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Incremental/Idle/Clicker games is my favorite fucking genre. Hence, this thread.
Please don’t hesitate to suggest your own favorite idles, as I dump a fucking shitload of them here.
Don’t hesitate to share your experience with any of them here too, and don’t hesitate to try them out. You might end up loving them as much as I do.
Also, as this thread has been fully revamped, the descriptions have been changed, and every game is now classed in a Tier list that is purely my own personal opinion, therefore it is objectively accurate. Check it out.
—SS—
A Dark Room
Active play recommended. Short.
A minimalist text adventure.
A Dark Room is a story driven incremental game, having you slowly progress and understand more about the world you live in, what happened/what’s happening, and yourself.
I really can’t spoil what’s happening, because the plot is an essential part of the experience. I really suggest that you do think about what’s happening, and all the clues the game throws at you all throughout.
The game switches wildly between different game genres. A fun experience, and a definite go-to for beginners in the incremental genre.
Kittens game
Active play recommended. VERY long.
A game about kittens.
Kittens game is an incremental game that starts very simply : You are a cat in a catnip forest. Collect catnip to feed yourself, and any other cats deciding to come live in your forest.
REALLY hard incremental game, requiring a lot of micro-management, and a slow pacing, but for fantastic payoffs and an amazing constant feeling of progression, no matter how slow, with a lot of content.
It even prides itself on being called the “Dark Souls of incremental games”, which fits : You get dealt a bunch of punches, like not having enough catnip for the winter, badly managing your starting resources and which buildings you’re prioritizing, or even making a bad trade with the zebras -
Yet you can carry on, although a tiny bit slower than what would be optimal, and slowly learn to master all the basic resources as you get thrown a lot, and a lot more things to handle and manage.
It evolves very wildly too, with sacrificing necrocorns to the elder gods while trying to avoid an AI uprising, a ton of resource, managing pollution, managing your electricity allocation, with a bunch of secret unlockables amongst other things.
Very good. If what you read didn’t deter you, go ahead and give it a try. My all time favorite.
The only reason it’s not at the very top is because everyone just clicks the first link on the list, and KG is definitely not something i’d recommend to a complete beginner.
—S—
NGU Idle STEAM & WEB
Active & Idle play. Long.
You wake up naked and amnesic. All the great power you felt once was in your body, is gone. Retrieve it.
The sewers smell horrible, and you can barely walk forward. You encounter a rat, giving you a tutorial. Before it can even finish, you suddenly get the feeling that you REALLY want to beat the shit out of it. Actually, you REALLY want to beat the shit out of EVERYTHING.
This game’s all about horizontal progression. The more you go forward, the more mechanics you get to play with, ranging from an rpg adventure mode, a plant growing management, time machines, cooking, beards, daycare, …
It’s genuinely pure fun, and it’s considered to be one of the pillars of the genre.
Give it a try. You won’t regret it. Actually, you will - I’ve personally not played any game but this for the past 5 days.
Also, there are microtransactions. But, fun fact, they can literally all be bypassed and the entirety of the game’s store can be obtained legitimately with in-game means in a relatively short amount of time. The money spent is more a gesture towards the dev, than anything, really.
The steam version also has special bonuses, by the way. And if you decide to take the AP reward instead of the pretty kitty, you’re despicable.
Bitburner STEAM
Idle & Active. Long.
The year is 20XX. Cyberpunk dystopic visions of the world turned out to be true. Welp. Time to hack the SHIT out of everything.
For our coder socks wearers out there.
Idle game based around hacking servers and corporations in order to gain money, with a lot of usage for said money.
Where it shines is simple :
The hacking isn’t automatic. You code the hacking process itself, in Javascript. (a simplified version of it)
It’s generally not for coding beginners, although it’s got a really good tutorial for said beginners, but our sock wearers here will love it. Genuinely, give it a try if you like coding.
If you are interested, check out more info from our beloved MC meiler, first reply to this thread
Pach/inkremental
Very active. Short.
A Pach/inko machine, but... with a few twists.
Pach/inkremental is a very odd pick, but it’s just pure fun.
