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Epic Games has released a mobile version of its digital marketplace to compete with Google Play. It’s early days still, but I’ve already opted to buy three games from Epic rather than Google. Today I’ll explain why I did that.
Here Are the Games I Bought
The Epic Games library isn’t that large, but there are some gems already available. Which ones did I grab?
1. Figment
Figmentis an indie game first released in 2017. It’s a top-down game reminiscent ofBastionandHades, only with drastically less emphasis on combat. It takes place in the mind of a child processing his grief after a traumatic incident in his life.
2. Figment 2
As the name suggests, this is the sequel toFigment. The full game came out in 2023 following a short playable teaser two years earlier. I haven’t started this one yet, since I’m still working my way through the original game.
3. The Forest Quartet
This puzzle adventure game, to my surprise, comes from the same development studio asFigment,Bedtime Digital Games.It’s similarly imaginative and also deals with grief. In this case, you play as the ghost of the member of a band that has recently passed away. You hear stories and experience the emotions of the surviving band members along the way.
Epic Helped Me Discover These Games
Even though these games first appeared on PCs and other platforms years ago, I hadn’t heard of them. I don’t game all that much, and these are small indie titles with less press. Small indie titles just happen to be my favorite type of game—the issue is discovering them.
On PCs, Stream does an amazing job recommending and surfacing games I want to play. Almost too good. On Android, this is thebig problem with the Play Store. People think mobile gaming is worse than it is in part because Google recommends the most shallow, exploitative games while the gems languish waiting for someone to explicitly search for them.
Epic highlighted these games, and I thought each might be right up my alley. BothFigmentgames also happened to be on sale for 80% off, pricing them at just over a dollar—an absolute steal for two games that are so positively reviewed.
These Games Weren’t Available on the Play Store
All three of these games are currently absent on the Play Store. In the case ofFigment, I believe it may have once been available but isn’t any longer. In the case ofThe Forest Quartet, I don’t know if the game ever was.
This is an issue plaguing mobile app stores. Games go away as they lack support for newer versions of Android and (to a lesser extent) iOS. Many games are only available for a few years, and if they don’t make much money, developers lack financial incentive to make the changes necessary for their games to continue to work.
Epic has the capacity to offer developers that incentive. This has already been demonstrated by Netflix, who managed to snagMonument Valley 3as an exclusive in part by promising greater exposure. I bought the three games that I did because of just that, exposure.
The Play Store Needs Competition
Google has done a poor job starting Android as a gaming platform. The company has every incentive to support games that are packed with ads, since Google is ultimately an ad company. Likewise, Google likes microtransactions, since it gets a cut of each one. Google benefits from all the things that have made mobile gaming feel like a cesspool. Plus, most of the game recommendations you see in the Play Store are actually ads.
Yet if you put in the time and know how to find good Android games, you gradually realize that there are a ton of titles out there worth playing that are free of all that stuff. My wishlist is packed with premium games that you purchase upfront for a few bucks, and then you get the entire game in return. Novel, I know. Like my colleague, I wouldlove to see more expensive games come to mobile.
I want an app store that highlights these games for me, so that I don’t have to spend as much time searching through websites when I’m trying to figure out what to play. Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to recommend games to you, likegreat games for fellow fans ofMonument Valley, but I want my offerings to be an aid, not the primary way these titles are able to get noticed. If Epic can highlight these games, that’s a benefit both for developers and gamers alike.
Epic has taken both Google and Apple to court over their monopolistic practices. I’m glad someone is taking up that fight. I love Android even thoughI’m not a big fan of Google. I like that Android is an open foundation that so many companies cooperate on. If Epic is able to entice more quality games to Android, or better highlight those that are already here, we all win, regardless of whether we carry a Pixel or or phone is runningthe latest version of One UI.
