Gacha games are fairly 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 storylines, various types of special events, and sometimes there is online multiplayer. However, the hallmark feature of a gacha game is the gacha element. You summon characters with in-game currency or in-game items (often called pulls). As the game meta shifts, it becomes necessary to build and rebuild your team multiple times and that helps keep things interesting. Plus, once you get a good meta team, the damage you can do is insane.
Some are friendlier with this mechanic than others and that helps separate them from the pack. With that in mind, here are the best gacha games (mobile RPGs) for Android! Please note, free to play games change all the time by adding new events, characters, and mechanics. Most of what we have written here should still apply, but they will all have grown and changed at least a little bit by the time you read this.
The best gacha games and mobile RPGs for Android
Another Eden
Price: Free to play
Another Eden isn’t the most popular gacaha game but it’s actually pretty good. The story writer and music composer are the same guys that did Chrono Trigger. There are actually quite a few odes to Chrono Trigger in the game, including time travel and some other little story and design elements. The gacha element is quite small, but we think it’ll grow over time. The mechanics stray a bit from the traditional mobile RPG. You move around a map and engage in story missions like early console JRPGs instead of the usual mission-style game play. It’s surprisingly good, even if it’s a bit different from most gacha games. The summer 2019 update also added a ton of new story content and some game play changes.
See also: The best anime games for android
The Alchemist Code
Price: Free to play
The Alchemist Code is a popular mobile RPG. It uses strategy RPG mechanics instead of the usual jRPG mechanics. That means you move units around the board to attack the bad guys. The game also includes 50 collectible characters, a multiplayer co-op mode, various special events, and competitive PvP. It seemed fairly free-to-play (F2P) friendly to us during our testing. However, we can see the argument going either way. The game is supported by a decent soundtrack, good graphics, and plenty of stuff to do. It’s not half bad.
Arknights
Price: Free to play
Arknights is a hybrid of a gacha RPG and a strategy RPG. A lot of the core mechanics are similar. There is a campaign mode, various temporary events, and hundreds of characters to summon. However, the combat is a lot less JRPG and more SRPG. It’s a bit slower overall, but some people like the strategy element. The game also comes with an auto-deploy mode and a surprisingly decent soundtrack. It has the same kind of allure for players as Azur Lane, and there’s a much larger focus on collecting characters than other parts of the game.
See also: The best RPGs for Android for both JRPG and action RPG fans
Azur Lane
Price: Free to play
Azur Lane is an above average gacha game. It’s also a riff off of the popular Kantai Collection game in Japan. In any case, this one features side-scrolling shooter mechanics, although you’ll be auto-battling most of your encounters. You summon characters like normal, except every character is a World War II era ship in girl form. You form flotillas and beat up on the bad guys. The game features over 300 characters, tons of stuff to do, and a lot of the usual gacha game fair. The UI is a little overwhelming at first and some of the English translations are pretty bad, but the rest of the game is fun. There is also a PC version of this game available on Steam.
Bleach Brave Souls
Price: Free to play
Bleach Brave Souls is one of several gacha RPGs with a long-running shonen as its theme. We went with Bleach Brave Soul but you can easily try out Ultimate Ninja Blazing (Naruto), Dragon Ball Legends, and One Peace Treasure Cruise. In any case, Bleach Brave Souls features action RPG mechanics, a fairly solid gacha system, plenty of characters to summon, and even play online PvP if you really want to. Like most, the grind in this game is a bit intense and the pull rates can be a little frustrating at times. However, with a little patience, you can usually get the big meta pulls when you need them.
See also: The best Android games released in 2020
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Fate/Grand order
Price: Free to play
Fate/Grand Order uses the mammoth cast of the popular Fate anime series. Thus, fans of the series should get a good kick out of this one. The game features a surprisingly engaging story line and soundtrack. Additionally, you get tons of units to summon, plenty of special events, and decent, anime style graphics. Most of the complaints we’ve found are the differences between the Japanese version and the global version. The Japanese version is a little further along in its development cycle. In any case, Fate/Grand Order is a perfectly good gacha game, even if you don’t know the anime series very well.
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
Price: Free to play
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is one of a number of Final Fantasy gacha games. Most of them are pretty good, but Brave Exvius is just one step better than the rest. It’s very F2P friendly. Additionally, it comes with a long story line, tons of units to summon, a lot of special events, and plenty of other things to do. The combat is turn-based jRPG style with the usual array of special abilities. It also has tons of cross-overs with other Square Enix properties for an extra dosage of nostalgia. The developer, Gumi, also makes the Brave Frontier series. It’s functionally identical to Brave Exvius minus the Final Fantasy part. Some other excellent Final Fantasy gachas include Final Fantasy: Record Keeper and FFBE War of the Visions (a strategy RPG). Square Enix is also highly competitive in this space with Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe.
