Top 10 hardest mobile games

Let’s get one thing straight; you’re going to die. A lot. No matter how good you think you are, you are going to die. Playing as a failed alchemic experiment, explore a massive castle on a spooky island and discover how it all came to be so dilapidated in this rogue-lite action platformer. Battle various enemies like zombies, freaky-looking bats, golems, and even giant worms. They’re all going to attack quickly, so you better think quickly.

• Dead Cells Gardeners keys and how to acquire them
• Dead Cells Cavern key - how to use it and where to find it

You can dodge or attack with weapons, skills, and amulets. From swords to whips and even musical instruments, there is no shortage of ways to mow down enemies. However, this also means there’s no shortage of ways to die. You must constantly be on the move, or you’ll be staring down the business end of a crossbow, or worse. The gameplay will be challenging to master, but play through enough times, and you’ll get the hang of it. It's still clearly one of the hardest mobile games at the moment!

Available on Google Play and the App Store for $8.99.

Experience two different adventures in one game, each with challenging logic puzzles. In Zero-G, the sci-fi adventure, there’s been a global disaster resulting in Earth losing its gravity. Some time ago, a scientist figured out how to reverse this. Play as the grandson of that scientist to finally restore Earth’s gravity. In Eclipse, the fantasy adventure, evil creatures called Kikimora kidnap a prince, intending to turn him into one of them.

Play as a warrior who must rescue the prince before the full moon. There are over 100 rooms and 50 levels to explore, with at least 25 hours of gameplay. While clues and hints are available to help you, most of the puzzle-solving involves tapping around to see what happens. Thankfully, the scenery is gorgeously animated and beautiful to look at.

Available on Google Play

One of my favourite, if not the favourite roguelikes ever - FTL. Since I'm not the biggest fan of the genre, as I don't really enjoy doing things over and over again, it says a lot about its quality. To go more in-depth, it's a space simulation where you'll cruise the spaceship around trying to save the universe. Not a big stake at all! At first, there's only one ship which you can upgrade and set however you see fit. When you complete the game, you'll unlock another. There is a whole guide on unlocking every ship in FTL, so you can take a look at it.

There are two modes, one is roaming through the space nodes, or points where the role play and simulation bits happen. After you start an encounter, the view changes to the top-down camera of your ships where you have to carefully handle everything that happens - douse fires, fix things that are damaged, or handle the enemy soldiers that got teleported to your ship, trying to take it over. The thing is...one wrong decision and you might lose your ship and then you'll start all over. That's where the difficulty of FTL lies, and it's masterful, honestly.

Available on App Store for $9.99.

Saying that this game is weird would be an understatement. You play as a guy in a pot who needs to climb up a mountain using only a giant hammer. Yes, you read that right. It’s apparently a homage to a game made in 2002 called Sexy Hiking, with basically the same story and mechanics. Though a tad frustrating trying to get the hammer to grab onto the rock or tree you want, at least you won't suffer through this quest in silence.

The creator of the game, Foddy, talks as you play about matters that he considers to be philosophical. His soft and gentle voice adds an odd, relaxing tone to an otherwise punishing game. He said the game could be finished in at least five hours, though I suppose that depends on what kind of gamer you are.

Available on Google Play and the App Store for $4.99.

It’s not called impossible without good reason. Tap the screen to help your orange square avoid hazards and make it to the end of levels. This is one of those games where if the square hits an obstacle, you must start at the beginning again. Considering the game’s fast and unrelenting pace, you will find yourself trying over and over. There’s one catchy soundtrack synced to the gameplay, an attempt to help your square know when to jump.

Miraculously, this crazy arcade game has a practice mode, so you’re not just up a creek without a paddle. Unlock different kinds of medals as you play, including one for completing practice mode and for making 500 attempts. You won't find many harder mobile games than this one.

Available on Google Play and the App Store for $0.99.

Geometry Dash is one of the legendary hardcore games for mobile devices. It became extremely popular from the very first day of its release. The reason for this may be the simplicity and easy grasp of the basics. All you have to do in Geometry Dash is to move a box from left to right, jump over obstacles and collect stars.

Sounds like a typical arcade game on App Store and Google Play? Well, just try to move at least a few levels forward, and you will find out that you have to memorize every obstacle to complete the level. Geometry Dash is really complicated and will impress even an avid hardcore gamer. Also, you will find more than 20,000 custom levels created by the community, which means you can play Geometry Dash for as long as you want.

Available on Google Play for free and the App Store for $1.99.

This game is something of a contradiction; you have to survive and stay calm. Manoeuvre two different coloured balls across eight chapters of obstacles while listening to a soft voice tell you to stop looking for an exit. Think GLaDOS from Portal but nicer. If one ball hits an obstacle, both go back to the beginning.

Touch either side of your screen to move them left and right. Obstacles will move at random, so try to stay alert. While playing, listen to nine different melodic tracks from Melbourne composer Tim Shiel. The music really adds a deep sense of immersion to this game.

Available on Google Play for free and the App Store for $2.99.

You’ll want to play this game if only for the chance to say, ‘what obstacles?’ The goal is to smash through everything attempting to stand in your way. In a surreal, futuristic dimension, play through 50 rooms and experience 11 kinds of graphics as you let loose your silver ball army into all that breakable glass.

Don’t be fooled into thinking this game is easy though; you’ll need to stay focused and concentrate to move those balls as far as possible. A fun quirk this game has is that the music and even the audio effects change with each room, and the obstacles move in time with them. Gameplay won’t dance to the same beat twice, so stay on your toes.

Available on Google Play and the App Store.

Who likes math, honestly? If by some miracle you do, this is the game for you. Combine four different numbers to reach the goal number using only addition and multiplication. All numbers must be used and can only be used once. An example question would be getting 22 from 2, 2, 3 and 5, the answer being (2 x 3 + 5) x 2. You’re awarded stars after completing every solution; one star simply for finishing, two for solving it in under one minute, and three for under 20 seconds.

Levels get harder as you progress, even adding subtraction and division at some point. Additionally, you’ll have seven mathematicians accompanying you on your journey, like Albert Einstein and Pythagoras. The more stars you earn means unlocking interesting stories about them. Will you follow in their footsteps?

Available on Google Play.

Darkest Dungeon is one of the most difficult games on mobile, and other platforms. You start by getting a call from your ancestor, who has unearthed something unspeakable under his estate. It's up to you to clear out his mess and go through various dungeons, until you unlock the final, darkest one.

On your quest, you'll lead a team of four companions, but you need to have a fine reserve because your companions will die very often. It's easy to pick it and start playing, but it's getting harder and harder as you progress. And RNG will kill off your companions sometimes even if you do everything correctly. This can lead to the real end where you have to start the whole thing again because you have no one else to send to the dungeons and you'll have to start over.

Available on App Store.

We hope that you'll find what you like on our list of the hardest mobile games! Leave a comment below with some of your favourite titles, and help out other players, as we couldn't fit them all!

Don't forget to take a look at these afterwards:

• Best roguelikes for Android
• Best roguelikes for iOS