Tim Uckun (Dec 31 2025 at 02:59): Tim Uckun (Dec 31 2025 at 02:59):Before I left on my travels I downloaded a bunch of offline games to play on the plane(s). The only ones I ended up playing regularly were Pathos Nethack and Kami 2 and occasionally Polytopia. I have soured on Polytopia in the past year as they kept messing with play and races and such, it's made the game less fun for me. Pathos is still fun but after a month of playing it every day it's still amusing enough.
Ron Waldon-Howe (Dec 31 2025 at 08:50):oh, I used to play Polytopia on long train rides (my commute used to be 3 hours every day)
haven't looked at it in years
Ron Waldon-Howe (Dec 31 2025 at 08:52):I've played Mindustry a whole lot, too: https://anuke.itch.io/mindustry
Sukhdeep Brar (Jan 02 2026 at 18:38):Slay the Spire:
Architypal deck builder. 4 classes (or colours in the MTG sense) and 20 levels of prestige for each. Great on mobile. Especially in preparation for StS2
Balatro:
An engine builder using Poker mechanics and satisfying UX and combos! A great single dev success story
7 Billion Humans:
From the makers of World of Goo and Little Inferno, a programming puzzle game with a fun thematic twist
Into the Breach:
(Free with Netflix but probably not offline in that case) A rogue-lite tactical game. The small grid, telegraphed next turns, and interesting unit abilities make each turn an engaging puzzle.
Vampire Survivors:
(Free with some paid DLCs)
Go from pinging some damage to a screen full of nonsense. An autobattler that works great in portrait-mode where you only move your hero and level up their abilities. A follow up Dungeon Crawler is expected this year.
Shapez:
(Was free in the mobile Epic game store)
The chillest version of Factorio on mobile. Alter, merge, and paint shapes to make other shapes to fulfill quests. No time pressure, everything is free, and quests slowly unlock better equipment.
I've had some others come and go, but these have been mainstays for me. I tend to play on commutes so I stay away from controller focused games.
Last updated: Feb 17 2026 at 17:33 UTC