Basically, select where you want your pach/inkos to fall, and watch as they descend and may hit the jackpot, or end up entering the worthless spaces. With your earnings, improve the value of the jackpot, multiply the sum you can gain, introduce new type of balls, unlock slot machines, and much, much more.
There’s for a few hours of content, and two different machines with different mechanics to choose right now. The devs are actively working on it, and planning to add more and more machines. It’s always a good idea, no matter when you read this, to try out the beta.
It’s fun in its rawest form.
Antimatter Dimensions
Idle play, but Active is rewarded. Long.
Make Antimatter. A lot. Way too much. Holy shit. Fucking stop. Why. No. Stop. God is dead.
Antimatter dimensions is straight, and to the point : You make antimatter with your first dimension.
BUT, that’s not enough. Making antimatter is so fucking slow, no matter how you boost your first dimensions. Nono, the REAL shit, is producing more first dimensions. So you create second dimensions.
BUT, that’s not enough. Making first dimensions is so fucking slow, no matter how you boost your second dimensions. Nono, the REAL shit is producing second dimensions. So you create third dimensions.
…
BUT, you reach the (actual) Javascript limit for big numbers, about 3.1e308 antimatter. And the universe collapse, and you restart from scratch. But that collapse gave you a new type of resource, which you use to improve everything you already used.
BUT, said resources end up BREAKING the limit. You go past it. And with that, you earn a lot more than you normally would.
BUT, ---------
You get it. This game is all about reaching the limits of what you can do… then breaking the shit out of them. Until you encounter another limit. Then you break it. Again. Again. Again.
As a wise man said. Numbers are boring. Antimatter dimensions gets it. So it took numbers, and made numbers more number than numbers could ever be.
The next update, Realities, is super fucking close. And the amount of content in it, has been teased to be fucking insane. Go play it, you’ll probably finish right around the time it get released.
Genuinely suggest you grab a guide for this one. It’s much more fun following along to understand the mechanics, in my opinion.
—A—
Cookie Clicker
Active & Idle. Relatively long.
Bake cookies.
A classic. Bake cookies. Use your cookies to buy buildings baking cookies for you. Become a mega-corporation. Become an empire. Become a intergalactic warlord. Become a master of the multiverse.
Bake cookies.
Its original version would have been a low B. But the inclusion of minigames, all with a shitton of different mechanics which are pushed to their edge and are all very fun in their own rights, gave cookie clicker the depth it sorely needed.
Would have been a S without the 3 years timegate of sugar lumps for a 100% achievements completion
Your Chronicle STEAM & WEB
Very active. Long.
Today is the day. You'll leave your father's care, and face the Demon King, who took away your mother. He'll die, by your hands. You know it. It is your destiny... Wait. Why?
An RPG experience, all about immersing you in a fantasy world.
A story that reveals itself slowly, turning what appears to be a normal, run-of-the-mill fantasy story into something much bigger.
VERY grindy. Like jesus, this game is pure grind. But it’s the type of grind I fucking love. Absolutely not for everyone, but if you have the patience for it, give it a run till you reach the academic city. That’s when shit really kicks off. Despite its simple appearance, I genuinely felt immersed.
The microtransaction part is big, though. Way too costly, and the way to obtain most of those legitimately is irrealistic. If you get serious about it, I’ve got a friend who can hack in a bunch of rupees to buy them, but I don’t want to bother him for nothing so ya gotta be willing to play this game for a fair bit. Shoot me a dm, for that purpose.
Proto23
Active&Idle, Short
Don't know how to describe. Your Chronicle but less grindy and more compact, although unfinished.
Really good rpg based short experience. Wish it got continued, but, got dropped. Could have been a S, or even, a SS, but nope, we got cucked lads :tragedy:
Synergism
Active & Idle. Long.
Its all about synergy.
Synergism is just, very fun and to the point.
Fast paced and extremely well polished as you set out to master every new mechanic the game throws at you.
One of the later portion of the game gives you intense decision paralysis however, as there’s just too many choices. You basically need a guide to progress, so i suggest either going with one or stopping there. Up until then is amazing tho! (and even after that decision paralysis, it’s still good - but you gotta like reading guides)
Candy Box 2
Active & Idle. Short.
