is one of many Final Fantasy Gacha games. Most of them are pretty good, but Brave Exvius is just a step above the rest. It is very F2P friendly. In addition, it comes with a long story, tons of units to summon, many special events, and many other things to do. Combat is JRPG-style turn-based with the usual set of special abilities.
Fire Emblem Heroes
Price: Free game
Fire Emblem Heroes is Nintendo’s foray into the world of gacha games. Fortunately, Nintendo did a pretty good job. This game is relatively solid with fun, colorful graphics and loads of stuff. You can summon different characters from the Fire Emblem series. It uses strategy RPG mechanics just like console games.
We also like the little things about this game. For example, Nintendo tells you percentages of chances to summon really good units. It’s fairly F2P friendly and downright fun to play. It has a great story and gameplay mechanics similar to the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS version of the game. Nintendo really hit this one out of the park. Nintendo is also making Dragalia Lost (Google Play link), another great gacha RPG that you should definitely check out.
Genshin Impact
Price: Free game
Genshin Impact is an action RPG with gacha elements. It is also undoubtedly one of the best in the genre from 2020. The game looks and feels a bit similar to Zelda: Breath of the Wild. You can explore every pixel of the landscape and even get a glider for easier travel. There is a decent story, a competent soundtrack and a good selection of characters. The gacha elements are actually quite different.
As with most other games, you earn characters through quests instead of pulling them from tickets. This one is shaping up to be something special if the developers can keep it going. MiHoYo Limited also makes Honkai Impact 3rd, another great gacha game.
Goddess of Victory: Nikke
Price: Free game
Goddess of Victory: Nikke is a gacha game with some bullet hell combat mechanics. You do normal things like summon characters and build a team. In battle, you take cover and shoot enemies while dodging their bullets. It’s a unique concept in a genre that really needed some unique concepts. Along with neat combat, there’s also a story, decent artwork, and more.
In practice, the battle can be a bit clunky at times. It requires you to do a few different things at once, and some players found this difficult. Otherwise, the picture is good, the music is good and it’s fun to play. It started in 2022 and there were some bugs in the release, like random crashes, which should go away as updates come.
Guardian stories
Price: Free game
Guardian Tales is something a little different in the gacha game space. It features action-adventure combat where players roam the game world and dungeons to defeat bosses, find loot and gain levels. It boasts a relatively small pool of heroes (50), but it helps keep the game simple. There are also guilds, PvP, a house building mechanic, and lots of missions to play. There’s a lot to like about this one. It plays smoothly and the in-app purchases are not too aggressive.
MementoMori
Price: Free game
MementoMori is a gacha RPG with some AFK mechanics. We’re a little weary of putting AFK-style games on a list like this, but people seem to really like MementoMori. Players collect girls who are called witches in the game. Everyone has their own story that ties into the main story. Collecting girls, building a team and working your way through the story is the main mechanism.
Combat is mostly AFK style where you send your characters and they do the rest. Auto battle has multiple speeds so you can play as fast as you want. It’s definitely a laid-back game where the story is more important than the combat. Those who want more control should look elsewhere.
Princess Connect! Re: Flood
Price: Free game
Princess Connect! Re:Dive was launched a long time ago in Japan, but was not released worldwide until 2021. The game is a light game with RPG mechanics. A list of more than 50 characters can be called up. Each one can be improved, equipped with different equipment and more. Each character has a bond rating that unlocks extra quests and other stuff. This one has a better combat system than most gacha RPGs, online PvP content, and a surprisingly good story and soundtrack. There are some complaints about PvP cheats, but otherwise the game is really good.
A witch revived
Price: Free game
Revived Witch is the latest game from Yostar, one of the fiercest players in the gacha game genre. In it, you play as a young witch who travels the worlds to solve problems. There are the usual gacha elements like summoning companions and story-based gameplay. The game also features voice acting for most of the characters, simple combat mechanics, and a decent soundtrack.
It has the same pitfalls as most gacha games where you can invest a lot of resources and not get the resistance you want. The community has also complained that banner events are a bit too difficult. Still, the game is early in its life, so the developer has plenty of time to make changes.
Romance Saga Re;univerSe
Price: Free game
Romancing SaGa: Re;univerSe is Square Enix’s JRPG series wrapped in a gacha format. It has a similar look and feel to most gacha with pixel graphics, simple combat mechanics, and lots of characters to pull off. The game boasts deeper than average character development, a good story, the kind of great soundtrack that Square Enix is known for, and is an overall good experience. A coat of varnish would be necessary, but it rarely makes the game unfun.
Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2
Price: Free game
Shin Megami Tensei is a popular jRPG series, mostly on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles. The mobile RPG is one of the newer entrants in the series. Contains more than 160 characters to recall and use. Plus, you get simple jRPG mechanics, tons of events, and basically all the other perks of the gacha game genre. You’re probably already seeing a pattern.
This one also features decent cut scenes and above-average storytelling, similar to its console counterparts. Of course, it also comes with PvP elements and other typical gacha stuff. It’s pretty good, even if it’s newer.
Tower of Fantasy
Price: Free game
Tower of Fantasy is one of the biggest gacha releases of 2022. It is heralded as the next Genshin Impact. It’s an action RPG where you roam the world, do quests, defeat bad guys, and just enjoy exploring things. You get your characters the normal way and each has their own abilities, strengths and weaknesses.
The game is new, so the developers are still working on things like lag, enemy balance, and other things. The microtransactions are a bit more aggressive than Genshin Impact, but they are comparable. It’s a relatively good gacha experience.
Thanks for reading. Also try these:
https://www.androidauthority.com/best-gacha-games-android-903810/