Fire Emblem Heroes
Price: Free to play
Fire Emblem Heroes is Nintendo’s foray into the gacha games world. Thankfully, Nintendo did a pretty good job. This game is relatively rock solid with fun, colorful graphics and tons of stuff to do. There are a variety of characters to summon from the Fire Emblem series. It uses strategy RPG mechanics just like the console games. We also like the little things about this game. For instance, Nintendo tells you the percentage chances of summoning the really good units. It’s fairly F2P friendly and just straight fun to play. It has an excellent story and game play mechanics similar to the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS versions of the game. Nintendo really knocked this one out of the park. Nintendo also does Dragalia Lost (Google Play link), another excellent gacha RPG that you should totally try.
See also: The best strategy RPGs and tactical RPGs on Android
Genshin Impact
Price: Free to play
Genshin Impact is an action RPG with gacha elements. It’s also arguably one of the best of the genre from 2020. The game looks and feels a little bit like Zelda: Breath of the Wild. You can explore every pixel of the landscape and you even get a glider to make travel easier. There is a decent story along with a competent soundtrack and a good selection of characters. The gacha elements are actually quite different. You earn characters through quests in-game rather than pulling them from tickets like most other games. This one is shaping up to be something special if the developers can keep it up. MiHoYo Limited also does Honkai Impact 3rd, another excellent gacha game.
Lord of Heroes
Price: Free to play
Lord of Heroes is a different kind of gacha game. It avoids classic gacha tropes like overly sexual or violent character designs, has a very free-to-play system, and even the story is pretty decent. In terms of game play mechanics, it’s a fairly standard turn-based system with special movies and abilities. You level up your characters as you go to learn better and more powerful skills. The graphics are pretty decent and it’s a good overall experience except for a few translation errors here and there.
See also: The best and biggest MMORPGs for Android
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MARVEL Strike Force
Price: Free to play
MARVEL Strike Force is one of the few tolerable Western gachas. It plays like most mobile RPGs. You assemble a team of your favorite MARVEL characters (both good and evil) to do battle against a new threat. The story of the game is pretty decent and it’s actually a great play if you avoid the PvP aspect of the game. Unfortunately, like most Western gachas, the developers charge tons of money for new characters (which represent the new meta when launched). It’s easy enough to avoid if you stick to PvE, but impossible if you play PvP in the slightest. Stay for the story, leave the PvP alone, and this is a reasonably good gacha game.
See also: The best Marvel games for Android
Princess Connect! Re:Dive
Price: Free to play
Princess Connect! Re:Dive actually launched a long time ago in Japan, but only had its worldwide release in 2021. The game is a light gacha with RPG mechanics. There is a roster of over 50 characters to summon. You can level up each one, equip various gear, and more. Each character has a bond rating that unlocks extra quests and other stuff. This one enjoys a better combat system than most gacha RPGs, online PvP content, and a surprisingly good story and soundtrack. There are some complaints about cheaters in PvP, but otherwise the game is really good.
Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2
Price: Free to play
Shin Megami Tensei is a popular jRPG series mostly on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles. The mobile RPG is one of the newer entrants into the series. It features over 160 characters to summon and use. Additionally, you get simple jRPG mechanics, plenty of events, and basically all of the other perks of the gacha game genre. You can probably see the pattern by now. This one also includes decent cut scenes and above-average storytelling, much like 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.
Sword Art Online: Memory Defrag
Price: Free to play
Sword Art Online: Memory Defrag is one of a few SAO games on mobile. We like this one the most, though. Players can play with traditional RPG roles and then also summon a ton of characters from the series. This one features a decent story, co-op missions, guilds, and other social elements. In fact, Memory Defrag has one of the most vibrant online social community tools of any game on this list. It’s also okay for F2P players, although you may get a better experience elsewhere if that’s what’s most important to you. Like most, the biggest complaints are bad pulls and Internet connectivity issues. There is a second SAO gacha, Sword Art Online Alicization Rising Steel, that isn’t half bad either.
Tales of Crestoria
Price: Free to play
Tales of Crestoria was one of the higher anticipated gacha titles of 2020. It basically serves the same job as Final Fantasy Brave Exvius except for Tales fans. The game includes a story where you build a team with a bunch of characters from all of the Tales games. It uses turn based combat and it’s definitely not the same as the action RPG combat of a typical Tales game. Still, it has that charming look and feel of a Tales game and the story line isn’t half bad. It’s relatively F2P friendly, although not as friendly as some others on the list. It’s definitely good for Tales fans and maybe people wanting to get into the Tales universe.
If we missed any great gacha games, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists!
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