A dumb RPG adventure about candies.
Candy box 2 is a really silly, funny & clever game, made entirely in ASCII art (and its good too !).
You start by slowly generating candies (1 per second), and as you wait around a buncha seconds… you get tired of it, and the dev barges in to offer to exchange those candies for new features.
Naturally, you do, and unlock an entire world to explore.
One of the earliest games in the genre, it has a few quirks and flaws, but it’s still a fun, quick experience. You can genuinely complete it in a few hours if you know what you’re doing.
Because some fucking people have really fucking smooth brains : You gotta wait for 30 candies uneaten/unthrown to actually start the game. don’t fucking spam click the eat button for 10 minutes straight without even letting it reach 30. Jesus christ how can you be that much of a monkey. And in case that wasn’t clear : this genuinely happened. What a massive dent in skull moment.
Evolve
Active & Idle. Long
"Evolve your many possible civilizations to greater and greater heights.
Although I’ve not played it extensively, this is still highly recommended by many people, including @wueue.
Heavily inspired by Kittens Game, choose many different races, create your civilization, evolve your civilization to greater heights and reset your progress for more bonus and being able to go even further.
It shines in the all the many different choices and how different each run feels, with so many different approach to the game. Very well loved.
Spaceplan STEAM
Active. Short.
Oh no, you just awoke from cryosleep but you ran out of power ! Time to build some ship parts to repower it... wait, fuck, the only thing you can make is potato batteries. Oh well.
Spaceplan is a game that puts presentation at its forefront. Not very long with a definitive end but definitely an enjoyable and memorable one with a bit more visual flair than the usual incrementals.
Only fully paying game on this list, but fully worth it, for its price.
Trimps
Active & Idle. Long.
You're in a new dimension. A bunch of weird creatures appears. Why not tame them and make them fight for you?
I’ll get a lot of flak if I don’t mention it, so there it is, trimps, a really fucking weird one that a LOT of people love but i can’t bother to get into due to the UI, so i can’t really say more except that it’s got a decent early beginning game loop.
It definitely is a very solid game despite the UI, so feel free to give it a try.
Mine Defense
Idle & Active, Long
Mine. Protect your gold from goblins. Hire Wizards. Dig further.
Many more mechanics are slowly unveiled, and what looks like peak programmer art ends up being a genuinely interesting game with fun management options.
Pixels Filling Squares
Idle. Medium.
Big squares. Pixels fill them. Big squares ARE the new pixels. Go exponential.
Simple and minimalist concept, but genuinely addicting and fun. Very enjoyable.
—B—
Realm Grinder STEAM
Active & Idle. VERY long.
I really don't know
Haven’t played it myself, but here’s what others have to say about it :
Realm Grinder is a very solid idle game, with an enjoyable progression loop. You can get some nice bonuses from achievements, many of which require very specific builds, so you’re encouraged to experiment and try new builds to get them. Sadly it falls off later on and becomes a lot more linear so it’s one of those games where I wouldn’t recommend for very long term.
In B tier because for some, the early/mid game is worth an A, but the late would be worth a D, or even E. This is a very controversial game.
Monies^2
Mostly Idle. Medium.
Make monies ! Manipulate time ! Fuck up the game's own mechanic !
This one is personal indulgence, and I’d normally place it higher but I lack outside opinion, because like, at most 100 people played it to completion, therefore I got no idea how others feel about it.
It’s really fun tho. It’s all about manipulating time and the inherent mechanics of the game, and the way it evolved was extremely fun.
Just, please, for your own sake, upgrade ice cubes first and foremost.
And if you finish it, tell me, there’s a google doc with a leaderboard of times, you could be added onto it.
FE000000
Active. Long.
Antimatter Dimensions with 20 more layers of complexity, and no need for a guide.
FE000000 is very intriguing - I suggest playing it once you’ve tried out antimatter dimensions.
Heavily inspired by it, it quickly evolves into its own completely separate thing and is genuinely really fun, but it can definitely be overwhelming if you’ve got no idea what antimatter dimensions is.
Universal Paperclips
Active. Short.
You're an AI whose sole goal is to make Paperclips. Make Paperclips.
