The most affordable iPhone models only offer 128GB of internal storage which can disappear quickly. Fortunately, there are plenty of excellent games on the App Store that clock in under 300 MB, so they won’t eat up all of your space.
The simple one-button (or movement stick, in this case) action and “one more try” gameplay makes Vampire Survivors difficult to put down, whether you’re playing on an iPhone or a Switch. And yet, despite its compelling nature, the core game barely takes up two megabytes worth of storage space.
You can also play Vampire Survivors in your browser for free.
868-HACK is a hacking roguelike that hides a fairly complex risk-reward system beneath its simplistic (but pleasantly colorful) visuals. The approachable swipe and tap controls can make the hours practically dissolve away.
Okay, yes, Fastar! is a pretty old App Store game, but there’s a reason it’s still around. Functionally, all you do is move left or right, swipe your sword, and use the occasional spell against squares—just… squares—but each color denotes a completely different “personality” that you need to figure out and remember. Otherwise, things will get much more difficult as you progress.
Downwell takes the endless runner idea and turns it on its head—literally. Instead of charging towards one side of the screen, you’re falling down a randomized well full of critters, power-ups, traps, and treasures. Also, you have gun boots, which act as your primary attack while also being a way to jump. You have to balance your ammo (it refills when you land on a surface) with offense and maneuverability.
Crashlands is a survival sandbox that balances crafting, building, exploration, and combat quite well. It’s also got an irreverent sense of humor, and can keep you busy for hours (or days, weeks, and so on) if you let it.
Turning subway maps into chill interactive puzzles is a brilliant idea and Mini Metro handles it beautifully. Things start simply enough, but as more stops open up and it takes longer for trains to complete their routes, you’ll need to start thinking about loops and transfers and all sorts of other nuances.
Organ Trail is what happens when you take an all-time classic like The Oregon Trail and mix in a not-so-healthy dose of zombie apocalypse. Now dysentery is the least of your worries, and it’s just as cool (and kind of grim) as it sounds.
If you enjoy the tactical encounters of games like XCOM but prefer to skip the base building (and you also love robots), SteamWorld Heist is for you. This colorful turn-based strategy game requires careful aim, fancy bank shots, and a taste for hats. It’s also quite fun to replay levels for better ranks or currency to better equip your team.
Machinarium is an epic point-and-click adventure game with a gorgeous art style and an equally gorgeous soundtrack. It doesn’t punish players for missing anything—you’ll always have access to what you need to progress and superfluous items are tossed as soon as they’re no longer needed. It’s a world worth revisiting more than once.
For those who prefer a little more control over their characters. 20 Minutes Till Dawn takes the endless survival concept and adds a new wrinkle. Unlike Vampire Survivors, you have to manually aim at enemies as you navigate the continuous swarms, but you also move faster when you aren’t attacking. It’s not much, but it makes a surprising amount of difference in just how engaging it is to play.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with games that take up a lot of storage space, but when memory is at a premium, and you want more variety than a handful of gorgeous epics, there are plenty of gems to be found in the smaller stuff.