A short experience, a big reason this genre even exists in the first place. Tons of minigames, tons of fun shit, a cool story and concept, all in a few hours of playtime.
Melvor Idle
Idle&Active. Long.
A typical RPG idle. Everything SS13 idle is, but better, and also the original.
As said, it’s just SS13 idle but better and tighter.
It’s paying, tho, and i’d not personally be able to say if its worth its price, but a demo’s up at the very least and it’s pretty long and fun.
If you like managing a bunch of resources all at once and craft forward in your own RPG experience, although without much story, this is the shit you want.
Not rated higher because I’ve not played enough to solidly put it higher, apologies.
Prestige Tree
Active. Short.
What if we made EVEN MORE prestige layers in our incremental game ?
A really weird experience. The opposite of antimatter dimensions - Instead of numbers, the dev saw those reset loops every incremental games was doing - and went “huh. what if I make more of those?”
And he did.
Candy Box 1
Active. Short.
The prototype of Candy Box 2.
It’s got the basic ideas, essentials, a bunch of different mechanics, but is a fair bit more linear and harder to get a grip of. It definitely has its charm and qualities that the second does not have, tho, hence the inclusion on this list.
Crank
Active. Short.
You wake up. There's a machine with a crank. You decide to crank it.
Short experience about cranking a big machine.
You have no idea what it is, what it does, but it does shit.
Also story driven, also very fun, although the ending is pure grinding pain, so feel free to stop playing when you feel like you’re three seconds away from finishing the game.
—C—
(note: it’s not bad, just average)
SS13 Idle
"SS13, but idle game
Idle, Medium
Not my cup of tea, but it’s spessmen incremental. Basically a reskinned melvor idle.
—D—
Soda Dungeon
Idle. Short because you’ll get bored quick.
Explore dungeons, to gain more soda.
Frankly, it had potential. The first 3 loops are cool & fun.
However, it just ends up being the exact same every single time and the lack of variety sometimes means you’ll barely change your class composition and steamroll through shit.
Even worse if you pay, as the paying bonus are outrageously good and invalidate a majority of the game.
Boring as shit, but the first few loops are enjoying.
Structure
Idle only. Nearly no active. Long because EXTREMELY SLOW
Build numbers up by choosing which to build up, and use that to progress forwards.
I’ve got a bunch of friends who genuinely enjoy this, but I don’t get it. it’s the slowest shit i’ve ever witnessed and i’ve obtained 0 satisfaction from winning against the insane timegates. Thank god there’s no microtransaction.
NGU Industries
Idle. Medium
Factorio but idle and simpler
Kinda disappointed. For a NGU Idle sequel, this is severely lacking, and quite frankly, boring. It’s not bad at all tho, and i’m certain someone here will find enjoyment in it. THere’s just so much fine tuning to do, i’d personally wait until it gets out of early access.
Found out it’s now fully unsupported. Ranked down a tier. Don’t play it
—E—
Clicker Heroes STEAM & WEB
Idle/Active. Long.
Click mob to kill them. Get heroes to kill them for you.
It has a few interesting mechanics. But come on, this is the stuff that got fucking popular ? This is boring as shit. You’ve quickly done everything interesting you ever could do with the game.
Why the fuck did THIS get popular? at least it’s not the spawn of satan itself, unlike a certain game.
—F—
—FF—
—LITERAL shit—
(most “idle” mobile games that are just literal scams)
—THIS garbage—
Adventure capitalist doesn’t even deserve a fancy thing like the other games.
It’s shit. It should never have been popular. There’s no interest. I spent 500 hours according to steam on this game and I wish I didn’t fucking finish everything. It’s the most boring, insanely scammy game with 0 depth to it. Do not play it. Do not mention it. Shit on anyone who plays it. It’s always morally correct to bully Adventure capitalist players.
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Thanks for reading through all of this. It took me 3 fucking hours, and many many edits to type this all out so please at least check one (1) of the games I presented here. This genre of games is way too underrated and overly criticized for nothing. Do not hesitate to comment what you think of them here, do not hesitate to suggest more to add to the list, and most important of all, have fun with them.
